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HAPPINESS

World’s second-happiest country Denmark to get museum about happiness

Denmark, famed for its regular spot near the top of the annual World Happiness Report, is to open a museum about feeling good.

Published: 5 March 2020 17:07 CET
World’s second-happiest country Denmark to get museum about happiness
File photo: Mads Nissen/Ritzau Scanpix

Why is it that the Nordic countries often top the World Happiness Reports? How has the perception of the good life evolved over time? And can you actually measure happiness? 

Visitors can look for the answers to these questions when the world’s first happiness museum opens in Denmark, which took second place behind Finland in the most recent edition of the report.

Thinktank Happiness Research Institute (Institut for Lykkeforskning) is behind the Happiness Museum, which is scheduled to open on Copenhagen's Admiralgade in May. Entry will cost 95 kroner for adults and 65 kroner for children and seniors.

The museum is led by Meik Wiking, CEO of the Happiness Research Institute and author of a string of volumes on Danish happiness culture including the bestselling The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living. The museum is fully financed by Happiness Research Institute.

“The United Nations has put happiness on the agenda with the World Happiness Report, where Denmark consistently ranks in the top of the happiest countries,” Wiking said in written comments provided to The Local.

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“At the Happiness Research Institute we receive many requests for visits – as people imagine the office to be a magical place full of puppies and ice-cream. Sadly, we sit in front of computers and look at data and evidence – but we thought 'let’s create a museum where we can bring the science of happiness to life',” he added.

In the small museum, visitors will gain insight in the history of happiness, the politics of happiness, the anatomy of smiles and why the Nordic countries are considered happiness superpowers. 

The museum is interactive and visitors will take part in small exercises involving light and chocolate, as well as thought experiments, including: Would you take the red pill or the blue pill in the Matrix, being put in a machine that gives you the illusion of living your perfect life – or would you prefer to live in the real world?

Exhibits also include artefacts of happiness donated by people from around the world which remind them of their happiest moments.

“We might be Danish and British – but we are first and foremost people,” Wiking said.

“I hope visitors will see how alike we are when it comes to happiness – that our guests exit the museum wiser, happier and a little more motivated to make the world a better place,” he added.

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HAPPINESS

Just how happy are people in Germany?

The newest “Glücksatlas” (happiness index) measures overall life satisfaction every year. The coronavirus crisis has definitely been a powerful damper on the happiness of people everywhere. What role does age, gender, and region play, and how happy are folks in Germany?

Published: 19 November 2020 16:45 CET
Just how happy are people in Germany?
The pandemic does not stop this woman in Norderney, Lower Saxony from jumping on the beach. Photo: DPA

Less social contact, homeschooling, and dramatically reduced work life: The coronavirus crisis has hampered life satisfaction and happiness of people in Germany.

On a scale from 0 to 10, the respondents rated their contentment on average at 6.74 points, compared to the all-time high of 7.14 in 2019. This came from the new Happiness Index presented on Wednesday in Bonn.  

Nevertheless, “We are not in a ball of frustration,” said Bernd Raffelhüschen, Professor of public finance at the University of Freiburg, who created the tenth happiness index for the Deutsche Post.

Despite the pandemic the slump was relatively moderate, as the general level of happiness is still “in the upper middle field” of the scale. 

The Institute for Public Opinion Research in Allensbach asked a small group of 4,700 residents age 16 and up from March until June during the first lockdown.

Further data came from a long-term study from the German Institute for Economic Research (Ipso) as well as an Ipso's survey from June 2020.

READ ALSO: Here's where the happiest (and unhappiest) people live in Germany

According to the Happiness Index, men lost less contentment (minus 0.33 points) than women, who on average went down almost half a point, at 0.47 points.

The primary reason for this is that women were often strained on the front lines of the crisis, as mothers had to bear the heavy load of childcare and homeschooling. In addition, the life satisfaction of respondents from families with three or more children dropped at a rate above average, minus 0.9 points. 

Broken down into age groups, those between 45 and 59 years old lost the most contentment, as their rates dropped by 0.48 points.

According to the researchers, this age group is under particular economic stress. They often have more loans to pay off, older children to financially support, and must also make provisions for retirement. 

Declining regional differences

According to the report, the differences among regions have shrunk. The happiness of people in West Germany sank by 0,42 points, thus more than in East Germany (which dropped 0.3 points). 

“The coronavirus crisis is hitting the West harder, with higher infection rates coupled with more severe economic upheavals,” reported the researchers. The influence of the pandemic has almost equalized overall life satisfaction levels. Last year, the difference among regions was rather small. 

The happiest people live in the north: those living in Germany’s northernmost state of Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg score 6.92 points on the scale, respectively. Thuringia comes at the bottom of the list at 6.50 points, and is the only east German state that has experienced a marked decrease in life satisfaction rates.

Objective reasons are not readily apparent, relayed Raffelhüschen. In any case, regional comparisons have rather limited informative values, due to smaller sample sizes and an adapted methodology. 

 
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