Digitalisation
From telephone points to 5G coverage. From stationery to electronic mail. From manual labour to robotics. Today, Denmark is one of Europe’s most digitised countries. With advanced tools, we continue to increase our efficiency and optimise, create welfare and growth. At the same time, we have become vulnerable to new threats such as hacker attacks and identity theft. This theme focuses on digital Denmark.
State of digital development and infrastructure
How digital are we in Denmark? It can be difficult to give a clear answer, but a wide range of statistics suggest that we are among the most digitised countries in Europe. For example, we are at an advanced stage when looking at our internet access and the use of digital services. Similarly, we are ahead in terms of the digital skills of the population and the use of advanced technology in companies. In this theme, we will look into all of this and more.
Key indicators of digitalisation in Denmark
Digitalisation in the EU
Each year, the European Commission compares the state of digital development in the European countries in the publication Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI). The comparison is made across four primary parameters: Human capital, Connectivity, Integration of digital technology and Digital public services. In 2022, we took second place in the combined DESI assessment, exceeded only by Finland. The placement is primarily due to our high score on Connectivity and Digital public services (read more about this in the next section).
Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) 2022
Source: Eurostat
What is the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI)?
EU focuses on supporting the digital transformation in Europe. For that purpose, the European Commission has published the ’Digital Economy and Society Index’ since 2014. In addition to measuring the digital progress of the European countries, the index identifies areas that require action. The EU measures on four parameters, each of which has a number of underlying indicators. For example, human capital has indicators such as ‘ICT skills’ and ‘ICT graduates’ in the population.
Visit the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI)
Comparisons across continents
In the OECD’s ’Going Digital Toolkit’, you can compare the state of digital development in countries from all over the world, although primarily member states. This applies to countries such as Australia, Denmark, Ireland, Israel, Japan and the USA. Their state is measured using seven different parameters.
Connectivity
According to the 'Digital Economy and Society Index 2022 (DESI)’, Denmark has the best connectivity in the EU. This is especially due to our widespread use of networks and wide network coverage. Compared to the rest of the EU, Denmark has been quick to ensure the digital infrastructure with the roll-out of new network technologies (for example 5G broadband and fibre network) throughout the country and not just in city areas.
Connectivity, DESI 2022
Source: Eurostat
Data traffic
As the broadband capacity in Denmark has expanded, internet usage has become increasingly intensive among the population. Most households have access to the internet around the clock, and we are streaming and downloading data like never before. We do so with series, video clips, music, podcasts, etc. Thus, we are experiencing a steep rise in data traffic, which has more than doubled in just five years - from 3.3 m terabytes in the first half of 2018 to 8,1 terabytes in the second half of 2023.
Total data traffic in Denmark, half-yearly
Digitalisation of public services
Like digital infrastructure, the use of public digital services also gives a good indication of a country’s state of digital development. Do all citizens, for example, have the possibility to access digital services? Do they use the services frequently, so that the services are an integral part of the digital culture? For the digitalisation of public services to work optimally, it is important to include of as many citizens as possible.
Digital contact
Among other things, the European Commission’s Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) measures the digital interaction of Europeans with the public sector. Denmark is successful in this field: In 2021, 92 per cent of the population used public digital services, whereas this was only the case for 58 per cent of the EU population on average. For both Denmark and the EU, we see a steadily increasing trend in the use of digital public services up until 2021. The steep rise in Denmark towards 2009/2010 can be attributed to the accelerated transition from physical to digital public services in this period, for example with the launch of Borger.dk in 2007. From 2019 onwards, citizens in Denmark submit less information digitally. This is probably due to less information being ‘sent’ altogether - information is increasingly registered or retrieved automatically.
Digital self-service in Denmark and the EU
Soruce: Eurostat
Use of public digital services
In general, the population frequently uses public digital services. Part of the success is due to Denmark’s introduction of mandatory digital self-service in 2015. This has meant that solutions such as Digital Post and e-Boks have largely replaced physical mail from public authorities. In the same way, the digital citizen services (Borger.dk, etc.) have gained ground, while there are fewer physical citizen services centres. The Danish Agency for Digital Government is responsible for many of the public digital services, including the app for the national health insurance card, which was launched in 2021.
Use of selected digital public services, 2023
Source: The Danish Agency for Digital Government (in Danish)
Frequency of use
Of the population between 15 and 89 years, 65 per cent used public digital services at least once a week in 2023. In this age group, 12 per cent never used them.
Of the 25-34-year-olds, 76 per cent used the services at least once a week. The 85-89-year-olds are the least active with 24 per cent using the services at least once a week.
How often do you use digital public services?
Source: ICT usage in households and by individuals 2023 (in Danish)
Confidence in public digital services
The comprehensive digitalisation of the public sector – in line with the digitalisation in general – has introduced a sweeping vulnerability to digital threats. The public sector works on reducing the risk of data leaks, hacking and abuse of data by implementing different security technologies and procedures, for example the launch of NemID and MitID in 2010 and 2022 respectively.
In general, the population has much confidence in the state being able to handle the task. In the survey ‘ICT usage in households and by individuals’, 78 per cent agree or strongly agree with the statement "I generally trust public digital solutions", whereas 6 per cent of the population disagrees or strongly disagrees.
I generally trust public digital solutions
Source: ICT usage in households and by individuals 2023 (in Danish)
ICT usage in households and by individuals
’ICT usage in households and by individuals’ is an annual survey of the general public access to and use of internet, new technologies and digital solutions. The survey is carried out via questionnaires and deals with topics such as e-commerce, digital public self-service, entertainment, social media, smart-home solutions, IT security and so on. Some of the questions are not included every year, but every other year or less frequently. The survey has been published as an annual publication since 2009.
Digital skills
The digital development has also led to the population acquiring a completely new set of skills. Not just for work purposes, but also for recreational purposes and home use where new technology and digital tools continue to make demands on our abilities and competences. The focus on digital skills in public school has intensified, and an increasing number of students choose an education in the field of technology.
Basic digital skills
Each year, the European Commission compares the digital skills among citizens in the European countries. It does so in the Digital Economy and Society Index, which measures skills such as sending and receiving emails, finding information online, using software to write texts and process data, using online banking and protecting personal online data. In 2023, Denmark took an overall third place in terms of citizens with either “basic" or “above basic" digital skills. The two groups accounted for 30 and 39 per cent respectively of the population in Denmark. The EU average was 28 per cent and 27 per cent respectively.
Digital skills in selected European countries, 2023
Source: Eurostat
The last time Eurostat measured digital skills (2021), Iceland took an overall first place. Unfortunately, there are no figures from Iceland in 2023.
Digitally limited citizens
Even though a large part of the Danish population has good digital skills, a group of people still struggle to keep up. Almost 1,140,000 citizens, corresponding to 23 per cent of the age group 15-89 years, feel “digitally limited”. This group is defined based either on the fact that they have been online either never or more than a year ago, or they feel limited in at least one of seven selected online activities (including information search, online shopping, etc.) Elderly people heavily dominate the group of digitally limited.
Share of digitally limited among different age groups, 2023
Source: ICT usage in households and by individuals 2023 (in Danish, see the publication for a definition of digitally limited).
Non-users
Looking back on the past 16 years, there have been less and less non-users of the internet. In 2008, 12 per cent of the population were non-users against 0 per cent i 2024. The group of elderly citizens have come especially far.
Students in STEM education
Parallel with technological developments, the number of students in the so-called STEM education programmes has increased. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics – academic disciplines of great importance in driving the technological and digital development. For example, mathematical algorithms are pivotal in the development of social media, search engines, AI, etc. Approximately 66,000 students were enrolled in further STEM education in 2023, corresponding to 26 per cent of students enrolled in further education. Of all students enrolled in further education, 40 per cent of the male students and 16 per cent of the female students were enrolled in a STEM programme in 2023 (www.statbank.dk/LIGEUB6).
www.statbank.dk/LIGEUB6 Digitalisation in private life
Digitalisation has left its mark on every corner of society, including our homes. New digital tools have given us smart homes, made household chores less time-consuming and made entertainment from across the world more readily available. We are all online, but what are we doing with our online time?
Internet usage – communication and democracy
The majority of the population (16-74-year-olds) use the internet to communicate with other people. For example writing emails to each other, sending messages through various apps, such as Messenger and Snapchat, and making video and phone calls online. A minor part of the population also uses the internet to take part in democratic actions, for example by making personal statements on blogs and social media and participating in online hearings, polls or signing petitions.
Internet usage – news
The penetration of digital media in society has changed the way the population gets news and finds information. Unsurprisingly, the share of the population (min. 16 years) who reads printed newspapers has declined as more sources of news have become available online. From 2019 (Q2) onwards, the share of the population reading news on social media has grown.
Internet usage – entertainment
As with the consumption of news, there has been a major change in the way we consume entertainment. Where many entertainment products previously required their own playing devices (CDs, DVDs, radio, etc.), you can access more or less all types of entertainment today from the same device via streaming. In this way, the majority of the population (16-74 years) is streaming music, films and series from various online services. This on-demand approach to news and entertainment has paved the way for entirely new formats such as the podcast, which has become very popular among the population.
Examples of video content sharing services are YouTube and Vimeo, of streaming from TV stations: Dr.dk and TV2Play, and of streaming from commercial providers: Netflix and Disney Plus.
Internet usage for selected entertainment, 2024
Kilde: www.statbank.dk/BEBRIT09
New and old technology
The rapid advance of digitalisation has meant that new technology has replaced old technology with increasing speed. Digital products are becoming obsolete in the course of just a few years. Unsurprisingly, as new technology has made laptops lighter and more popular, desktop ownership has declined. The trend is the same for smartphones and landline telephones.
Digital experiences
Another result of the advancement of technology is that certain experiences that previously only existed as physical experiences now are available in digitised form. For example, you can now make a trip to a museum with VR goggles and read literature on an e-book reader.
Families’ possession of selected electronic devices, 2023
Kilde: www.statistikbanken.dk/VARFORBR
I 2023 gjorde ca. 800.000 lånere, svarende til 13 pct. af befolkningen, brug af eReolen, som er bibliotekernes samling af e-bøger, e-aviser og andre digitale medier (www.statistikbankendk/IBIB1A).
Smarte hjem
Stadigt flere borgere investerer i såkaldte smart-home løsninger til hjemmet. I 2022 gjaldt det 42 pct. af de 16-74-årige - en stigning fra 23 pct. i 2019. Med smart-home løsninger kan man ved hjælp af sensorer, mikrofoner og digitale målinger styre ressourceforbruget i sit hjem og lade robotter gøre en del af arbejdet. Det gælder fx stemmestyrede smartassistenter, robotstøvsugere og løsninger til styring af el, varme og lignende.
Smart-home løsninger i hjemmet, pct. af 16-74-årige, 2022
Forbrug af elektroniske produkter og tjenester
Aldrig før har befolkningen brugt så mange penge på elektroniske produkter og tjenester. En gennemsnitlig husstand brugte i 2022 fire gange så mange penge på hhv. 'internet' og 'PC'er, tablets, mv.' som i 2007. Omvendt har posten 'tv og radiolicens, abonnementer' været faldende i en årrække, hvilket må tilskrives de mange ændringer, der er sket på markedet. Mange nye streamingtjenester er kommet til, mens abonnementspakker til flow-tv er blevet mindre udbredte.
Tallene er i faste priser, dvs. modregnet inflation.