The Danish Welfare System by Christopher Hennings

The Danish welfare
9/10 – 2007
Christopher Hennings

The Danish people say that we live in a welfare society. We have got a low unemployment rate and growing wealth in Denmark. We have also got a good public health insurance and there are almost no difference between the social classes. Our infrastructure does work and we have never been richer in Denmark. What can Denmark do to maintain the welfare, and what is the definition of welfare? I will answer these questions easily in the following text.
There are several preconditions for welfare:
The population has to be safe and it has to have the possibility of cash benefits from the state, retirement and public health services.
The population has to help immigrants to integrate in to the Danish society
All have to contribute to the country’s wealth and try to stay at the labour market as long as possible.
The taxes in Denmark are relatively high, compared to many other countries. In return, we have got a good welfare; public health insurance, cash benefits from the state, etc.
The Danish welfare system sounds very nice, but it is threatened in several areas:
1. The Danes are getting older, and they aren’t getting as much children as before. As a consequence, we are getting more old people and less young people on the labour market. This isn’t so good because someone have to earn the money in a society to pay taxes, to pay the old people's homes, public health insurance etc.
To maintain the high welfare in Denmark, we have to raise the age of retirement or to get the young people through an education as fast as possible.
2. Another problem is that when people get richer, they want more vacation. People don’t want to earn more money than necessary, and they want more spare time.
This can also cause early retirement.
People are also getting “spoiled” when they get rich, and they aren’t satisfied with old hospitals and bad infrastructure. As one of the richest countries, we have to be as good as the other countries. We have to invest in people, education, science and development. If we don’t do that, people will travel to other countries, for example where the taxes are lower

I have in this description and introduction to the Danish welfare-societyh told about some specific problems that Denmark should take care of as soon as possible. We have to be prepared for the challenges, - because they will soon come.