Denmark reigns supreme: world's leading remote work destination

Key takeaways

• Dominating the Global Remote Work Index, Denmark combines strong digital infrastructure and social safety.
• The country excels in social inclusiveness, internet quality, e-infrastructure, e-government, and healthcare, outperforming other Scandinavian countries in most dimensions. 
• Even with high living costs and pricier internet, Denmark maintains a robust remote work environment.
• Cyber safety offers room for improvement, despite a globally competitive rank.
• Compared to Singapore, Denmark leads in healthcare despite similar high living costs and digital infrastructure.
• For cost of living affordability, countries like Spain, Portugal, Estonia, Lithuania, or Slovakia emerge as attractive alternatives. 
• In terms of cyber safety, Slovakia, Estonia, Lithuania, Germany, and Spain offer compelling alternatives.
• Despite challenging winters and high living costs, Denmark's perks, including healthcare, English proficiency, infrastructure, and inclusiveness make it an excellent choice.

Cyber safety

As for cyber safety, Denmark still has room for growth. Ranking 13th this dimension, it has an excellent legislation base. While it has no single cybersecurity law in place, a set of other laws promote and legislate the topic. Cyber security infrastructure and response capacity still rank lower. Denmark employed the National Cyber and Information Security Strategy in 2022, aiming to enhance the country's cyber resilience, management, public-private sector cooperation and international cybersecurity participation, all of which should improve the ranking in the future.

Comparison with neighboring countries

Compared to other Nordic countries, Denmark leads in overall remote working quality. Sweden (5th) is its closest neighboring competitor, with the world's best healthcare rating. They are followed by Finland (11th) and Iceland (13th). Norway (20th) trails behind its Nordic counterparts due to high cost of living and mediocre physical infrastructure ranking, which is not surprising considering the country's natural geographic specificity.

All Nordic countries rank in the global top 50 when it comes to cyber safety, with Denmark leading in the 13th position. Economic safety-wise, Denmark (16th) falls in the middle among its Scandinavian peers, with a drastic ranking discrepancy between the high cost of living (94th) and excellent healthcare (3rd), both of which are signs of high standards of living in the region. 

Unsurprisingly, the well-off Nordic countries are in the top 20 for digital and physical infrastructure. Among these, Denmark leads in 4th place. In terms of social safety, Denmark follows closely behind its Nordic counterparts: Norway (4th), Iceland (3rd), and Finland (5th), securing the 6th position.

Finding a non-neighboring country that has similar index results

Despite the geographical divide, Denmark shares some GRWI rankings with Singapore. Both secure high positions in digital and physical infrastructure, and economically, both pose expensive living costs yet attract tourists and exhibit high English proficiency. The main difference lies in the quality of healthcare, where Singapore has room for improvement in comparison to Denmark.

Regarding cyber safety, the two countries show similarities, with Denmark taking a slight lead in legislation and Singapore surpassing it in cybersecurity infrastructure. Finally, the main disparities between these two countries are evident in the area of social safety. Even though they have similar general safety standings (Denmark ranking 16th and Singapore 19th), Singapore significantly trails Denmark in inclusiveness and particularly in personal rights.

Top remote destinations for Danish workers

Denmark offers a great place for work, thanks to its extensive social safety net, sophisticated infrastructure, relatively high cyber safety, and excellent (albeit expensive) healthcare. However, there are other options to consider for Danish workers who seek to change the scenery, escape the seasonal doom and gloom of Northern Europe, or simply desire a more budget-friendly location.

Considering affordability

Although Denmark excels in various rankings, it leans towards the more expensive end in living costs and internet affordability. In this regard, other top GRWI ranking options like Spain, Portugal, Estonia, Lithuania or Slovakia, all of which, while being far from the cheapest countries globally, offer a good balance between overall quality of life and the cost of living/internet affordability.

Prioritizing cyber safety

Suppose cyber safety is essential, and Danish cyber safety infrastructure and response capacity do not have an acceptable standard. In that case, Danish workers should look south and east, to places like Slovakia, Estonia, Lithuania, Germany, or even further east---to Saudi Arabia, all of which lead the charts in this category.

For better weather

If cold and snowy Scandinavian winter is not exactly what you desire, some options further south could provide a more acceptable sun-to-work-conditions ratio. Spain and Portugal, ranking 4th and 6th, respectively, in the general GRWI, seem like obvious choices. However, Croatia, Italy or even Singapore could also be considered as alternatives.

Or is it better to stay at home?

While living costs and weather could bring one to consider working elsewhere, Denmark still offers an excellent set of perks as a counterweight. Its cybersecurity is reasonably high, with one highlight being extensive legislation. Secondly, while living in Denmark can be expensive, it does have a great healthcare system, and the local population is very proficient in English. This country's information and physical infrastructure are also great, and while internet service might be on the pricey side, its quality is at the top, as is its e-governance and e-infrastructure. Finally, Denmark does well in the social safety ranking, especially when it comes to inclusiveness.