The winters in Denmark are long and dark. For many international students, it is often the hardest part of living in the Scandinavian country. In the colder months, they dream of returning to Spain or Italy. But the money and quality of life in Denmark is too good to leave, they say.
In spite of the chilly Baltic climate, native Danes remain surprisingly content year round. Those polled by Gallup this year reported an average ‘life evaluation’ score of 7.52 out of 10, only slightly behind the 7.74 recorded in first place Finland (and clear of Britain on 6.73).
The reasons are multifaceted. Hygge – pronounced ‘hoo-ga’ – is a Danish concept with no direct translation into English. Broadly, it encapsulates the cozy sense of wellbeing achieved by stepping back from the rat race, enjoying a hearty meal and wine with family and friends, and getting warm under a blanket.
The concept mounts a challenge to the oppressive, grey winter months. But hygge is a perennial idea, as applicable in June as it is in December. The approach is embedded into the way of life – more than a fleeting moment of happiness, less mercurial than the seasons.
Danes celebrate their culture; attempting to put the happiness surveys into context, the government of Denmark makes reference to hygge, social equality and a sense of community spirit. Denmark has eleven major political parties, it notes, but none would seriously support overturning the status quo.
Achieving this deep appreciation for the way things has taken effort. Danes pay some of the highest rates of tax in the world, but get a lot for their money. Most healthcare is free. University students pay no tuition and receive generous grants. The elderly are looked after by carers who visit them at home. In times of strife, these elements of the welfare state would make easy pickings for populist, fringe parties. But life is good, so they don’t.
This is not guaranteed. ‘Denmark may be the world’s second happiest country’, The Economist wrote in 2021, ‘but its happiness feels fragile’.
Increasingly, a vocal minority concerned about the impact of migration on Denmark’s generous welfare system has gained ground, challenging the base assumption that the status quo is fair, efficient and sustainable.
Denmark has so far resisted the allure of the populist hard right and seeks to lead from the Centre with a stern but even-tempered response to migratory pressures. The aim is to take the conversation ‘back under democratic control’, as immigration minister Kaare Dybvad Bek puts it. If this year’s data is anything to go by, it might be working.
Denmark consistently scores highly in life satisfaction surveys. Pictured: Copenhagen
There is no simple formula to life satisfaction. The World Happiness Report, which aggregates the Gallup data, brings together a host of variables it suggests could be of interest or relevance in deciphering the pattern.
Positive and negative emotions are a good starting point. In the 2024 dataset, Brits ranked 45th for positive emotions and 49th for negative: not bad.
Denmark was 11th for positive emotions and 47th for negative: more good than bad.
But these trends are not based on fleeting moods. Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden are still the top four in 2025 and in the same order. At their core, they have strong institutions that encourage wellbeing.
All give similar importance to quality of life and social welfare, and all have learned to manage the environment. All, too, are rich.
High trust societies tend to perform better. The authors observed that believing that others are willing to return your lost wallet seems to be a strong predictor of population happiness.
Nordic nations are among the happiest nations – but also among the top places for the expected (and actual) return of a lost wallet.
The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has tried to interpret this element of its culture.
‘Trust is an essential value in Danish culture and society, and a significant factor in Danish happiness,’ a government page explains.
‘In Denmark, the default is to trust one another when it comes to business, government, or personal relationships.
‘Honesty is expected, and corruption in business or among public servants is very rare.’
Nordic nations are among the happiest nations – but also among the top places for the expected (and actual) return of a lost wallet
Denmark consistently ranks as one of the least corrupt countries in the world. Residents are happy to pay tax into a system where they feel the money is spent efficiently and politicians are accountable for delivering on their promises.
On a social level, too, high trust means people make the most of their freedoms.
‘The relatively high level of safety in Denmark compared to many other countries means that Danish children enjoy much more freedom and independence than their counterparts elsewhere in the world,’ the foreign ministry continues.
‘It is common to see children travelling alone on public transport as young as age 8 or 9 – the other passengers keep an eye on them. It is also common practice for parents to leave their babies outside in their baby carriages to nap, even during the chilly Danish winter.’
‘It is usually safe to walk or bicycle in Denmark at any time of the day or night.’
The other commonality between happy countries is that their cultures have bulwarks in place to defend against misery. Against a growing loneliness epidemic, happier countries make time to eat together, live together and share their concerns with friends.
In general, the report notes, western industrial countries are now less happy than they were between 2005 and 2010. Fifteen of them have had significant drops, compared to four with significant increases. Those seeing the greatest declines in happiness in the West were the United States, Switzerland and Canada.
The United States – ranked 24th globally – fell to its lowest ever position in 2025. In the U.S., the number of people eating alone has increased 53 per cent over the past two decades alone.
‘The increasing number of people who eat alone is one reason for declining wellbeing in the United States,’ the report notes.
Colourful houses line a cobblestone street in Odense, Denmark
For what it’s worth, there is a similar trend in Britain.
The Wellbeing Index showed in 2019 that almost a third of British adults eat alone ‘most or all of the time’. Separate research commissioned last year by Greene King – the pub chain – found that more than four in five Brits generally take lunch on their own.
Britain reported its lowest average score for life evaluation since 2017 this year, ranking 23rd – only one spot above the United States.
In Denmark, meanwhile, the education system sees the value in developing social skills, avoiding anti-social behavioural problems later down the line.
Danes begin public daycare from as early as nine months, and as well as studying numeracy and literacy, young children will be taught about social rules like taking turns and helping others.
In later life, the availability of attractive ‘third spaces’ makes it more palatable that people should get together and talk.
Cities are walkable, or cyclable, and the high streets of Copenhagen are lined with quaint bars, bakeries and attractive high-density accommodation – not, as in Britain, a patchwork of closed businesses and soulless post-war new builds.
Older buildings are looked after and planning laws allow for the building of new flats, built sustainably and without laying ruin to a surrounding green belt. The streets are clean and quiet. Residents are paid a small amount for bringing rubbish to recycling stations in supermarkets – an incentive to treat the country with respect.
This does not make Denmark stiff and uninteresting. The Meatpacking District in Vesterbro, Copenhagen welcomes young people to enjoy themselves and spend money in a dedicated space for nightlife away from the centre – as British councils bicker over plans for a 24-hour Greggs in Leicester Square, fearing noise and disorder.
It is unsurprising that a clean country that takes pride in its appearance and shares trust among its population is, on average, more content.
Denmark is the 36th largest economy in the world; Britain is the 5th. The weather is similar. Both are constitutional monarchies, largely Protestant countries with a long history of parliamentary democracy. Unhappiness is a choice.
Britain has a similar climate to Denmark and a significantly larger economy. And yet, British highstreets, like this one in Hampshire, look bleak next to those in Denmark. The Danes take pride in their communities, and are happier for it
There is an outlier. Under the surface, concerns about migration to the country have grown in recent years. Unchecked, this threatens to break trust in the welfare system and fuel fringe factions on the hard right.
In 2015, Europe saw saw a large influx of refugees fleeing war and political repression abroad. Following the lead of Germany’s Angela Merkel, many opened countries their hearts and welcomed in new communities.
In places underequipped to manage the change, cultural differences were exaggerated and ghettos emerged. In rich but slowing economies, some attributed the woes of poverty, inequality and austerity to the financial burden of new arrivals.
Germany took in 2.14 million people in 2015 and has since seen the rise of a populist hard right party. Sweden took in 160,000; within a year, the Social Democrats were polling at their lowest since surveys began and the hard right is gaining ground.
In Denmark, with a population of just six million, 21,000 asylum seekers arrived during the 2015 peak. By 2021, a decade after the Syrian Civil War broke out, around 35,000 Syrian nationals were living in the country.
According to the Danish Finance Ministry, native Danes contribute the most to public finances. They are well educated, have local networks, understand the language and culture. Other Western immigrants fare slightly worse, followed by other non-Western immigrants, and then people from the Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan and Turkey.
With time and resources, those fleeing warzones, arriving with few possessions and not necessarily having a strong command of Danish or English, can integrate. But in the interim, there are challenges the government must contend with to avoid unrest.
Bicycles stacked by a graffitied wall in Copenhagen, November 2019
Danes have concerns that migrants arriving from non-democratic countries may not share their belief in the liberal European project. The roles of women in society may not align.
The government has sought to keep the conversation civil and practical, reinforcing its democratic traditions with what it calls ‘canons’ of culture and history in the classroom. The country famously banned the burka and compels newcomers to learn Danish or lose their benefits.
In 2018, the country’s previous government brought in the so-called ‘anti-ghetto law’, which aims to reduce the number of ‘non-Western’ residents in certain housing areas to less than 30 per cent by 2030. Where others closed borders, Denmark has mostly focused on settlement and integration.
But Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has also pursued a policy of discouraging people from coming to the country. As such, asylum applications have fallen by 90 per cent since the Social Democrats came to power.
There is a fine line to be trodden in this look back towards the nation states of yore. Modern Denmark, like its neighbours, is a product of tolerant Enlightenment thought. If the Centre clamps down too harshly on foreign influence, it risks alienating moderate voters and losing sight of the liberal traditions it says it wants to uphold.
The government argues that by taking the topic of immigration ‘back under democratic control’, Denmark can ‘restrict how much the hard right can grow’. So far it seems to be working. The latest polling shows that the Social Democrats remain by far the most popular party, with 22.9 per cent of the vote – nearly 10 points ahead of the second-biggest rival.
By contrast, the Danish People’s Party, which is usually described as hard right, is on just 4.4 per cent, down from 21.1 per cent ten years ago.
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen attends the political festival Folkemoedet in Allinge, on the island Bornholm, Denmark, June 13, 2025
Denmark attributes its sunny outlook on life to its culture. It has taken generations to develop a system that works for its people, to build faith in the overall way of life.
There are many factors that go into this that Britons might learn from in order to improve their own self-reported life satisfaction. At the state level, education, public planning and safety all contribute to what makes Denmark work.
At the social level, spending time with others and being nice seems to help.
But the government of Denmark will have to contend with changing tides in order to keep the project on course. Rightly or wrongly, concerns about the impact of rapid changes to demography on Denmark’s culture and economy do challenge how Danes think about their lives.
Navigating the way ahead will require a careful alchemy from the government. If it succeeds in delivering a common sense approach to migration that treats others with dignity and does not lose sight of its principles, it may carry a lesson for others.
