The Happiest Place on Earth

By Deb Boelkes

Disneyland, known as “The Happiest Place on Earth” for almost 70 years now, opened its doors the year I was born. For the first eight years of my life, I was lucky enough to live just 12 miles down the road from Mickey, Minnie and Cinderella.

As mentioned in my book, Heartfelt Leadership: How to Capture the Top Spot and Keep on Soaring, my family made a habit of visiting Disneyland year after year. To this day, I still enjoy watching our old home-movies of me as a three-year-old, happily dancing down Main Street and into Tomorrowland wearing my favorite red plaid skirt, white bobby socks, and a Mickey Mouse ear hat—with “Debbie” embroidered on it—atop my pony-tailed head. Those merry excursions were some of the happiest days of my life.

Whenever there, I would imagine what it might be like to live in one of those charming but inaccessible apartments above the shops on Main Street or near the Golden Horseshoe Saloon in Frontierland. Acknowledging that we grown-ups must live in the real world, there’s no reason we can’t still aspire to live in the happiest place on earth. So, I’ve forever strived to make my work and home environments as welcoming and happy as life seemed at Disneyland.

After marrying my soulmate 35 years ago, the two of us have enjoyed many happy excursions to numerous other magical lands that neither of us had ever been before. We typically stay at least two weeks in a place to get a feel for what real life is like there and assess whether this just might be the happiest place on earth—that truly special place where we could live happily-ever-after.     

Over the years, we’ve only found one place entrancing enough to entice us away from the Disneyesque “bubble” that we called home for so many happy years. Yet, we still continue the hunt for that real-life Happiest-Place-on-Earth to this day, just because you never know—somewhere out there could be an even more enchanting place than where we live now.

With all the traveling we’ve done, we’ve admittedly never been to the top three “Happiest Countries in the World for 2024”, as rated by the World Population Review (WPR)—perhaps because my husband nixes visiting anyplace that boasts about their cold winters.

Never-the-less, I was intrigued to investigate the characteristics that give these lands the distinction of being named as one of the three “Happiest Countries in the World.” 

The WPR 2024 awards list rated 145 countries. The United States came in at #23, well below several other lovely places we have been to—each quite nice but not captivating enough for us to move to.

NOTE: “Happiness” scores for WPR’s “Happiest Countries” were primarily based on Gallup World Poll data gathered from surveys of individuals in 143 countries who responded to questions about their well-being for the past three years. “National average life evaluation” scores were then calculated by country.

Next, WPR considered the social environs for those “national average life evaluations” based on six key variables contributing to happiness: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make your own life choices, generosity of the general population, and perceptions of the absence of corruption. Scores were then blended to create a combined national score per country on a scale of 1 to 10.

The top three “Happiest Countries in the World for 2024” were these:

With a score of 7.74, Finland ranked as the world's happiest country. Their citizens have strong feelings of communal support and mutual trust. Especially during the COVID pandemic, Finlanders felt strongly that they were free to make their own choices and there continues to be minimal suspicion of government corruption.

The second-happiest country in the world is Denmark, which scored 7.58. Denmark's scores for each key variable were comparable to those of Finland, yet the Danes even outscored Finland in GDP per capita and generosity. Denmark scored the highest of the three top award winners for happiness among (60+) older adults.  

Iceland ranked third as the happiest country in the world, with a score of 7.52. Iceland ranked the highest of the three in feelings about their social support, and second highest in generosity. Iceland also seems to be a happier place for youngsters than either Finland or Denmark.

Clearly my husband and I will have to plan a summer trip to explore these three countries someday. While I can’t imagine moving to any of these winter-wonders on a permanent basis, each might be a lovely spot for an extended summer stay, based on what their respective tourism websites have to say:

VisitFinland.com brags that Finland has been the happiest country in the world for several years running. They claim spring and autumn are the best times to see the Northern Lights in Lapland (the country’s largest and northernmost region), where the sun never sets in the summer. 

According to Denmark.dk, Denmark often scores near the top of global surveys based on its livability and happiness ratings. They claim that the Danes trust each other and their institutions—like the government, their hospitals and police. A big downside is that Danes pay some of the highest taxes in the world to finance their extensive social welfare programs, such as their “free” healthcare-system and “free” schools and universities. 

InspiredByIcelend.com claims, “Many who visit Iceland leave thinking ‘I wouldn’t mind living there.” Their website highlights Iceland’s low crime rates and boasts that violent crime is virtually non-existent. Iceland offers countless sightseeing opportunities and things to do since you’re never far from the sea or the mountains, no matter where you are. Icelanders seem to have a strong sense of community, and their gender equality is a matter of national pride.  

As Heartfelt Leaders, we each have a responsibility to do what we can to elevate the Happiness ratings of our own country and communities. If you could be like a Disney Imagineer—the creative forces that invent, collaborate, and produce the magic experienced by every resident and visitor— what would you change?

I’d love to hear what you think are the most important characteristics to focus on to elevate where you live to “Happiest Place on Earth” status.  I encourage you to share your thoughts, ideas, and comments below this post. I’m sure all our members would love to see your suggestions. Maybe together, we can each make a world of difference. Just imagine living in “The Happiest Place on Earth”. 

Perhaps your team could even design a hat representative of your hometown mascot. Perhaps every citizen could have their first name embroidered on one…and then they could each take selfie-videos wearing their customized hats as they happily dance down your “Happiest Place on Earth” Main Street.

Imagine how wonderful it would be to create the kind of truly special place where everyone can live happily-ever-after.