The Danish pension system

The Danish pension system consists of several types of pension. Here you can obtain an overview of retirement pension (folkepension), ATP Lifelong Pension, labour market supplementary pension, and individual pension.

Which statutory pensions may you be entitled to in Denmark?

You can read more about Danish retirement pension (‘folkepension’), senior pension and disability pension on Info Norden’s web pages.

The ATP Lifelong Pension is a statutory pension scheme to which most people contribute. Under this scheme, your pension is automatically paid out when you reach retirement age.

In the event of your death, your spouse, partner or children receive a lump sum from ATP.

You can read more about ATP at borger.dk.

If you receive certain social benefits, such as unemployment benefit, parental benefit, early retirement pension, flexible employment, disability pension, cash benefits, senior pension or sickness benefit, the state will pay your pension contributions for you.

You can see the full list of benefits and read more about the obligatory pension at borger.dk.

Early retirement pension (efterløn) is a scheme that gives you the opportunity to withdraw from the labour market four years before you reach your retirement age. The age at which you can seek early retirement depends amongst other things on the year you were born in. You must meet certain conditions in order to be entitled to early retirement pension, and these conditions will also depend on which year you were born.

Amongst other things, you must be a member of an unemployment fund, have reached the early retirement age and have paid early retirement contributions. As a general rule, you must have paid early retirement contributions for 30 years and must have begun to pay these no later than when you turned 30. However, more lenient rules apply to some age groups.

You can read more at borger.dk.

Labour market supplementary pensions are pension schemes that are linked to your work. They might for example be based on a collective agreement, or take the form of a company pension at your workplace or a civil servant pension. Ask your employer for information about the pension schemes available at your workplace.

An individual pension is a savings scheme that you set up with a bank or pension fund, independently of your employer.

Most Danish banks and pension funds are registered with PensionsInfo, which can also provide an overview of your Danish pensions. As a starting point, you must log on with MitID.

If you have questions about your own pension scheme, contact your pension fund or bank.

You can read more at borger.dk.

Self-employed persons earn the right to retirement pension like everyone else, but do not have a labour market supplementary pension, and can choose whether or not to contribute to ATP Lifelong Pension.

You can read more at borger.dk.

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