Jarmila Botev
Jonathan Smith
OECD Economic Surveys: Denmark 2026
Abstract
People in Denmark are having fewer children and changing their family formation habits as in many other OECD countries. This trend is complex, not fully understood and driven not only by economic factors and policies, but also by changing societal norms and preferences. Nevertheless, a well-designed comprehensive package of policies could help improve the situation of families and alleviate barriers to having children. Improved monitoring of quality and increased flexibility of childcare provision are needed. Early childcare in Denmark is accessible, but its quality varies widely, and it does not cater enough to the needs of parents with non-standard working hours or during closure days. The public benefit system should accommodate new trends in family arrangements, including children living in shared custody. Recent extension of parental leave for fathers can help further reshape gender norms and contribute to reducing the motherhood penalty.
As in many other OECD countries, the Danish population is ageing with rising longevity and fewer young people. This reflects in part declining fertility rates (Figure 3.1) and lower family formation. The total fertility rate in Denmark has declined from 2.5 children per woman in 1960, when it was below OECD average, to 1.5 in 2023, including a decline since 2008 and a further drop post-Covid, although the fertility rate is now in line with the OECD average. This decline arose concurrently with a significant increase in life expectancy. Life expectancy in Denmark increased from 79 in 2010 to 82 years-old in 2023, one year above the OECD average.
Total fertility rate, 1960-2023
Note: Average number of children born per woman over a lifetime given current age-specific fertility rates and assuming no female mortality during reproductive years. Source: OECD (2025), OECD Family Database, SF2.1 Fertility rates.
Lower fertility together with increasing life expectancy contributes to ageing, that has significant implications for welfare and health systems in OECD countries, and more broadly for the ability to sustain economic growth. In Denmark, lower fertility alone initially implies fewer children relative to the working-age population. According to Danish authorities’ estimates, the working-age population will shrink in the medium-term, as well as the number of women, leading to an even lower number of children, so that the share of working-age people in total population will then stabilise close to its initial levels around the year 2100.
On the other hand, increasing longevity leads to an older population with increased demand for health and long-term care, while potentially leaving fewer people of working age to finance the system and provide care (Chapter 1). Ageing is projected by the OECD to reduce economic growth in per capita terms in most OECD countries, including Denmark, as the proportion of economically inactive people in the economy increases and creates fiscal pressure on the welfare state (OECD, 2025a), though this can be moderated by policy measures, such as those closing gender employment gaps and increasing statutory retirement ages.
An ageing population is likely to have impacts on the public finances through shifts in spending and revenues. Denmark appears to be unusual in that, unlike other countries, the public costs of the increasing number of older people may be outweighed by lower spending on young people. Projections of Danish authorities (for example DORS, 2024) suggest that lower fertility rates are favourable for the Danish public finances due to comparatively high spending on children and young people. Denmark has one of the largest per capita public expenditure (including tax breaks) in the OECD on children and young people (OECD, 2025b). At the same time, Denmark has a relatively robust pension system and the public pensions are complemented by a fully funded defined-contribution scheme. As discussed in Chapter 1, this outcome is contingent on a continuing increase in statutory pension ages beyond the currently legislated 70 as of 2040, a concurrent increase in labour force participation of older workers, and on healthy aging moderating spending pressures in healthcare and long-term care. Projections do not include potential impact of lower fertility rates combined with longer life expectancy on labour productivity, via eroded business dynamism, entrepreneurship and possibly less innovation (André, Gal and Schief, 2024). Ageing will also impact the political economy of economic policy, potentially with greater focus on shorter policy horizons and social care and less investment in the long term.
The Danish population is still growing, mainly due to net inward migration, whose contribution is projected to keep the population from falling. The share of the foreign-born population is expected to increase from about 16% in 2025 to around 20% in 2040. Unlike in countries, such as Korea and Japan that are expected to see their population decline because of low birth rates, the Danish population is projected to grow but at a slower rate of about 0.2% annually by 2040 compared to the current rate of about 0.5%. Net migration in OECD countries contributes to population growth and tends to temporarily shift the age composition of the population towards younger working-age people. However, foreign-born people themselves are ageing and thus contribute to the old-age dependency ratio when they reach retirement age. Projecting future migration flows is difficult and associated with large uncertainties (André, Gal and Schief, 2024).
Lower fertility rates have been changing the structure of the Danish society. The aim of the chapter is to understand this shift and to identify potential gaps in family and social policies in providing good conditions and reducing barriers for people to realise their family plans. The chapter first looks at the main facts and trends related to family formation and childbearing in Denmark in the regional and OECD context. The next section discusses policies already in place and areas for their improvement that could potentially also help reduce barriers to family formation, in particular parental leave, childcare accessibility and quality, cash transfers, housing policies and fertility treatment.
Recent decades have been marked by mothers having later and fewer births. Like in other OECD countries, a major factor in the fall in the total fertility rate is the increasing age of first-time mothers. While this postponement of births somewhat complicates the measurement of total fertility rates, adjusting for it yields similar fertility declines (Box 3.1). The average age of first-time mothers in Denmark has been increasing since 1960 from 23 to 31-years-old, equal to the OECD average. While there is some catching up of fertility at older ages due to the postponement of births, it is not sufficient to compensate for the decline among younger mothers (Figure 3.3). The number of women at the end of fertile life with two or more children has fallen over the last decade, while the number of childless women has risen (Figure 3.3, Panel B).
The total fertility rate (TFR) measures the average number of children that are born per woman over a lifetime given current age‑specific fertility rates. The population is replaced at a total fertility rate of about 2.1 children. While clear in principle, the changes of trends in the timing of births over a woman’s lifespan can complicate the calculation of the actual fertility rate, leading to under- or over-estimates of the rate. For example, a general delay in births would lead to an underestimate of the TFR as this would combine the current lower rate for young women and the past lower rate for women who are now older.
To reflect this, the completed fertility rate measures the number of children per woman at the end of her reproductive years (taken as 44-50). This is a lagging indicator because it is based on women on average older than those currently of child-bearing age and can overestimate the current fertility rate.
The tempo-adjusted fertility rate aims to correct these issues. It uses a model that accounts for the timing and parity of births, which gives a more accurate estimate of the current birth rate (Human Fertility Database, 2015). The tempo-adjusted fertility rate for Denmark confirms the decline in fertility over the last decade, although it suggests the rate is not as low as suggested by the TFR (Figure 3.2). This is consistent with other OECD countries when comparing the tempo-adjusted fertility rate to the TFR, and with previous research (Hellstrand et al., 2021).
Total fertility rate vs. tempo-adjusted fertility rate
Note: The total fertility rate is defined as the average number of children who would be born alive to a woman during her lifetime, if the age-specific fertility rates of a given year remained constant during her childbearing years. It is computed as the sum of fertility rates by age across all childbearing ages in a given year. The tempo-adjusted fertility rate is the indicator of total fertility in a calendar year adjusted for changes in the timing of births in that period. See the source for more details.
Source: Human Fertility Database.
Source: Statistics Denmark; and Ministry of Finance.
3.2.1. Family formation patterns have been shifting
At the same time, the structure of families has shifted over the past three decades. Similar to other Nordic countries but above the OECD average, 19% of Danish children live with a single parent, up from 15.5% in 1993. The majority of children living with a single parent live with their mother. 6% of children live with one of their parents and their partner. In line with the OECD trend of declining marriage rates, a declining share of children is living with married or registered parents (or their partners), 60% Danish children live with married parents compared to 70% in 1993. Co-habiting parents (or a parent and their partner) make up about a fifth of all households with children.
The least educated and those with lower incomes have the lowest fertility rates. Over recent decades, fertility rates have dropped the most for lower-income women, particularly those in the lowest decile, although they have declined for all educational groups and most income groups. However, the number of children has increased for women in the top four income deciles over the past two decades (Figure 3.4). Higher incomes mean higher resources to support children but can also lead to higher opportunity cost of childbirth. In Denmark and Norway, a positive link between earnings and fertility has been found (OECD, 2024). Similarly, the probability of motherhood increases with income over time for women in Australia, Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States. While this trend is not correlated with perceived economic uncertainty, it may be related to higher costs of having children, as well as to postponing parenthood (van Wijk and Billari, 2024). In terms of background, foreign-born women have contributed to the overall fertility decline in Denmark. In the 1990s, fertility rates of foreign-born women and their descendants were on par or even well above those of Danish-born women, with up to 3.2 children per woman on average, depending on their country of origin. Currently, the foreign-born population has fewer children per woman than the native population, at a rate of 1.2 – 1.5.
Fertility rate by socio-economic backgrounds
Note: Data based on Danmarks Statistics microdata. For Panel A, the data includes women aged 24-40, with completed education. For Panel B, data includes women aged 25-40 and is based on equivalised household income.
Source: Ministry of Interior and Health.
Childlessness is currently highest among low-educated women. Childlessness has historically been highest amongst the more educated and higher income-groups, but it has been increasing continuously among low-educated, low-income Danish women since the cohort of women born in the 1940s. The education-childlessness relationship flipped starting from the cohort born in the 1970s, for which childlessness of low-educated women stands at 20%, 5 percentage points higher than for other education groups. This contrasts with the relationship for men, which has remained fairly stable over time with the lowest-educated men in Denmark having by far the highest levels of childlessness (more than a third) and the likelihood of becoming a father increasing with the level of education and income. Similar patterns for both men and women have been found in other Nordic countries (Jalovarra et al., 2018).
3.2.2. Denmark has high life satisfaction and good work-life balance
The Danes report life satisfaction in line with the EU average. However, while European households with dependent children tend to report a higher average life satisfaction than households without them, for Danish households the presence of children made no difference in 2023, with average life satisfaction for both types of households at 7.5 on a scale of 0-10.
The prospects for Danish children are good with strong educational outcomes, above-average life satisfaction and relatively few at risk of poverty. Students in Denmark scored higher than the OECD average in the latest OECD PISA assessments. Danish children reported above OECD average life satisfaction of 7.2 on a scale of 0-10 in 2022. Danish students also reported to experience less bullying and mathematics anxiety at school than the OECD average. Around 15% of Danish children are at risk of living in poverty or social exclusion, one of the lowest rates in the EU.
Denmark has favourable work-life balance conditions in international comparison and a relatively high share of working parents. A full-time Danish employee worked on average 37.7 hours per week in their main job in 2023, less than the OECD average and less than its Nordic peers. Only 0.3% of Danish workers reported usually working more than 60 hours per week, in line with other Nordic countries and fewer than the OECD average of 1.7%. Around a third of Danish workers worked from home sometimes or usually in 2023. While this is above the EU average of 25%, it is the lowest share among the Nordic countries, for instance Sweden reporting more than 40% of employees working from home at least sometimes (Gill, Hensvick and Skans, 2025).
Policies promoting flexible working can help parents reconcile work and family commitments without having to switch to a more family-friendly job or leaving the labour market. For example, the 2019 European Work-life Balance Directive, implemented in Denmark, extended the right to flexible working arrangements (reduced working hours, flexible working hours and flexibility in place of work) to all working parents of children up to at least 8 years old, and all carers. It also introduced carers' leave for workers providing personal care or support to a relative or person living in the same household. This is unpaid in Denmark, but collective agreements may grant pay. In 2025, some collective agreements introduced fully paid second day of caring for a sick child. In addition, some collective agreements granted two unpaid days to care for children to grandparents. Paid leave also exists for parents of children with severe illness.
Reasons for not having children are complex and wide-ranging, going beyond policy settings or good life satisfaction. Although childlessness has been on the rise across the OECD, it can be difficult to discern how much of it is voluntary (OECD, 2024). In Denmark, survey data show that 8.8% of Danish women born between 1999-2003 preferred to have no children, compared to 4.6% for those born around a decade earlier. Of women aged 45 or older, 51% had fewer children than they would have preferred and only 3% had more (Rockwool Foundation, 2023). A survey found that a quarter of Danish women aged 20-30 is considering not to have children due to climate concerns (Ahle and Godfredsen, 2023). This is broadly in line with findings of similar studies in other OECD countries, like the United States or Australia (OECD, 2024). Changing norms and attitudes, such as the de-stigmatisation of childlessness, anxiety around a future child’s well-being, career and financial future, feeling insecure in the community, worry about economic problems with the arrival of a child, and increasingly, concern over the impact to the climate can all contribute to a decision not to have children or to have less of them (OECD, 2024). These factors can to an extent outweigh family-friendly policies and supportive conditions like high life satisfaction and good work-life balance (OECD, 2023).
The reasons why people form couples and choose to have fewer children or later in their lives are not fully understood, neither in Denmark nor in other countries and are a matter of personal choice. However, people may face barriers to starting a family and specific policies can make parenthood more attractive to prospective parents, especially if they are designed in a coherent manner, so that parents can access a continuum of supports, in particular during the child’s pre-school years, but also later on during childhood (OECD, 2024). These include parental leave, access to good quality early childhood education and care, child and family benefits, policies affecting work-life balance and fertility treatment.
Policies affecting family formation are wide-ranging and though they have relatively limited potential to substantially raise fertility, they often also contribute to fulfilling other social goals, such as raising labour participation or improving a country’s human capital stock. They also entail costs that need to be shared appropriately between the state, employers and beneficiaries, especially in a country that has a broad-based and large social welfare system and growing future fiscal spending pressures (see Chapter 1). Ensuring cost-effectiveness of family policies not only matters for fiscal sustainability, but it is key to maintain quality, good outcomes for Danish children and parents, and the ability to target sufficient support where it is most needed, for example to vulnerable children or lower-income families.
Denmark has strong support for families and is one of the countries that spends the most on families as a share of GDP. Continuous support is essential, so that when entitlement to parental leave runs out, early childhood education and care is easily accessible, school is complemented by suitable out-of-school hour services, and child benefits are available. Denmark performs well, as it has continuous, comprehensive family policies starting from parental leave to extensive support over a child’s early life: 97% of 3-5-year-olds are enrolled in full-time day care and 65% of under-twos attend pre-school– the highest share in the OECD.
Denmark is a good place for family life, with favourable work-life balance conditions, good life satisfaction, strong prospects and educational outcomes for children. These conditions may have helped sustain fertility levels above many OECD countries in the recent decades. Danish parents have higher employment rates than OECD average, including single parents and mothers. Nevertheless, mothers’ incomes fall after having a child, leading to a motherhood penalty, potentially reflecting persisting societal norms on gender roles. In addition, for some lower-income parents it may be costly to return to work from unemployment or to increase their working hours.
3.3.1. Addressing the motherhood penalty
Danish mothers have relatively high employment rates compared to many OECD countries, but women’s incomes fall permanently after having a child (Figure 3.5). The long-term motherhood penalty is around 20% relative to comparable males’ earnings, a sizeable gap even though smaller than that found in Nordic peers and in many other countries (Kleven et al., 2019a, Evertsson et al., 2025). The gap may discourage women from taking time out of their career to have children. Research suggests that the sources of the penalty are fairly evenly split between a reduction in hours worked, lower wage rates and lower labour force participation (Kleven et al., 2019). Women are generally more likely to work part-time than men, with 37% of employed women working part-time in 2024 compared to 12% of men. In addition, the probability of mothers switching from private to public sector rises after the first childbirth, as they seek more family-friendly work and this is also linked to accepting a lower wage (Pertold-Gebicka et al., 2016; Kleven et al., 2019). Nearly 70% of women employed in Denmark are in the public sector, one of the highest rates in the OECD, and this is partly because of the higher flexibility offered by the public sector.
Note: Panel A illustrates estimates of the evolution of the earnings of men and women as a function of the time in years since the birth of their first child, while controlling for the underlying life-cycle profile of earnings. Estimates are relative to the earnings level of event time -1, that is the last year prior to the birth of the first child and relative to a counterfactual without children. See Kleven et al. (2019) for more details. In Panel B, data refer to 2020 for Sweden and 2019 for the United Kingdom.
Source: Kleven, H. J. et al. (2019),"Children and Gender Inequality: Evidence from Denmark", American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 11, 181-209; and OECD Family Database, LMF1.2. Maternal employment rates.
The motherhood penalty may reflect persisting societal norms and gender stereotypes regarding household and childcare responsibilities: while men spend on average 2.5 hours per day with household chores, for women it is 3.5 hours. This includes time spent on childcare that is 30% higher for mothers than for fathers on average (Rockwool Foundation, 2018). A comprehensive package of policies, including improving access to high-quality childcare and encouraging fathers to take parental leave, can contribute to a more equal sharing of unpaid household work (see Sections 3.3.3. and 3.3.4 below). Promoting gender balance policies and disrupting gender stereotypes can help further. Denmark has done a lot in this area. For example, it has recently implemented the European Gender Directive, plans to implement the Pay Transparency Directive and has a regularly updated action plan for gender equality. However, there is still room for improvement as in some outcomes it lags behind its Nordic peers or even other OECD countries. For example, only 29% of all managers in private sector are women in Denmark, less than the OECD average (33%) and much lower than in the United States or Sweden (over 40%). Improving women’s access to professional networks to accelerate gender equality in leadership and private sector roles could provide more visible role models for women who have and/or want (more) children (OECD, 2019). Moreover, continuously monitoring progress of individual gender policies and initiatives toward targeted objectives can help ensure accountability and improve effectiveness (OECD, 2025a).
3.3.2. Addressing financial disincentives to work for second earners and low-income parents
Demark has a well-established welfare system that faces trade-offs between providing income insurance and work incentives. Danish parents fare well in terms of employment status, but re-entering employment or increasing hours worked can be relatively costly for them. For couples with children aged 0-14, the share of dual-earner couples (79%) is above the OECD average of 62% and similar to Sweden. Similarly, 70% of single parents work full-time compared with an OECD average of 57%. Around 20% of single parents in Denmark were not working in 2021, while in 17% of parent couples one spouse was jobless. However, the income lost to taxes, foregone benefits and childcare costs combined, is particularly high for insured low-income second earners re-entering employment in Denmark (Figure 3.6, Panel A). It can be between 87% and 100% of the full-time salary during entitlement to unemployment benefits (2 years). Most of this disincentive comes from lost access to unemployment benefits, while childcare costs contribute less, but still around 15%. Increasing working hours for part-time working parents can also be relatively costly for lower income people in some instances. For example, in 2024 for a couple with children with both parents earning two-thirds of the average wage, a parent increasing their working hours from 50% to full time faced a higher marginal effective tax rate (METR) taking into account cash benefits withdrawal than a similar person in a childless couple and also higher than the OECD average (Figure 3.6, Panel B). METRs could even exceed 80% for parents with lower working hours and lower incomes.
Denmark has reduced the share of workers facing work disincentives over the last few decades with various tax and benefit reforms. For example, the number of workers facing above-80% net compensation rates was reduced from about 16% to 10% between 2005 and 2021. Social assistance was reformed in July 2025. Social assistance benefits contributed to high METRs, as they were reduced almost one-to-one with earnings after their recipient started working. The 2025 reform relaxes the income requirements for social assistance benefits when taking up a job (Box 3.2), and increases earner’s deductions, reducing work disincentives. The effects of the reform should be monitored and assessed, and further changes to the benefits system could be considered in the future to remove remaining disincentives to work. Housing benefits and the gradual withdrawal of childcare fee subsidy (see Box 3.4 below) still can increase METRs in some instances for single and/or lower-income parents (Ministry of Economic Affairs, 2024), while the withdrawal of unemployment benefits can hamper return to work from unemployment for some. Phasing out the benefits more gradually with rising income for lower income families with children could improve incentives to fully re-enter the labour market and thus have wider societal benefits beyond potentially raising fertility, though this can be challenging due to relatively compressed wage distribution and due to potentially conflicting incentives for raising working hours versus re-entering the labour market.
The social assistance (SA) reform of July 2025 simplified the complex SA benefits and introduced a more gradual withdrawal with earned income. The aim of the new system is for the SA recipient to have a maximum disposable income corresponding to 85% of the minimum wage in the area covered by one of the largest trade unions, representing administrative, wholesale and retail workers, among others. Implementation is on-going and monitoring is needed to ensure there are no undesired effects on specific groups.
Before the reform, SA recipient who started earning income would lose eligibility to benefit amount equal to the earned income, beyond a small deductible allowance (their METR when taking benefits into account was close to 100%).
After the reform, the main SA rates are divided based on age (younger/older than 30 years; if younger having worked for at least 2.5 years or not), residence in Demark for at least 9 out of last 10 years and on whether the person under 30 is living at home with their parents. For a 30-year old social assistance recipient receiving the increased rate benefit of DKK 12.498 (EUR 1.674), the benefit is reduced by 65% of the earned income beyond a threshold of DKK 2.600 (EUR 348), so that it is reduced to zero at earned income of about DKK 21.092 (EUR 2.825; around half of the average wage). The spouse’s income above DKK 16.972 (EUR 2.273) for a couple with children is fully deducted. Irrespective of earnings, the child supplement is additional DKK 2.784 (EUR 373) and the single parent supplement DKK 1.638 (EUR 219). The recipient must be available for (additional) work, so that people working full-time are not eligible for SA.
Housing benefits are also reduced with earned income beyond a threshold (about 20% of the average wage) and depend on household’s income, size, floor space, rent, assets and number of children. They have been capped at DKK 353 (EUR 49) per SA recipient, for couples with the social assistance reform. This ceiling replaces the cap on total SA including housing benefits from before the reform.
Note: Both parents work at 67% of the average wage. In Panel A, the indicator measures the percentage of earnings lost to either higher taxes or lower benefits (social assistance or minimum income benefits, rent supplements, unemployment benefits, childcare allowances) when a parent of two children takes up full-time employment and uses centre-based childcare. Calculations refer to a couple with two children aged 2 and 3. In Panel B, this indicator measures the fraction of additional earnings that is lost to either higher taxes or lower benefits (social assistance or minimum income benefits, rent supplements) when the second earner increases their working hours. Calculations for families with children assume 2 children aged 4 and 6 who do not use formal childcare.
Source: OECD (2025), Benefits, earnings and wage (database).
3.3.3. Well-designed parental leave can help reduce the motherhood penalty
Parental leave supports parents following the birth of a child and helps maintain their jobs when they go back to work. Research suggests a positive link between the duration of paid leave for mothers and fertility rates, especially if the benefits are generous enough. Well-designed parental leave policies that cover fathers can also help shape gender norms around childcare and reduce stereotypes. Parental leave earmarked for fathers contributes to sharing more unpaid work in the household and increases childcare engagement of fathers over the whole duration of childcare responsibilities (OECD, 2024), making it easier for women to work full-time. While research on the direct impact of parental leave policies on the motherhood penalty is inconclusive and varies with specifics like leave length, these are all channels that may contribute to alleviating the motherhood penalty. In addition, engagement of fathers in early childcare has a positive impact on children’s development and positively affects fathers’ self-reported life satisfaction and health (OECD, 2016).
Denmark has well-established employment-protected statutory parental leave entitlements, but these are now somewhat less generous and shorter than those of many other OECD countries (Figure 3.7). The statutory system is complemented by generous collective agreement provisions covering all public sector employees and around three-quarters of private sector employees (Box 3.3). Statutory rules offer up to 52 weeks of partly sharable family leave for the mother and father combined, with both maternity and paternity benefits for the duration of leave taken replacing full prior earnings but both capped at 50% of the average wage, leading to an average 50% income replacement rate. Most collective agreements provide full uncapped income replacement, under a minimum prior work condition, for at least 10 weeks or more for each parent, plus a few weeks that can be shared (Box 3.3). During this time, parental benefits are paid to the employer who tops them up to full pay to the employee.
The mix of statutory and widely used collective agreement parental leave provisions in Denmark can put those not covered by collective agreements at a disadvantage. Given the low effective replacement rate of the statutory benefit, those not covered by the collective agreements, the self-employed with above-average earnings or people not fulfilling the minimum work requirement condition of their collective agreement (see Box 3.3), can experience a considerable drop in income when taking up parental leave. This can incentivise them to taking shorter leaves or no leave at all. Similarly, there is a disincentive to take up parental leave beyond the full-paid period granted by their collective agreement for those covered by them, particularly for people with higher earnings. OECD countries with the same or longer length of paid parental leave for mothers have an average replacement rate of 58%, ranging up to 100% in Estonia and Slovenia (both capped at around 2.5 times the average wage). It would be useful to assess whether the current two-tier parental leave system constitutes a major barrier to family formation for some people, and if it is the case, measures to improve adequacy for those not covered by collective agreements, without crowding-out existing collective agreement provisions, should be considered.
Denmark offers less generous statutory father-specific leave than the OECD average, despite a significant increase in the entitlement in 2022. Many OECD countries have been increasingly encouraging fathers to take up parental leave (Figure 3.7). The OECD average parental leave earmarked for fathers is 12.7 weeks, with 13 OECD countries including Norway, Finland and Iceland providing 15 weeks or more. While in Denmark fathers historically only had 2 weeks of earmarked parental leave of the 52-week combined total, a reform in August 2022 increased the share of leave earmarked to fathers to 11 weeks (Box 3.3). After the reform, the take-up of parental leave by fathers increased by about 3 weeks to 12 weeks in the public sector, and to 10 weeks in the private sector. The total leave taken by both parents is little changed at about 40 weeks and parents tend to take overlapping leave more often (Ministry of Employment, 2024). The take-up has been affected by the widely used system of collective agreements in Denmark, offering full salary replacement for each parent for a certain period of time. This provision for fathers has become more widespread and on average longer across sectors and occupations following the reform (Box 3.3). The recent reform extending father’s leave is a step in the right direction. Its effects on the take-up of leave by both parents should be assessed and a further extension in line with OECD top performers should be considered in the future.
Parents are entitled to employment-protected parental leave and associated benefits over the whole leave if they are employees, self-employed or unemployed and fulfil certain conditions (having worked at least one full month and 160 hours during the four months before birth if they are employees; having worked a certain amount of time during the last 12 months and for the last month before the leave and being profitable for the self-employed).
Length of leave
As of August 2022, each parent is entitled to 24 weeks of leave with parental benefits after birth, out of which 11 weeks are earmarked for each parent and have to be taken within the first year following birth (of the same combined total 48 weeks after birth, the self-employed only have 2 weeks’ leave entitlement earmarked specifically for each parent, as was the case for fathers before 2022). Mothers can take additional 4 weeks of leave before birth. The non-earmarked part of leave can be transferred to the other parent. Both parents can extend their leave by up to 14 weeks with no parental benefits.
A single parent is eligible for additional 13 weeks of leave (i.e. 37 in total after birth). If the single parent in addition has sole custody of the child, they are eligible for additional 9 weeks of leave. Sole parents of multiple children (twins etc.) are entitled up to 59 weeks of leave.
Parental benefits
Each parent is entitled to benefits for the whole period of their leave. If, during any of that time, their employer pays them full salary replacement, as is usually the case based on collective agreements, the employer receives the parental benefits instead. Parental leave benefits replace the full wage up to a cap at around 50% of the average wage.
Self-employed parents with higher prior income than the benefits cap are entitled to a compensation of the difference, so that the effective parental benefit cap for them is about 90% of average wage. If the self-employed has paid sickness insurance, their benefit entitlement is at least two-thirds of the basic cap, irrespective of their previous income or profit. Benefits entitlement is lost if the self-employed parent resumes work for more than 50% of their usual working hours before birth. As of 2026, self-employed will be able to work up to 3.5 hours per week without their parental benefits being reduced.
Provisions of collective agreements
Sectoral collective agreements can grant periods of leave with full salary replacement for varying periods (shorter or longer than those granted by law) that can be also earmarked to one of the parents. Similar to statutory benefits, they usually have a minimum prior work requirement (typically between 6 and 9 months of employment within the past 12 months).
In the private sector, almost all collective agreements introduced 12 weeks of full-paid leave for the second parent in the 2023 round of agreements following the parental leave reform. For example, the 2025 collective agreements for industry and the public sector stipulate the following full-paid leave weeks:
Parents who do not satisfy the conditions of having worked or being unemployed before the parental leave (for example, people on social assistance or students) and hence do not qualify for parental benefits can still transfer their leave entitlement to the other parent who can qualify for benefits if they satisfy the work/unemployment condition.
Note: In Panel A, data refers to paid birth-related leave entitlements to care for young children in place as of April 2024, such as maternity-, paternity-, home care- and parental leave. Periods labelled “earmarked for mothers” and “earmarked for fathers” refer to individual non-transferable entitlements for paid employment-protected leave of absence for employed parents or periods of an overall leave entitlement that can be used only by one parent and cannot be transferred to the other, as well as any weeks of shareable leave that must be taken by one or both parents for the family to qualify for “bonus” weeks of parental leave. Periods labelled “earmarked for mothers” includes weeks of maternity leave that are transferable to fathers. In Panel B, payment rates are based on net earnings for Austria, Chile, France and Germany. Data on all earnings refer to 2023 and net earnings for Chile refer to 2016.
Source: OECD Family Database, PF2.1 Key characteristics of parental leave systems.
3.3.4. Childcare is accessible but its quality and flexibility varies
High-quality and affordable early childhood education and care policies are essential to enable Danish parents, particularly women, to combine family and work commitments. Denmark performs well in this regard, with comprehensive childcare services that are largely publicly funded, allowing many Danish parents to continue working after childbirth. Public spending on early childcare services and its expansion are significantly positively associated with fertility rates (OECD, 2024). Early childcare availability boosts fertility rates and increases female employment and the probability of having a second and third child more than any other type of support, including paid parental leave and lump-sum cash transfers (OECD, 2024). In Denmark, all children are entitled to a daycare place which is subsidised. The subsidy is based on parents’ income, the number of children and family status, and available for children from 6 months of age to 6 years (Box 3.4). Average net out-of-pocket childcare costs are close to the OECD average for couples with two children, at 12% of the average wage. Net childcare costs for single parents are considerably lower, at 5% of the average wage or even lower for lower-income individuals (Figure 3.8, Panel B).
The availability of childcare during less standard working hours can lead to difficulties in balancing work and parenting, especially for single parents or for parents (re)-entering employment. There is relatively low demand for facilities with extended hours, so not all municipalities offer them (Krahn, Nøhr and Andersen, 2017). This may partly be due to parents using alternative solutions, like private or informal care by grandmothers that can lead to a “grandmother penalty” (Gørtz et al., 2025). Municipalities are legally obliged to offer some alternative options to families (Box 3.4). For instance, Copenhagen abolished extended opening hours of childcare in the afternoon due to their low use in 2025 and offered a combination of standard daycare and a more expensive flexible private childcare instead. However, municipalities can set an arbitrary eligibility child age limit for the private childcare subsidy, so not all children needing non-standard working hours may be covered. In addition, around 40% of municipalities surveyed in 2017 offered extended hours in an alternative institution that was not in the local area, so it may be hard to access for some parents (Krahn, Nøhr and Andersen, 2017). Even though only a minority of parents may need to accommodate longer working hours, their ability to do so in an affordable way can thus vary depending on their location.
The closure of childcare facilities on some working days can also make it difficult to balance work and parenting. According to the Daycare Act, municipalities must provide childcare on all working days except for Christmas Eve and the Constitution Day, otherwise they can only be closed on days with low turnout of children, such as summer holidays, so-called “closure days”. The number of closing days varies across municipalities. Municipalities must offer alternative care options, for example in an alternative institution and as a rule they have to notify parents in advance of the arrangements. However, this can bring about issues similar to extended hours alternatives, like the alternative institution offered being too far for some parents. Some municipalities have been unable to fulfil the legal requirement, as capacity in the alternative institution was not available (Krahn, Nøhr and Andersen, 2017). The childcare system should better cater to the childcare flexibility needs of working parents, for example by adjusting the rules for private childcare subsidies to include all children eligible for childcare. Several municipalities manage non-standard hours or closure days by using a planning system, where parents register their needs in advance, to optimise their resources. The Nordfyn municipality pools resources from the facilities closed on closure days into the alternative open ones. Municipalities could be supported in using such planning systems more widely, on a municipal, rather than institutional, level.
Despite high accessibility, the quality of childcare varies widely. A recent national representative study found that daycare quality varies greatly between municipalities, institutions and even between classrooms of the same institution, for children aged 3-5 (EVA and VIVE, 2025). 30% of institutions were considered as having a learning environment supporting children’s wellbeing, development and education only to a low degree. The average staff turnover is 30% and only about half of the staff has completed pedagogical education. Similar results were found for daycare institutions for children aged 0-2 (EVA and VIVE, 2023). Quality supervision responsibility lies with the municipalities in Denmark. Supporting them regularly with a more systematic information base, such as the daycare quality study mentioned above (EVA and VIVE, 2023), or similarly to the Australian Early Development Census conducted every three years can help authorities to make more informed decisions. The 2026 budget plan to increase childcare funding by DKK 1.1 billion, increase staffing and to perform regular quality reviews every four years, is a positive step that can help improve quality. Improving quality monitoring and incentive systems while keeping administrative burden low, offering governance support and potentially reconsidering funding allocation mechanisms between levels of governments (e.g. introduction of conditional grants linked to quality indicators, in addition to existing block and equalisation grants to municipalities) could help provide support and incentives to steer funds towards quality and its more equitable distribution.
All children from 26 weeks of age until school age (6) are entitled to be enrolled in a subsidised daycare facility by 3 months from application. Daycare is provided by municipalities or private providers, with fees varying by type of facility and across municipalities. The state covers at least 75% of the operating costs of daycare facilities, parents pay up to the remaining 25%. The fees are zero up to a household income threshold of about 40% of average wage, then increase progressively with income up to a threshold of about 1.2 times the average wage. The income thresholds are higher for single parents and for each additional child. Parents on parental leave have a right to apply for a part-time daycare service of 30 hours per week with a fee discount.
Subsidies for private childminding and minding own children: The local council may allow parents to choose a financial subsidy for minding their own children instead of accepting a place in a day-care facility under certain conditions, including being able to teach the child Danish. All municipalities have to offer parents with non-standard working hours daycare services or a subsidy covering the private care instead, but child age eligibility limit varies across municipalities.
3.3.5. The perceived cost of parenting is high despite family benefits
Research suggests that monetary transfers only have modest positive effects on fertility that is generally only transitory (OECD, 2024). In terms of cash child benefits and allowances (excluding parental leave benefits) relative to average earnings, Denmark provides support at a level that is broadly in line with the OECD average, favouring single parents (Figure 3.8, Panel A, Box 3.5), similarly to the net childcare costs that are also more favourable for single parents (Figure 3.8, Panel B). Low-income families are treated more favourably only to a limited extent, via the childcare fee subsidy (Box 3.4) and a social assistance supplement as of July 2025. Nevertheless, estimates of self-perceived costs of having children in 2023 were relatively high for the first child both for couples (at about 50% of an adult’s costs) and single parents (about 80%), relative to other types of families in Denmark and to other OECD countries, as well as relative to actual incurred equivalised expenditure (OECD, 2025c). Economies of scale with respect to household size, as well as a limited time budget of single parents leading to the need to outsource some activities (such as childcare in non-standard working hours) can to a certain extent explain the higher perceived child costs for these types of families.
Note: In Panel A, data refer to child allowance (Børne- ogungeydelsen) plus ordinary and extra child allowance (ordinært and ekstra børnetilskud) for single parents, by gross earnings for selected family types. In Panel B, net childcare costs are the household expenses of using full-time centre-based childcare, after any benefits designed to reduce the gross childcare fees. In both Panels, eligibility to social assistance or minimum income benefits and rent supplements is included in the calculation. The OECD aggregate refers to the unweighted average of 33 countries with available data.
Source: OECD calculations based on output from the OECD tax-benefit model, version 2.7.1; and OECD (2025), Benefits, earnings and wage (database): indicator on net childcare cost for parents using centre-based childcare.
Cash family benefits
Child and youth benefit: monthly equivalent of DKK 1,099 to DKK 1,764 (around EUR 147 to EUR 236) for each child, it decreases with child’s age up to 17 years and with parents’ income above a ceiling of about 1.7 times the average wage. The benefit is divided equally between each custodian and their incomes are tested independently. Other means-tested allowances apply in various circumstances, for example, the special allowance for parents still studying or in training (irrespective of number of children); the special child allowance for children of pensioners (aged 0-17); and parental leave benefits (see Box 3.3).
Single parents get an ordinary and extra child allowance per child aged 0-17 years and a lump sum irrespective of the number of children. These allowances are reduced by 10% if the single parent’s annual income exceeds around a third of the average wage. As of July 2025, each parent on social assistance receives a supplementary child allowance, irrespective of the number of children, with an additional allowance for single parents. Advance payment of child support is provided if the absent parent does not pay alimonies on time or the recommended support at birth. The absent parent then has to pay the support back to state.
Other benefits depending on the number of children or family status
Most other benefits, for instance the housing benefit or guaranteed minimum income benefit also depend on the number of children and or family status (single/couple). As of July 2025, children of parents on social assistance are eligible for a yearly leisure allowance per each child.
In Denmark, 15% of children are non-resident, meaning that their primary residence is outside of one or both of the parents’ household even though they may spend some time in the other parent’s household. This is usually due to shared parenting arrangements between parents that have separated. This compares to an OECD average of 7% of children. The self-reported cost of non-resident children in Denmark is the same as the cost of resident children, while for many OECD countries it is lower. These relatively high costs are similar in Scandinavian countries and France, where joint physical custody of children after separation is also common (OECD, 2025b). Child benefit policies take this into account to an extent, notably by dividing the child benefits between parents and assessing their incomes separately for eligibility. Other transfers such as housing benefits and social assistance could also take into account the shared custody of children for households where the child does not have a primary residence, but it still spends some time there and hence this other household incurs child-related expenses. For example, in several OECD countries like Australia, Belgium, France or Norway children living in two homes may be taken into account in the housing allowance of both parents; as a result, families are eligible for a larger benefit than if the child lived solely with one parent. Similarly, in Belgium, Finland and Norway, a child can be considered living in two households and both parents can have access to social assistance if other eligibility criteria are met (Harkovirta et al., 2024).
3.3.6. High housing costs have raised the bar for starting a family
The availability of affordable and suitable housing can impact childbearing decisions, likely to involve questions beyond simply the size of the living space but also including the desirability of the neighbourhood for children. High housing costs have been found to negatively affect fertility rates across multiple countries, including Denmark (Fluchtmann et al., 2023). Real house prices have increased significantly in Denmark over the last decade. House price growth was the second highest in the Nordic region between 2020 and 2022, and despite a dip in real house prices post-Covid, real house prices have been rising again since 2023. Policies improving housing affordability, such as reforming housing taxation, improving the functioning of the private rental market or the use of social housing, could thus also help support family formation (Chapter 4).
3.3.7. Fertility treatment is good, but lifestyles could be healthier
The postponement of births is shifting family formation to the point where fecundity problems interfere with the realisation of desired fertility. An increasing number of women are giving birth in their 40s. Advances in reproductive medicine have helped, and Denmark ranks highest in the OECD for the share of births involving some form of assistive technology with 9.2% of all live births in 2019 (OECD, 2024). Fertility treatment in Denmark is free for the first and second children. The legal limit for a woman to undergo assisted reproduction is 45 years of age, however, public hospitals only provide treatment up until the age of 40, for referrals up until the age of 39. Some collective agreements can in addition provide paid leave for employees or their partners for fertility treatment.
Environmental and lifestyle choices are impacting male fertility. Male sperm quality has been declining for years in Denmark as in many other high-income countries (OECD, 2024). Possible reasons for this decline include unhealthy lifestyle choices linked to obesity, nicotine addiction, radiation-emitting devices and alcohol consumption (Balawender & Orkisz, 2020). Research shows that weight loss and the cessation or limitation of unhealthy lifestyle-related factors can increase the probability of fatherhood (Lassen et al., 2024). The number of people with obesity has doubled in Denmark since 2010, with 25% of men now classified as obese, above the EU average. Denmark also has the highest reported levels of regular heavy drinking in the EU, and the highest levels of binge drinking in the OECD, both for men and women (OECD, 2024). While more research is needed on the causes of drop in male fertility, greater attention must be given to prevention and the promotion of healthy lifestyles.
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