A Long-Term Plan for Denmark’s Societal Investments

The purpose of the project is to analyze whether Denmark is investing sufficiently to secure future growth and production opportunities, and thereby the prosperity of society, and to identify ways to achieve this.

Investments are crucial for economic growth, innovation, and the development of the capital base. An adequate level of investment stimulates activity and increases future consumption and production possibilities.

The Danish economy is strong by all key measures. The progress in recent years can partly be attributed to reforms that have increased employment and to the significant inflow of foreign labor.

Produktiviteten er derimod kun vokset svagt. Det skyldes bl.a., at den samlede investerede kapital per arbejdet time i økonomien er nogenlunde det samme i dag som i 2010. Det betyder, at vi de sidste 15 år har øget vores produktion ved at øge beskæftigelsen, mens vi ikke har investeret i at gøre den gennemsnitlige medarbejder mere produktiv.

This growth model cannot continue in a situation where the number of people of working age is expected to decline. Therefore, it is necessary to increase productivity. This can be achieved by investing more in automation and digitalization, which can free up labor in both public and private sectors for some of the important tasks ahead.

At the same time, Denmark faces a series of acute and overlapping geopolitical and climate-related challenges that require substantial new investments in defense, green transition, and climate adaptation. These investments must all be initiated within the next 10 years if Denmark is to meet its international obligations, comply with the Climate Act, and avoid further climate damage.

There is a risk that these time-critical investments will crowd out other investments in infrastructure, digitalization, and the development of public and private capital assets. This could become a problem because, for many years, we have not sufficiently prioritized maintaining our public infrastructure and buildings, and much of our existing societal infrastructure is approaching the end of its technical lifespan.

It is therefore essential to create room in the economy to meet this extraordinary need for investments in the coming decades.