THE SCANDINAVIAN SECRET 

Scandinavian evening sun
  • Scientific researchers and survey results have all reached the same conclusion for the past 30 years—Danes are consistently happier than the rest of the world.
  • Sweden has a long history of female-friendly policies. Today, female politicians make up around half of the Swedish parliament.
  • Few Swedish men expect women to be domestic or subservient - according to one study, Swedish men do more housework than men anywhere else — an average of 24 hours per week!
  • Anti-Sexism Awareness Training" begins in kindergarten, where male toddlers are encouraged to play with dolls, and females with toy tractors. In school, classes in cooking, sewing, metalworking, and woodworking are compulsory for both sexes.
  • All education, including college, is free, and girls routinely outperform boys; in 2005, women made up more than 60 percent of all Swedish college students. All this adds up to more flexible gender roles later: As one Swedish website puts it, "In our country, women drive the buses and men push the baby buggies."
  • Scandinavia have some of the highest birth rates in Europe, thanks to generous laws on parental leave. Swedish couples — women and men — get 13 months paid leave and another three months at a fixed rate. Of that, 60 days must be taken by the mother, another 60 by the father, and the rest can be divided however they choose. By law, employers must hold a new mother's job for her for the duration of her maternity leave.
  • Green thinkers. Sweden is leading the way when it comes to organic and sustainable food. In Denmark, people are extremely environmentally conscious. A third of the population rides bikes around their cities, many with grocery bags or small children in tow.
Pretty impressive?
  • The most prosperous nations, according to the 2011 Legatum Prosperity Index Table Rankings, are Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.
  • Norway scores near the top on the UNDP’s Human Development Index (HDI) of a host of criteria that are widely associated with a high quality of life including: economy, entrepreneurship and opportunity, governance, education, health, safety and security, personal freedom, and social capital.
  • Copenhagen ranks top 10 in 2011 Quality of Living worldwide city rankings– Mercer survey
  • Sweden tops out as the #1 place for women to live – the "most advanced country" for women, with greater levels of equality, power, health, and well-being among women than anywhere else.



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