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Universal Health Coverage: Service coverage index, 2021: ≥80

Source: World health statistics 2025: monitoring health for the SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals. Tables of health statistics by country and area, WHO region and globally. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2025. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.

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Population reporting unmet needs for medical care, by income level, 2021
– Lowest quintile: 2%
– Highest quintile: 0.8%
– Total: 1.2%
Main reason for reporting unmet needs for medical care, 2021
– Waiting list: 0.8%
– Too expensive: 0.3%
– Too far to travel: 0.1%
Population reporting unmet needs for dental care, by income level, 2021
– Lowest quintile: 9.9%
– Highest quintile: 1.3%
– Total: 5.0%
Population coverage for a core set of services, 2021
– Total public coverage: 100%

Source: OECD (2023), Health at a Glance 2023: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, doi.org/10.1787/7a7afb35-en.

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“There is no explicitly defined benefits basket in Denmark, but the scope of services is broadly described in the 2007 Health Act. The statutory health system covers primary and preventive care, specialist care, hospital care (including prescription drugs for inpatients), mental health care, long-term care and dental care for children/youth aged under 22 years. Outpatient prescription drugs, adult dental care, physiotherapy and optometry services are partially covered through subsidies (Box 3.1) (Vrangbæk, 2020). The benefits package does not cover cosmetic surgery unless the doctor considers the condition so severe that treatment is required. Whether a new intervention should be included in the implicit benefits package is opaque. In general, clinicians are free to introduce new techniques if they can stay within their budget and if the national specialty planning does not cover the intervention.

“The level of service offered to patients is regulated by law and sets maximum waiting times for diagnosis (30 days) and treatment (another 30 days) before the region must offer access to an alternative provider. However, the scope of health care services that must be provided is not specified. Three potential reasons for the absence of an explicit benefit package are:

“ƒ the regions could use a positive list as a bargaining tool in negotiations with the state, asking for more resources to cover any new intervention listed;

“ƒ the hospitals and their departments could use a positive list as a bargaining tool in negotiations with the region on next year’s budget, asking for more resources to cover any new intervention listed; and

“ƒ fear that a positive list might slow the introduction of new interventions and the abolition of antiquated practices.”

Source: Birk HO, Vrangbæk K, Rudkjøbing A, Krasnik A, Eriksen A, Richardson E, Smith Jervelund S. Denmark: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2024; 26(1): i–152.

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“Since 1973, residents over the age of 15 have been able to choose between two coverage options in the statutory health system, known as Group 1 and Group 2. The default is Group 1, and almost all citizens belong to this group (see Table 2.3). In Group 1, members are registered with a GP of their choice, practicing within 15 km of their home (5 km in the Copenhagen area) or further if the patient moves after registration, provided they waive their right to home visits by the GP. Group 1 members have free access to emergency services and general preventive, diagnostic and curative services. Without a prior referral, patients may consult dentists, chiropractors, ear, nose and throat specialists or ophthalmologists. Their GP must refer them for access to all other medical specialties, physiotherapy and hospital treatments. Consultation with a GP or specialist is free, while dental care, podiatry, psychology consultations, chiropractic and physiotherapy are subsidized in most cases. Patients seeking care from specialists other than ear, nose and throat or ophthalmologists without a GP referral are liable to pay the full fee. In Group 2, individuals can consult any GP and specialist without a referral. The region will subsidize expenses up to the cost of the corresponding treatment for a patient in Group 1. The same rules apply to treatment by podiatrists, psychologists, dentists, chiropractors and physiotherapists. There is no charge for treatment in hospital. Only a minority of the population (1%) chooses this group, probably because of general satisfaction with the referral system (see Section 5.2).”

Source: Birk HO, Vrangbæk K, Rudkjøbing A, Krasnik A, Eriksen A, Richardson E, Smith Jervelund S. Denmark: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2024; 26(1): i–152.

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“All Danish residents, including registered immigrants and asylum-seekers, are automatically covered by the tax-funded national health system, while undocumented migrants have access to acute care only. The system covers most of the costs of medical services.

“Only about 2 % of the population reported unmet needs for medical care due to costs, distance to travel or waiting times in 2022, according to the EU-SILC survey. These unmet needs were mainly driven by waiting times. The gap in unmet medical needs between people in the lowest and highest income quintiles is significant, albeit slightly smaller than the EU average (Figure 15).

“Unmet needs for dental care are higher, and were reported by 7.5 % of Danes in 2022. Inequalities in unmet needs for dental care by income level are also much greater than for medical care: nearly 12 % of Danes in the lowest income quintile reported unmet dental care needs compared to less than 2 % of those in the highest quintile. Such unmet needs for dental care are mainly due to costs, as dental care is much less covered than medical care.”

Source: OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2023), Denmark: Country Health Profile 2023, State of Health in the EU, OECD Publishing, Paris/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels.

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Page last updated July 24, 2025 by Doug McVay, Editor.