Happy Danes

Dan Buettner, a National Geographic Fellow and New York Times bestselling author, was talking to Business Insider about why Danes are so happy. Excerpt:

"Every Dane, from the moment they're born, expects free healthcare, free education. When they get into college they expect to be paid to go to school. If they have a child, they expect to have 10 months of paid maternity or paternity leave. And they expect to be able to retire absolutely securely for the rest of their life.

Because their government takes care of all the necessities of life — nothing can ever go too wrong in their lives — they're free to pursue a job that really speaks to their passions.

Ambition is not greatly celebrated. They’re not always buying new clothes and new cars and trying to keep up with the Joneses, and that gives them more time to pursue their interests.

So, people are good at architecture and they create the best restaurants in the world and furniture design, jobs suggestive of flow — of optimal using your talents, so that time can absolutely disappear.

The bigger part of happiness is getting rid of the stresses of our daily lives. So, this notion of having your health insurance covered, your education covered, and your retirement covered is actually very huge."

Dan Buettner is the author of "The Blue Zones of Happiness: Lessons from the World's Happiest People.

Denmark is consistently rated as having the best work-life balance in the world.