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Copenhagen tour to touch on social welfare systems in Denmark?

Hi-We will be visiting Copenhagen in mid April for 2 1/2 days. Is it possible to find a brief discussion and/or tour on the benefits and drawbacks of the way social benefits and healthcare are administered in Denmark? I know it's not the usual tourist topic! Thanks!

Posted by
27111 posts

There was such a tour when I visited in 1972. I know that's not much help at this point.

One place to look is the Viator website. They are a re-seller of a lot of tours.

Posted by
7049 posts

In case you don't find something, this is some background info (it's from 2012 and published by the Danish government, so obviously it won't have any critique in it...but still a decent background):
http://www.oim.dk/media/14947/social-policy-in-denmark.pdf

Assuming the below data in the charts is accurate (I don't like to see chart without sources clearly noted at the bottom), those are pretty impressive outcomes. The obvious "drawback", if one sees it that way, is you need a highly progressive tax system (and high taxes generally) to finance such a system.
http://www.demos.org/blog/10/20/15/united-states-vs-denmark-17-charts

Good luck finding a tour! If you do, please report back after your trip.

Posted by
92 posts

Thanks for the links, Agnes. Scandinavia has always interested me in social respects, but it's difficult to think of a way to have a quick but interesting contact. Some things may be best left to serendipity, and reading ahead of time, I guess!

Posted by
3391 posts

I took one of the free walking tours out of the tourist office by Tivoli Gardens. As we were walking I asked our guide about it and he was happy to talk about it with me. It's very interesting to me as well!

Posted by
971 posts

I think it's a topic most Danes will be happy to have an open discussion about with foreigners, especially if they show an open an informed interest (we are not as shy about talking about politics as most Americans). If you do a guided tour, I'm sure the guide will bring this up if asked about it. Off course chatting up random strangers or the tour guide means that you will get their own opinion or personal anecdotes. Also the Free walking tours seem to be staffed a lot with foreign expats, judging by their facebook page, so they might have a limited knowledge on Danish social affairs.

Posted by
92 posts

Thanks for your observations on expat guides, Morten, very helpful. I did have a very interesting similar discussion with a guide in Matsumoto Japan, just because it was first thing in the morning in and I was extraordinarily lucky to be a tour party of one that day. He had lived in the U.S. for some years and come home. It was so interesting, I wondered if someone had organized a tour on that subject in your country, and what area would be typical housing. I look forward to visiting!

Posted by
3110 posts

I did a free walking tour last month there; and the guide, without being prompted, spent about 20 minutes explaining the social benefits system in detail.
So interesting.
I'm sorry, I don't recall his name; but it was one of the tours that starts at the City Hall area.
So you might luck out.

Posted by
92 posts

It is a fascinating topic! I was hoping for something formal, but the everyday Joe might be even more opinionated :)