Struggling families skip clothes and medicine

Despite lower energy prices and inflation, economically stressed families with children in Denmark continue to face financial pressure. This is highlighted in a study by Rambøll for Egmont Foundation’s Secretariat in collaboration with Dansk Folkehjælp, comparing basic deprivations in such families with a previous survey from 2022. The study, based on questionnaires from 3,601 families not in employment or on public assistance, reveals that 95% report their financial situation as unchanged or worsened over the past year. Essentials like children’s clothing, medicine, and leisure activities are often unaffordable, with 60% lacking necessary clothes or footwear, and 21% of families in need of prescribed medicine having to forgo it due to lack of funds. Additionally, children in four out of five families have to skip activities like cinema trips or vacations. Heidi Sørensen, director at Egmont Foundation’s Secretariat, notes that children often hide their family’s poverty by not asking for things they know they can’t afford.