Why We Need More Hygge

Guest: Marie Helweg-Larsen, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Dickinson College Every year, a UN initiative puts out the World Happiness Report that ranks 156 countries based on their happiness levels, which, admittedly, sounds like junk science. But it’s actually based on some very specific measures developed over the years to capture what psychologist’s call “subjective well-being.” The report indicates the percentage of a country’s people who feel they’re living their best possible life, or close to it. The US this year ranked 18th on the report. Denmark, on the other hand, is always in the top three.  Danish psychologist Marie Helweg-Larsen believes that’s because of “hygge”  – which is a concept that we don’t really have here in the U.S.