The Scandinavian anomaly: why Scandinavian countries constantly rank top 10 in the World Happiness Report

Abstract

The World Happiness Report is an annual survey of the state of global happiness. It is generally administered by the United Nations. Throughout the report, 156 countries are ranked by how content their citizens tend to perceive themselves to be. This report is used by researchers as a figure to understand how better functioning societies are constructed. Since the report uses several variables to calculate a score (Happiness Index) for each country, it easily allows researchers to directly identify key differences between societies and what mainly influences one to become happy. One main aspect of the World Happiness Report is that the Scandinavian countries – namely Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland – tend to consistently rank as the happiest countries in the list. Since these countries often achieve the highest scores, researchers tend to study what causes their societies to feel more content. Understanding why Scandinavian societies are generally more content than the rest of the world is crucial to interpreting the basis for a well-functioning society. Unfortunately, most of the potential factors used to explain why Scandinavian countries keep on ranking high are conflicting. Conflicting in a sense that it almost is impossible to narrow down the answer to one single factor. Scandinavian countries utilize a social democratic type of government and economy, resulting in a more equal distribution of wealth throughout their society. This could be one major factor in determining why Scandinavian countries constantly rank high in the World Happiness Report.