Integration in 'The World's Happiest Country'

According to the OECD the Danes are the happiest people in the world. This is of course a qualified truth as the Danes are also heavy users of Prozac and have been in the top ten in the suicide statistics for years. The contradiction, however,is probably a good illustration of some of the complexities that Danish society represents. In some respects it is a land flowing with milk and honey but at the same time it is a country facing some profound challenges. In this article I will look into some of these challenges – namely the ones havingto do with immigrants living in Denmark and their integration – or the lack thereof. I will describe the background regarding immigrationto Denmark in recent times and the way Danish society has handled the presences of the immigrants so far. After that I will discuss how I think my own field of psychology can contribute to the current challenges using an example from my PhD project about school-home collaboration with parents of ethnic minority children.