Success of Danish welfare state
Given the major concerns with large inequalities in income and wealth that some parts of the Western world as well as other parts of the world are facing now, I think it is important to TRUTHFULLY (as truthfully as I can with my limited exposure & in my limited time) highlight success stories in providing a social welfare net for almost all, if not all, citizens like that of Denmark's welfare state.
Now I am very much aware that today Venezuela is being viewed by many as a standout example of socialism and welfare state approach having gone wrong. One wishes all the best to the people of Venezuela to get out of the problems that they are confronting now.
I think the truth is that there are socialist and welfare state models that have failed, and failed miserably, but there are success stories as well! It is my considered view that blanket-negative views of socialism and welfare state models must be balanced with the success stories, and so I got the idea of putting up a short public post on Denmark's success with this model.
Here are some interesting links on it, and relevant extracts from them:
1) The official website of Denmark, Society, Welfare,
http://denmark.dk/en/society/welfare/
Extracts from it:
Welfare
The basic principle of the Danish welfare system, often referred to as the Scandinavian welfare model, is that all citizens have equal rights to social security. Within the Danish welfare system, a number of services are available to citizens, free of charge. This means that for instance the Danish health and educational systems are free. The Danish welfare model is subsidised by the state, and as a result Denmark has one of the highest taxation levels in the world.
Education for all
High quality education at all levels is essential to ensure competitiveness in today’s globalised world. This is why education is a key priority in Denmark. With their high academic standards combined with innovative learning approaches, the Danish institutions are preparing their students to play an active role in a globalised, knowledge based society.
--- end extracts from denmark.dk ---
Ravi: Health and educational systems being decent quality and free for all citizens, if true (and I get the impression that it is a truthful claim), has to be viewed as an extraordinary achievement by Denmark!!!
2) The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Social Welfare in Denmark, http://www.uwgb.edu/walterl/welfare/denmark.htm
Some extracts from it:
The Danish HEALTH CARE system is a remarkable one. It is one in which private citizen's insurance is not provided for by private insurance companies, but by the state itself. Danish citizens do not need to worry about their HEALTH CARE, how it will be provided, and how much is covered, etc. because unlike the U.S. "...hospital, medical, and dental care is provided for without fees" (Einhorn & Logue, 143). Although far from perfect, the Danish HEALTH CARE system does provide quality HEALTH CARE to its entire population, regardless of income, class, gender, or race. Denmark's infant mortality rate is 5.4 per 1,000 people and has a maternity rate of 3.4 per 100,000 live births as well as life expectancies of 72.5 for men and 77.8 for women. These statistics only reinforce the qualtity of Danish HEALTH CARE, proving Denmark to be among the best HEALTH CARE providers in the world (Walter 1).
...
Free public education is provided for elementary education in Denmark. However, according to the Danish constitution of 1953, it is the parent's obligation whether to send their children to school. Denmark provides benefits to its students for secondary and university education. These benefits include subsistence (money to live on) and the various HEALTH CARE benefits that are issued to in the working public sector. There are no tuition fees ...
--- end extracts from uwgb.edu ---
3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Denmark AND within it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Denmark#Welfare_state
Some extracts from it:
Denmark is the 39th largest national economy in the world measured by nominal gross domestic product (GDP) and 60th largest in the world measured by purchasing power parity (PPP).
[Ravi: GDP on the same wiki page is shown as $0.3 trillion (2016). GDP by sector as per 2011 estimates is shown as Services: 76.4%, Industry: 19.1% and Agriculture: 4.5%. Denmark population as per January 2017 estimate is 5.7 million, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark.]
...
Denmark has one of the world's lowest levels of income inequality, according to the World Bank. Its standard of living is average among the Western European countries - and for many years the most equally distributed ...
...
Denmark has a broad-reaching welfare system, which ensures that all Danes receive tax-funded health care. Expenses to medicine is only partially funded and some non-vital medical treatments are not funded at all.
...
The income tax in Denmark ranges from 37.4% to 63% progressively, levied on 4 out of 10 full-time employees. Such high rates meant that 1,010,000 Danes before the end of 2008 (44% of all full-time employees) were paying a marginal income tax of 63% and a combined marginal tax of 70.9% resulting in warnings from organisations such as the OECD.
--- end wiki extracts ---
Ravi: I would also like to share that somebody said, "I think it takes decades or more to build a welfare state like Denmark - if you are lucky - and you have to take into account that not everybody will agree with you." My lack of exposure to these areas puts me in a situation where I cannot assess this statement as fact or opinion. But, given the failures of socialist and welfare state models in some parts of the world, I think that building a successful welfare state will not be an easy thing to do and may take decades to achieve. So, from my limited knowledge on welfare states point of view, I tend to view the above statement (decades or more to build a welfare state like Denmark) as largely, if not wholly, truthful.
Due to lack of time, I have limited myself to Denmark in this post. But here's a link to Welfare State wiki page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_state, for those who would like to know more about other welfare states.
-------------------------
A couple of key points from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Denmark:
Denmark "has since the 1990s had a balance of payments surplus." ... "There is no net foreign debt as other countries owe more money to Denmark than Denmark owes to them".
[I thank denmark.dk, uwgb.edu and wikipedia, and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extracts from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
Now I am very much aware that today Venezuela is being viewed by many as a standout example of socialism and welfare state approach having gone wrong. One wishes all the best to the people of Venezuela to get out of the problems that they are confronting now.
I think the truth is that there are socialist and welfare state models that have failed, and failed miserably, but there are success stories as well! It is my considered view that blanket-negative views of socialism and welfare state models must be balanced with the success stories, and so I got the idea of putting up a short public post on Denmark's success with this model.
Here are some interesting links on it, and relevant extracts from them:
1) The official website of Denmark, Society, Welfare,
http://denmark.dk/en/society/welfare/
Extracts from it:
Welfare
The basic principle of the Danish welfare system, often referred to as the Scandinavian welfare model, is that all citizens have equal rights to social security. Within the Danish welfare system, a number of services are available to citizens, free of charge. This means that for instance the Danish health and educational systems are free. The Danish welfare model is subsidised by the state, and as a result Denmark has one of the highest taxation levels in the world.
Education for all
High quality education at all levels is essential to ensure competitiveness in today’s globalised world. This is why education is a key priority in Denmark. With their high academic standards combined with innovative learning approaches, the Danish institutions are preparing their students to play an active role in a globalised, knowledge based society.
--- end extracts from denmark.dk ---
Ravi: Health and educational systems being decent quality and free for all citizens, if true (and I get the impression that it is a truthful claim), has to be viewed as an extraordinary achievement by Denmark!!!
2) The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Social Welfare in Denmark, http://www.uwgb.edu/walterl/welfare/denmark.htm
Some extracts from it:
The Danish HEALTH CARE system is a remarkable one. It is one in which private citizen's insurance is not provided for by private insurance companies, but by the state itself. Danish citizens do not need to worry about their HEALTH CARE, how it will be provided, and how much is covered, etc. because unlike the U.S. "...hospital, medical, and dental care is provided for without fees" (Einhorn & Logue, 143). Although far from perfect, the Danish HEALTH CARE system does provide quality HEALTH CARE to its entire population, regardless of income, class, gender, or race. Denmark's infant mortality rate is 5.4 per 1,000 people and has a maternity rate of 3.4 per 100,000 live births as well as life expectancies of 72.5 for men and 77.8 for women. These statistics only reinforce the qualtity of Danish HEALTH CARE, proving Denmark to be among the best HEALTH CARE providers in the world (Walter 1).
...
Free public education is provided for elementary education in Denmark. However, according to the Danish constitution of 1953, it is the parent's obligation whether to send their children to school. Denmark provides benefits to its students for secondary and university education. These benefits include subsistence (money to live on) and the various HEALTH CARE benefits that are issued to in the working public sector. There are no tuition fees ...
--- end extracts from uwgb.edu ---
3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Denmark AND within it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Denmark#Welfare_state
Some extracts from it:
Denmark is the 39th largest national economy in the world measured by nominal gross domestic product (GDP) and 60th largest in the world measured by purchasing power parity (PPP).
[Ravi: GDP on the same wiki page is shown as $0.3 trillion (2016). GDP by sector as per 2011 estimates is shown as Services: 76.4%, Industry: 19.1% and Agriculture: 4.5%. Denmark population as per January 2017 estimate is 5.7 million, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark.]
...
Denmark has one of the world's lowest levels of income inequality, according to the World Bank. Its standard of living is average among the Western European countries - and for many years the most equally distributed ...
...
Denmark has a broad-reaching welfare system, which ensures that all Danes receive tax-funded health care. Expenses to medicine is only partially funded and some non-vital medical treatments are not funded at all.
...
The income tax in Denmark ranges from 37.4% to 63% progressively, levied on 4 out of 10 full-time employees. Such high rates meant that 1,010,000 Danes before the end of 2008 (44% of all full-time employees) were paying a marginal income tax of 63% and a combined marginal tax of 70.9% resulting in warnings from organisations such as the OECD.
--- end wiki extracts ---
Ravi: I would also like to share that somebody said, "I think it takes decades or more to build a welfare state like Denmark - if you are lucky - and you have to take into account that not everybody will agree with you." My lack of exposure to these areas puts me in a situation where I cannot assess this statement as fact or opinion. But, given the failures of socialist and welfare state models in some parts of the world, I think that building a successful welfare state will not be an easy thing to do and may take decades to achieve. So, from my limited knowledge on welfare states point of view, I tend to view the above statement (decades or more to build a welfare state like Denmark) as largely, if not wholly, truthful.
Due to lack of time, I have limited myself to Denmark in this post. But here's a link to Welfare State wiki page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_state, for those who would like to know more about other welfare states.
-------------------------
A couple of key points from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Denmark:
Denmark "has since the 1990s had a balance of payments surplus." ... "There is no net foreign debt as other countries owe more money to Denmark than Denmark owes to them".
[I thank denmark.dk, uwgb.edu and wikipedia, and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extracts from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
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