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Increased disparity among Danes

Christian Wenande
August 18th, 2016


This article is more than 8 years old.

Danmarks Statistik has published its ten-year booklet

According to a new book published by the national statistics keeper Danmarks Statistik, the inequality gap between the living conditions of rich and poor Danes is steadily increasing.

‘Statistisk Tiårsoversigt 2016’ offers a ten-year overview of statistics in Denmark and reveals that wealth, health, education and employment disparities are all increasing.

For instance, an article within the book, ‘Denmark – a little nation with growing differences’, showed that the average family in Rudersdal Municipality has about twice as much income as the average family in Lolland Municipality, while the life expectancy in Rudersdal is 82.4, compared to 76.9 in Lolland.

READ MORE: Health disparity continuing to grow in Denmark

More single dads
The growing disparity is particularly evident in the education system where the share of grade 8-10 students at public schools has dropped by 6 percentage points, and increased at private schools by 3.

More children are growing up in apartments these days, and in 24 percent of families with children there is just one adult.

There are over 151,000 single mothers living with their kids and 34,800 single fathers, which is an increase of 38 percent compared to 2006.

Fast and furious car and film stats
Among the other interesting stats to emerge, it has been revealed there are now 2.4 million cars on the Danish roads – an increase of 22 percent compared to 2006.

And in 2015 there were 25 percent fewer films compared to ten years ago, but 13 percent more cinema tickets sold.

 


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”