Studies have shown that people from Denmark are officially the happiest people on Earth, and now scientists think they know why.
According to research from the University of Warwick, genetics could be the key to explaining a nation’s levels of happiness.
Researchers who looked at survey data from 131 countries found that the closer a nation was genetically to the Danes, the happier its people were.
Economists at the University’s Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (Cage) looked at why certain countries top the world happiness rankings.
The research, published by the German economic research institute IZA in its Discussion Paper series, could help to solve the puzzle of why a country like Denmark so regularly tops the world happiness rankings.
Danish birth was also associated with specific versions of a gene that influences brain levels of the mood chemical serotonin.
Compared with people from other countries, Danes were less likely to possess a short version of the gene linked to low levels of life satisfaction.
‘The results were surprising,’ said Economist Dr Eugenio Proto from Cage.
‘We found that the greater a nation’s genetic distance from Denmark, the lower the reported wellbeing of that nation.
‘Our research adjusts for many other influences including Gross Domestic Product, culture, religion and the strength of the welfare state and geography.’
The researchers used data on 131 countries from a number of international surveys including the Gallup World Poll, World Value Survey and the European Quality of Life Surveys.
The researchers linked cross-national data on genetic distance and well-being.
The second form of evidence looked at existing research suggesting an association between mental wellbeing and a mutation of the gene that influences the re-uptake of serotonin, which is believed to be linked to human mood.
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that helps to relay nerve signals.
‘We looked at existing research which suggested that the long and short variants of this gene are correlated with different probabilities of clinical depression, although this link is still highly debated,’ Dr Proto continued.
‘The short version has been associated with higher scores on neuroticism and lower life satisfaction.
‘Intriguingly, among the 30 nations included in the study, it is Denmark and the Netherlands that appear to have the lowest percentage of people with this short version.’
A deficiency of the chemical in the brain is strongly linked to depression while levels are boosted by the drug Ecstasy.
The final piece of evidence looked at whether the link between genetics and happiness also held true across generations, continents and the Atlantic Ocean.
Co-author Professor Andrew Oswald, also from the University of Warwick, said: ‘We used data on the reported well-being of Americans and then looked at which part of the world their ancestors had come from.
‘The evidence revealed that there is an unexplained positive correlation between the happiness today of some nations and the observed happiness of Americans whose ancestors came from these nations, even after controlling for personal income and religion.
‘This study has used three kinds of evidence and, contrary to our own assumptions when we began the project, it seems there are reasons to believe that genetic patterns may help researchers to understand international well-being levels.
‘More research in this area is now needed and economists and social scientists may need to pay greater heed to the role of genetic variation across national populations.’
