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Danish Co Housing

From The Happiest Country In The World

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Separate Houses, Shared Land

Denmark, the country that consistently ranks highest on the global "happiness scale", has more of it's population living in co housing than any other.

Now: you may think of that as modern, progressive and enlightened. The fact is, the reasons people find such a balance of life in this kind of arrangement is that it reflects our tribal nature. The tribe: a group of families sharing responsibilities, chores and enjoying benefits together, within an environment of safety, is really a format that has worked for most of humanity.

"We cook 1 or 2 times a month." a single mother in this co housing unit says. "It takes maybe 5 hours. And to cook only 2 times per month instead of everyday.. .it saves a lot of energy." She figures she has maybe 2 extra hours a day, which she can spend with her children after work instead of stressing about meals.

The young ones are naturally drawn to the format as well. "It's nice to have grown ups who are always looking out for us. If I hurt myself down the hall someone always comes running. It doesn't absolutely have to be my Mom." says a young resident.

--Bibi Farber

This is an excerpt from the film "Happy"