Human Resources Denmark Is a Relatively Easy

Human Resources

Denmark is a relatively easy country in which to do business. This paper will analyze the ease of doing business in Denmark from two different perspectives. The first factor to be analyzed is health. The United Nations Human Development Index evaluates nations based on a number of different categories, health being one of them. Denmark scores very highly for the state of its health care provision and outcomes.

Denmark's overall health score is 0.928. The overall score is comprised of a number of different metrics. These include expenditure on public health, which was given a value of 8.2; under-five mortality per 1000 live births, which was 4; and life expectancy at birth, which was 78.8. These scores contributed to a standing on health that put Denmark 37th. This score is below the cutoff for "High Human Development," and puts the country below Costa Rica, Cuba and Chile, but just above the United States and Qatar. Denmark ranks well below other Scandinavian nations in health care, and below other neighbors in northern Europe. This is cause for concern for the country.

However, for a company doing business in Denmark, the health care level appears to be adequate for those of working age. The system is a taxpayer-funded universal health care system, so there is very little obligation on the part of employers in Denmark, other than to pay their taxes, a portion of which will go into the system.

It was noted that Denmark has high equality in health care. One of the notes to the report mentions that some nations saw their overall score drop where there was high inequality in income and health care. Denmark was one of the countries that rose as the result of its high equality in health care. This implies that Denmark's health care performance is better than its ranking would appear, due to the absence of any significant low end in health outcomes.

In addition to having healthy employees, it is necessary to have access to well-educated employees. Within the European Union, there is freedom of labor movement, so a worker in Denmark could theoretically come from any country in the Union, but most are Danish. Denmark's education system is state-run and taxpayer-funded. Even the university system is free of tuition for Danes, something that is common in Scandinavia but seldom-seen elsewhere. The nation's taxes pay for this system.

The Human Development Index also has an education component. In this, Denmark scores 11th in the world, just behind Canada and just ahead of the Czech Republic. This high level of educational attainment, while below that of the U.S., is very high in the world, and means that companies operating in Denmark can expect to have a high quality of worker at their disposal. If anything, the major issue that the Danish education system poses is to companies who are seeking uneducated, low-cost labor. Other than refugees from nations with poor education systems, such uneducated labor is scarce in Denmark, and will therefore cost more than it would in most countries.