Danmarks historie efter 1945

Efter 2. Verdenskrig holdt Danmark op med at være neutralt. I 1949 gik landet med i NATO, hvor også USA, Canada og en række vesteuropæiske lande var med. På den anden side stod Sovjetunionen og en række lande i Østeuropa i Warszawa-pagten. Under Den Kolde Krig kæmpede de to supermagter, USA og Sovjetunionen, om militær magt og atomvåben, men også om ideer: markedsøkonomi i Vesten og kommunistisk planøkonomi i Sovjet. Fra 1948 til 1951 fik Danmark og andre vesteuropæiske lande penge fra USA gennem Marshall-planen. Pengene skulle bruges til at genopbygge landene og hindre, at kommunismen spredte sig.

After the Second World War, Denmark stopped being neutral. In 1949 the country joined NATO, whose members also included the USA, Canada and a number of Western European countries. On the other side, the Soviet Union and a number of countries in Eastern Europe stood together in the Warszawa-pagten (Warsaw Pact). During the Cold War (Den Kolde Krig), the two superpowers, the USA and the Soviet Union, competed for military power and nuclear weapons, but also over ideas: a market economy in the West and a communist planned economy in the Soviet Union. From 1948 to 1951, Denmark and other Western European countries received money from the USA through the Marshall-planen (Marshall Plan). The money was meant to rebuild the countries and to stop communism from spreading.

Pengene fra USA hjalp også landbruget, som fik maskiner i stedet for heste. Derfor var der brug for færre folk på landet, og i 1950'erne flyttede mange ind til byerne for at finde arbejde. Fra 1957 til 1973 gik det meget godt for økonomien. Næsten alle havde arbejde, og mange fik råd til bil, tv og ferie i udlandet. Perioden kaldes 'De glade 60'ere'. Især i 1960'erne og 1970'erne blev velfærdsstaten bygget op, fx med folkepension til alle ældre, flere børnehaver og plejehjem og flere uddannelser.

The money from the USA also helped agriculture, which got machines instead of horses. As a result, fewer people were needed in the countryside, and in the 1950s many moved into the towns and cities to find work. From 1957 to 1973 the economy did very well. Almost everyone had a job, and many could now afford a car, a TV and holidays abroad. The period is called 'De glade 60'ere' (the happy sixties). Especially in the 1960s and 1970s the welfare state was built up, for example with folkepension (state pension) for all older people, more kindergartens and care homes, and more education.

Fra 1960'erne kom flere kvinder i arbejde og uddannelse. Danmark hentede også arbejdskraft i udlandet, og de fleste kom fra Tyrkiet, ex-Jugoslavien og Pakistan. Sidst i 1960'erne begyndte mange unge at gøre oprør mod de gamle normer. Det blev mere accepteret, at ugifte par boede sammen, og nogle valgte at bo i kollektiver. P-pillen kom i 1966 og gav kvinder mere seksuel frihed. Kvindebevægelsen fik vigtige sejre med fri abort i 1973 og en lov om ligeløn i 1976. Fra 1967 måtte børn ikke slås i skolen, men forældre fik først forbud mod at slå deres børn i 1997.

From the 1960s, more women got jobs and education. Denmark also brought in workers from abroad, and most of them came from Turkey, the former Yugoslavia and Pakistan. In the late 1960s many young people began to rebel against the old norms. It became more accepted for unmarried couples to live together, and some chose to live in kollektiver (communes). The contraceptive pill arrived in 1966 and gave women more sexual freedom. The women's movement won important victories with free abortion in 1973 and a law on equal pay in 1976. From 1967 children could no longer be hit at school, but parents were not banned from hitting their children until 1997.

Danmark blev medlem af EF (i dag EU) i 1973 efter en folkeafstemning, hvor 63,4 procent stemte ja. I 1970'erne kom der en økonomisk krise, især fordi olien blev meget dyrere. Socialdemokratiet havde haft statsministeren i de fleste år fra 1929 til 1982, men fra 1982 til 1993 havde Danmark en borgerlig regering. I 1985 besluttede Folketinget, at Danmark ikke skulle have atomkraftværker.

Denmark became a member of the EF (EC, today the EU) in 1973 after a folkeafstemning (referendum) in which 63.4 per cent voted yes. In the 1970s there was an economic crisis, mainly because oil became much more expensive. The Social Democrats (Socialdemokratiet) had held the post of prime minister for most of the years from 1929 to 1982, but from 1982 to 1993 Denmark had a borgerlig (centre-right) government. In 1985 the Folketing (Danish parliament) decided that Denmark should not have nuclear power stations.

Fra 1980'erne kom der flere indvandrere, og i 1990'erne blev indvandring et stort emne i debatten. Dansk Folkeparti kom i Folketinget første gang i 1998. Senere regeringer strammede reglerne, blandt andet for familiesammenføring og for at få dansk indfødsret. I 1990'erne blev økonomien bedre. Takket være olie og gas fra Nordsøen kunne Danmark sælge mere olie og gas til udlandet, end landet købte. I 2008 blev Danmark ramt af en international finanskrise, som startede i USA.

From the 1980s more immigrants came, and in the 1990s immigration became a big topic in public debate. Dansk Folkeparti (the Danish People's Party) entered the Folketing (Danish parliament) for the first time in 1998. Later governments tightened the rules, for example on familiesammenføring (family reunification) and on getting Danish indfødsret (citizenship). In the 1990s the economy improved. Thanks to oil and gas from the North Sea (Nordsøen), Denmark could sell more oil and gas abroad than the country bought. In 2008 Denmark was hit by an international financial crisis that started in the USA.

I dag er en stor udfordring, at der bliver flere ældre i forhold til dem, der er i arbejdsalderen. Vi lever længere, og der bliver født færre børn. Derfor er der lavet reformer, som skal få flere i arbejde, fx en højere alder for pension. I 2020-22 ramte sygdommen corona (covid-19). Skoler og mange andre steder var lukket i perioder, og fra december 2020 blev befolkningen vaccineret.

Today a big challenge is that there are more and more older people compared with those of working age. We live longer, and fewer children are born. That is why reforms have been made to get more people into work, for example a higher pension age. In 2020–22 the disease corona (COVID-19) struck. Schools and many other places were closed at times, and from December 2020 the population was vaccinated.