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Sickness benefits

Here you can find statistics on sickness benefit recipients broken down by employment status, as well as information on how many have partially resumed work, broken down by employees and self-employed.

Explainer on…

A situation where an employee or self-employed person on sick leave works a reduced number of hours compared to their normal working hours and receives sickness benefits for the hours not worked. This arrangement is often used when a person suffering from stress is gradually training to return to a full workweek.

Selected statistics on Sickness benefits

This page shows selected popular statistics on the subject of Sickness benefits. In Statbank Denmark, you can find more data and compile your own statistics.

Sickness benefit recipients over time

The figure shows the development in the number of sickness benefit recipients, broken down by employment status. The same person may appear in multiple categories, for example both as an employee and unemployed, but is counted only once in the total.
More about the figure
Last update
27.5.2025
Source data

The data basis for the statistics is based on extracts from the Municipal Sickness Benefit System, where all information from a case is sent to Statistics Denmark if there have been changes since the previous data delivery.

Sickness benefit recipients with partial return to work

The figure shows the development in the number of sickness benefit recipients with partial return to work, broken down by employment status.
More about the figure
Last update
27.5.2025
Source data

The data basis for the statistics is based on extracts from the Municipal Sickness Benefit System, where all information from a case is sent to Statistics Denmark if there have been changes since the previous data delivery.

On the statistics – documentation, sources and method

Gain an overview of the purpose, contents and quality of the statistics. Learn about the data sources of the statistics, the contents of the statistics and how often they are published.

See the documentation of statistics to learn more:

Sickness benefits

The purpose of the Sickness Benefits statistics is to provide information about the costs of sickness benefits and the number of sickness benefit recipients, both in terms of the number of people affected and the number of full-time employees. The statistics have been compiled since 1995, but are in their current form comparable from the year 2020 onwards.

Need more data on Sickness benefits?

You can go on searching on your own in Statbank Denmark, where you’ll find more detailed data on age, geography, and benefit amounts.

Contact

Anna Skovbæk Mortensen
Phone: +45 21 77 67 54