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Close to a third of unemployed people in Denmark are financially vulnerable

Lauren Beauchamp
March 4th, 2021


This article is more than 3 years old.

Most tend to be struggling with loan repayments, and the more they suffer, the more likely it is that they will get another

Poverty a major concern (photo: Pixabay)

Almost a third of unemployed people in Denmark are financially vulnerable, according to the 2020 Living Conditions Survey carried out by Danmarks Statistik on behalf of Statbank.

In addition, just 4 percent of employed people describe themselves as financially vulnerable, along with 4 percent of old-age pensioners and 12 percent of students.

Mostly caused by loans
The primary cause of vulnerability among all the respondents is loans, and the survey revealed that 8 percent of the country’s households struggle to keep up with repayments – a slightly better return than in 2019.

Among these vulnerable households, 38 percent had more than one loan – and this did not include mortgages. Among households with no repayment problems, only 9 percent have more than one loan.

Friends and family helping out
Among the 8 percent struggling to keep up with repayments, many get loans from friends (24 percent) and family (21) to help them pay.

In fact, 5 percent of the nation took loans from friends and family between February 2019 and February 2020, compared to banks and mortgage lenders (18, quick loans (9) and instalment purchase loans (7).

 


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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.

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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.”

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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.”