The on-going achievement of peace and unity across Europe since the creation of the European Union is celebrated each year on 9 May, praising in particular the defence of human rights and parliamentary democracy that has been protected across the continent since 1949.
It’s little wonder, then, that Denmark is officially the happiest country in Europe, where its citizens have high levels of trust in the government’s system of parliamentary democracy, and, as one resident put it: “no worries”.
Denmark has been named the happiest country in the world three times since 2012, according to a number of factors outlined by the UN in its World Happiness Report 2016.
These include GDP per capita, healthy years of life expectancy and social support, the idea of trust, as measured by a perceived absence of corruption in government and business, and the perceived freedom to make life decisions.
“We have no worries,” said Knud Christensen, a 39-year-old social worker from Copenhagen. “And if we do worry, it’s about the weather. Will it rain today, or remain grey, or will it be cold?”.
Of the European countries outlined in the global report, Denmark is closely followed on the happiness scale by Switzerland, Iceland and Norway – the UK, which is due to vote on its membership of the EU this summer - does not rank inside the top 10, instead placing at number 13, just behind Ireland.
