The vast majority of immigrants coming to Denmark do so for work, a new report has revealed, while the number of refugees coming to the country in recent years is historically low.
The new report, from the Rockwool Foundation, looks at immigration figures for Denmark compared to the EU as a whole.
In 2025, more than two million people moved to the EU, with more than 100,000 of those getting residence permits in Denmark.
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Denmark had the seventh-highest figure in the EU for the number of newly arrived immigrants per capita in 2024, the report reveals. That’s slightly above the EU average, according to the foundation’s European office in Berlin.
According to Jacob Nielsen Arendt, who is a research professor with the Rockwool Foundation, the fact that many people come to Denmark to work is a sign that companies here can offer attractive working conditions.
“Denmark receives a significant amount of immigrants who come here to work, both from other EU countries and from the rest of the world,” he told the Ritzau news wire. “That’s linked to the systems Denmark has introduced in the past ten years, for example regarding the pay limit scheme and fast-track scheme that give Danish companies some advantages when attracting foreign labour.”
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The average proportion of immigrants per capita across the EU is 14.2 percent. In Denmark, this figure is 14.4 percent.
However, Denmark accepts fewer refugees compared with other countries, even when Ukrainians who do not apply for asylum are included.
“Denmark has quite restrictive rules on residency, and asylum cases are often judged more harshly than in other countries,” Arendt told Ritzau. “There are research studies which show that the severity of migration policy affects the places people apply for asylum.”
“That could be one of the reasons why the number of people seeking asylum is at one of the lowest levels we’ve seen in recent years.”
While Denmark is accepting a historically low number of refugees, some countries in southern Europe are accepting record-breaking numbers.
“That suggests we still have some issues with coordination within the EU,” Arendt said. “Some people might think in the short term that this is good for Denmark to accept fewer refugees as it allows us to better receive those we do accept.”
“But the figures show that this is probably at the detriment of some of our fellow European countries, especially those further south.”
Most asylum seekers coming to Denmark in recent years are from Eritrea, Afghanistan, Syria, Turkey, and Iran, as well as stateless people from Palestine.
