Reinventing Denmark’s unions and societies

As the old saying has it, when two Danes meet, they’ll form a club straight away. And there is some truth in that. Each day 83,000 local and 3,000 national unions, societies and clubs give Danes the chance to be a part of a community. It’s quite an assortment: they range from the traditional trade unions and patient groups, such as the Danish Cancer Society and Heart Society, to more niche-based organizations such as the Danish Bivalve Society and the Danish Mycological Society.

Together, they make Denmark one of the nations with the highest membership of clubs and societies per capita. See figure 1. And researchers are in no doubt: communal activities based on community and voluntary work account for a significant part of the secret behind Denmark’s economic and social success. Even more they give community life a share of the credit for the development of the welfare state, because such societies contribute to a sense of national cohesion and develop their members’ basic democratic skills.