What Makes a Country Smile—Or Forget How To
You don’t always encounter happiness where you’d expect it. It’s not about the skyline, or GDP, or how many times per week you go out for dinner. Sometimes, happiness abounds in how a culture treats small things like shared meals or strangers caught in the rain. We measure happiness like scientists, with charts and metrics and data points, but really, it’s messier. Some places seem to hum with a quiet contentment that can’t quite be pinned down. Others carry a weight, and the people move about with a heaviness in daily life, where laughter feels like a luxury. Here are ten cultures that seem to have found a rhythm of joy, and ten that are still searching for it.
1. Denmark
Hygge is a Danish word that translates to coziness. Imagine candles burning in the windows against long winter nights, wool socks, and simple dinners with friends. Danes don’t chase joy; they curate it. Even their city design invites ease, with wide bike lanes, open spaces, and cafés where no one rushes you out. Taxes are high, sure, but so is trust. You can leave your stroller outside a café with your baby still in it, and no one blinks.
2. Costa Rica
“Pura vida,” they say, meaning pure life, but it’s more a philosophy than a phrase. Life’s slower here. People enjoy coffee on a veranda at sunrise, and neighbors stop to chat because they actually want to. The country abolished its army decades ago and poured that money into education and healthcare. You can feel the tranquility in the air.
3. Finland
At first, Finns might seem reserved and cold. Then, as you spend time with them, you realize the quiet isn’t cold—it’s comfort. Any nation that builds public saunas on lakes can’t be all that uptight. They love solitude, but they also trust their systems, their neighbors, and their weather forecasts. There’s a steadiness to life there, an unshowy confidence that fosters calm.
4. Bhutan
Bhutan actually tracks Gross National Happiness as a mix of spiritual, social, and environmental well-being. It’s a culture where monks wander about with smartphones while kids play soccer at dizzying altitudes. Somehow, this culture balances tradition with the modern world without losing its footing.
5. The Netherlands
The Dutch seem to have cracked the code of functional joy with their plethora of bike lanes, meandering canals, and multicolored tulip fields. There’s a confidence in knowing your infrastructure works, your schools are good, and your commute is scenic. Also: they talk—openly, bluntly. You might blush at the honesty, but you’ll appreciate the clarity.
6. New Zealand
In this country of sweeping mountains, the sheep often enjoy better views than most humans. Kiwis value balance. Work ends early, the weekend stretches wide, and there’s an unspoken rule that you make time to go outside. “No worries” isn’t an empty saying; it’s a lived reality.
7. Switzerland
The Swiss don’t gush about happiness; they engineer it with clean trains and landscapes so pristine they seem photoshopped. The price of a cappuccino might make you flinch, but you can drink it knowing the street outside is spotless.
8. Canada
People joke that Canadians apologize for everything, but maybe that’s part of the secret. There’s warmth in their civility, an instinct to smooth rough edges before they turn sharp. Even in minus-twenty weather, you’ll see neighbors shoveling not just their own driveways, but each other’s. Happiness here isn’t loud or performative—it’s steady, practical, and kind.
9. Iceland
Icelanders trust their government, their healthcare, and, maybe most importantly, their sense of humor. They bathe outdoors in steaming blue lagoons while snow drifts down like confetti. And when volcanoes erupt, they shrug and keep going. Life feels fragile there, always one tremor away from chaos, but perhaps that’s exactly what makes it feel so alive.
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10. Vietnam
Life here is loud, humid, and chaotic, yet somehow graceful. Amid the clatter of traffic and the press of heat, people still find calm through food, through community, and a collective ability to turn disorder into rhythm.
And now, here are ten countries where happiness is in short supply.
1. Afghanistan
Decades of conflict have left the country’s spirit frayed. People smile, but it’s often weary. There’s beauty in the mountains and the history of its people, but it’s overshadowed by survival. You get the sense happiness exists, just privately, behind closed doors where families still celebrate weddings, still dance when they can.
2. North Korea
Here, the smiles are rehearsed. There may be parades, chants, and perfect order, but it’s all performative. Real joy, the kind that comes from choice or laughter, isn’t part of the show. Even sunlight feels regulated.
3. Yemen
This land of ancient cities and endless resilience is weighed down by war and famine. People queue for water rather than a morning coffee. The joy that remains feels like defiance, a spark refusing to die out, but the misery is systemic and relentless.
4. South Sudan
The flags may be new, but the old problems remain: ethnic conflict, poverty, and displacement. You can sense the desire for peace, the yearning for something normal, but it’s like trying to plant seeds in dry riverbeds. The resilience is astonishing, though. Laughter feels out of place in refugee camps, yet it’s there.
5. Syria
Ask anyone who remembers Damascus before the war, and their eyes soften. They’ll tell you of cafés, ancient markets, and the scent of jasmine in the air. Now, so much is rubble and exile. Still, there’s tenderness in the way exiles talk about home; it’s a mixture of grief braided with love.
6. Haiti
The island hums with music, yet the weight of political chaos, earthquakes, and poverty is a constant interruptive force. People dance anyway; they cook and pray. Happiness here feels like rebellion against everything trying to erase it.
7. Russia
This nation carries a stubborn pride and a seemingly endless tolerance for hardship. As for happiness, it often hides beneath irony and vodka. The weather doesn’t help, nor does the suspicion that optimism can be dangerous. Still, you’ll find warmth in kitchens, where laughter finally breaks through.
8. India
In this land, extreme wealth often exists next to extreme poverty and chaos. Some find bliss in spirituality, family, and festivals that turn streets into color storms. Others, crushed by inequality, barely get through the day. Happiness and misery share the same street corner.
9. Zimbabwe
Inflation is so wild here that people carry cash in bags. Apart from their diminished purchasing power, the electric grid is unreliable and water frequently runs out. Yet, there’s humor everywhere that surfaces when complaining’s the only thing you can afford. The misery’s real, but so is the stubborn joy.
10. Lebanon
Once called the “Paris of the Middle East,” this country now endures rolling blackouts, currency collapse, and a population exhausted by struggle. Still, bars fill up on weekends, music spills into the street, and someone’s always offering you coffee. Maybe that’s the saddest and most beautiful thing: joy still showing up where it shouldn’t.
