Why Finland and Denmark are the happiest countries in the world?
What makes me happy is...
I think I was definitely born happy, and then life happens.
I feel very happy. Very happy.
I'm happier now than when I live in New York.
and I got paid probably twice as much in New York as I do.
Here, Our happiness is kind of like quiet happiness, kind of a stillness.
Reporter:
What it take to be happy?
The Nordic countries seem to have it all figured out.
Finland and Denmark have consistently topped the United Nation's most prestigious index, the World Happiness Report,
in all six areas of life satisfaction.
How have they cracked the formula?
And, are the people they are really the happiest?
The United Nations just named the happiest place on Earth.
It is not Disneyworld.
It's Finland.
In 2019, the World Happiness Report named Finland the happiest country a row.
Denmark came in second place after claiming the top slot in 2013 and 2016.
Year after year, Nordic countries like Norway, Iceland and Sweden round out the top of the list.
Enter Jeffery Sachs, a professor at Columbia and the co-editor of the World Happiness Report.
Jeffery:
What do those countries have?
They have a high level of prosperity, to be sure, but they're not the richest countries in the world by any means.
The idea is a good balbance of life.
You don't have to get super rich to be happy they believe.
In fact, if someone's super rich, they, look,
"What's wrong with that' person?"
So they're not societies that are aiming for all of the effort and time to becoming gazillionaires.
They're looking for a good balance of life and results are extremely positive.