Einar H. Dyvik
Research expert covering Nordics and global data for society, economy, and politics
Migration in Denmark - statistics & facts
Denmark was mainly characterized by emigration until World War I. Just as in neighboring Sweden, a high number of people left the country, mainly to North America, in search of a better life. However, whereas both emigration and immigration was low during both World Wars and the Interwar Period, immigration to the country started to increase from the 1960s. Especially from the 1980s, the number of immigrants arriving in the Nordic county started growing, with a high number of asylum seekers and refugees among these. The number of immigrants to Denmark reached a new record in 2022, when a high number of refugees fleeing the Russia-Ukraine war came to the country.
The tightened asylum policies are reflected in the residence permits granted by the authorities. In 2022, only 1,400 of the 127,000 residence permits granted in the country were given to asylum seekers. Of these, the majority came from Afghanistan.
Tightening asylum laws
Since 2015 and the high number of refugees applying for asylum in Denmark around then, the country's government has implemented some of the tightest asylum laws in Europe. For instance, in 2021, a bill was introduced that opened for deporting asylum seekers to detention centers in countries outside Europe while their applications are being processed, and it was also one of the first European countries to declare parts of Syria safe in 2021 after the Civil War, meaning that asylum seekers who had their applications rejected could be returned to the country. As a result of these policies, but also because routes for refugees to Europe have been closed during the past years, the number of asylum seekers arriving in Denmark decreased rapidly since 2015.The tightened asylum policies are reflected in the residence permits granted by the authorities. In 2022, only 1,400 of the 127,000 residence permits granted in the country were given to asylum seekers. Of these, the majority came from Afghanistan.
High immigration from Europe
In 2022, a total of nearly 127,000 people immigrated to Denmark. Most of these came from Ukraine as well as other European countries. As a member of the European Union, people form other member countries can work and live in the country without applying for a work or residence permit. As a result, the largest group of immigrants living in Denmark are Polish. Moreover, the number of people emigrating from Denmark increased until COVID-19 caused the number to decrease significantly in 2020 and 2021. In 2022, the number of emigrants started to increase again.
