Health Record Rights Index · country brief · this country's data as of October 2, 2026
Who holds the health record in Denmark?
In 2026, Denmark scores 70 out of 100 for how much say a person has over their own health record. It is one of five countries that lead the 198 countries and territories we rated, in the Strong band (65 to 84). Who holds the keys: you and the health system. Source: Health Record Rights Index, SuperTruth, this country's data as of October 2, 2026.
The person has real controls inside a government or provider system. Its strongest right, compared with the typical country, is one record across your care (82 out of 100, against 38 for the typical country). No right falls below the typical country; the closest to it is your say over research use (49 out of 100, against 46 for the typical country).
Danes see hospital records, labs and medicines on sundhed.dk and can block lookups, but GP notes are only now arriving and registers have no opt-out.
Published · updated · this country's data as of October 2, 2026 · research tool, not legal advice
overall score · Strong band, 65 to 84
70/100
rank among 198 countries and territories; likely 1st to 8th, allowing for scoring error
In 2026, getting your full record scores 78 out of 100 in Denmark; the typical country scores 40 to 45. The Commission gave Denmark a 98% eHealth maturity score for 2025, and over 3 million Danes use sundhed.dk or MinSundhed each year. GP notes are only starting to appear, and the full hospital record still needs an access request. Source: Indenrigs- og Sundhedsministeriet, September 23, 2024, and the other sources below.
Who controls health records in Denmark?
In 2026, you and the health system hold the keys to your health record in Denmark. Control over who sees it scores 70 out of 100 in Denmark; the typical country scores 30. Patients can refuse lookups by named staff, units or time periods, and can block access on sundhed.dk. A log on sundhed.dk shows who looked, but treatment lookups need no consent and refusals give way to overriding interests. Source: Retsinformation, March 12, 2025, and the other sources below.
How does Denmark compare?
In 2026, Denmark scores 70 out of 100, against 39 for the typical country. This brief compares it with Finland (71 out of 100), Estonia (68 out of 100) and Hungary (68 out of 100). Source: the ranking of all 198 countries and territories.
Eight rights, compared with Finland, Estonia, Hungary, the typical EU country and the typical country
Scores out of 100, by right
Getting your full record20%
78
76 · 80 · 72
Control over who sees it20%
70
74 · 68 · 72
Privacy and security15%
62
62 · 55 · 62
One record across your care15%
82
82 · 80 · 78
Protection from sale and ads10%
58
68 · 58 · 55
Doctors see it when treating you10%
78
76 · 75 · 76
Your say over research use5%
49
58 · 50 · 47
Rules for AI in your care5%
50
50 · 50 · 54
Black dot: Denmark. Hollow dots: Finland, Estonia, Hungary (scores out of 100 on the right, same order). Gray line: the typical country of all 198. Dashed teal line: the typical EU country. Overall: Denmark 70 out of 100, the typical EU country 61. Scores move in steps of about 5 points, so read a rank with its likely range.
What would Denmark need to change to score higher?
Denmark sits in Strong (65 to 84); Leading starts at 85. Every right is at or above the typical country. The two with the most room to grow, weighted by how much each counts, are control over who sees it (70 out of 100, against 30 for the typical country) and privacy and security (62 out of 100, against 45 for the typical country). Our scoring rules give more points for:
Control over who sees it: A way to say no to sharing (or to be asked first), a log you can read of who opened your record, and finer choices about who sees what. Together these put this right at 60 to 80 out of 100.
Privacy and security: A health data regulator that is independent and actually acts: it decides cases about health records, breaches must be reported, and fines are applied.
Which laws give health record rights in Denmark?
Danish Health Act (Sundhedsloven), LBK 275 of 2025: Right of access within 7 working days, treatment lookups, right to refuse lookups, research disclosure rules.
Act no. 717 of 20 June 2025 amending the Health Act: Lets providers withhold staff names from access requests; Ét Kontaktpunkt research data entry starts on a ministerial date.
L 44 (2025-26) amending the Health Act, adopted 16 December 2025: Moves Health Data Authority tasks to Digital Sundhed Danmark; lets pharmacy staff look up prescriptions.
Doctors, waits and private care context, not part of the score
Doctors per 10,000
45.3 2023 · 10th highest of 38 OECD countries
Nurses and midwives per 10,000
109 2023 · 17th highest of 38 OECD countries
Private insurance + out-of-pocket
16.6% 2023 · 26th highest of 35 OECD countries
Record reaches private care?
partly
"Du kan se notater og epikriser fra alle offentlige hospitaler samt en stadig stigende andel af privathospitaler."
Real cases
March 27, 2026 · Styrelsen for Patientklager (Danish Patient Complaints Board), 26SFP21 Clinic told a patient abroad to fetch their record in person on USB
March 19, 2025 · TV 2 Øst · archived copy Women found in their access logs that a doctor had looked up their records
In 2026, Denmark scored 70 out of 100 for how much say a person has over their own health record, one of five countries that lead the 198 countries and territories we rated, in the Strong band. Who holds the keys: you and the health system. Source: Health Record Rights Index, SuperTruth, this country's data as of October 2, 2026, https://healthrecordrights.com/brief/denmark/
The 22 sources for Denmark
Each source appears once, under the first right it supports. Titles are shown as our research agents recorded them, usually in the page's own language; text in square brackets is our machine translation. Links were checked on the date shown.
Getting your full record (4 sources)
“Adgang til egen sundhedsjournal” [Access to your own health record] our machine translation
Indenrigs- og Sundhedsministeriet [Ministry of the Interior and Health] (government guidance) · Title in Danish
Dated September 23, 2024 · Link checked October 2, 2026 (opened)
“Bekendtgørelse af sundhedsloven, LBK nr. 275 af 12. marts 2025” [Consolidation of the Health Act, LBK No. 275 of 12 March 2025] our machine translation
Retsinformation (law or regulation) · Title in Danish
Dated March 12, 2025 · Link checked October 2, 2026 (opened)
Used for: Getting your full record; Control over who sees it; Protection from sale and ads; Doctors see it when treating you; Your say over research use
“Millioner har deres sundhedsdata i lommen: Danskerne har taget MinSundhed-appen til sig” [Millions have their health data in their pocket: Danes have embraced the MinSundhed app] our machine translation
sundhed.dk via Ritzau (government guidance) · Title in Danish
Dated January 8, 2026 · Link checked October 2, 2026 (opened)
“Din journal: spørgsmål og svar om opslag i patientjournaler” [Your record: questions and answers about look-ups in patient records] our machine translation
Region Sjælland (government guidance) · Title in Danish
Dated April 22, 2025 · Link checked October 2, 2026 (opened)
“Region Syddanmark frikendt i en sag og idømt bøde i en anden sag om brud på GDPR-reglerne” [Region of Southern Denmark acquitted in one case and fined in another case concerning breaches of the GDPR rules] our machine translation
Region Syddanmark (government guidance) · Title in Danish
Dated March 23, 2026 · Link checked October 2, 2026 (opened)
“AI har haft adgang til over 100.000 beskeder med fortrolig data om danske patienter” [AI has had access to over 100,000 messages with confidential data about Danish patients] our machine translation
Radar/Ingeniøren (news) · Title in Danish
Dated September 29, 2026 · Link checked October 2, 2026 (opened)
SuperTruth Inc. · 24 S. 24th St., Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA · +1 215 918 4140 · supertruth.ai Something wrong? Tell us · Questions or a briefing: supertruth.ai/on-the-record#contact · Full index: healthrecordrights.com
OECD: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (38 mostly high-income countries). DTI™: the Data Trust Index, which grades the evidence behind each score. SuperTruth makes it and publishes this index. Everything here comes from public information: laws, government and regulator pages, court decisions, published news, WHO, OECD and World Bank data. Full sources: https://healthrecordrights.com/brief/denmark/#sources. SuperTruth built this index and sells health data verification products; no one paid to be included. Research tool, not legal advice. Our scores and our own words are CC BY 4.0; quoted law and source titles stay with their owners.
