The Danish welfare model: a comparative perspective with the other european models

3 1. INTRODUCTION Denmark ranks as one of the most affluent countries in the world, and is, at the same time, one of the most egalitarian countries, it means that economic possibilities are more equally distributed in Denmark than in most other countries. As it‟s possible to notice in the Table 1.1, the countries are ranked in terms of the Gini coefficient 1 which is a metric used to characterize the income distribution. Table 1.1 The issue of equality is closely related to the welfare state, whose primary aim is to equalize the opportunities and the consumption possibilities of individuals. The achievement of these objectives involves many aspects in relation to the organisation of society and the policy pursued, including labour market policy, education policy, social policy and taxation policy. Societies differ in the role played by the civil society (family, friends, etc.), markets and the public sector in the distribution of economic resources, and for the organisation of the welfare society as well. In the Danish or Scandinavian welfare model the public sector plays a central role. A basic principle for this model is universalism, all citizens have a right to the services and transfers offered by the public sector, and they are all obliged to contribute to the financing via general taxation. In the next 2 paragraphs of the introduction we are going to explain the different theories of welfare, the Scandinavian one in a more detailed way. 1 The Gini coefficient measures the difference between the actual distribution of income and the hypothetical situation where income is equally distributed across the population. It‟s zero if the income distribution is equal and 1 if all income is concentrated in one person.