The secret to happiness through the eyes of 250 people living in the 25 happiest countries across the globe

We are living in a world of countless opportunities. A world full of continuous hunger for better. For more. More of everything, including happiness. No surprise that the amount of self-help books about happiness is increasing rapidly, but unfortunately so is the number of burn-outs.

It seems like our Western culture, community and daily life is formed on certain values from the past. Hard work, higher status, more power all equals safety and therefore a good life. However, in today’s global world of endless opportunities, expectations and extrinsic rewards, the question arises whether these factors indeed lead to a good life.

In fact, the question is what makes a good life?

Multiple ways to approach happiness

Today, there are many different definitions of happiness and there are also many surveys and reports on happiness and the happiest countries based on these different definitions. The three most known reports are:

The World Happiness Index - measuring real GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and perceptions of corruption. Based on this list, Norway ranks # 1. Surprisingly or not, we — the Dutchies — are ranked # 6.

The Happy Planet Index - measures sustainable wellbeing for all, measuring human well-being and environmental impact. It tells us how well nations are doing at achieving long, happy, sustainable lives. Ranking Costa Rica # 1 happiest country in the word. The Netherlands holds place # 18.

The Global Emotions report - measures the frequency of daily positive- and negative emotions experienced by people. In the positive experience index, Latin American countries dominate the list. These high scores strongly relate to perceptions on living standards, personal freedoms and the presence of social networks.

250 stories to inspire others

Although these rankings give a good insight into what makes one country a happier than the other they both have a quantitative approach, providing little insights in WHY these countries have relatively high scores on well-being. Besides this, we believe that it is the people who make a country happy, not the numbers.

That’s why we have set up a quest. A quest to better understand what happiness means to people, what makes them happy and what they actively do to achieve happiness.

This year we are visiting the 25 happiest countries to talk to 250 people about happiness

We are curious to meet the people behind those numbers. To hear their story: What does happiness mean to them and what is their secret to being happy.

Whereas theory confirms a certain amount of our happiness is influenced by our DNA and external factors, it also indicates that a large portion of your happiness is influenced by internal factors. By you. Completely by yourself. So what are the secrets of these people do to increase their happiness? What can we learn from them?

It is our ambition to gather and share all these unique personal stories, to inspire others and to motivate them to pursue their own happiness. We truly believe that once we get to know our fellow human beings, when we try to connect to each other and see all the opportunities to learn, that’s when we can easily achieve lasting happiness.

We hope that you’ll follow our journey and be inspired!

But be careful because after all, happiness is contagious :-)