Denmark is known as a small, safe country with a high standard of living with free health care and education. The crime rate is very low and people don’t live in fenced-in buildings. Even babies are often left to nap outside to get fresh air or while the mother is at a café.

The atmosphere is laid back and the word "hygge" is one of the first ones you will learn. It means the cosiness you enjoy among friends – you relax in a nice atmosphere with good food, dimmed lights, talk about nice things and have a good laugh. The lights being mostly candles – foreigners make fun of us and say we cannot relax unless a candle is lit.

The humour is full of sarcasm and irony. Double check when a Dane says something you may find insulting -  he may not mean it at all. Danes also play on words.

Danes are very well organised and not very impulsive. We make dinner arrangements weeks in advance and put great effort into preparations. We are punctual. Do not be late! Danes will be offended and take it as a lack of respect for their time. Foreigners often see us as reserved, but after a closer look find that we are not. But self-control is a pride. You will hardly ever experience a Dane raising their voice – we suppress our frustrations.

Denmark is known as liberal country. You will find we have a very relaxed relationship to alcohol, and foreigners are often surprised by the liberal view on nudity.

 

Danish butter and bacon are world-famous, but other prides are LEGO, Danish Design, H.C. Andersen, Carlsberg beer and Bang & Olufsen – just to mention a few.

During the last decade Denmark has earned international recognition for its movie productions. The Dogme-phenomenon and Hollywood actors participating in Danish movies have put us on the world map. Also some Danish TV series have won international recognition. Being such a small country we are very proud when we do well internationally.

Environment
Danes care a lot about the environment. An impressive 64% of all waste is being recycled – glass waste is being re-used at a rate of 108%. This is not a statistical error, but a result of the fact that the glass mass is re-used several times over. 20 km off shore in the North Sea a wind turbine park covering 2 square km supplies Denmark with 2% of all its energy.

The infrastructure is very well developed and efficient. It is easy to get around with public transportation. To foreign eyes the country is very clean and all Danes take great pride in organising and structuring. You will experience a nice and neat country.

Denmark is known to be expensive. Many foreigners who move to Denmark will agree on that. The prices are high due to high labour costs. Salaries are high because of strong unions. This means, whenever a Danish hand touches an item, the price goes up. E.g. hairdressers, repairs, design, service, eating out. Therefore you will also find that a lot of things are automated, because companies are cutting labour costs.

Denmark is known for extremely high taxes. Average income tax is around 50%. VAT is 25% on everything. Special taxes apply to certain items: "luxury tax", "environmental tax". The tax most shocking to foreigners is the tax on cars – 180% of the value. Therefore think twice before considering importing a car to Denmark.

However, Danes do not complain too much about the taxes as the benefits are many. We have free education including university, free health care and free dental care for children. Other things are subsidised: care for the elderly, day care for children, after school activities, adult education, cultural events.

 

According to a study by an English University in June 2008 Denmark is the happiest country in the world. You can see more about our happy nation in this programme from CBS 60 minutes:

The Pursuit Of Happiness: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4181996n