另一年，另一份报告称北欧国家是世界上最幸福的国家。

联合国可持续发展解决方案网络每年都会发布世界幸福报告，由Ernesto Illy基金会提供支持，该基金会列出了世界上最幸福的国家。今年的冠军是挪威，它遵循斯堪的纳维亚国家的趋势，即使他们有漫长而寒冷而黑暗的冬季，他们一直在赢得地球上最精彩的地方的称号。

但是，北欧究竟做了什么不同的事情，让公民如此高兴呢？

看起来答案归结为公民和国家支持计划之间的睦邻支持。人们希望感到安全，他们也从他们可以信赖的社区中受益 - 斯堪的纳维亚国家在创造环境方面比大多数人做得更好。

该研究的副编辑之一Jan-Emmanuel De Neve博士说：“斯堪的纳维亚国家在社会支持方面非常重要。 “你可以看到，最大的国家的社会不是彼此都有，而且它们的人均GDP也很高。”

De Neve和该研究的编辑John Helliwell教授都表示，个人更愿意在北欧国家接收并寄回陌生人的钱包，而不是那些排名较低的人，这是编辑们称之为“社会支持”的指标“。

社区精神是一个社会难以创造的事情，但是Helliwell补充说，希望让公民更快乐的政府应该为地方倡议“腾出空间”。

他说：“创造积极的社交空间，人们可以有良好的面对面互动交流是一个开始，”他说。 “如果你把人们聚集在一起，如果你让他们帮助别人，他们会对自己和社会感觉更好。”

De Neve也认为工作场所的工作安全和条件可以对幸福程度产生巨大影响。

“人们在工作场所感到不高兴，因为这里有容易招聘和轻松解雇的文化，”他补充说，美国可能需要更全面的失业计划 - 比如斯堪的纳维亚半岛 - 如果想要攀升幸福报告的行列。 Helliwell对此表示赞同。

“大多数斯堪的纳维亚国家为失业者提供各种服务，”Helliwell说。

“他们有失业保险和子女抚养费。”这些国家也整合了这些计划，并为不同的个人量身定制了一揽子计划。 Helliwell解释说，移民通常会获得语言技能方面的帮助，失业者可以获得工作经验计划的地方，以避免“长期失业的疤痕”。

事实证明，与斯堪的纳维亚相关的寒冷天气和更长的夜晚可能实际上有助于将社区融合在一起。“有一种观点表明，历史上生活在恶劣天气中的社区通过更多的相互支持而聚集在一起，”Helliwell说。 “你也可以在农业社区看到这一点，他们会聚集在谷仓屋顶上，他们不会问谁在支付什么，所以北欧（欧洲）国家的寒冷气候实际上可能会让社会支持变得更容易。

Norway Is Happiest Country in the World. What's the Secret?

Another year, another report saying that the Nordic countries are the happiest in the world.

Every year the UN's Sustainable Development Solutions Network releases the World Happiness Report, backed by the Ernesto Illy Foundation, which lists the happiest countries in the world. This year the winner was Norway, which follows a trend of Scandinavian countries consistently winning the title of the most content places on earth — even though they have a long, cold and dark winter.

But what exactly does Northern Europe do differently that makes its citizens so happy?

It looks like the answer comes down to neighborly support between citizens and state support programs for those in need. People want to feel secure and they also benefit from having a community that they can count on — an environment the Scandinavian countries do better than most in creating.

"The Scandinavian countries are very big on social support," Dr Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, one of the study's associate editors, said. "The top countries, you can see, have societies which are not at each others throats. But also they have high GDP per capita."

Both De Neve and the study's editor Professor John Helliwell said that individuals are more likely to pick up and return a stranger's wallet in the Nordic countries than in those that appeared lower down the rankings, which was an indicator of what the editors call "social support."

Community spirit is a difficult thing to create in a society, but Helliwell added that governments looking to make their citizens happier should "make room" for local initiatives.

"Creating positive social spaces where people can have good face to face interactions with each other is a start," he said. "If you bring people together, if you have them helping other people, they feel better about themselves and about society."

De Neve also believes that job security and conditions in a workplace can have a dramatic impact on levels of happiness.

"People become unhappy in the workplace where there is a culture of easily hiring and easily firing," he said, adding that the U.S. might need to have more comprehensive unemployment programs — like Scandinavia's — if it wants to climb the ranks of the happiness report. Helliwell agrees.

"Most of the Scandinavian countries have a variety of services for the unemployed," Helliwell said.

"They have unemployment insurance and child support." The countries also integrate these programs and have packages that are tailored for different individuals. Helliwell explained that immigrants are often given help with language skills and those out of work are offered places on work experience programs, to avoid "the scarring of long term unemployment."

And it turns out that the colder weather and longer nights associated with Scandinavia might actually help bring communities together."There is a view which suggests that historically communities that lived in harsher weather were brought together by greater mutual support," Helliwell said. "You see this with farming communities as well, who will get together to pull a barn roof up. They don't ask about who's paying what. So the colder climate of the Northern [European] countries might actually make social support easier."