With beautiful people like that, maybe.
But you aren't wrong about Denmark being the happiest country.
For those that don't know there are two world happiness surveys: the World Happiness Report and the Happy Planet Index.
Denmark usually (as well as other Scandinavian countries) rank at the top for the World Happiness Report and Costa Rica (as well as other Latin countries) rank at the top for the Happy Planet Index.
However, the Happy Planet Index looks at other things like the economy, long life, etc. The World Happiness Report relies only on self reported happiness. So which one should we trust? The World Happiness Report.
Why?
Because self-reported happiness has been shown to be extreme accurate. No need to use other indexes or other measures. Sorry Costa Rica and Mexico.
So what makes Denmark so happy? Well you tend to get socialist answers like universal health care or that they just care more about their community. Oprah seems to think so.
But if you study Denmark and other happy countries, you'll find a few very strong differences when compared to other western countries like America.
First of all, ALL the beaches in Denmark are NUDE!
You heard that right (except for maybe two).
Clothing optional, but nudity is easily found as well as other mixed coed nude situations.
Seeing that guys get to see just about every girl in their country naked, you're going to have a lot of happy men.
When you consider that Denmark is practically an island, that's a lot of nude beaches.
Besides nudity, Denmark is a lot more relaxed about sex in general.
Here is an interesting article from an American student spending a year in Denmark. She found that:
-Life is more about cooperation than competition, "feminine" as she calls it.
-Emotions are discussed at a young age (even for guys).
-Male-female relationships are encouraged, including sleepovers at a young age.
-Public displays of affections are okay and easily found.
-No taboo of children out of wedlock.
-They openly talk about sex and she claimed virginity is lost there at a very young age there (around puberty). (I don't condone such behaviour, but clearly there is little to no sexual frustration or shame in Denmark.)
Denmark was the first country to legalize porn. They are very progressive when it comes to sex.
But is sex the reason for Denmark being one of the happiest countries in the world?
We certainly see this behaviour in animals. The sexual, fun-seeking bonobos are very peaceful (happy) compared to their violent chimpanzee brothers who try to control sex and each other.
But what about other countries? Well the other countries that often rank high like Denmark are Iceland, Netherlands, and the other countries up north. Are their cultures similar?
Iceland: Women often approach men to have sex with them and have children outside of wedlock without shame.
Netherlands: Very sexually liberal. They also have coed, nude saunas all over the country.
The other Scandinavian/Finnish countries up north: easy going when it comes to sex at least compared to America and other European countries.
Sex seems to the reason Denmark and these other countries are so happy.
But I would argue it isn't the sex, but the freedom to be who you really are (we're all sexual creatures) without shame. The hippies were right!
Let's stop fighting who we are and be comfortable with our bodies, have some fun. Then, maybe, just maybe we'll have world peace.
We should have free love for everyone! Well, free, safe love!
