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LIST: How Denmark’s hundred richest families got even richer

The hundred richest Danish families got 141 billion kroner richer last year, according to the 2023 rich list by the Danish magazine Økonomisk Ugebrev. Here are the top ten.

Published: 22 November 2023 15:39 CET

LIST: How Denmark's hundred richest families got even richer

Anders Holch Povlsen, from Denmark's second richest family, at a match between Denmark and France in September 2022. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

The rise comes after the families saw their combined wealth drop by 89 billion kroner between 2021 and 2022 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Last year’s drop followed a ten-year stretch when their combined riches rose every year.

According to the magazine, more than two-thirds of last year’s increase came down to strong performances by companies owned by just three of the families, with these three accounting for 110bn kroner of the 141 bn kroner increase.

“Behind the total increase in wealth for the 100 richest Danish families lies a very uneven picture,” the authors of the study write.

“Almost the entire increase in total wealth comes from the increase in wealth of three families, namely from the Kirk Kristiansen family, which own Lego, who have increased their private wealth by 63 billion kroner, the Clausen family behind Danfoss, who have become 29 billion kroner richer, and finally, the Østergaard family, behind Selfinvest, which has increased its wealth by 18 billion kroner.

The Kirk Kristiansen family is currently the richest family in Denmark, worth 318.2 billion.

The Holch Povlsen family, which is behind the Bestseller retail empire, sits in second place with a 83.3 billion kroner, despite seeing a 10bn kroner drop in their fortune between 2022 and 2023.

The Clausen family came in at third place, after their headline wealth increased by 65 percent in a single year.

The magazine pointed out that the bottom 90 of the hundred families had only seen their wealth increase by 23 billion kroner.

"This reflects the fact that for many of the companies things have gone well, but not excellently," they wrote.

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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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