Denmark is one happy place, and has been that way for decades. When measuring life satisfaction, researchers have consistently concluded that the Danes are the most satisfied, but what is their secret to their happiness?

It’s that Danes have low expectations.

“It’s a David and Goliath thing,” said the lead author, Kaare Christensen, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense. “If you’re a big guy, you expect to be on the top all the time and you’re disappointed when things don’t go well. But when you’re down at the bottom like us, you hang on, you don’t expect much, and once in a while you win, and it’s that much better.”

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