Ethnic groups in Denmark

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Denmark, including ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population.

Population

Since 1980, the number of people of Danish descent, defined as having at least one parent who was born in Denmark and has Danish citizenship, has remained constant at around 5 million in Denmark, and nearly all the population growth from 5.1 up to the 2018 total of 5.8 million was due to immigration.

Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2019.
*One birth every 8 minutes
*One death every 9 minutes
*One net migrant every 34 minutes
*Net gain of one person every 24 minutes

Fertility

The total fertility rate is the number of children born per woman. It is based on fairly good data for the entire period. Sources: Our World In Data and Gapminder Foundation.

Total fertility rate

1.78 children born/woman (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 152nd

;Mother's mean age at first birth
:
:29.1 years (2015 est.)

Life expectancy

Sources: Our World In Data and the United Nations.

1775–1950

1950–2015

Age structure

:''0-14 years:'' 16.57% (male 493,829 /female 468,548)
:''15-24 years:'' 12.67% (male 377,094 /female 358,807)
:''25-54 years:'' 39.03% (male 1,147,196 /female 1,119,967)
:''55-64 years:'' 12.33% (male 356,860 /female 359,264)
:''65 years and over:'' 19.42% (male 518,200 /female 609,737) (2018 est.)

; Median age
:
: total: 41.9 years. Country comparison to the world: 35th
: male: 40.8 years
: female: 42.9 years (2018 est.)

Ethnic and origin groups

Non-indigenous ethnic minorities include:
* Afghans
* Inuit (Greenlandic) from the territory of Greenland
* Turks
* Arabs (i.e. Palestinians, followed by Moroccans, Syrians, Lebanese, Yemenis, Egyptians, Iraqis and Jordanians)
* Vietnamese
* Thai
* Jews
* Chinese
* Pakistanis (including Pashtuns)
* Iranians
* Somalis
* Ethiopians
* Sudanese
* Indians
* Chileans (the most numerous of Latin American nationalities)
* Bosniaks
* Poles
* Albanians
* Bangladeshis
* Roma

Historic minorities

Ethnic minorities in Denmark include a handful of groups:

* Approximately 15,000 people in Denmark belong to a German minority traditionally referred to as ''hjemmetyskere'' meaning "domestic Germans" in Danish, and as '' Nordschleswiger'' in German. This minority of Germans hold Danish citizenship and self-identify as Germans. Many of them speak German or Low German as their home language. There are also several thousand German citizens and other ethnic Germans residing in Denmark with no historical connection to this group.
* An estimated 23,000 people in Denmark proper are ethnic Faroese, while 19,000 Greenlanders reside permanently in Denmark. Many of these use the Faroese and Greenlandic languages, respectively, as their first language. All residents of the Kingdom (viz. Denmark proper, the Faroe Islands and Greenland) holds Danish citizenship, unless they inherit or otherwise receive a foreign citizenship.
* The Danish Jews number around 6,000 in 2020 according to the organisation Jewish Community in Denmark, around 1,700 being card-carrying members of the organisation.
* There are close to 10,000 Roma in Denmark.

Modern minorities

In the modern minorities, Statistics Denmark counts first-generation immigrants, second-generation (Descendants in Danish statistics classification) and third-generation (Children of descendants in Danish classification). Children of descendants can be either of "Danish origin" (if both of their parents were born in Denmark with Danish citizenship) and of "foreign origin" (if one of their parents is a second-generation immigrant and another first-generation). Therefore, this table included all people of the respective background, people who are classified as of "foreign background" and third-generation immigrants, who classified as of "Danish origin". Statistics Denmark denotes an immigrant's group based on their country of birth, it does this usually off of the immigrant or descendents parents, if only one such parent is known, then the group is determined by that or if no parents are known then it is assumed if the person is a immigrant that their country of origin is their country of birth.

Statistics Denmark also has specific classification bands which it uses to separate different immigrant groups. As an example, for 'Western' immigrants and 'Non-western', the classification band is as follows:

* Western countries: All 28 EU countries and Andorra, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland, Vatican State, Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand.
* Non-western countries; All other countries.
According to 2021 figures from Statistics Denmark, 86%
of Denmark's population of over 5,840,045 was of Danish descent. The remaining 14% were of a foreign background, defined as immigrants or descendants of recent immigrants. With the same definition, the most common countries of origin were Demographics of Turkey, Turkey, Poland, Germany, Iraq, Romania, Syria, Somalia, Iran, Afghanistan, and Yugoslavia and its successor states.
More than 817,438 individuals (14%) are migrants and their descendants (199,668 second generation migrants born in Denmark).

Of these 817,438 immigrants and their descendants:
* 294,798 (36.1%) have a Western background (Norway, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, UK, Poland, Romania and Iceland; definition: EU countries, non-EU Nordic countries, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, Switzerland, Vatican State, Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand).
* 522,640 (63.9%) have a non-Western background (Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Thailand and Somalia; all other countries).

File:Person of Danish origin in 2022 population pyramid.svg, Persons of Danish origin
File:Western immigrant 2022 in Denmark population pyramid.svg, Western immigrant

Vital statistics

Data according to Statistics Denmark, which collects the official statistics for Denmark.

Note. Population as of 31 December.

In 2021, 79% of all births were to mothers of Danish origin, 17% from immigrants and 4% from descendants of immigrants.

Current vital statistics

Religion

The Church of Denmark () is state-supported and, according to statistics from January 2022, accounts for the religious affiliation of 73.2% of the population. Denmark has had religious freedom guaranteed since 1849 by the Constitution, and numerous other religions are officially recognised,Freedom of religion and religious communities in Denmark
– The Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs – May 2006. Km.dk including several Christian denominations, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu and other congregations as well as Forn Siðr, a revival of Scandinavian pagan tradition. The Department of Ecclesiastical Affairs recognises roughly a hundred religious congregations for tax and legal purposes such as conducting wedding ceremonies.

Islam is the second largest religion in Denmark. In 2020, an estimated 4.4% of the Danish population were Muslims.

For historical reasons, there is a formal distinction between 'approved' () and 'recognised' () congregations of faith. The latter include 11 traditional denominations, such as Roman Catholics, the Reformed Church, the Mosaic Congregation, Methodists and Baptists, some of whose privileges in the country date hundreds of years back. These have the additional rights of having priests appointed by royal resolution and to christen/name children with legal effect.

;Religions
:
:Evangelical Lutheran (official) 74.8%, Muslim 5.3%, other (denominations of less than 1% each, include Roman Catholic, Jehovah's Witness, Serbian Orthodox Christian, Jewish, Baptist, and Buddhist) 19.9% (2017 est.)

Employment and income

;Unemployment, youth ages 15–24:
:total: 12% (2016 est.) Country comparison to the world: 109th
:male: 13.1% (2016 est.)
:female: 10.9% (2016 est.)

See also

* Religion in Denmark
* List of urban areas in the Nordic countries

Notes

References

External links

Danish Demes Regional DNA Project

National statistics


* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070306051700/http://www.religion.dk/artikel%3Aaid%3D38045 Statistic info on recognised denominations (in Danish; Muslim congregations not listed)
Interactive population pyramid 1980-2060

{{DEFAULTSORT:Demographics Of Denmark