How to Live in Denmark1 Kesä 2025

June: Danish pride, women in uniform, and the reverse Jante Law: The Danish Year Part 6

As of this month, girls who turn 18 can be drafted into the Danish military.

This is new, even though girls in Norway and Sweden have been eligible for the draft for some time. Denmark is proud of its record on gender equality, so maybe it's a wonder it hasn't happened sooner. After all, more than half of the medical doctors in Denmark are female. More than half of the priests in Denmark are female. The prime minister is female. At only about 10% female, the military is clearly lagging behind.

The way the military draft in Denmark works is like this: Boys, and soon girls, who have just turned 18 are invited to an obligatory "Defense Day" where their physical and cognitive abilities are tested. If these are satisfactory, you get a lottery number, and if the Danish military doesn't get enough volunteers to meet its needs, you will be called up.

In recent years, there have been plenty of volunteers, so getting enough people hasn't been much of a problem. And getting into the Royal Life Guards, real-life soldiers who also protect the Danish Royal Family, remains very high status. It's where Denmark's future powerbrokers meet each other.

In 2023, there were about 5000 volunteers, and roughly 25% of them were female. At least in peacetime, the forces have attracted many young women who are athletes, almost as if it were a very disciplined form of an extreme sports challenge.

Jaksot(150)

Copenhagen vs Berlin

Copenhagen and Berlin are less than an hour apart by plane, but very different in spirit. Copenhagen is a mostly clean, mostly safe, mostly well-run, mostly get up early in the morning and get to work...

27 Heinä 7min

Brok: The Danish art of petty complaints

Brok rhymes with clock, and it is a Danish word that describes the petty complaints that are common in one of the happiest countries in the world, and one of the richest. It's complaining as a social ...

24 Kesä 6min

Authenticity and the Danish Summer Light

These are the light times in Denmark. In May and June, it's light until 10 or 11 in the evening, and then the sun is back around 4am. It's a nice contrast to the dark times in winter, although all tha...

28 Touko 8min

My Awkward First Year in Denmark

One thing no one ever tells you about moving to a new country is the incredible awkwardness of it. As a newcomer, you are constantly doing or saying or planning the wrong thing, something that would b...

29 Huhti 9min

The Scheduled Dane: Why Friendship Needs a Calendar

Danes usually don't do spontaneous. They do calendars. This episode looks at why a country that can count 8,000 ballots in three hours still needs two weeks' notice for almost everything else. From pe...

30 Maalis 6min

Danish dinner party customs & why it's OK to break your Royal Copenhagen cup

Some might say that the most Danish piece of furniture is the chair. The Swan Chair, the Egg Chair, the Wishbone chair. They're all international design classics. You can buy a poster with 100 of the ...

15 Helmi 7min

Vintage TV and movies as a guide to Danish culture

Watching vintage TV and movies is a great way to survive the long Danish winter—and if you're learning Danish or trying to understand Danish culture, it's even better. Many classic Danish films and TV...

22 Tammi 9min

December: Little Nisse, Big Money: The Danish Year Part 12

The nisse is a centuries-old figure in Danish folklore, and every December these tiny, mischievous spirits take center stage. While Santa Claus makes one big appearance late in the month, the nisse ar...

3 Joulu 20257min