Introduction

• The Scandinavians/Nordic countries are ranked the happiest in the world surprising the British-Danish author.
• Denmark has influential TV shows, culture, and architecture. Sweden has pop music, H&M, and Ikea. Finland has Eurovision and mobile phones. Norway has oil.
• Why do people still long for a house in Spain or France, instead of Aalborg or Trondheim?
• We can't really name any famous Scandinavians but we can for other nations.
• The British culture is similar to the Scandinavian one due to their shared history, culture, and language.
• Scandinavia refers to the original Viking lands: Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Iceland and Finland included in these countries is Nordic.

Denmark

• Midsummer's Eve was hijacked by the church and renamed Sankt Hans.
• Copenhagen was bombed by the British in 1807.
• After all that Denmark had lost through wars, it went on a sort of Golden Age throughout the mid 19th century.
• The Gini Coefficient is used to express inequality in a society. It also is likely to predict how happy and healthy its people are.
• The Nordic countries have a high trust rate among its citizens.
• Egalitarianism in Denmark is supposedly to have originated from the Viking Era, but is probably from the high taxes and strong welfare state.
• Denmark is starting to become less egalitarian in terms of their wealth and education, with the rich congregating in the region of Strandvejen and stark differences between education in cities compared to the countryside.
• The Danes pay up to 70% income tax and reliably vote for political parties that favour high taxes. The explanation being that they are highly trusting of the government to their job properly and are somewhat altruistic societally. However, the Danes have 2 ways of underhanding their society - high prevalence of shopping in the black market and high private debt levels.
• Lowest life expectancy in the Nordic countries, highest consumption of sugar, alcohol, and pork.
• Author thinks that there is a culture of denial in Denmark, such as the denial of: poor health, environmentalism, and the existence of Germany.

Iceland

• Part of the Nordic Council (settling the question of "is Iceland a Nordic country")
• Starting as a Norwegian colony, Iceland was lacklustre in population due to the harsh environment, incest, and natural disasters. It was ruled by Denmark but then was liberated by Hitler. Its economy grew after US funding post WW2.
• A few businesses profited off the fishing licenses that was imposed in the 1980s. They moved into banking and these banks bought foreign assets - contrast to other Nordic countries.
• Too tight and close knit society led to the blurring of boundaries between businesses and politicians, with wealthy families known as "The Octopus". Freedom of press is also limited.
• Icelandic people look up to Denmark and its culture, especially the older generations.
• Belief of elves within Icelandic folklore is common.
• Vatnajokull - Iceland's biggest glacier.

Norway

• May 17 is Norway's national day, where everyone dresses up in traditional dirndls. Historically, the date roughly coincided with liberation from Germany and independence from Sweden.
• Nothing seemed to have changed much in Norwegian society post Breivik massacre.