| A. In a list ranking countries by the happiness of their citizens, it put tropical Fiji 50 places below freezing Iceland. B. The street sweeper can hold his head up high as he proudly does his job. C. Danish people aren't as suspicious as many other nations. D. Most Danes are used to seeing between 50-70% of their salary going to the government! E. People have nice things in their houses, but they're not mad about shopping and spending. F. And there's another advantage to those high taxes. |
Where do you think the world's happiest people live? Some where hot with sandy beaches? A country with a tradition of the fine food and culture? Not according to a recent study by the university of Leicester. Who are the happiest people on Earth? Those 5.5 million people who call Denmark their home. Surprised? Well you'll be more surprised when you hear that the Danes pay some of the highest taxes in the world. So what is the secret of their success?
Let's start with all that tax they pay. The Danish government provides its people with one of the finest education and health systems in the world. It spends more on children and elderly people per capital(人均) than other country.
Because a shop assistant's final salary is not that much less than someone who works in a bank, for example, Danes don't choose their careers based on money or status as people in other countries do. They choose the job they want to do. There's a philosophy in Denmark known as" Jante-lov", which translates as "you're no better than anybody else." But workers in other countries are not used to looking at life in this way.
Money doesn't seem as important in Denmark. It has been called a "post consumerist" society. What is more important is the sense of society and it's no surprise that Danes are very used to socializing. 92% of Danes belong to some kind of social club and these clubs are even paid for by the government.
They also show an amazing amount of trust in each other and their government. You can see sighs of this all over the country. You'll find vegetable stalls with no assistant. You take what you want and leave the money in a basket. Perhaps the bike is a good symbol for Denmark. The Danes can afford cars but they choose bikes—simple, economical, non-polluting machines that show no status and help keep people fit.
