@katie8455 Yea, that's a misconception about taxes and Denmark that you often find. You often hear about scary numbers such as '50%' etc. Which is irrelevant for most people in reality. While it is true that we do have a maximum tax rate of that high, the real tax rate doesn't become that high before your annual income exceeds ~340k eur.
That's because how much we pay in taxes increases gradually for different chunks of money we earn.
E.g., everyone has a certain amount of income every year that is considered tax free. Then the lowest rate only applies to the amount that exceeds the tax free income amount; and the medium rate only on the amount that exceeds the amount eligible for low tax rate and so on.. so what that means is that in practice; most people probably pay around 33-36% of their actual income to taxes.
Some examples - the average pay for an entry level, newly trained school teacher is around 57.7k eur. For this income size, the tax rate is 'only' 34% -so with a net of 38k eur and that's more than enough to have a decent quality of life. Whereas, my entry-level, fresh out of school, ML engineer pay of 81.8k eur is taxed 36%.
And we as citizens see where all the tax money is going. Public services, schools, healthcare are free and generally of very good quality. Relatively low inequality, high social mobility, plenty of opportunity for all.
Like most other European countries, workers also have a lot of rights and benefits ofc. 5 weeks paid time off is minimum required by law. But most employers offer an extra week. And then you also get extra days for wedding, birthday and when your child is sick and when you're moving. So in total almost 7 weeks. People generally work no more than 38 hours a week.
The economy is currently doing great and we're outgrowing our neighbors, largely thanks to the pharma and biotech industry.
Another good thing about Copenhagen is that compared to some other Western European capitals, the housing crisis isn't as bad. It's relatively easy here compared to some other countries to get a loan. So most uni-graduates after 2 years max out of school, if they are smart about financials, can easily afford a small/medium sized apartment in the city (or something larger outside the city).
Everyone speaks decent, understandable English. No matter their age. Denmark as a country, I would argue, is pretty agile and innovative, adopting new technologies fast. Everything is digital, so bereaucracy is pretty efficient compared to places such as (especially) Germany.
The only downsides to this place are non-material. Such as; the weather during Winter is depressing af. Windy, rainy all the time (doesn't even snow that often anymore because of climate change). And the food is boring. The landscape is also boring -there are no mountains. While we do have really nice beaches, it's often not warm enough for you to properly enjoy them.
but hey, at least you have plenty of money and paid days off to travel
