Ok, so the educational bit first:
There are 3 – three – Scandinavian countries. Those are Norway, Denmark and Sweden. The Nordic countries on the other hand, also includes Finland, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroes (even though the latter two are technically under Danish rule). There’s also the Åland Islands which is an archipelago in the bit of water between Sweden and Finland, and is considered to be part of Finland but have their own flag etc.
Anyway, back to your actual question, now that the technicalities have been dealt with:
- Norway because OBVIOUSLY.
- Denmark. We literally have a saying (which I’ll grant you is mostly used in advertising) that says “It’s good to be a Norwegian in Denmark”. Even if it’s a tiny country, it’ll always feel like Norway’s big sister and it has some of the main things that we “lack”. Also you can get a really trashy overnight ferry from Oslo to Denmark which is an experience in itself.
- Sweden. While being generally a good place and having a lot to offer (I’m sure), I don’t think Norway will ever get past the fact that 1) Sweden were the last ones to rule over Norway (even though Denmark did it for much, much longer) and 2) Their neutrality during WW2. They’ve always liked to make fun of Norway for being inferior and not having anything to show for, so now that we have oil money and a lot of Swedish people are coming here to find work, we can’t help but feel like it’s karma in action.
I hope this answers your question @xylo
