countries - Denmark

The information contained on this page was compiled in April 2009 by our country team.

Contact:
Steen Bengtsson
Danish National Institute of Social Research
Herluf Trolles Gade 11
1052 Copenhagen

Email: sb@sfi.dk
Web: http://www.sfi.dk/sw248.asp

The full text can be downloaded here.

The key national bodies with responsibility for disability law and policy implementation include:

The minister with responsibility for disability policy. One of the government members is given this function; currently it is the welfare minister.

Denmark has signed the United Nations Convention, which has been translated into Danish. Ratification is under preparation. There is a proposal of 06.02.2009 from the opposition in parliament of signing the Optional Protocol too, but the government has not signed it.

Key features of the national system include (including adapted items from the MISSOC database December 2008):

Disability benefits

Data on population indicate that:

25 % of the population between 16 and 64 have a self-defined disability, 15 % report some minor or major functional limitations concerning legs, arms, hands, sight, hearing, behaviour or intellect (survey data 2006, nearly the same as 1995, Bengtsson 2008). 11 % of these disabilities are congenital, 89 % are acquired. The risk of acquiring a disability grows from around 0,2 % yearly in childhood to 1,6 % yearly for men and 2 % yearly for women in the later part of their fifties.

Nordic Network of Disability Research (NNDR). This association provides opportunities for networking among disability researchers, persons working in knowledge centres and disability services, and disabled people in all Scandinavian (or Nordic) countries. NNDR has a Scandinavian conference every second year, and NNDR/DK (the Danish part) holds a conference every second year (as do other national NNDRs). 

Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research (SJDR) is the main (and only) academic research journal based in Scandinavia. It is published by NNDR.

The national organisation representing disabled people at the European level (European Disability Forum) is:

 Disabled Peoples Organisations Denmark ( Danske Handicap­organisationer, DH) is the national organisation representing disabled people at the European level (European Disability Forum). DH represents 32 member organisa­tions.

Useful sources of more detailed information about the situation of disabled people, and the policies and support available, include:

Mogens Wiederholt (2002): Danish disability policy - Equal opportunities through dialogue