# @science on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DTWh1C4EiE_
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/38651270-science-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/3d92321098.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-01-11T01:30:16.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Science 🧬 (@science) — https://gondola.cc/science

## Caption

📈 Each year, a group of happiness experts from around the globe ranks 156 countries based on how “happy” citizens are, and in 2020, they published their findings in the World Happiness Report.⁠
″What the science shows is that the one thing that will make us happy is having a little bit more time,” Laurie Santos, a professor of psychology at Yale who's teaching The Science of Well-Being, told 'CNBC Make It.'⁠
A “full-time” work week in Denmark is typically 37 hours spread over the course of five days. On the other hand, the average American works 44 hours per week, or 8.8 hours per day, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.⁠
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🇩🇰 But what’s even more striking is the Danes’ attitude toward working long hours. While many Americans see working late as a badge of honor and a way to get ahead, in Denmark it’s seen as a weakness — it shows you can’t get things done in the allotted work time, Kay Xander Mellish, a Danish business consultant and author of “How to Work In Denmark,” told 'CNBC Make It.' Most employees leave work around 4 p.m., according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.⁠
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🙃 “There is a sense that, yes, work’s important and you need to get your work done to a high quality, but you also need to make sure it’s balanced appropriately,” Alex Calvert, an ex-pat who had lived in Copenhagen for seven years with his wife and two kids, told 'CNBC Make It.'⁠
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To be as efficient as possible, Danes don’t really socialize at work or take breaks to run errands, Mellish said. “You might be there only 7.5 hours, but you’re working that whole time,” she says. Free time is “the most important thing they have,” so it’s rare that people would hang out with coworkers after working hours, she added.⁠
Flexible work arrangements are also common.⁠
In fact, in Finland, employees have the right to shift their workday three hours earlier or later than their employers’ typical requirements.⁠
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#happiestcountries #happiness #happy #worklifebalance #balancedlife #balance #overworking #overworked #citizens #science #biology⁠

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## Tags

biology, balancedlife, happy, overworking, worklifebalance, science, overworked, happiestcountries, citizens, balance, happiness

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