The world’s most humble winner nation

Place a half glass of beer in front of a Dane, and you will be told that the glass is half empty. Tell him that it is the world’s best beer, and you’ll be told that the beer tastes sour. Generally, the Danes find it difficult to be satisfied, and they aren’t much into boasting, particularly when it comes to their own achievements. This is the influence of the special Danish “Jantelov” (“the Law of Jante” – a fictional list of social rules first published in a satirical novel written in the 1930s), the prime tenet of which is, “You shall not think you are anything”, and which overshadows every other Danish rule.

This dogma also applies when, for seven years in a row, the World Economic Forum (WEF) named Denmark among the world’s top five most competitive nations, in ultra tough competition with countries such as Switzerland, the USA, Singapore and Sweden. Figure 1.