The Danish pension system is structured so that you get your pension from several places:

State pension:

Danish state pension (Folkepension) is paid by public authorities. You must fulfill these three conditions in order to receive the state pension:

• You must be a Danish national
• You must be resident in Denmark
• You must have lived in Denmark for three years within the period from you reached the age of 15 till you reach the state pension age.

However, special rules may apply to you, for example if you have lived in an EU/EEA Member State, Switzerland or a country with which Denmark has concluded a special agreement.

And if you have lived in Denmark for at least 10 years as an adult and have lived in Denmark the last five years before you reach pension age you will also be eligible for state pension.

And finally: you are also eligible for state pension if you are a refugee who arrived in Denmark before 2015 and has been granted a residence permit within § 7 or § 8 following the Danish Immigration Law.

In order to receive the full amount of the state pension, you must have lived in Denmark for at least 40 years since you reached the age of 15 and till you reach the state pension age. If this is not the case, you may be entitled to a smaller proportion of the full state pension.

Labour market pension

A Danish labour market pension is a pension scheme that is established as part of your employment relationship in Denmark. Normally, both you and your employer pay contributions to the pension through the wage. The pension is in most cases a fixed percentage of your wage.

Many pensions contains insurances for you and your family if you loose the ability to work or die.If you leave Denmark while you are still economically active, you may choose to continue paying into your pension. If you stop paying, the insurances that are part of the schemes will typically no longer be in force after one year.

It is nice to know that you can have your pension paid out abroad if you do not live in Denmark any longer.

For more detailed information on your pension scheme we advise you to contact your pension fund.

Individual pension

Furthermore, you have the possibility to set up an individual pension scheme.

A Danish individual pension is a scheme which you yourself set up and save in through a Danish pension company, financial institution or the like.