Educational attainment of the population in Denmark 2020

Education is one of the key priorities in the Danish welfare system. In fact, Danes enjoy free primary schools, upper secondary schools and universities. As of 2020, the highest education completed among the population in Denmark was vocational education and training. Roughly 29 percent of the Danes had attained this educational level, while nearly one in four only had completed primary education.

Primary and upper secondary education

Primary education comprises of ten years of compulsory education in Denmark. Over the past decade, there were fewer pupils in primary education, likely due to a general decrease in the number of births in recent years. During the same period, however, the number of students in upper secondary education increased significantly, amounting to about 145 thousand in 2020.

Higher education

The same tendency can be observed for higher education: as of 2020, over 30 percent of the Danish population had attained a type of higher education. Over the course of 10 years, the number of university students increased, reaching nearly 150 thousand students as of 2019. With a growing number of both master, and doctorate students, it appears that the Danes aim at becoming more and more educated.