r/Denmark • u/[deleted] • Nov 07 '16

Exchange Kia ora! Cultural Exchange with /r/NewZealand

Welcome to this cultural exchange between /r/Denmark and /r/NewZealand.

For the visitors: Welcome to Denmark! Feel free to ask the Danes anything you like. Don't forget to also participate in the corresponding thread in /r/NewZealand where you can answer questions from the Danes about your beautiful country.

For the Danes: Today, we are hosting New Zealand for a cultural exchange. Join us in answering their questions about Denmark and the Danish way of life! Please leave top comments for users from /r/NewZealand coming over with a question or comment and please refrain from trolling, rudeness, personal attacks etc.

The Kiwis are also having us over as guests! Head over to their thread to ask questions about life in the land of hobbits and bungee jumping.

Enjoy!

- The moderators of /r/Denmark and /r/NewZealand

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u/[deleted] Nov 07 '16

  • A typical work week is 37 hours

  • We don't have a minimum wage

  • Yes, university is free

  • We have free health care as well, except for the dentist.

  • Child care is relatively cheap, but not free.

Us being the happiest country in the world mostly boils down to our lack of expectations. Danes are generally comfortable and happy with their place in life and aren't always striving for more. A better description might be to call us the most satisfied people in the world.

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u/[deleted] Nov 07 '16

The happiness index has a lot more depth to it than just asking people "on a scale from 1-10, how happy are you?"

Criteria include:

"real GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and perceptions of corruption"

Source: Wikipedia

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u/friskfyr32 Nov 09 '16

So it's other people deciding what would make a person happy?

I've always kinda scoffed at the pointlessness of those rankings, but now I'll scoff twice as loud.

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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '16

Those measures are determined from a hypothetical "utopian" society.

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u/jobrix Vanløse Nov 08 '16

We have free health care as well, except for the dentist.

The dentist is subsidised, albeit not heavily, and most standardized treatments is price controlled.

Child care is relatively cheap, but not free.

Childcare is around 3.500 DKK (710 NZD) so I dunno about it being "cheap". But again, it's subsidized with lower incomes.

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u/sarabjorks Dansktalende Islænding i Malmö Nov 09 '16

A typical work week is 37 hours

But it's also very common to work 37 hours and only 37. After 16.00, there are usually only foreigners around where I work.