There are a lot of tough sells as a parent. Explaining to two teenage girls why we are spending three hours on a train so we can pick up litter at the other end is one of the tougher ones. Then again, we’re bound for Copenhagen, a city just voted the world’s happiest.
“What makes a city the world’s happiest?” quizzes 17-year-old Tara as we ease into Copenhagen’s central station. It’s a good question, one the Institute for the Quality of Life answered in their 2025 ‘Happy City Index’, which rates indicators of happiness across 82 quality of life categories, such as Citizens, Environment, Health and Mobility. They look at how policies actually impact people, with Copenhagen pulling away from a pack that included Zurich, fellow Scandinavian charmer Stockholm and another Danish city, Aarhus. For the judges, Copenhagen excelled on its green spaces, sustainability and median salary.
