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Denmark reduces number of areas classed as ’parallel societies’

The number of underprivileged areas termed ‘parallel societies’ by the Danish government has fallen for the third consecutive year following an annual update.

Published: 1 December 2022 17:52 CET
Denmark reduces number of areas classed as ’parallel societies’
Mjølnerparken in Copenhagen is one of the housing areas that fulfils government criteria as a "parallel society". Photo: Philip Davali/Ritzau Scanpix

The updated list of ‘parallel societies’ and vulnerable housing areas was published by the Ministry of the Interior and Housing on Thursday.

The number of housing areas classed as parallel societies falls from 12 in 2021 to 10 in the new list.

Three areas were removed from the list (Aldersrogade and Tingbjerg/Utterslevhuse, both in Copenhagen, Agervang in Holbæk), while one was added (Askerød in Greve).

The number of ‘vulnerable housing areas’ (udsatte boligområder) and ‘redevelopment areas’ (omdannelsesområder) is also lower than on the 2021 list.

A ‘redevelopment area’ or omdannelsesområde is the new term replacing ‘hard ghetto’, used for areas which have been on the parallel societies list for five consecutive years.

The terms ‘parallel society’ and ‘underprivileged housing area’ have replaced ‘ghetto’ in the government’s official descriptions, after the latter word was scrapped because it was considered to be derogatory towards marginalised areas.

The lists are important because included areas can be subject to special treatment under Danish laws.

To qualify as ‘parallel societies’, housing areas of more than 1,000 people, where more than half are of “non-Western” origin, must fulfil two of four criteria.

Areas that fulfil the criteria are then required to take measures to combat parallel societies under a 2018 law originally titled the “Ghetto Law”.

The four criteria are: more than 40 percent of residents are unemployed; more than 60 percent of 39-50 year-olds do not have an upper secondary education; crime rates three times higher than the national average; residents have a gross income 55 percent lower than the regional average.

In addition to redevelopment obligations, areas on the list can be subjected to special treatment under the law, including stricter punishments for specified crimes and a requirement for small children to attend daycare.

READ ALSO: EU court to judge residents’ discrimination case against Danish government

The decline in the number of housing areas on the three lists is a positive development, according to Solveig Råberg Tingey, CEO of BL, an organisation representing subsidised housing associations in Denmark.

“The positive trend is the result of a lot of great local work over several years with efforts in relation to jobs and education and social schemes,” Tingey told news wire Ritzau.

“It’s very important that we continue this work in the coming years,” she said.

The list of underprivileged housing areas is updated every year on December 1st.

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ECONOMY

Explained: Why Denmark’s economy is looking in such extremely good shape

Denmark's economy is growing faster than the government expected, inflation is falling faster, and employment is holding up better. We explain why the new economic forecast shows Denmark has achieved the softest of soft landings.

Published: 16 May 2024 15:41 CEST
Explained: Why Denmark's economy is looking in such extremely good shape

 “When I stood here a year ago and presented my first financial statement, it was with a message that the Danish economy was heading for a soft landing. We have since been strengthened in that assessment,” Stephanie Lose, Denmark’s economy minister, said at a press conference announcing the government’s Økonomisk Redegørelse, or financial statement, for May. 

In the press statement, she said, “optimism is returning to the Danish economy”, with the economy likely to improve further in the coming year.

“We have carried out reforms that make Denmark richer and help to secure the necessary workforce for Danish companies,” she said. 

How has the government changed its growth forecasts? 

The government has increased its expectation for Denmark’s growth rate since its last statement in December, with it now expecting 2.7 percent growth in 2024, up from the1.4 percent it expected for the year in December. 

It has also upgraded its expectations for 2025, predicting growth of 1.8 percent compared to the 1 percent it expected back in December. 

Lose said that the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, which is expanding rapidly as a result of the success of its weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, had driven much of Denmark’s recent growth, with the reopening of Denmark’s gas field, the Tyra field, would start to contribute to growth soon.

“In the past two years, the pharmaceutical industry in particular has driven growth in the Danish economy, while there has been stagnation or decline in large parts of the rest of the economy,” she said. “In the coming years, other industries again look set to contribute to growth. Added to this is the reopening of the Tyra field in the North Sea, which also contributes to growth in GDP.” 

What does the government expect to happen to inflation? 

Denmark’s inflation rate fell rapidly from a peak of over 10 percent in October 2022 to below 2 percent in September 2023, where it has stayed ever since. But Lose said she expected the rate to edge up over the coming years. 

“Inflation has fallen quickly and faster than expected,” Lose said. “In the new forecast, we expect inflation to rise in the coming months, as the prices of services and energy pull in the direction of slightly higher inflation.” 

What does the government expect to happen to employment? 

Thanks mainly to Novo Nordisk increasing staffing to manage the success of its new drugs, and the bounce back from the pandemic, employment has also held up better than expected.

Employment soared by some 160,000 people between 2021 and 2023, and the government now expects the number of employed people to grow by a further 13,000 in 2024 but to then fall by 18,000 in 2025. 

“Employment has long been at a sky-high level, so it is estimated that we will see some adjustment. But we do not expect an extensive setback, because the Danish economy stands on a rock-solid foundation,” Lose said.

What does the government expect to happen to housing prices? 

The government has significantly upgraded its expectations of what will happen to the price of domestic property this year. It now expects prices to increase by an average of 3.2 percent in 2024 and 3 percent in 2025, a rise of two percentage points on the 1.2 percent rise for 2024 it expected when it made its last forecast in December. 

This is due to the continued strong labour market, which has seen rising incomes and wage increases in Denmark as a result of new collective agreements, at the same time as Denmarks Nationalbank is expected to cut interest rates. 

This rise follows two consecutive years of falling real house prices in 2022 and 2023. 

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