Why Danes are smug: comparative study of life satisfaction in the European Union.

Danes are unrivalled in satisfaction with life. The University of Leicester recently published the World Map of Happiness (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/ hi/pdfs/28_07_06_happiness_map.pdf) with Denmark as number one. For more than 30 years this country with five million inhabitants has ranked first in Eurobarometer surveys (europa.eu.int/comm/ public_opinion/index_en.htm). More than two thirds of Danes are “very satisfied” with their lives according to these surveys. In no other Eurobarometer country has this proportion exceeded a half, and for most of the countries the proportion is less than a third (figure). To explain Danish contentment we sifted through literature, statistics, and common knowledge.