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Assia Boussouf
Céline Ates
Suzie Del signore

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Thaïs, Mathilde, Lili-Rose

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Are you an ambitious student seeking to improve your career possibilities while having the time of your life? Then Norway is worth checking out.

Study off the beaten track - go north!

Do you have questions related to the Corona situation? Here you will find more information.

Quality education

Despite being a small country Norwegian universities and university colleges deliver quality education which also international exchange and degree seeking students benefit from. Studying in Norway will improve your career possibilities, both at home and abroad.

However, chances are high you might be surprised by the informal atmosphere on campus. Teachers are easily approachable, tuition often takes place in small groups and as a student you are encouraged to develop a critical mind. We believe this is the best way to prepare you for the future.

English

A number of degree programmes and courses are taught in English. Non-native-English students will see that their English skills improve during their studies in Norway, while native-English students will not get bored. A high level of English in the society in general makes it easy to both study and live in Norway.
Find your future study programme here!
Nature

Combine studies with amazing outdoor adventures. Experience the Aurora Borealis ("Northern lights"), the midnight sun, the fjords, the mountains and.....we could go on forever. Nature is never far from wherever you are located in Norway.

Or you could just simply enjoy the fresh air, clean water and lots and lots of space. As a student in Norway you will never be short of possibilities for unique nature experiences. Make sure you make the most out of it; it may well be your once in a lifetime experience!

Free education

Norway is a small country with big resources. It is a priority to Norwegian authorities to maintain and develop an education system of high quality, which is open to all, regardless of the student's social and economic background. This also counts for international students. However, beware that Norway is a high cost country, and as an international student you must be able to cover your living costs in Norway during your studies.

Society

Norway is a modern society. Equality is a value deeply rooted in the Norwegian society and is rooted in both legislation and tradition. On campus students benefit from high technological standards and services, modern facilities and equipment, as well as innovative teaching. Norway is also seen as a safe society - you can feel secure almost wherever you are.

What are you waiting for? Explore your Study in Norway opportunities today!
The Norwegian education system 2017 (facts and figures)

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Study in Norway / StudyinNorway / Home - Study in Norway

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Are you an ambitious student seeking to improve your career possibilities while having the time of your life? Then Norway is worth checking out. Study off the beaten track - go north! Do you have questions related to the Corona situation? Here you will find more information.

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Preparatory course

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1. Norwegian nature is amazing - and Norwegians want to keep it that way
2. A safe place to study
3. Free education
4. Excellent English
5. Tolerant society
6. Startups

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The Norwegian student experience is among the most pleasant and enriching. The cities are hip and the natural landscapes are unparalleled. Whether you study in town or the country, you will find a quietly welcoming community that enjoys good living conditions, and interesting job opportunities to tr…

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7 reasons to study in Norway + Help on how to do it and Update!  (Study in Norway for FREE!)

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The real reason you should study in Norway is to understand why this small country is number 1 in productivity per worker, with almost 50% more gross domestic product per hour than the UK. But how do Norwegian leaders get their workers to deliver such impressive numbers?

Studying in Norway will give you a full grasp of the Scandinavian leadership model. You will understand how the inherent Norwegian mentality for equality and a flat hierarchy provide such an effective work force, by experiencing it first hand.

But Norway is also beautiful!

Norway is the northernmost country in Europe and includes a great variety of natural scenery. The span from the lowlands in the southeast to the spectacular fjords and high mountains and coastline in the west and north is very striking. If you enjoy hiking and huge outdoor experiences, this is a fantastic place to be.

And wealthy

Since oil was discovered off the coast in 1969 Norwegians have enjoyed a high standard of living. It is a safe society and the crime rate is low. It has an attractive labour market and the unemployment rate is only 3.6 per cent (June 2019). Norway has an open economy with many international corporations and extensive foreign trade.

It is a welfare society where it is quite possible to combine a challenging career with family life and leisure.

Leading edge

Norway is a world leader in industries such as oil and gas, oil and gas services, renewable energy, shipping, telecommunications, high-tech products and fish farming. If you are planning a career in any of the aforementioned industries, studying in Norway and at BI will provide you with a huge advantage.

The Norwegian people

All Norwegians speak English brilliantly, and they love practising their language skills with people from other countries. They are known for being a bit reserved, but always helpful. And they make loyal friends you will keep for a lifetime.

Norwegians love the outdoors. The go skiing or hiking every chance they get. Or so goes the stereotype...

They also love movies, concerts and the urban lifestyle. Oslo has more rock concerts per year than Stockholm and Copenhagen combined, and plays host to a number of summer festivals.

IS NORWAY EXPENSIVE?

Norwegians are very clever. They basically tax anything that is either unhealthy for you or bad for the environment. Thus, alcohol and cigarettes can be expensive, as well as fuel if you own a car. Today electric cars have become quite common and Norway has earned a reputation as a leading country in green initiatives.

Health care is rather affordable and the amazing outdoor experiences are free! If you join the Norwegian Trekking Association or other similar associations, you can stay at some of their mountain cabins for minimal fees.

Your fellow students will also show you where you can find good deals. Student housing is subsidised by the government, so housing is very affordable and at a very high standard. In addition, the prices at student pubs are always very reasonable.

Is Norway cold?

While the country is the most northern in Europe, it isn't as cold as you might imagine. The warm water from the Gulf Stream heats Norway to an acceptable level for most people. Coastal areas have relatively mild winters with temperatures rarely falling below -4C (24.8F) .

Norwegians are experts in everything winter so you will soon pick up the Norwegian way of dressing in layers, learn how to walk on ice, and enjoy the winter season and skiing.

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The real reason you should study in Norway is to understand why this small country is number 1 in productivity per worker, with almost 50% more gross domestic product per hour than the UK. But how do Norwegian leaders get their workers to deliver such impressive numbers?

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Introduction

From 2013 until today, every time the World Happiness Report (WHR) has published its annual ranking of countries, the five Nordic countries - Finland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland - have all been in the top ten, with Nordic countries occupying the top three spots in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Clearly, when it comes to the level of average life evaluations, the Nordic states are doing something right, but Nordic exceptionalism isn't confined to citizen's happiness. No matter whether we look at the state of democracy and political rights, lack of corruption, trust between citizens, felt safety, social cohesion, gender equality, equal distribution of incomes, Human Development Index, or many other global comparisons, one tends to find the Nordic countries in the global top spots.

What exactly makes Nordic citizens so exceptionally satisfied with their lives? This is the question that this chapter aims to answer. Through reviewing the existing studies, theories, and data behind the World Happiness Report, we find that the most prominent explanations include factors related to the quality of institutions, such as reliable and extensive welfare benefits, low corruption, and well-functioning democracy and state institutions. Furthermore, Nordic citizens experience a high sense of autonomy and freedom, as well as high levels of social trust towards each other, which play an important role in determining life satisfaction. On the other hand, we show that a few popular explanations for Nordic happiness such as the small population and homogeneity of the Nordic countries, and a few counterarguments against Nordic happiness such as the cold weather and the suicide rates, actually don't seem to have much to do with Nordic happiness.

Most of the potential explanatory factors for Nordic happiness are highly correlated with each other and often also mutually reinforcing, making it hard to disentangle cause from effect. Therefore, focusing on just a single explanation may result in distorted interpretations. For example, does trust in institutions and other citizens create a fertile ground for building a welfare state model with extensive social benefits? Or does the welfare state model contribute to low crime and corruption, which leads citizens to trust each other more? Most likely, both directions of influence play a role, leading to a self-reinforcing feedback loop that produces high levels of trust in the Nordic region, and a high-functioning state and society model. We seek insight on this by taking a brief look at the history of the Nordic countries, which helps us to identify some practical takeaways about what other countries could learn from the Nordic region to ignite a positive feedback loop and enhance the happiness of their citizens. As Thomas Jefferson noted in 1809, "The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government."

Review of existing explanations

Many theories have been put forth to explain the high level of Nordic happiness, from successful modernization and the ability to support better the less well off, to high levels of social capital. Here we review the most prominent theories to see the strength of their explanatory power as regards Nordic happiness. After having reviewed each explanation individually in this section, we turn to the more difficult question of how these factors are linked together, as there are crucial interlinks and feedback mechanisms between them.

Weather, smallness, homogeneity, and suicides - Dispelling four myths contradicting the idea of Nordic happiness

Before turning to what we see as the most probable explanations for Nordic happiness, we will dispel some myths that challenge Nordic happiness by discussing a few factors sometimes raised in popular press that in fact don't have much to do with Nordic happiness.

First, it is true that the Nordic countries do not have the pleasant tropical weather that popular images often associate with happiness; rather, the Nordic winter tends to be long, dark, and cold. It is true that people account for changes in weather in their evaluations of life satisfaction, with too hot, too cold, and too rainy weather decreasing life satisfaction. However, effect sizes for changes in weather tend to be small, and are complicated by people's expectations and seasonal patterns. For example, people in the tropics are found to be happier during winter but less happy during spring, as compared to people in more temperate zones. Average weather is something people adapt to and thus typically doesn't much affect the life satisfaction of those used to a given weather. Accordingly, although the warming of the weather due to climate change could slightly increase the life satisfaction of people living in cold countries such as the Nordic countries, based on current evidence, weather probably doesn't play a major role in increasing or decreasing Nordic happiness.

Third, it is often suggested that it is easier to build welfare societies in small and homogenous countries such as the Nordics, compared to larger and more diverse countries. However, research has not found a relationship, either negative or positive, between the size of a country's population and life satisfaction. In addition, smaller countries on average are not more homogenous than larger countries. In fact, today the Nordic countries are actually quite heterogenous, with some 19 % of the population of Sweden being born outside the country. Some empirical studies have found that increased ethnic diversity is associated with reduced trust. This is attributed to ethnically diverse societies having more difficulty generating and sharing public goods, but Eric Uslaner shows that it is not ethnic diversity per se, but rather ethnic residential segregation that undermines trust. Corroborating this, other research has demonstrated that the economic inequality between ethnic groups, rather than cultural or linguistic barriers, seems to explain this effect of ethnic diversification leading to less public goods. Thus the historical fact that the Nordic countries have not had an underclass of slaves or cheap labor imported from colonies could play some role in explaining the Nordic path to welfare societies. Furthermore, Charron & Rothstein show that the effect of ethnic diversity on social trust becomes negligible when controlling for quality of government, indicating that in countries of high-quality institutions such as the Nordic countries, ethnic diversity might not have any effect on social trust. Furthermore, according to the analysis in World Happiness Report 2018, the ratio of immigrants within a country has no effect on the average level of happiness of those locally born, with the ten happiest countries having foreign-born population shares averaging 17.2 %, about twice as much as the world average. Other studies have tended to find a small positive rather than negative effect of immigration on the well-being of locally born populations. Ethnic homogeneity thus provides no explanation of Nordic happiness.

Also, immigrants within a country tend to be about as happy as people born locally. As we argue later, quality of governmental institutions play a big part of Nordic happiness and these institutions serve all people living within the country, including immigrants. This is a probable explanation for the high ranking of the Nordics in the comparison of happiness of foreign-born people in various countries, in which Finland, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland occupy the top four spots, with Sweden seventh globally. The well-being advantage of the Nordic countries thus extends also to those immigrating to these countries.

Welfare state generosity

Given that the Nordic countries are renowned for their welfare-state model with extensive social benefits, a natural candidate to explain Nordic happiness is the welfare state. Early analyses quantifying welfare as an aggregate measure of government welfare spending, like the percentage of GDP devoted to public welfare programs, tended to find no link between welfare expenditure and happiness, or even a negatively-correlated link. Government spending as such thus seems not to be clearly linked to greater or worse life satisfaction, which is no surprise given that government spending is tightly linked to economic cycles and demographic changes, rather than an adequate measure for tracking the distribution and redistribution of goods and services. More recent work has tended to operationalize the welfare state in terms of the benefits (in-kind and in-cash) offered to citizens rather than mere spending as proportion of GDP, because the latter does not tell what the state actually provides for its citizens. In a longitudinal study of 18 industrial countries from 1971-2002, Pacek and Radcliff examine welfare state generosity by using an index capturing the extent of emancipation from market dependency in terms of pensions, income maintenance for the ill or disabled, and unemployment benefits, finding that welfare state generosity exerts a positive and significant impact on life satisfaction. Another study that examined OECD countries found that indicators such as the extensiveness of welfare benefits and degree of labor market regulation had a significant positive association with life satisfaction. This study also found that this effect is not moderated by people's income, meaning that both poor and rich individuals and households benefit from more extensive government. Income security in case of unemployment plays a strong role in determining life satisfaction, as both unemployment and fear of unemployment strongly affect quality of life. Furthermore, using Gallup World Poll data, Oishi et al. demonstrate that the positive link between progressive taxation and global life evaluation is fully mediated by citizens' satisfaction with public and common goods such as health care, education, and public transportation that the progressive taxation helps to fund. These and other studies suggest that one secret to Nordic happiness is the institutional framework of the Nordic welfare state. People tend to be happier in countries where there is easy access to relatively generous welfare benefits, and where the labor market is regulated to avoid employee exploitation.

Institutional quality

Quality of government is another key explanation often provided for the high life satisfaction of Nordic countries, because in comparisons of institutional quality, the Nordic countries occupy the top spots along with countries such as New Zealand and Switzerland. Indeed, several studies have shown that people are more satisfied with their lives in countries that have better institutional quality. While most of the evidence is cross-sectional, Helliwell et al. examined changes in government quality in 157 countries over the years 2005-2012, finding that improvements in quality tend to lead to improvements in well-being. Moreover, as regards changes in well-being, changes in government quality explained as much as changes in GDP.

Typically, government quality has been divided into two dimensions: democratic quality and delivery quality. The first is about the access to power including factors such as the ability to participate in selecting the government, freedom of expression, freedom of association, and political stability. The latter is about the exercise of power, including the rule of law, control of corruption, regulatory quality, and government effectiveness. These dimensions are typically deeply embedded into institutional practices of a given country, thereby promoting continuity and stabilizing people's expectations. Studies have tended to find that it is the latter type of government quality, delivery quality, that is more strongly related to citizen happiness. However, in countries with high delivery quality, such as the Nordic countries, the quality of democracy plays an increasingly strong role in further explaining citizen life satisfaction.

These studies demonstrate that the quality of the government and public institutions matter for life satisfaction. The Nordic countries tend to occupy the top spots in international comparisons of government quality, which helps to explain the high life satisfaction in these countries.

Income inequality

The Nordic countries are also famous for low levels of income inequality, but the evidence is not clear that a lack of income inequality is a potential explanation for high life satisfaction. Zagorski et al., for example, in their examination of 28 European countries, found that while inequality is negatively correlated with average life satisfaction, this effect disappears completely when controlled for GDP per capita. This conclusion is supported by other research that similarly found no link between income inequality and well-being, while there are also studies that have found both negative and positive correlations between inequality and well-being. The range of results from positive to negative to no connection suggest that no clear link exists between income inequality and well-being. Instead, this connection is sensitive to the inclusion of various covariates. However, if inequality leads to lower levels of perceived fairness and trust, and high levels of status anxiety and lack of economic and social opportunities, these factors might more directly contribute to a lower life satisfaction in the nation. Furthermore, living in a highly-developed welfare state seems to have an impact on people's perceptions of the acceptance of income inequality. More particularly, Europeans prefer more equal societies, and inequality has a negative relation with happiness, especially among the poor in Europe. Thus, low levels of inequality might be important for the happiness of Nordic citizens, even though the same direct effect is not visible in many other countries.

Freedom to make life choices

Autonomy and the freedom to make life choices are known to be connected to subjective well-being. For example, a study of 63 countries showed that the degree to which autonomy and individualism were valued in those countries was a more consistent predictor of well-being (measured with anxiety, burnout, and general health) than national wealth. Accordingly, the extent to which a country is able to provide individuals a sense of agency, freedom, and autonomy plays a significant role in explaining citizen happiness. Using World Values Survey data from 1981 to 2007, Inglehart et al. showed that rises in national levels of sense of free choice were associated with similar rises in national levels of subjective well-being, with change in free choice explaining about 30% of the change over time in subjective well-being. Other research has also demonstrated the importance of freedom to make life choices for national levels of happiness. Inglehart et. al argue and demonstrate in their data that this sense of freedom is the result of three factors that feed into each other including material prosperity that liberates people from scarcity, democratic political institutions that liberate people from political oppression, and more tolerant and liberal cultural values that give people more room to express themselves and their unique identity. For Inglehart, the Nordic countries constitute "the leading example of successful modernization, maximizing prosperity, social solidarity, and political and personal freedom." Thus the high sense of autonomy and freedom - and the resulting high well-being - that Nordic citizens experience can be attributed to relatively high material prosperity combined with well-functioning democracy and liberal values that prevail in the Nordic countries.

Trust in other people and social cohesion

Furthermore, it has been argued that social cohesion, which is a broader notion than generalized trust, predicts well-being. In a recent study, Delhey and Dragolov defined social cohesion as having three dimensions including connectedness to other people, having good social relations, and having a focus on the common good. They found that both the aggregate level of social cohesion as well as each of the three dimensions individually were associated with higher well-being in a sample of 27 European Union countries. The three Nordic countries included in the analysis - Denmark, Finland, and Sweden - occupy the top three positions in their index of social cohesion, making trust and social cohesion one additional explanation for the Nordic happiness.

Other explanations

The explanations of Nordic happiness mentioned in the review above are by no means an exhaustive list. Many other factors can be used to try to explain Nordic happiness. For example, economic insecurity and vulnerability to economic losses are detrimental for well-being. The Nordic countries, due to the extensive welfare benefits, are better able to make their citizens less vulnerable to economic insecurity than other countries.

Examining Nordic countries in WHR data

The World Happiness Report tends to use six factors as predictors of life evaluation: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and corruption. Are the Nordic countries somehow different as regards these six factors? Among these factors, are there some in which the Nordic countries perform especially well, which could explain why Nordic countries are so happy?

To examine this issue, we take a look at the Gallup World Poll data as regards these factors. Given that the Nordic countries are all relatively rich (Nordic countries occupy a range from 6 (Norway) to 21 (Finland) in the 149-country ranking of GDP per capita), we are especially interested what factors beyond GDP per capita make the Nordic countries stand out. For this we compare the ten richest non-Nordic countries - Luxembourg, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Ireland, Switzerland, Hong Kong, United States, and the Netherlands - with the five Nordic countries as regards the six predictors. This allows us to consider how the Nordic countries are able to produce more happiness than countries that have higher GDP.

Table 7.1: The factors influencing happiness in Nordic and richest countries

Table 7.1 shows that the Netherlands and Switzerland are in essence indistinguishable from the Nordic countries on the examined six factors: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and corruption. The Netherlands and Switzerland, along with the Nordic countries, rank high not only in life satisfaction, but also in social support, freedom to make life choices, and lack of corruption. In fact, the Nordic countries occupy the top positions across the world for social support, and are all in top ten for freedom. For lack of corruption, the Nordic countries are otherwise in the global top ten, but Iceland is surprisingly only 36th. This may reflect a recent banking crisis that revealed major economic and social irregularities among the Icelandic elite, which would make this low position temporary. As regards generosity, measured by how much people donate money to charity, there is more variability within the Nordic countries, with Finland being below world average and only Iceland making it into the top 10. This result might be specific to charity donations, because the Nordic countries tend to have high scores for comparisons of other types of prosocial behavior such as volunteering. As regards healthy life expectancy, the Nordic countries are found in spots from 13 to 27. This is relatively high, but not best in the world. However, differences between countries are rather small in this variable. Thus, it seems that what unites the Nordic countries as regards these predictors of life satisfaction is high levels of social support, freedom to make life choices, and lack of corruption.

Recently, more attention has been given not only to the average levels of happiness in countries, but the degree of equality of happiness within countries. In other words, is the distribution of happiness narrow in the sense that responses cluster around the same average answer, or wide in the sense that there is a broad range of answers provided to questions about happiness? Some previous research suggests that happiness differences in Nordic countries might be smaller than in other countries, and accordingly we examine WHR data to see how equally distributed the happiness scores are in the Nordic countries as compared to the rest of the world. For this, we looked at the coefficients of variation calculated by dividing the standard deviations of life evaluation by the averages of life evaluation in 149 countries using the average of last three years data. We want to compare Nordic scores to global averages and to the scores of the ten richest countries in the world.

Table 7.2: Coefficient of variation in life evaluation across countries

As Table 7.2 shows, all Nordic countries are in the top eleven in the world as regards low levels of variance in life evaluations, well below the global average and the average of the richest countries. This means that there is less inequality in happiness in the Nordic countries and countries such as the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, meaning that people's happiness scores tend to be closer to one another in these countries compared to other countries in the world. Of the top ten richest countries in the world, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Switzerland rank similarly to Nordic countries in terms of both high life satisfaction and low inequality of life satisfaction scores. In contrast, the other richest countries-the United States, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, and especially Saudi Arabia and Kuwait-have a more unequal distribution of happiness, and the average life satisfaction in these countries is lower than in the Nordics.

Finally, it is worth noting that high Nordic happiness levels are dependent on the measure of happiness used. The World Happiness Report and most other international comparisons use general life evaluation as the measure of citizen happiness. In the WHR, people are asked to make a general evaluation of their life on a Cantril ladder scale from 0 to 10, with the worst possible life as 0 and the best possible life as 10. In these studies, we consistently find the Nordic countries are the happiest in the world.

However, if instead of life satisfaction, we look at the data for the prevalence of positive emotions in various countries, we see that Latin American countries like Paraguay, Costa Rica, and Mexico, as well as Laos in Southeast Asia, occupy the top positions, with Iceland third in the world and other Nordic countries in positions ranging from 15 to 36. Similarly, Gallup World Poll's Positive Experience Index has nine Latin American countries and Indonesia in the top 10. Nordic countries thus seem to be places where people experience quite frequent positive emotions, but they are not the countries where people report the most frequent positive emotions. Similarly, in a ranking of countries by lack of negative emotions, Iceland (3rd), Sweden (9th) and Finland (10th) make it into the top ten, while Denmark and Norway are 24th and 26th, respectively. What these results demonstrate is the multidimensional nature of human wellness and well-being. High life satisfaction, on an individual or national level, is not a guarantee that one has high frequency of positive emotions or low frequency of negative emotions. Examining multiple indicators of happiness leads to a richer picture of the type and nature of national happiness. When newspapers declared Denmark the happiest country on earth in 2012, 2013, and 2016, Norway in 2017, and Finland in 2018 and 2019, many citizens of these countries were taken by surprise, because they held much more melancholic self-images. Perhaps they were thinking about smiling, displays of joy or other indicators of positive affect, concluding rightly that they are not as prevalent in these countries as in some other countries. Yet, if they would have been thinking about life satisfaction, they very well could have concluded that yes, despite our grudges, citizens here tend to be quite satisfied with how their lives have turned out. As noted, of the multiple well-being measures, general life evaluation is the one most frequently used and recommended for evaluating the well-being of countries, as it is more responsive than positive or negative emotions to changes in various national-level factors, such as wealth or policy decisions.

History and the Hunt for the Root Cause

The key difficulty in explaining Nordic exceptionalism is that the Nordic countries rank highly on such a number of well-being predicting indicators that it is hard to disentangle cause and effect. There are a cluster of factors that tend to co-occur, including high life satisfaction, high levels of social and institutional trust, high-quality democratic institutions, extensive welfare benefits, and social-economic equality, and this cluster of factors is nowhere else so strong as in the Nordics. However, from the point of view of policy-makers interested in replicating the Nordic model, it is not particularly helpful to know just that all of these positive factors are concentrated in the same countries; rather, policy-makers need concrete ways to produce higher levels of happiness, and those can be hard to find. For example, Rothstein and Uslaner argue that if a country is trapped in a vicious cycle of low social and institutional trust, high corruption, and high levels of inequality, it can be hard to build the citizen and public servant trust needed to make the necessary reforms for a more trustworthy and representative system that serves all citizens equally. The Nordic countries, in contrast, are arguably caught up in a virtuous cycle, where well-functioning and democratic institutions are able to provide citizens extensive benefits and security, so that citizens trust institutions and each other, which leads them to vote for parties that promise to preserve the welfare model. Both of these situations might be thought of as relatively stable, and thus, the crucial question is how to get from a low-trust equilibrium to a high-trust equilibrium. Here, a historical look into how the Nordic countries made this leap provides some insight.

In the beginning of the modern era, the Nordic countries didn't have the kind of feudalism and serfdom that characterized continental Europe and Russia. Farmers were relatively more independent and many of them owned the land they cultivated. Furthermore, in the decades leading to the twentieth century, farmers held significant political power, even within the Nordic parliaments. Although there were class conflicts in the Nordic countries, as well - most dramatically the Finnish Civil War between leftist "reds" and rightist "whites" in 1918 that led to over 30,000 casualties - the divide in the Nordics was less deep than in most other countries during that era, making possible "a historical compromise" and the development of a "spirit of trust" between the laboring classes and the elite in the early decades of the twentieth century. While in other Nordic countries, the transformation was peaceful, what is remarkable of the Finnish trajectory is how quickly after the civil war the unification of the country started. Many institutions were reconstructed in a few years. For instance, less than a year after the end of the war, the Social Democratic Party, which had been on the losing side of the war, was allowed to participate in general elections and became the biggest party in the parliament. Within a few years, most of the reforms that the left had fought for in the civil war, such as the agrarian land reform, had been implemented through parliamentary means.

One potential root cause for the Nordic model thus could be the fact that the Nordic countries didn't have the deep class divides and economic inequality of most other countries at the beginning of the twentieth century. Research tends to show that inequality has a strong effect on generalized trust. In more equal societies, people trust each other more. This increased trust contributes in the long term to a preference for a stronger and more universal welfare state. Although statistics about social trust do not exist from a hundred years ago, we know that levels of social trust tend to be remarkably stable over relatively long historical periods, supporting the role of social trust as contributing to the building of better institutions.

As regards historical influences, some people argue that the legacy of the Protestant religion dominant in the Nordic countries contributes to Nordic exceptionalism. Indeed, in cross-cultural comparisons, Protestantism seems to be positively related to institutional quality and generalized trust, as well as higher life satisfaction. However, given that there are relatively few Protestant countries in the world, it is hard to say whether this has something to do with religion itself or if it is just a historical coincidence. For example, Broms and Rothstein argue that it was not the religious doctrines of Protestantism that contributed to more inclusive state institutions later on, but rather the fact that the local parishes in Protestant countries were more inclusive, egalitarian, representative, and monetarily accountable already in the 16th century as compared to other religious institutions. Rather than being an explanation for high institutional quality in Nordic countries, Protestant religious institutions might have been one part in the chain of historical institutional development taking place in the Nordic countries.

Accordingly, one way to try to understand the Nordic model is to state that high levels of social and institutional trust produced by mass education and relatively equal societal setting in the beginning of the 20th century made possible the public support for the welfare state policies that were introduced throughout the century, which further enhanced the social and institutional trust. Although there are many historical particularities and path dependencies that make the picture more complex, one could argue that the main flow of events towards the Nordic model started from low levels of inequality and mass education, which transformed into social and institutional trust, and later allowed for the formation of well-functioning welfare state institutions.

Conclusion

The Nordic countries are characterized by a virtuous cycle in which various key institutional and cultural indicators of good society feed into each other including well-functioning democracy, generous and effective social welfare benefits, low levels of crime and corruption, and satisfied citizens who feel free and trust each other and governmental institutions. While this chapter focuses on the Nordic countries, a quick glance at the other countries regularly found at the top of international comparisons of life satisfaction - Switzerland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Canada, and Australia - reveals that they also have most of the same elements in place. Thus, there seems to be no secret sauce specific to Nordic happiness that is unavailable to others. There is rather a more general recipe for creating highly satisfied citizens: Ensure that state institutions are of high quality, non-corrupt, able to deliver what they promise, and generous in taking care of citizens in various adversities.

Granted, there is a gap between knowing what a happiness-producing society looks like and transforming a certain society to follow that model. Low-trust societies easily get trapped into a vicious cycle where low levels of trust in corrupt institutions lead to low willingness to pay taxes and low support for reforms that would allow the state to take better care of its citizens. Thus, there is no easy path from the vicious cycle into a virtuous cycle. However, we shall give a few ideas for constructing what we see as helpful pathways.

Firstly, the quality of institutions plays a key role in ensuring citizen happiness. Thus, minimizing corruption and maximizing citizen participation and representation in various decisions can help to ensure that institutions serve citizens and maintain their trust. Democratic quality and factors such as free press, informed and educated citizens, and strong civic society play an important role in keeping the government accountable and citizen-oriented.

On a cultural level, arguably the most important factor is to generate a sense of community, trust, and social cohesion among citizens. A divided society has a hard time providing the kind of public goods that would universally support each citizen's ability to live a happier life. In a divided society, people also tend to be less supportive of various welfare benefits because worry they would benefit the 'other' groups, as well. When people care about each other and trust each other, this provides a much more stable base on which to build public support for various public goods and welfare benefit programs.

Thus, institutionally, building a government that is trustworthy and functions well, and culturally, building a sense of community and unity among the citizens are the most crucial steps towards a society where people are happy. While the Nordic countries took their own particular paths to their current welfare state model, each country must follow its own path. If citizen well-being and happiness are truly the goals of government, then taking seriously research on institutional and cultural determinants of citizen happiness is the first step in starting an evidence-based journey towards fulfilling that goal.

References

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Endnotes
Back to the 2020 report

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The Nordic Exceptionalism: What Explains Why the Nordic Countries Are Constantly Among the Happiest in the World

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From 2013 until today, every time the World Happiness Report (WHR) has published its annual ranking of countries, the five Nordic countries - Finland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland - have all been in the top ten, with Nordic countries occupying the top three spots in 2017, 2018, and 2019.

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Protection of Asian Black Bears and Environmental Conservation at a National Park in Japan

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The town of Karuizawa is located inside of Joshinnetsu National Park. It is a popular tourist mountain resort, surrounded by lush forests full of biodiversity, featuring animals such as Asian Black Bears, Snow Monkeys, Flying Squirrels, boars and many species of birds.

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Volontariat Japon, Mission humanitaire, Bénévolat pour 2021, 2022

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Découvrez nos missions de volontariat au Japon, pour vous engager auprès d’enfants dans des garderies ou pour la protection des animaux et des habitats naturels de l’archipel.

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Japon

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Si vous étouffez dans la mégalopole de Tokyo, si la nature et le grand air vous manquent, sautez dans un train direction Karuizawa.

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Clou Conditions Services inclus Dates et Prix Avis

Non lucratif

fondée en 2010

Réservez avec l'option Flex ! Choisissez de nouvelles dates de départ ou passez à un autre programme de volontariat sans frais supplémentaires.

Clou

Volunteer and educate the public about dolphins to increase awareness

Help with maintaining aquariums to ensure that the dolphins are doing well

Experience working with one of the most intelligent creatures in the world

Explore nearby beaches or cities in your free time

Assist with guided tours through the public center and take part in various activities

Venture into Bunbury, Western Australia where you will volunteer to help with the conservation of dolphins and educate the public about these magnificent creatures! This volunteer program is especially suitable for:

Experience the amazing feeling of working with one of the world's intelligent creatures; Dolphins! Venture into Bunbury, Western Australia where you will have a chance to swim with these amazing creatures while working towards a worthwhile cause of increasing public awareness of these dolphins and other marine life!

The Dolphin Program is a popular project for both international and local volunteers with hundreds being attracted to the project each year. Many of them even return to relive the wonderful experience in beautiful Australia! For a minimum of eight weeks you will volunteer and live in Bunbury where you will help with the Conservation, Education, Tourism and Research of the local bottlenose dolphins! Meet volunteers and tourists from all over the world on a daily basis and create long lasting friendships! If you are looking for a unique volunteering opportunity to have a fun time while contributing towards a worthwhile cause then this project is perfect for you! Take part in the day to day activities of the project! Become a swim tour guide or talk to visitors from all over the world about the program and these amazing creatures. Learn about the life of the bottlenose dolphins! The beach is just two minutes away from the project and is perfect for relaxation! Apply now and don't miss the opportunity to have a fantastic volunteer experience!

Volunteers will work alongside other international and local volunteers as well as qualified staff who will train you during your stay.
Volunteers have to commit to a minimum of 6 weeks and need to be flexible, open minded, timely, honest and dependable. No special skills or equipment are needed.

This project is located in Bunbury, Western Australia which is a nice and safe seaside town where a number of dolphins frequent the bay all the time. This is perfect for those who have a love for dolphins and marine life and have a passion for protecting these amazing species. Bunbury is close to Perth with many nice places around to visit.

Journée Typique

At the Dolphin project, volunteers act as a vital part towards the Conservation, Education, Tourism and Research of the local population of wild bottlenose dolphins. Hundreds of international and local volunteers take part in this wonderful experience each year. As a volunteer, not only will you get to experience swimming with these amazing creatures but also help with the daily tasks at the project. Some of your responsibilities will includes:

Managing the Dolphin Program Room area, assist with research and record observations in the bay, Put in data found into databases for analysis maintaining the upkeep of the paths and fences and assist and monitor dolphin visits to the zone.

Communicate with tourists/visitors on the beach about the Dolphins and what the program is about.

Help with caring and maintaining of Aquariums and help with the general cleaning and maintenance at the project.

Assist with tourists and help with guided tours and act as tour guides at the Interpretive Center for the public, tour groups and students and Take part in various activities at the project.

Activités de Loisir

Volunteers will have lots of time to get involved in leisure time activities such as sightseeing, shopping, swimming and so much more however, this will be at the volunteers own expense.

Plongée /
plongée en apnée

Conditions

Pour participer à ce programme tu dois avoir au moins 18 ans quand le programme commence. Il peut y avoir des exceptions si tu peux montrer la permission de ton tuteur légal ou si tu es accompagné(e) par l'un de tes parents.

Services inclus

Dorm rooms in a hostel that is a fifteen minutes' walk away from the project. Do keep in mind that this option is for males only. Female applicants will be staying in a private single room at a hotel.

Ongoing service

location emergency support

FOR GUYS: You will stay in a dorm style room at a nearby hostel which is just a 15 minutes' walk away from the project. You will have access to unlimited wifi, a fully equipped kitchen, a pool table, mini basketball court, hammocks, coin operated laundry and a BBQ area. Linens will also be provided and the beach and the city is just a few minutes' walk away. As mentioned, this would be the accommodation option that is provided to the male applicants.

Female applicant will be staying in a single private room in a hotel within 20 minutes away form the program. There is also a Kitchen available, Linens are provided, there is a Bar and restaurant in the hotel. .

L'aéroport le plus proche est Perth Airport (PER) à Perth. Nous t'aidons à trouver des vols pas chers pour aller en Australie.

Partir à l'étranger est une aventure et c'est toujours mieux d'être bien préparé. Que ce soit une maladie soudaine, une blessure ou du vol - une assurance voyage pour Australie te protège en cas de situation imprévue.

Si tu envisages de faire du bénévolat en Australie, nous te conseillons de consulter un médecin avant le début de ton voyage. Renseigne-toi sur les vaccins nécessaires pour Australie.

Informations sur l'arrivée

The Project will be available from October to April. We recommend that you arrive on a Sunday as training starts on any Monday and you can also depart on a Monday.

janv. févr. mars avril mai juin juil. août sept. oct. nov. déc.

Frais de Programme

Merci de noter que les prix ci-dessus sont des prix estimés et qu'ils sont soumis aux fluctuations des taux de change. Fronteering Travel t'informera du prix final au cours du processus de candidature.

Pourquoi partir avec Volunteer World

Volunteer World est la plateforme comparative principale pour des missions humanitaires internationales. Nous te guidons tout au long de ton processus de candidature - y compris tous les paiements nécessaires. Planifier ton prochain voyage humanitaire avec Volunteer World te permet d'accéder gratuitement à:

Notre service est gratuit

Les frais de programme sont perçus directement par Fronteering Travel.

Ce qu'on dit sur Volunteer World

Bénévolat à l'étranger Océanie Australie Bunbury, LOT 830 Koombana Drive, Bunbury WA 6230

Dolphin Conservation Assistant

Venture into Bunbury, Western Australia where you will volunteer to help with the conservation of dolphins and educate the public about these magnificent creatures!

$254/week

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▷ Dolphin Conservation Assistant | Fais du bénévolat en Australie 2021

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Clou Conditions Services inclus Dates et Prix Avis Non lucratif fondée en 2010 Réservez avec l'option Flex ! Choisissez de nouvelles dates de départ ou passez à un autre programme de volontariat sans frais supplémentaires.

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Clou Conditions Services inclus Dates et Prix Avis

Réservez avec l'option Flex ! Choisissez de nouvelles dates de départ ou passez à un autre programme de volontariat sans frais supplémentaires.

Clou

Experience the rural Ghanaian way of life and it's laid back, friendly atmosphere.

Gain a new family, living in shared volunteer housing gives you the perfect chance to make life long friends across the globe.

If you're considering studying or a career in education this is the perfect placement to gain first hand experience.

Make unforgettabe memories travelling with your fellow volunteers at weekends to places such as Mole Safari Park, Cape Coast Castle & Boti Waterfall.

Primary, junior or secondary school - we cater to your needs!

With total flexibility you will be able to choose from helping at a lower primary class up to secondary school. Provide support and assistance to struggling classes! This volunteer program is especially suitable for:

About The Placement
We offer placements among all classes of the Ghanaian education system, these are:

Primary School

Junior High School

Secondary School

Most volunteers will take placements in Primary and Junior High Schools which are based together therefore adding an extra level of flexibility to meet everyones needs. Secondary is usually reserved for qualified individuals as once students have completed this level they are university ready.

Within the schools the basic subjects are taught regularly such as English, Maths, Science, Local Language, Religious & Moral Education. Computing is taught with the best will however usually this is from a text book as most schools don't have access to a computer or laptop. Creative arts and music again are absolutely adored by the children however due to lack of materials these are mostly read and taught from textbooks.
Why This Placement?
Schools in Ghana not only need your help to cope with the growing size of classes, lack of a 'subsitute' teacher process but also to bring a fresh approach to lessons which are traditionally very dictation focused. Practicals are not experienced until secondary school and throughout primary schools there is a distinct lack of supplies especially for anything creative arts focused which is adored by the children.
We aim to improve the standard of education in our area by not only providing additional resources of staffing to seriously understaffed and deprived communities, introduction of new and fresh ideas to lessons and their planning but also supplying additional learning materials and books otherwise unavailable.

You should not come expecting for the school to be at a stand still until a volunteer arrives, we are here to enhance and assist not to replace teaching staff. Education is an important factor of Ghanaian life where families circumstances allow them to pursue this so more often than not teachers will be present in their classrooms. Volunteers usually agree to a mix of teaching various classes with their teachers or headmaster. When you are not directly teaching or if this is not where you wish to help, you can be focusing as a teaching assistant/support role helping children that are struggling to keep up and on a one on one basis. The teaching style in our rural area is often dictation focused so it's easy for children that struggle with english to be left behind.

What Is Included In This Placement?
Support Staff - Accommodation - House Utility Bills - Pre Departure Support

We charge cost price for this project just so we can cover your stay and employ local support staff to increase loyal employment. This placement includes accommodation in a modern style house for the semi rural area of which we are based with great views and surroundings of the local towns and rainforest. All house utilities are included for your time, you will have use of the kitchen, electricity throughout the house and running water which is a luxury among the area of Kwahu. You will have a member of our local support team living in house or close by depending on the volunteer numbers so there is always someone on hand for any questions or support you may need.
How Do I Get To The Placement?
Budget an additional 10 - 40 Ghana cedis per day for transport costs.

We work with a number of schools within the local community and slightly further out. Volunteers will usually take taxis back and forth to their placement site. It is very easy to take shared taxis in town and they are very reasonably priced. Most of our schools will require volunteers to pay transport between 5 cedis and 40 cedis a day, with the average being about 10cedis. The more remote village schools are usually located down tracks and therefore cost a little bit more to reach. Our team will be able to assist volunteers group together for transport and where to find taxis etc. Volunteers are usually able to head off into the town after school easily to shop for food supplies, grab a cold drink or meet up with friends before heading home and the ease of taxis offer a really flexible experience for the volunteers.
What Will I Be Doing?
Depending on the school that you select after your introduction and what you will feel comfortable with, you may be paired up with a teacher to primarily start supporting as a teaching assistant or you may be given a class yourself depending on your experience and confidence. Although the thought of your own class may seem overwhelming at first, the sheer enthusiasm and eagerness to learn of children will be a strong push to spur you on the way. Where you feel that your teacher is a 'really good example' and you don't think you can bring anything to help, this is simply not the case. As we're sure you're aware even in developed countries there are teaching assistants and learning support departments to be able to offer an extra hand to those children that struggle especially in Ghana where it can be extremely difficuly for children to learn advanced topics in English which is their second language and a lot of them are not comfortable in using it constantly.

For the younger children basic reading, writing and creative arts lessons are usually required whereas for the older children we advise not only developing the previous skills but breathing new ideas and life into their textbooks. We have a wide range of teaching books and lesson plans within the store room of the volunteer house and we advise volunteers to make use of their free evening and weekend time to plan the following days lessons.

A good example that we seen recently was for a Primary 4 class, aged between 10 - 14 learning the topic of solid, liquid and gas in science. Usually this topic will just be dictated on the board and occasional notes made or exercises completed. However a volunteer seen this upcoming topic in a textbook and planned a cheap and effective practical lesson followed by a poster produced by each child to take home and a board display to not only brighten and improve the classroom but provide continuous learning even for the next class to have use of the room.
Who Will I Be Working With?
If the number permits we aim to group volunteers together at a particular school or project. You will work closely with a teacher and report to the Headteacher should you have any issues. A member of our team will also spend a portion of their day at the project to assist in anyway and offer any guidance should it be needed. Most volunteers strike up a strong bond with the teachers and are treat as another member of staff as if you were always there. It is not uncommon to be invited round their homes for dinner at an early stage as a way of saying thank you.
What Do We Expect From The Volunteers?
A teaching qualification or experience is not compulsory for this placement, your level of experience and confidence will gauge what level of students would best suit and will be discussed between the team and yourself on your first day introduction. The greatest traits of a volunteer are enthusiasm, empathetic and the ability to adjust to alternative cultures. You will get the most of our your trip by opening your mind to new experiences and beliefs whilst also bringing your own to the table.
We expect volunteers to visit their placements Monday - Friday, exceptions can be made for long weekends of travel etc but we hope for the children and yourselves to get the most of your placement this is kept to a minimum.
What Can You Expect From Us?
We will be on hand any time of any day to support you in your placement and trip as a whole. There will always be someone you can speak to or get a hold of should you want to discuss anything or require any guidance, from organising after school clubs to changing your placement. Our team living in the volunteer house will also be able to offer advice regarding travel plans and the local area so you will soon feel at home.
What Should I Bring?
Regarding your placement we advise bringing plenty of school materials, arts & crafts items and some ideas from teaching resource websites. These will prove invaluable throughout your placement as there is a lack of materials able to purchase in the local area. Basic pens, pencils and cheap paper are available as well as moderate priced photocopying should you wish to bring activity sheets.
What Happens During School Holidays?
During school holidays if a volunteers placement falls within these dates then we will organise a holiday school. Usually in a remote village where the children are more than willing to join in, these days usually are more focused to arts and sports from lunchtime onwards.
The school holidays usually fall three times a year; few weeks around easter, few weeks around August and a few weeks during December.

Journée Typique

07:30am - Volunteer transport leaves the volunteer house to project sites

08:00am - School starts

10:30am - 11:00am - Morning Break

12:30pm - 01:00pm - Lunch Break

03:00pm - School closes

03:30pm - Return to volunteer house

03:30pm onwards - Free time

Please note this an example of a schedule. Times vary on different schools and term time. After school, volunteers are free to go shopping in the local markets, return to the volunteer house or visit the local swimming pools.

Activités de Loisir

Mid Week Free Time

Hiking / Trekking

Swimming

Sightseeing (Waterfalls and breathtaking scenery)

After school & Homework Clubs

Sports facilities

Live Music

Plenty of Nightlife

Restaurants & Hotels providing western cuisine

Weekend Free Time
After school and evenings offer these local opportunities around the local area:

Safari

Museums

Slave Castles

Canopy Walk

Waterfalls

Malls and Cinemas (Showing latest films)

Beautiful Beaches

Surfing

Most volunteers will travel at weekends, across Ghana we have many amazing experiences which you can discover. Here are just a few ideas:

We are on hand to offer any advice that you might need.

Conditions

Pour participer à ce programme tu dois avoir au moins 18 ans quand le programme commence. Il peut y avoir des exceptions si tu peux montrer la permission de ton tuteur légal ou si tu es accompagné(e) par l'un de tes parents.

Services inclus

Atlas Volunteers was setup to remove the business element out of volunteering so rest assured your fees are simply to cover the expense of your stay with us. Expenditure varies depending on the amount of volunteers and exchange rates, however please see a brief breakdown below of how your fees are used by us:

Accommodation & Maintenance - 34.5%

Local Support Staff - 27.6%

Electricity Utility Bill - 10.3%

Water Utility Bill - 17.2%

Gas Utility Bill - 6.9%

Admin Fees - 3.4%

The support you receive from our UK and Ghana based management teams is provided free of charge and on a voluntary basis to ensure the cheapest fees possible for you.

We currently have 2 x three bedroom volunteer houses located in the peaceful town of Pepease overlooking the rainforest. Later in the year we aim to move to a larger 13 bedroom house in a nearby town.

Bedrooms -
Bedrooms are shared usually between 2 - 4 people. Most bedrooms are a medium size and come with a mix of single, double or bunk beds. All doors and windows in the house are covered by mosquito netting or covered completely however you are more than welcome to bring a mosquito net for your bed although usually not necessary.

Bathrooms -
There are 3 shared bathrooms in the house so offer plenty of space and privacy during your stay. Most of the time we have the benfit of running water which is a local luxury so showers and toilets will work as usual. We ask to consider others when using the water as it's a valuable commodity in Ghana.

Kitchen -
We have one large kitchen with modern facilties such as gas stove, fridge freezer and a range of utensils. It is a self catered placement however plenty of food stuffs can be bought from the market such as bread, rice, pasta and many fresh ingredients. We also have connections with local people in the town who will be able to prepare your meals or teach you how to cook local dishes.

Living Room -
There is a large living room with sofas, TV and a dining set for use by the volunteers. Evenings are often spent in here and volunteers are welcome to bring DVDs or memory drives with movies to watch although local television channels are provided.

Garden -
Surrounding the house is a fenced garden, this offers privacy for relaxing in the sun or sitting out in the evenings. There is also a washing line space for volunteers to use.

Store Room -
We have a small store room where we keep left over teaching materials and resources for new volunteers to use. You are invited to leave any items you may not use here for the next person to continue the flow. Master copies of activity sheets or lesson plans are a key item we hope to see keep growing in the store.

Dortoir Chambre simple Chambre double

L'aéroport le plus proche est Kotoka International Airport (ACC) à Accra. Nous t'aidons à trouver des vols pas chers pour aller en Ghana.

Partir à l'étranger est une aventure et c'est toujours mieux d'être bien préparé. Que ce soit une maladie soudaine, une blessure ou du vol - une assurance voyage pour Ghana te protège en cas de situation imprévue.

Si tu envisages de faire du bénévolat en Ghana, nous te conseillons de consulter un médecin avant le début de ton voyage. Renseigne-toi sur les vaccins nécessaires pour Ghana.

Informations sur l'arrivée

How Do I Get From The Airport to Volunteer House On Arrival?

We can arrange for one of our vehicles to collect you from the airport and bring you directly to the volunteer house although fuel, airport parking and toll fees must be covered by yourself - payable in US dollars or Ghana cedi on the day. (As of November 2019 this is around 400 cedi | You will be shown the costs for transparency as it's completely not for profit).

We will arrange this as standard procedure unless you choose to OPT OUT as we would feel much more comfortable with you arriving into a new country that the team are on hand to greet and reliable vehicles made available for you and your luggage.

Upon arrival our Volunteer Support and Driver (Frank & Eben) will meet you outside the arrivals hall at Kotoka Intl. Airport. They will be holding a sign with your name on so they should be easy to spot!

janv. févr. mars avril mai juin juil. août sept. oct. nov. déc.

Frais de Programme

Merci de noter que les prix ci-dessus sont des prix estimés et qu'ils sont soumis aux fluctuations des taux de change. Atlas Volunteers t'informera du prix final au cours du processus de candidature.

Pourquoi partir avec Volunteer World

Volunteer World est la plateforme comparative principale pour des missions humanitaires internationales. Nous te guidons tout au long de ton processus de candidature - y compris tous les paiements nécessaires. Planifier ton prochain voyage humanitaire avec Volunteer World te permet d'accéder gratuitement à:

Notre service est gratuit

Les frais de programme sont perçus directement par Atlas Volunteers.

Ce qu'on dit sur Volunteer World

School Teacher in Local Area

With total flexibility you will be able to choose from helping at a lower primary class up to secondary school. Provide support and assistance to struggling classes!

$53/week

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