Kay Xander MellishExpert on Danish business culture

Denmark's fertility rate is dropping - why?

13 Aug 2025 · 1 min

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Denmark has nearly every policy experts say boosts fertility: free daycare, generous parental leave, free healthcare, free fertility treatment. Yet births keep falling, preschools are closing, and the country now relies on immigration to maintain its 6 million population.

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Denmark is a very good place to be a child and to have children, yet the birth rate is dropping, as it is in so many other countries. Some preschools have shut down due to lack of kids. Just this year, Denmark reached a population of 6 million, a big landmark for a little country, but that's mostly due to immigration. Not more children being born. All the initiatives that international experts recommend for increasing fertility already exist in Denmark, like child checks for parents, long parental leaves after childbirth, good universal daycare, and tax-funded healthcare. The Danish government even offers free fertility treatment for the first and second child. And it offers this to single women as well as committed couples.