Denmark

The Danish government does not have an overarching national youth policy in place. Instead, each sector has its own responsibilities regarding measures for youth and addresses these within its own relevant policies.

Published on October 4, 2023
Updated on February 20, 2024

Definition of youth

The Danish government does not have a specific definition of youth, according to the EU Youth Wiki. However, it has incorporated EU Youth Programmes, where youth is defined as between the ages of 15 and 29 years. Furthermore, the Danish Youth Council (DUF) accepts member organisations that cater to those under the age of 30.

Definition 1
15 - 29 years

Source: EU Youth Programmes 2021

Definition 2

Voting Rights

Majority age
18 years
Voting age
18 years
Criminal responsibility
15 years

Candidacy age

Lower House
18 years
Upper House
--- (unicameral)
President
--- (tbc)

Marriage & Gender

Without parental consent
Female
18 years
Male
18 years
With parental consent
Female
15 years
Male
15 years

Source: UNSD, UNDESA, ILGA

Is same-sex marriage legalized?
Female
Yes
Male
Yes

Source: UNSD, UNDESA, ILGA

Are other genders recognised?
Yes
self-determination model

Policy & Legislation

Is there a national youth policy?
Unclear

The Danish government does not have an overarching national youth policy in place. Instead, each sector has its own responsibilities regarding measures for youth and addresses these within its own relevant policies. As described in the Youth Policy Article (2008), this range of programmes and activities conducted cross-sectorally forms "the framework of our Danish youth policy." As such:

"the Danish youth policy is not an isolated, self-contained system within Danish legislation and policymaking. It is an integrated part of the general policies that support Denmark as an enlightened and open, democratic welfare society that is based on social coherence and strives to give everybody equal opportunities to obtain an education, a job and social security, thus creating the basis for the participation of young people in society."

Public Institutions

Is there a governmental authority that is primarily responsible for youth?
Unclear

There is no single authority responsible for youth in Denmark according to the EU Youth Wiki. Rather, the Danish approach is to tackle youth policy on a sectoral basis; for instance, by addressing youth and health, socially marginalised youth, youth and education, and other specific topics. Thus, different governmental authorities address different youth policy issues. For example, the Ministry of Children and Education, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Culture all incorporate some aspects of youth policy into their work.

Youth & Representation

Does the country have a national youth organization or association?
Yes

The Danish Youth Council (DUF) is an umbrella organisation for 80 children and youth organisations. DUF states that its core values are "participation, dialogue, volunteerism and influence", with a strong focus on the participation of youth in democracy. One of its main goals is to unite and develop youth organisations under these fundamental values. DUF also manages the distribution of allocation funds (surplus profit from Danish lottery tickets) for youth-oriented work, the majority of which is directly given to national youth organisations. Finally, DUFrepresents the interests of youth organisations by regularly speaking to politicians and consulting in policy-making processes at the local, national and EU level.

Youth work

Is youth work a formally recognised profession?
No

In Denmark, according to the EU Youth Wiki, youth work is not a formally recognised profession, and the term "youth work" is not widely used. Instead, it is more common to refer to "working with young people." Nevertheless, as stated in the EU Youth Wiki, the tradition of youth work in Denmark is more than 170 years old and remains strong despite the lack of a national framework or legislation. In practice, the majority of those who work directly with youth are volunteers or are paid on a part-time/per-session basis. Furthermore, the majority of national youth organisations are run entirely or almost entirely by volunteers. Because youth work is not a recognised profession, there are no minimum training or qualification standards to become a youth worker. However, the majority of youth workers have a background in education or social work.

Budget & Spending

Does the national youth policy have a dedicated budget?
Unclear

It was not possible to locate budget figures at the time of writing. If you have this information, please contact us at: factsheet-updates@youthpolicy.org

Contextual Figures

Liberal Democracy Index
916
Youth Progress Index
90.48

Economic Indicators

GDP per capita
$68007.76
Human Development Index
0.948
Gini coefficient
27.5

Sources

See all sources (5)