Demographics of Denmark

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

A majority of Danes today trace their heritage to Germanic tribes who have inhabited Denmark since prehistoric times. Even with increasing immigration in recent years, the Danish population is still more homogenous than is the case of most other western European countries. Large percentages of the population are or are descended from immigrants from Southeast Asia and Turkey.

A small German minority live in South Jutland, close to the border with Germany, as there is also a Danish minority on the German side of the border, in Schleswig-Holstein. The region has seen both Danish and German cultural influx and has shifted between the realms. Interestingly, national identity in this border area is based on personal and cultural conviction rather than heritage, language and family descent.

Since the 1960s, the main groups of immigrants and refugees have been Turks, Pakistani, Arabs, Kurds, Somalis and people from the former Yugoslavia. Other, less distinguishable groups of immigrants include mainly Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders, Finns, Germans, Dutch, Poles and Britons. A great number of Faroese and Greenlanders also live in Denmark proper, mostly just for parts of their life, but are rarely taken as separate ethnic groups.

Since Danish censuses don't register ethnicity, language and religion (other than membership of the official Evangelical Lutheran church), official numbers don't exist for these issues. There is, however, statistic information based on citizenship and country of birth.

[edit] Greenland and Faroe Islands

A mostly Inuit population inhabits Greenland, but 10-15% of the populace are Danes and another substantial part have both Danish and Inuit ancestry. Some Greenlanders, especially in towns, master the Danish language better than Greenlandic which has led to local political measures for promoting Greenlandic in public life (Greenlandisation).

The Faroe Islands have a Nordic population with their own language.

[edit] Religion

The Evangelical Lutheran church (Den danske folkekirke) is state-supported and, according to statistics from January 2006, accounts for about 83% of Denmark's religious affiliation. Denmark has had religious freedom guaranteed since 1849 by the Constitution, and numerous other religions are officially recognised, including several Christian denominations, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu and other congregations as well as Asatru, a revival of Scandinavian pagan tradition. The Department of Ecclesiastical Affairs recognizes roughly a hundred religious congregations for tax and legal purposes such as conducting wedding ceremonies. For historical reasons there is a formal distinction between 'approved' (godkendte) and 'recognised' (anerkendte) 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.

[edit] Demographic statistics

[edit] Population

Denmark's population from 1769 to 2007.

Year	Population	Year	Population
1769	797,584	1976	5,065,313
1787	841,806	1977	5,079,879
1801	929,001	1978	5,096,959
1834	1,230,964	1979	5,111,537
1840	1,289,075	1980	5,122,065
1845	1,356,877	1981	5,123,989
1850	1,414,648	1982	5,119,155
1855	1,507,222	1983	5,116,464
1860	1,608,362	1984	5,112,130
1870	1,784,741	1985	5,111,108
1880	1,969,039	1986	5,116,273
1890	2,172,380	1987	5,124,794
1901	2,449,540	1988	5,129,254
1906	2,588,919	1989	5,129,778
1911	2,757,076	1990	5,135,409
1916	2,921,362	1991	5,146,469
1921	3,267,831	1992	5,162,126
1925	3,434,555	1993	5,180,614
1930	3,550,656	1994	5,196,642
1935	3,706,349	1995	5,215,718
1940	3,844,312	1996	5,251,027
1945	4,045,232	1997	5,275,121
1950	4,281,275	1998	5,294,860
1955	4,448,401	1999	5,313,577
1960	4,585,256	2000	5,330,020
1965	4,767,597	2001	5,349,212
1970	4,937,579	2002	5,368,354
1971	4,950,598	2003	5,383,507
1972	4,975,653	2004	5,397,640
1973	5,007,538	2005	5,411,405
1974	5,036,184	2006	5,427,459
1975	5,054,410	2007	5,447,084

Source Statistics Denmark, "Folketal efter hovedlandsdele (summariske tal fra folketællinger)" (table FT) [1]

[edit] CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

[edit] Age structure

0-14 years: 18.7% (male 523,257; female 496,697)

15-64 years: 66.1% (male 1,815,240; female 1,787,406)

65 years and over: 15.2% (male 355,656; female 472,405) (2006 est.)

[edit] Median age

total: 39.8 years

male: 38.9 years

female: 40.7 years

[edit] Population growth rate

0.33% (2006 est.)

[edit] Birth rate

11.13 births/1000 population (2006 est.)

[edit] Death rate

10.36 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)

[edit] Net migration rate

2.52 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)

[edit] Sex ratio

at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female

under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female

15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.75 male(s)/female

total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

[edit] Infant mortality rate

total: 4.51 deaths/1,000 live births

male: 4.54 deaths/1,000 live births

female: 4.47 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

[edit] Life expectancy at birth

total population: 77.79 years

male: 75.49 years

female: 80.22 years (2006 est.)

[edit] Total fertility rate

1.89 children born/woman (2008)[2]

[edit] HIV/AIDS

adult prevalence rate: 0.2% (2003 est.)

people living with HIV/AIDS: 5,000 (2003 est.)

deaths: fewer than 100 (2003 est.)

[edit] Nationality

noun: Dane(s)

adjective: Danish

[edit] Ethnic groups

Minority ethnic groups are: Inuits (Greenlandic) from the territory of Greenland, Turks, Arabs (i.e. Palestinians, followed by Moroccans, Syrians, Lebanese, Yemenis, Egyptians, Iraqis and Jordanians), Vietnamese, Jews, Chinese, Pakistanis, Iranians, Somalis, Ethiopians, Sudanese, Kurds, Indians, Chileans (the most numerous of Latin American nationalities), former Yugoslavians (Bosniaks, Croats, Serbs) and Albanians.

[edit] Language

Danish is the official language of Denmark, Faroese official for the Faeroe Islands, Greenlandic (an Inuit dialect) official in Greenland, German (small minority) is co-official in southern Jutland facing Germany and Low Saxon (small minority, moribund) also in southern Jutland along the border. As a Scandinavian language, Danish is mainly understandable for many Swedish and Norwegian speakers.

[edit] Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 99%

male: 99%

female: 99% (2003 est.)

[edit] References

This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook document "2006 edition".

[edit] See also

Religion in Denmark

[edit] External links