The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia
All of the Nordic countries have high levels of trust, but the Danes are the most trusting people on the planet.
Michael Booth • The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia
When they are not striving to be perceived by their fellow countrymen as duktig, the Swedes will seek to impress each other with how lagom they are. Lagom is another key Swedish watchword. It means “according to law” or “according to accepted custom,” but implies being “moderate,” “reasonable,” “fair,” “acting in a common-sense way,” “rational.” Th
... See moreMichael Booth • The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia
Today, Danish households have the highest ratio of debt-to-income of any country in the Western world: the Danes owe, on average, 310 percent of their annual income, more than double that of the Portuguese or Spanish, and quadruple that of the Italians.
Michael Booth • The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia
He had a theory that the Finnish language—which some argue has its origins in the same group as Mongolian, Japanese, and Turkish—directly informs the character of the people. “Behaviors and value systems come from the grammar, the language. In Sweden, Norway, all of Scandinavia really, Germany, and England, we all speak languages that are dialects
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I don’t believe this is the case, but Sweden does appear to be sitting on a demographic time bomb. It is the only country in the world in which people over eighty years old make up more than 5 percent of the population (the global average is 1 percent). Almost 20 percent of Swedes are over sixty-five, making Sweden the oldest country in Scandinavia
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Midsummer’s Eve is one of the highlights of the Scandinavian calendar; pagan in origin but hijacked by the Church and renamed in honor of “Sankt Hans” (St. John). In Sweden they will be dancing around maypoles garlanded with flowers; in Finland and Norway they will have gathered around bonfires. Here in Denmark, in the garden of my friend’s summerh
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For many Danes, their tax burden seems to be the ultimate symbol of collective sacrifice.
Michael Booth • The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia
I am here because, according to some, the Vikings are the best bet as to the source of the Danes’ remarkable egalitarianism.
Michael Booth • The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia
In 1998 a poll revealed that 54.4 percent said they believed in elves.