I recently returned from a 17-day trip to Denmark, Norway and Sweden, although most of the time was spent in Norway.  Now, I understand why Nordic countries are among the happiest nations on earth, year in and year out.

Each year, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network releases the World Happiness Report, which lists the happiest countries in the world. You can link to the 2018 report at http://worldhappiness.report. The annual ranking of 156 countries uses a statistical model based on a gamut of considerations ranging from their citizens’ healthy life expectancy and income to their governments’ levels of social support and corruption.

This year’s winner was Finland, closely followed by Norway (which finished first in 2017) and Denmark, which follows a trend of Scandinavian countries consistently winning the title of the most content places on earth. And they do so even though they have long, cold, dark winters.

So the question is:  What are these Northern European countries doing differently that make their citizens so happy?

It appears that the answer has to do with neighborly support between citizens and state support for social programs. People generally want to feel secure and they also benefit from having a community they can count on–an environment the Scandinavian countries create better than most.

The Nordic countries, in general, pay some of the highest taxes in the world. (I bought a cap in Copenhagen and 25 percent of the total cost was value-added tax.) However, there is widespread public support for this because people see taxes as investments in quality of life for all.

In Norway, for example, they have free healthcare, free higher education and comprehensive social security, all of which goes a long way when it comes to happiness. Norway also has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world–$74,065.

Public spaces are clean and generally free of litter.  Public transit–buses, trains and trams–are widely available, modern and easy to use in major cities. Virtually every Norwegian I encountered spoke fluent English and was solicitous and friendly to visitors.

This year’s World Happiness Report devoted a special chapter to why the United States, once perched near the top of the index, slipped four spots to No. 18 this year, despite being among the highest per capita income countries in the world.

The U.S.’s well-being is being undermined by three interconnected epidemics–obesity, substance abuse (opioid addiction) and depression, said Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and a co-author of the chapter.

Sachs noted that the three epidemics, which are “likely mutually reinforcing,” are exacerbated by high levels of income inequality and a “woefully inadequate” healthcare system.  Other factors, according to Sachs, include corporate deregulation and increasing screen time on social media.

There’s no reason why the U.S. can’t score much higher in the World Happiness Report. Sachs says we have the means to do so. “Rather, the major practical barrier is corporate lobbying that keeps dangerous corporate practices in place and imposes untold burdens on the poor and vulnerable parts of the U.S. population, coupled with the failure of the American political system to address and understand America’s growing social crisis.”