Why is denmark scandinavian

Sweden and Norway - "Brother Countries". Nordic Welfare Nations. The Danish attempt to retake the province failed in Norway took this opportunity to declare independence - and a peaceful separation in of Norway from Sweden - plus a brotherly settlement was a reality - which later led to the union of five Nordic countries in the region called Scandinavia. Part of the Scandinavian Landscape.

Queen Margrethe I. The Sauna and Wellness Culture. The Finns more than thousand year old Sauna and Wellness Culture has been spread all over the Scandinavia Countries - and been adopted widely by the Scandinavians - as a hot and steaming place for mental relaxation and stimulated healing - and where Scandinavian gender equality is practiced to its full extent. Christmas in Scandinavia. All Scandinavian Countries celebrate Christmas and the following holy holidays with family and friends.

Painting by Viggo Johansen - Midsummer in Scandinavia. The dignity and resolve of the Norwegian people in the wake of the attacks by Anders Behring Breivik in July was deeply impressive, but in September the rightwing, anti-Islamist Progress party — of which Breivik had been an active member for many years — won There remains a disturbing Islamophobic sub-subculture in Norway.

Ask the Danes, and they will tell you that the Norwegians are the most insular and xenophobic of all the Scandinavians, and it is true that since they came into a bit of money in the s the Norwegians have become increasingly Scrooge-like, hoarding their gold, fearful of outsiders.

Though saw a record number of asylum applications to Norway, it granted asylum to fewer than half of them around 5, people , a third of the number that less wealthy Sweden admits Sweden accepted over 9, from Syria alone.

According to him, his countrymen have been corrupted by their oil money, are working less, retiring earlier, and calling in sick more frequently. And while previous governments have controlled the spending of oil revenues, the new bunch are threatening a splurge which many warn could lead to full-blown Dutch disease.

Like the dealer who never touches his own supply, those dirty frackers the Norwegians boast of using only renewable energy sources , all the while amassing the world's largest sovereign wealth fund selling fossil fuels to the rest of us. As Norwegian anthropologist Thomas Hylland Eriksen put it to me when I visited his office in Oslo University: "We've always been used to thinking of ourselves as part of the solution, and with the oil we suddenly became part of the problem. Most people are really in denial.

We need not detain ourselves here too long. Only , — it would appear rather greedy and irresponsible — people cling to this breathtaking, yet borderline uninhabitable rock in the North Atlantic.

Further attention will only encourage them. I am very fond of the Finns, a most pragmatic, redoubtable people with a Sahara-dry sense of humour. But would I want to live in Finland? In summer, you'll be plagued by mosquitos, in winter, you'll freeze — that's assuming no one shoots you, or you don't shoot yourself.

Finland ranks third in global gun ownership behind only America and Yemen; has the highest murder rate in western Europe , double that of the UK; and by far the highest suicide rate in the Nordic countries. The Finns are epic Friday-night bingers and alcohol is now the leading cause of death for Finnish men.

In the US, they'd have an intervention. With its tarnished crown jewel, Nokia, devoured by Microsoft, Finland's hitherto robust economy is more dependent than ever on selling paper — mostly I was told, to Russian porn barons.

The view was a bit samey. The nation once dubbed "the west's reigning educational superpower" the Atlantic has slipped in the latest Pisa rankings. This follows some unfortunate incidents involving Finnish students — the burning of Porvoo cathedral by an year-old in ; the Jokela shootings another disgruntled year-old in , and the shooting of 10 more students by a peer in — which led some to speculate whether Finnish schools were quite as wonderful as their reputation would have us believe.

If you do decide to move there, don't expect scintillating conversation. Finland's is a reactive, listening culture, burdened by taboos too many to mention civil war, second world war and cold war-related, mostly.

Frequently derided by right-wing politicians as an example of everything wrong with Big Government, the Scandinavian countries are, in fact, some of the richest, most successful societies on Earth, with exceptionally high levels of education, health care, and safety. In addition to Stieg Larsson , we've had a slew of other internationally successful "Nordic noir" exports. What's going on? I think the reason that people in Britain and America fell in love with Nordic noir is that they look different.

They had an instant visual appeal, and they were showing people a part of the world—and that's what I try to do in the book—that most people don't know very much about, that few of us go to. We don't speak the languages; we maybe buy some of their products from time to time and listen to their music, but not a lot else. Shows like Forbrydelsen The Killing or Borgen showed different lifestyles, different gender roles, different ways of doing politics. Then there's the appeal of things being dark and terrible in countries that are supposed to be Utopian.

When you told your friends in Scandinavia you were writing a book about them, they said: "Why write about us? We're boring. Yeah, they have a pretty low self-image, particularly in Sweden. I got that a lot. I also got it from my British publisher initially, who said: "Who's really interested in Scandinavia? I had no real idea of the distinct differences within the tribe. So, the root of the book was to help people tell them apart, and find out what we can learn from them, because these societies are very successful.

If you think of them as a family, the Norwegians have traditionally been the country cousins, while the Swedes have been the big brother—the head boy. Then you've got the Danes, who are considered a bit [like] the black sheep of the family: the younger brother who likes a drink or a toke on a spliff. Then you've got the Finns, who are kind of like the mad aunt in the attic. In numerous polls over the past decade, Denmark has ranked as the "happiest" country in the world.

The U. The country also has the second highest consumption of antidepressants. Are these two statistics connected? They also have among the highest levels of alcohol consumption, eat the most candy in the world, and have among the highest consumption of pork products.

It's a really potent cocktail, isn't it? The antidepressant thing is actually a bit of a red herring. You could argue that they're oversubscribed, or there's a better awareness of mental health problems.

But it's not just the past ten years. The Danes have been topping these quality of life polls for decades. Unfortunately, since , their happiness level has plummeted. The latest poll, which came out in December , showed that the Danes who said they were thriving had gone from 83 percent in down to 67 percent in So the take-home seems to be, unfortunately, that money does make you happy. A lot of people don't, and that's one of the big problems Denmark is facing right now.

They have this fantastic welfare state that has traditionally supported people from cradle to grave. If you get sick or lose your job or just fall by the wayside in some way, it's there to pick you up.

As a result, there is a disincentive for people to take menial, low-pay jobs. Depending on whose statistics you believe, it can actually be better paid not to work, also in Sweden. They're trying to change the system. Fisheries and rugged scenery characterise the Faroe Islands, an archipelago in the North Atlantic. The inhabitants of Greenland originate from Central Asia.

The country is part of the North American continent, but geopolitically the island is part of Europe. Mail Facebook Linkedin Twitter.

You can find useful information about the Nordic Region and each of its countries here. Facts about Denmark Denmark, the most southerly of the Nordic countries, is a small, densely populated country, made up of a large of islands skirted by lovely beaches. Facts about Denmark. Facts about Finland Lakes and forests characterise the expansive Finnish landscape.