TRENDING SCIENCE: Nine European countries are in the global happiness top 10 list, but do they conceal a darker side?

Seeing the Nordic countries of Finland (1), Denmark (2), Iceland (4), Norway (6) and Sweden (7) consistently in the top 10 of the world’s happiest country rankings is no surprise. In fact, if you add Switzerland (3), the Netherlands (5), Luxembourg (8) and Austria (10), 9 of the 10 countries are in our very own backyard! Germany (13), Ireland (15), the United Kingdom (17), Czechia (18) and Belgium (20) round out to the top 20.

The factors influencing happiness are many, from the Danish concept-turned-buzzword of hygge (cosiness) that has become a global phenomenon to a healthy work-life balance. However, new research published in the journal ‘Scientific Reports’ reveals that people in countries with higher rates of happiness feel greater societal pressure to be happy. This could have detrimental psychological effects.“But is living in one of the world’s happiest nations all it’s cracked up to be? What happens if you struggle to find or maintain happiness in a sea of (supposedly) happy people?” wrote senior author Prof. Brock Bastian of The University of Melbourne and postdoctoral researcher Egon Dejonckheere of KU Leuven, Belgium, in ‘The Conversation’. “So living in happier countries may be good for many. But for some, it can end up feeling like too much to live up to, and have the opposite effect.”

A team of Australian and international researchers measured 7 443 responses from people in 40 countries against their countries’ rates of happiness. The data was obtained from the World Happiness Report.

“Worldwide, when people report feeling pressure to experience happiness and avoid sadness, they tend to experience deficits in mental health,” Prof. Bastian and Dr Dejonckheere explained. “That is, they experience lower satisfaction with their lives, more negative emotion, less positive emotion and higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress.”

“Are there some countries in which this relationship is especially strong?” the authors questioned, noting that “in countries such as Denmark, the social pressure some people felt to be happy was especially predictive of poor mental health. That’s not to say on average people are not happier in those countries – apparently they are - but that for those who already feel a great deal of pressure to keep their chin up, living in happier nations can lead to poorer well-being.”Prof. Bastian and Dr Dejonckheere added that in countries like the Nordics, feeling happy can simply be regarded as the expected norm. The social pressure the people feel to abide by this norm becomes greater. It worsens the consequences if they don’t achieve it.

So what can be done about the pressure to be happy and not sad? The authors offer a solution: “At a personal level, feeling and expressing happiness is a good thing. … While it’s good to bring happiness and positivity to our interactions, it’s also good to know when to tone it down – and avoid alienating those who may not share our joy in the moment. More broadly, perhaps it’s time to rethink how we measure national well-being. … Perhaps it’s time to rank countries not only by how happy they are, but how safe and open they are to the full range of human experiences.”