Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

For members

EDUCATION

Male-dominated professions in Denmark have higher average earnings, study finds

Professions with a higher proportion of men are better-paid than jobs generally preferred by women, according to an analysis.

Published: 2 December 2019 11:04 CET

Male-dominated professions in Denmark have higher average earnings, study finds

File photo: Kristian Djurhuus/Ritzau Scanpix

Mathematics and natural science-related degrees give the best potential for high earning, according to analysis by liberal thinktank Cepos, which compared salary to educational field based on Statistics Denmark figures.

Poorly-paid professions include those closely related to art, music and cultural degrees, newspaper Berlingske reports based on the Cepos analysis.

The best-paid degree holders are those who have studied Actuarial Mathematics, Cepos found. The average wage for such alumni is 1,383,200 kroner annually.

In contrast, art graduates earn an average annual salary of 267,000 kroner.

The ten highest-paid degree fields are listed as:

Actuarial Mathematics (1,383,200 kroner average annual wage)
Business Economics and Auditing (1,105,900 kroner)
Mathematics-Economics (1,102,200 kroner)
Dairy agricultural science (1,093,900 kroner)
Civil Engineering (1,092,300 kroner)
Political Science (1,074,300 kroner)
Medicine (1,057,600 kroner)
Economics (1,043,900 kroner)
Economics and Business Administration (954,200 kroner)
Law (952,900 kroner)

The study found a significant difference in average salary between fields of study preferred by men and those preferred by women.

For the ten degrees with the highest proportion of male graduates, the average salary is 640,000 kroner.

For women, the equivalent figure is 490,000 kroner. Fields of study with the highest proportion of female students include Nursing and Human Nutrition, Berlingske writes.

Two of the degrees in the top ten for highest average salary – Medicine and Law – have a higher proportion of female than male graduates. 57 percent of medicine graduates are female, while women make up 59 percent of those with a law degree, according to the analysis.

Salary figures relate to income levels in 2017 projected to 2020, while Berlingske also notes that for newer types of degree, graduates will have had less time on average to build seniority and thereby salary.

READ ALSO: What's it like to work in Denmark as a foreigner?

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

'The cheapest in Europe': A guide to international schools in Denmark

In Denmark both public and private schools, including international schools are all subsidised by the state.

The average price in 2022 for an international school in Copenhagen was 4,138 euros a year (30,874 kroner), according to the International Schools Database, with one exception costing 17,468 euros per year. Their study also ranked Copenhagen as the cheapest city in Europe for international schools for the third time in 2023.

Free international schools

There are two free international schools in Denmark which are run by the local municipality.

Lolland International School in Maribo is bilingual with Danish and English. The European School in Copenhagen is trilingual with Danish, English and French. Kalundborg Kommune plans to open an international school in the near future. There are no fees in these schools.

Curriculum

The first thing to decide is what curriculum you want your child to follow. The options are: International Baccalaureate, European Baccalaureate, International Primary Curriculum (Viking International), British, French (Lycée Français Prins Henrik) or German (Sankt Petri Schule) curriculum.

With International Baccalaureate, Danish can be taught as a second or first language but no other subjects are taught in Danish.

Bilingual schools, such as Institut Sankt Joseph in Copenhagen are friskoler, so the school decides which subjects to teach in Danish and which in English/another language. Institut Sankt Joseph for example follows the British Cambridge International curriculum, as well as the “dansk fællesmål”; and offers both IGCSE examinations and the Danish school leavers’ test in the final year. But some bilingual friskoler can be test-free.

If you want an international school that’s predominantly Danish, you can choose the Danish department of a bilingual or international school. International and Danish departments often mix together at the after school club (SFO). At Øresund Internationale Skole, the teaching language is Danish and offers two hours of mother tongue lessons per week if there are enough students with the same mother tongue.

International school age

Many international programmes run for 11 years, (roughly aged 5-16). The final year of international school is the equivalent of the Danish 9th or 10th grade. This is when pupils have tests to determine their next stage of education at gymnasium/high school. In some bilingual schools, these exams are offered in Danish too.

After this, students can go on to choose a gymnasium/high school for three years. If they have taken the Danish school leavers’ test, they can go on to a Danish gymnasium.

Most international high schools in Denmark offer the IB Diploma Programme but there are also two Danish/German schools, one Danish/French school and one European Baccauleate. Some of these are fee-paying and others are free.

READ MORE: EXPLAINED: How does the school system work in Denmark?

Efterskole

Some pupils in Denmark choose to spend a year at a boarding school called efterskole, before starting high school, which is often specialised in certain subjects. There is an international efterskole in Vedersø and bilingual programmes at Odsherreds, Ranum or Skals.

Signing up

The earlier you sign your child up the better, as some schools have waiting lists of 2 – 4 years. There is usually a fee to join the waiting list. If a place becomes available, you are often invited for an interview, to see if the school is the right fit for your family. It is worth signing up to more than one school to keep your options open. You then pay a deposit when you accept your school place.

Examples of international schools in Denmark

There are 26 International Schools in Denmark according to the Danish Ministry of Children and Education. The international schools database lists them all, along with information about fees, class sizes, school bus availability.

Url copied to clipboard!