Persons below the state pension age on public benefits
How many people in the working age (16-66 years old) are on public benefits? Which types of benefits are the most common, and how has the yearly development been for e.g. subsidized employment, net unemployment, and disability pension? This statistics is a yearly calculation of the numbers of recipients of public benefits available for people in the working age.
Explainer on…
Persons affected by net unemployment are unemployed persons not in activation. A person counts as unemployed if he or she does not have a job and receives appropriate benefits conditional upon being available for work in the labour market, which is determined by the initial review category to which the person belongs.
Selected statistics on Persons below the state pension age on public benefits
People below the state pension age on public benefits
The AMFORA statistics are compiled on the basis of personal data from the municipalities, the State Education Grants and Loan Scheme, Register for Labour Market Statistics (FLEUR-register) on recipients of early retirement pay and The labour market policy register (Bestandsstatistikken). Both registers are operated by the National Labour Market Authority (STAR).
Recipients of public benefits by benefit type
The AMFORA statistics are compiled on the basis of personal data from the municipalities, the State Education Grants and Loan Scheme, Register for Labour Market Statistics (FLEUR-register) on recipients of early retirement pay and The labour market policy register (Bestandsstatistikken). Both registers are operated by the National Labour Market Authority (STAR).
Recipients of public benefits by benefit type and gender
| Total | Men | Women | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | |||
| Total | 1,040,773 | 442,030 | 598,743 |
| Danish State Education Grant and Loan Scheme Authority | 283,015 | 121,447 | 161,568 |
| Net unemployment, total | 77,026 | 38,398 | 38,629 |
| Persons receiving holiday benefits | 2,485 | 1,015 | 1,470 |
| Guidance and activities upgrading skills, total | 14,368 | 7,009 | 7,359 |
| Subsidized employment, total | 121,007 | 49,902 | 71,105 |
| Maternity benefits, etc. total | 53,285 | 12,128 | 41,157 |
| Disability Pension | 289,119 | 130,591 | 158,528 |
| Early retirement pay | 20,649 | 5,028 | 15,621 |
| Social benefits, total | 109,035 | 46,637 | 62,398 |
| Sickness benefits, with job | 70,784 | 29,875 | 40,909 |
The AMFORA statistics are compiled on the basis of personal data from the municipalities, the State Education Grants and Loan Scheme, Register for Labour Market Statistics (FLEUR-register) on recipients of early retirement pay and The labour market policy register (Bestandsstatistikken). Both registers are operated by the National Labour Market Authority (STAR).
On the statistics – documentation, sources and method
See the documentation of statistics to learn more:
The purpose of the statistics is to show trends in average/full-time participation in labour market policy measures. Based on a report prepared by the activation statistics committee (report no. 1259) the first statistics were compiled as from the first quarter of 1994. The reason for setting up the committee was that the Danish statistics at that time were unable to provide reliable data on the wide variety of municipal activation schemes. The committee's work was performed over the period December 1992 to October 1993. Since 1994 new measures have been introduced and others have ceased. As from the third quarter of 1999 the number of persons working in flex- and sheltered jobs are published concurrently with the labour market policy measures. Persons participating in activation according to the job integration act were included from the first quarter of 2000. As from the third quarter of 2003, and with effect in the publications as from the first quarter of 2004, a number of changes to the codes/names were undertaken due to a political reform that meant the introduction of new activation schemes, whereas other schemes ceased to exist. From 2007 the statistics is extended with persons on early retirement pay, sickness benefit, maternity leave and from 2008 it is extended furthermore with young people in ordinary education ('SU-modtagere').