The disability sector
How many people in Denmark receive disability benefits or services, and what kind of support do they receive? On this page, you can also find statistics on support for disability vehicles as well as the average case processing time.
Explainer on…
Services aimed at providing support to adults with physical or mental disabilities, as well as vulnerable adults. The services may include temporary or long-term accommodation, social pedagogical assistance or support, companion schemes, user-controlled personal assistance, treatment, sheltered employment, and activity and social programmes.
A measure aimed at providing support to children and young people with physical or mental disabilities, as well as their parents or close relatives. The measure may include practical assistance, maintenance training or respite care.
Selected statistics on Disability care
Adults with disabilities or vulnerable adults receiving selected services
Data primarily originate from the administrative systems used in the municipalities to manage the services. These data are transferred automatically and directly to Statistics Denmark through system-to-system solutions. The automatic reporting is developed and maintained by the municipalities' IT providers. Other municipalities report data manually via an online reporting service, made available by Statistics Denmark. With the online reporting service, they maintain their data concurrently with their regular administration of the services, typically because their administrative IT systems cannot report directly to Statistics Denmark.
Data on the services are reported by the municipality which has referred the recipient to the service. In this connection, it should be noted that a few municipalities have entered into administrative cooperation in which a municipality, in addition to reporting on its own behalf, also reports on behalf of another municipality. The municipality of Ishøj reported data on behalf of Vallensbæk, except for §§ 95 and 96. Consequently, Vallensbæk's data are included in the reported data for Ishøj (except for §§ 95 and 96). However the administrative cooperation ended at the end of 2021, and each of the municipalities has therefore reported its own data from 2022.
Likewise, the municipality of Tårnby reports data on behalf of Dragør. Consequently, Dragør's data are included in the report from Tårnby.
Children and young people receiving disability measures
Municipalities report data on disability compensation measures for children and young people to Statistics Denmark.
Data is reported either through system-to-system solutions from the municipalities’ administrative specialist systems or via the web reporting solution, IDEP.
Municipalities can access the reported data through the web reporting interface for the statistics, available via Virk: webindberetningsløsning.
Disability measures for children and young people
Municipalities report data on disability compensation measures for children and young people to Statistics Denmark.
Data is reported either through system-to-system solutions from the municipalities’ administrative specialist systems or via the web reporting solution, IDEP.
Municipalities can access the reported data through the web reporting interface for the statistics, available via Virk: webindberetningsløsning.
Grants for purchase of disability vehicles
The municipalities must report all their decisions about subsidies for disability cars. This only applies for grant/rejection of subsidies for cars. Special fitting must not be reported.
On the statistics – documentation, sources and method
See the documentation of statistics to learn more:
The purpose of these statistics is to provide information on cases on subsidies for disability cars as prescribed by section 114 of the Danish Social Services Act. These statistics were initiated in the Danish Social Appeals Board back in 1998. Until 1 July 2016, these statistics were managed by the Appeals Board, after which they were transferred to Statistics Denmark.
The purpose of the statistics on disability compensation services for children and young people is to provide an overview of support measures granted by Denmark’s 98 municipalities to children and young people aged 0–17 with reduced mental or physical functional capacity. The statistics are used for policy development, public debate and research. They are compiled annually and were first published in 2023 with 2022 data. In 2024, the statistics were adapted to the Danish Child Act, while ongoing measures continue under the Social Services Act, cf section 213 of the Child Act.
The purpose of the statistics Lending of assistive products is to shed light on the municipalities' lending of assistive products from the municipalities' aid depots. These are assistive products allocated according to selected sections in the Act of Social Service, the Working Environment Act and the Health Act. The statistics are used to account for how many people are given assistive products and for the type of product that is handed out. The statistics were published for the first time for 2023.
The purpose of the statistics Disability and marginalized adults is to describe the extent of the selected services, provided in accordance with the Act on Social Services to adults with disability or marginalized adults . The statistics have been produced since 2015. These statistics replaced the information about disability services that the municipalities previously reported to the statistics Social Resources.
The purpose of the survey is to establish the available social resources (capacity, number of users, and general organization, etc.) in Danish municipalities. Furthermore, the survey analyses the social- and health-care related services administered by municipalities. These services include care for the elderly, dental services for children and young people and special institutions for children and young people etc. The social resources survey includes public and privately owned institutions. The statistics are published for the first time in 1972 but have been changed over time due to changes in legislation an user needs.