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Everything expats should know about Danish healthcare

So, you’re moving to Denmark! It’s time to loosen your belt buckle, because there’s no way you’ll be able to resist all the sticky pastries and smørrebrød you’re about to find in every second shop.

Published: 11 July 2018 10:41 CEST
Everything expats should know about Danish healthcare
Photo: monkeybusiness/Depositphotos

But first things first, you should get your head around the healthcare system before you land. The last thing you want is to arrive and realise you have no idea who to see in case of a nødsituation (that means emergency, by the way).

On the bright side, all Danish citizens have equal access to the country’s healthcare system, and you will too once you’re registered in Denmark and receive your CPS number and yellow health insurance card.

On the not-so bright side, you should be aware that not all healthcare services are available through Denmark’s public health insurance. Consequently, it’s a good idea to take out a private health insurance package — particularly like these packages offered by Cigna Global that are designed specifically for expats — so if the unexpected arises you’re covered under any circumstance. 

Find out more about Cigna Global health insurance

Finding a doctor

First off, you’ll need to register in the Civil Registration System (CPS) in your local municipality. You can do this at your nearest Citizen Service Centre. 

At this time you will be presented with a list of GPs within your municipality (kommune), and it’s up to you to decide which one to register with. It’s your right to choose your own GP so you can pick a male or female doctor, depending on which you’re more comfortable with. When you receive your healthcare card your chosen GP’s name, address, and telephone will appear on it.

You’ll find the majority of Danes speak impeccable English, so it’s unlikely you’ll have to go out of your way to find an English-speaking doctor. However, it’s always a good idea to check with the surgery beforehand.

Once you’re registered with a doctor, the general procedure for making an appointment is by calling up the surgery and speaking to the receptionist. Depending on how serious your illness is, this can be done on the same day or with several days’ notice.

Emergency care

If you have to see a doctor after 4pm on a weekday or on weekends or public holidays, you should call the emergency doctor (vagtlægen) service. 

In case of a life-threatening emergency, you should dial Europe’s common emergency telephone number, (+45) 112. It’s free to call and will put you in immediate contact with the ambulance service.

If you come down with a sudden illness and need to speak to a doctor or nurse, you should call (+45) 1813 for referral to the closest hospital emergency department or urgent care centre. You’re required to call this number before going to a hospital’s emergency department, and won’t be admitted if you haven’t.

Hospital stays are free of charge as they are paid for through taxation. 

Specialist care

In Denmark, you won’t be able to see a specialist without a referral from your GP, including for paediatric and gynaecological visits. Your doctor will issue you with a written referral, which you need for the consultation or treatment to be covered by public health insurance.

With private health insurance, you can often cut out the middleman and arrange your own specialist care. Cigna Global’s optional International Outpatient module can be added to any of its expat packages, covering consultations with specialists and medical practitioners, including osteopathy, chiropractic care, and physiotherapy.

Pharmacies

In Denmark, pharmacies (apotek) have exclusive rights to sell prescription medicines to consumers. Apotek are often run by private pharmacists, who have been licensed by the state — the staff are highly trained and can also provide you with advice about medicines and their uses.

Some medicines can only be bought if you have a medical prescription from your doctor. You will have to pay for prescriptions; however, the Danish National Health Service subsidises the cost in many cases. If you spend more than DKK 850 a year on medicine eligible for reimbursement, you will automatically get some money back.

Insurance

The level of care in Denmark is generally high and public healthcare insurance covers many appointments, treatments and procedures. 

However, many expats still prefer to take out private health insurance from an international provider like Cigna Global. The flexible options mean you can find a package that suits your situation, so you can focus on settling into your new life instead of worrying about what to do if you or someone in your family falls ill.

Click here to get a free quote from Cigna Global

The content within this article has been created by The Local and provides only a general overview for information only. No reliance should be placed on the information contained with this article. Nothing in this article is intended to constitute legal, tax, financial planning, health or medical advice.
The Local is an affiliate advertiser of Cigna Global and has been paid a fee to market Cigna Global individual private medical insurance plans within the content of this article.
For more information on Cigna Global, or to get a quote, please visit cignaglobal.com. Terms and conditions apply.

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LIVING IN DENMARK

IN NUMBERS: The foreign nationalities living in Denmark and where in the country they live

Which foreign nationalities are the most common in Denmark? Where are people from countries such as the UK, Ireland or the United States most likely to live? New data reveals where people with foreign backgrounds have settled across the country.

Published: 4 July 2024 13:46 CEST
IN NUMBERS: The foreign nationalities living in Denmark and where in the country they live

People defined in Danish statistics as “immigrants” and “descendants” of immigrants are more likely to live in certain regions of the country compared to others depending on their nationality, new figures from national agency Statistics Denmark show.

For example, Ukraine is the most frequent nationality for foreigners in central and northern Jutland, while Turkey is the most frequent in central and northern Zealand.

Foreigners who speak English as their first language are more likely to live in Greater Copenhagen than any other part of Denmark.

Statistics Denmark, as well as many authorities and public agencies in Denmark categorise people considered not of Danish heritage into two groups: ‘immigrants’ and ‘descendants’ of immigrants (‘efterkommere’).

A person is considered to be Danish if she or he has at least one parent who is a Danish citizen and was born in Denmark. People defined as ‘immigrants’ and ‘descendants’ do not fulfil those criteria. The difference between the two is that an ‘immigrant’ was born outside of Denmark, while a ‘descendant’ was born in Denmark. 

The data is based on the number of people of each nationality registered as living in each of Denmark’s 98 municipalities.

Around 952,200 people classed as either “immigrants” or “descendants” live in Denmark.

They are not evenly distributed across the country, in terms of either their overall number or the distribution of their nationalities.

The two groups represent some 16 percent of Denmark’s total population, with 12 percent being immigrants and the remaining descendants. The figures come from the second quarter of 2024.

Behind the national average is a marked variation in the proportion from region to region, however. Within each of Denmark’s five regions (Greater Copenhagen, Zealand, South Denmark, North Jutland and Central Jutland) there are further variations by municipality.

“The just under a million immigrants and descendants who live in Denmark are not evenly distributed between municipalities and regions. The largest proportion lives in the municipalities around the capital, as well in the largest municipalities outside of the capital like Odense and Aarhus,” senior consultant with Statistics Denmark Jørn Korsbø Petersen said in a press release.

Highest in Copenhagen, lowest in North Jutland

The Greater Copenhagen Region has the highest proportion of foreigners and their children with 23 percent – a figure that sets it aside from each of the other four regions.

On a municipal level, the municipalities with the highest proportions are similarly most likely to be located in Greater Copenhagen.

The municipality with the highest proportion of foreigners is Ishøj west of Copenhagen with 46 percent, followed by nearby Brøndby (40 percent) and Høje Taastrup (37 percent).

Copenhagen Municipality, the biggest in the country in terms of population, has a figure of 28 percent for foreign residents and descendants.

In North Jutland, which has the lowest proportion of the five regions, around 10 percent of the population has a foreign background. The municipalities with the lowest proportions are also located here — Morsø, Jammerbugt, Læsø and Rebild, each with 7 percent.

South Denmark has a foreign population of 14 percent, followed by Central Jutland (13 percent) and Zealand (12 percent).

Turkey and Poland are the most common nationalities

People who moved from or have heritage in Turkey comprised 66,693 Danish residents in 2023, making Turkey the country with the largest proportion of foreign nationals living in Denmark. Next is Poland with 56,760 and Romania is third with 46,163.

Ukraine has the fourth-highest number at 45,591, with a high number of that total having arrived in Denmark since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022 and during the ongoing war. There is a very similar number of Syrians – 45,375 – many of whom arrived during the mid-2010s.

The United Kingdom is the highest anglophone country on the list, with 18,370 Britons living in Denmark last year. There were 12,650 US nationals, 2,890 from Canada, 2,735 from Australia and 2,482 from Ireland.

India had 21,309 foreign nationals or their children living in Denmark last year.

Different nationalities, different parts of Denmark

While the nationalities are not spread evenly across Denmark, some trends can be observed when plotting the “dominant” – meaning, the country with the highest number of foreign residents – across a map of Danish municipalities.

As shown by the Statistics Denmark graphic below, Ukraine is the dominant country in parts of central and northern Jutland. In South Jutland near the border with Germany, it is unsurprising to see a high proportion of German (Tyskland) nationals.

Graphic: Statistics Denmark

There is also a high percentage of Germans in Copenhagen district Frederiksberg and on Baltic Sea island Bornholm, while there is a pattern for Indian nationals to settle in the municipalities of Gladsaxe and Gentofte north of Copenhagen.

It should be noted that the map only shows the dominant nationality and not the number of people of each nationality who live in the various localities. As such, there may be a higher number of Ukrainians (for example) in municipalities where Ukraine is not “dominant”, compared to municipalities where this is the case.

In Copenhagen, the dominant nationality, Pakistan, comprises some 8,161 people, while on island municipality Læsø it is just 29 Germans.

A search of Statistics Denmark’s database (see below screenshot) shows that that for six English-speaking countries — Ireland, the UK, Canada, United States,  Australia and New Zealand — there is a greater number of people living in Greater Copenhagen (Hovedstaden) than in any of the other regions.

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