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Danes more trusting than most Europeans

A newly-released study comparing opinions across 23 different countries shows that the Danes "are safe and secure people who by and large do not fear violence or other crime".

Danes more trusting than most Europeans
Twice as many Danes than the 23-country average reported that they feel safe walking alone at night. Photo: Colourbox
Danes are more likely than most Europeans to feel safe and to believe that the police and courts are just and fair, according to a study from the Justice Ministry. 
 
Comparing national surveys on security, trust and residents’ opinions of the police and courts in 23 European countries, the Justice Ministry’s research concluded that the Danes have the most faith in their country’s court system. Denmark also topped the study when it came to the perception that the courts treated everyone equally. 
 
Danes also have more trust in the police than most other nationalities in the study, topped only by the Finns. 
 
 
When it comes to feeling safe walking alone at night, the Danes were only behind Icelanders. Fifty four percent of Danes felt safe being alone after nightfall, almost twice as many as the 23-country average of just 28 percent. In Iceland, 56 percent felt safe, while Norwegians and Swedes were not far behind the Danes. 
 
“The Danes are safe and secure people who by and large do not fear violence or other crime, and I’m very pleased to see that the Danes have so much trust in the courts and police. But we shouldn’t rest on our laurels because trust takes a long time to build up but just a short time to destroy,” Justice Minister Mette Frederiksen said. 
 
Compared with the Nordic countries, Danes are also the most likely to generally trust their fellow residents. When asked to rank their trust in their fellow countrymen on a scale of 1-10, Danes have an average score of just slightly under 7, ahead of Swedes, Norwegians and Finns. Denmark has consistently topped this category since 2002. 
 
In another recent survey, Danes also gave high marks to the court system and police, but indicated that their trust in other public institutions like Immigration Services and the tax authority Skat is on the wane

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