By Mirka Mozer, Secretary General, Danish People's Aid

48,600 children live in poverty in Denmark. They live in families that struggle to make enough money for the next rent and electricity bill. Where there is no money for fruit and vegetables, snowsuits and winter boots. Or to celebrate holidays, birthdays and vacations.

At Danish People's Aid, we meet many of the hardest-hit families on public assistance, and they are in such financial need. For these families, the government's food check of DKK 2,500 or DKK 5,000, depending on family status, will have great importance here and now.

In 2025, Danish People's Aid conducted a comprehensive questionnaire survey among more than 18,000 applicants for this year's Christmas aid. 57 percent responded that their debt had increased within the past six months. 80 percent responded that they would not be able to pay an unforeseen expense of 2,000 kroner. Four out of five have had to borrow money from family and friends to make ends meet.

For these families, it is obviously an important help with extra money in a situation with rising food prices. The need is great and urgent.

But the help must not stop there. There is also a need for longer-term solutions to lift families – and not least children – out of poverty. Childhood poverty can have profound effects on the rest of a child’s life and increase the risk that the child will also experience poverty as an adult. Just one year in poverty can have negative consequences for both the length of education, adult income and family formation.  

When presenting the agreement on the food voucher, I also heard politicians say that the help does not stop here. We at Danish People's Aid will hold the politicians accountable for that.

We can start by increasing benefits. One of the fundamental problems is that the regulation of transfer income has been inadequate, and benefits have not kept pace with prices and living costs. This means that the financial room for families on transfer income has been reduced to a minimum.

There is generally a need for a much stronger political focus on combating poverty. Back in November 2024, Danish People's Aid and 20 other organizations from the network "Children in Poverty - No Thanks" presented a proposal for a national action plan with 40 recommendations against child poverty. They include raising the level of transfer income and debureaucratizing individual benefit systems, including reducing documentation requirements and making it easier for families to cover basic housing needs. See the proposal here.

I would like to encourage politicians to revisit the proposal and include the specific recommendations in the ongoing conversation about how we reduce poverty in Denmark.