Denmark has announced plans to end its nationwide postal service by the end of 2025, citing a steep decline in the use of traditional mail as digital communication becomes dominant.

The move will be implemented by the country’s state-owned postal operator, PostNord, which will also remove all public mailboxes across Denmark as part of the transition.

According to PostNord, letter volumes in Denmark have fallen by more than 90 percent since the early 2000s, making the continuation of a nationwide letter service financially unsustainable. The company will instead focus on parcel delivery, which has increased due to e-commerce growth.

While Denmark is among the first major countries to fully phase out public letter delivery, it is not the first country in the world to do so, as some smaller nations and territories have previously reduced or discontinued traditional postal letter services.

Authorities have said essential communications will continue through digital platforms, and alternative arrangements will be available for vulnerable groups during the transition period. (Newswire/ The Guardian)

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Expats in Denmark are among the happiest with their work lives, according to the latest Expat Insider survey from InterNations, the online global community for people who’ve moved abroad.

The Nordic country ranks No. 1 for where people are most satisfied with their jobs, career opportunities and work-life balance, among other aspects.

That’s based on survey responses from more than 12,500 people living in foreign countries and reflects their feelings on four broad categories covering work topics, including their career prospects, salary and job security, work culture and satisfaction, and work and leisure.

Denmark ranks highest for two groupings: work culture and satisfaction, as well as work and leisure.

Some 84% of expats in Denmark are satisfied with their work-life balance, compared to a global average of 60%; a similar share are happy with their work hours and, on average, work 39.2 hours per week, compared with 42.5 hours for the global average.

Here are the top 10 countries where expats are happiest with their work lives abroad:

• Denmark
• Saudi Arabia
• Belgium
• Netherlands
• Luxembourg
• United Arab Emirates
• Australia
• Mexico
• Indonesia
• Austria

Ilana Buhl, a CNBC Make It contributor and American teacher who moved to Denmark, says moving from Texas to Copenhagen brought about lots of positive changes to her work life: shorter workweeks, stronger boundaries around off-hours, five weeks of paid vacation, and a better salary to cover a lower cost of living.

Outside of work, she also enjoys robust public transit, public health care, affordable day care, and ample maternity leave paid for by her employer and the government.

Many of these factors contribute to the fact that Denmark consistently ranks as one of the happiest countries in the world, according to the annual World Happiness Report.

Coming in at No. 2 is Saudi Arabia, where a majority, 75%, say moving there has improved their career prospects, versus 56% globally. The majority, 63%, of newcomers relocate to Saudi Arabia for work, where they say they’re satisfied with the state of the local economy.

Meanwhile, just 35% of expats around the world say they moved to a foreign country for job-related reasons.

The biggest downside to working in Saudi Arabia may be the long hours — expats working there report logging 47.8 hours a week for a full-time job.

Rounding out the top three is Belgium, where expats are highly satisfied with their job security, the local job market and their own career opportunities.

Expats in Belgium say they enjoy flexibility in the workplace, especially among the 68% who say they can work remotely, and their shorter-than-average full-time workweek of 40.8 hours.

Panama was recognized as the No. 1 best country for expats overall, according to the InterNations survey. The overall ranking accounts for broader life and financial factors, where foreigners say they’re satisfied with the quality of life, ease of settling in, working abroad, personal finance and an “expat essentials” index, which covers housing, administration, language and digital life. (CNBC)

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India, Denmark on Saturday exchanged views on multilateral, regional issues including India’s G20 presidency, India-EU Free Trade Agreement, Ukraine, Indo-Pacific, co-operation at the UN, and climate change.

The two sides during the 7th round of India-Denmark Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) in Copenhagen on Saturday, undertook a comprehensive review of their bilateral relations, acknowledged that bilateral relations have grown significantly and have benefited from the signing of the first-of-its-kind Green Strategic Partnership in September 2020, according to a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) release.

The consultations were co-chaired by India’s MEA Secretary (West) Sanjay Verma and Denmark’s State Secretary for Foreign Policy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jesper Moller Sorensen. The last round of FOC had taken place in 2009 in New Delhi.

During the 7th foreign office consultations, discussions were held on progress made to implement the Joint Action Plan and sectoral cooperation in the areas of Renewable Energy including Offshore Wind, Water Management, Smart Cities, Green Shipping, Health, Dairy and Animal Husbandry.

Both sides noted the progress on the setting up of the Smart Laboratory on Clean River Water in Varanasi.

The two countries appreciated that bilateral trade in goods and services had exceeded USD 6.64 billion in 2022 and agreed to diversify their trade and investment. Over 200 Danish companies are present in India and have been working in various areas such as wind energy, shipping, consultancy, food processing and the engineering sector while around 60 Indian companies, mainly in the IT, life sciences and clean-tech, renewable energy and engineering sectors, have a growing presence in Denmark.

The two sides agreed to continue high-level political exchanges and to hold the next round of the Joint Commission Meeting at Foreign Minister’s level in New Delhi at mutually convenient dates, according to the MEA press release.

As per the official release, there have been several high-level engagements between India and Denmark in recent years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Denmark in May 2022.

Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of the Kingdom of Denmark recently visited India from February 26- March 2, 2023. Prime Minister Frederiksen paid a State Visit to India in October 2021, being the first Head of Government to visit India since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

India-Denmark Foreign Office Consultations were held in a friendly and warm atmosphere. It was agreed to hold political consultations at regular intervals. (Business Standard)

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