Pros and cons of living in one of the happiest countries in the world!

I’m a 37-year-old guy living in what is supposedly one of the happiest countries in the world, according to the World Population Review, Denmark! Denmark is a small country in Scandinavia with a population of around 5.8 million people. Denmark is located just above Germany, and besides Norway & Sweden.

Denmark is filled with vibrant cities, beautiful nature and high quality of life makes living in Denmark a great choice.

Personally, I love living in Denmark, I love the city I’m living in (Aarhus), but it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. There are pros and cons that are worth considering before deciding to start a life in one of the happiest countries in the world!

Pro’s

1. Free public healthcare When living in Denmark, you get this small yellow card. Also known as a social security card. This can be used widely throughout Denmark in the public sector, but the most important place is when you visit the doctor or go to the hospital. When having this card, there are no financial forms to fill out, bills to worry about, or hassles to manage. If you get sick, you get treated. If you need an operation, you get the operation. This gives some sort of mental peace, knowing that if you get sick, you get treated for free.
2. A workweek is 37 hours. A normal workweek in Denmark consists of around 37 hours. Most offices are empty after 5 PM. Not to mention, that is very common to leave the office before this to pick up children from the daycare etc. This leaves room for family time, hanging out with friends, and having time to do stuff you love, besides working. This doesn’t mean that Danes don’t work hard, they do, very much actually. There is a focus on separating your personal and professional life here, and most employers in Denmark will encourage you to do so.
3. Free education Besides having free healthcare, we also have free education. As a student, you actually get paid by the government to go to college. This is called SU (read about it here). Every student who doesn’t live with their parents receives about 5,839 Danish krones (about $900) per month, and they do not need to pay the state back — even if they drop out of college. Crazy right? This means you don’t necessarily have to go and put yourself in debt, taking student loans etc.
4. Denmark is safe! Living in Denmark is considered safe, very safe actually. Denmark as a very low crime rate. Danes are relaxed, informal, and often ironic. “Hygge” is a thing, shortly explained → making people feel at home — is an essential part of life. Also, Danes are very good at English as they start to learn to English around the age of 10–11 years. This makes it very easy to communicate with the Danes.

Cons

1. Denmark is expensive Generally, all things in Denmark are expensive. Denmark is actually one of the most expensive countries in the world (See this). If you decide to live in the city of Copenhagen or Aarhus, you can expect very high rent rates. If you want to buy an apartment, it’s also pretty costly. Living costs are high, and buying and owning a car is also not cheap. A basic compact car like a Toyota Aygo will cost you around 100,000 DKK. ($17,400). A BMW, depending on the model will set you back around 400,000 DKK ($69,500 USD) and 2.5 million DKK ($434,360 USD).
2. It’s hard to become rich in Denmark Governments focus much on equality in Denmark, The downside about this is that it can become somewhat hard to become rich in Denmark. This is due to very high tax rates on your income. The average person pays a tax at a rate of around 45%. If you are one of the top earners in Denmark, this will increase. Some people pay around 55% percent or above of the salary they make. I work in the tech industry, having a very good salary for a Dane, but I’m paying around 50% of my salary to the government! 50%! This is somewhat depressing as you really don’t get to keep much of your hard-earned money.
3. Not the best weather! Denmark is located further north than many other European countries. Unfortunately, this also means during the winter months there’s not much sunlight and it’s freezing cold. In the autumn, it will likely rain a lot. So the best months in Denmark in my own opinion is definitely the spring and summer months.
4. Danes can be hard to make friends with Of course, this doesn’t apply to me, I’m always happy to make friends with others :) But Danes can be hard to get to know. The average Dane is not as outgoing as Americans, for example. You will need to really put in an effort to make friends. I’ve been to the U.S a lot of times, and it’s one of my favourite places to travel to. I love that people just come up and talk to you. This doesn’t happen in Denmark, at all. Although Danish people are extremely friendly, they are just not as open as other cultures in my experience. Most Danish people keep the same friends from childhood, so getting to become close friends with a Dane can be challenging. Although you’ll never be treated rudely in Denmark, it can be hard to form relationships with a Dane, so you have to be ready to really make an effort.

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