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ECONOMY

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.

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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ECONOMY

Better-than-expected Danish economy frees up 11 billion kroner for budget

Denmark's finance minister said on Friday that recent good news for the country's economy had freed up an extra 11 billion kroner (€1.5bn) for government spending.

Better-than-expected Danish economy frees up 11 billion kroner for budget

“The long and the short of it is that the Danish economy is rock solid,” Nicolai Wammen told Denmark’s Ritzau newswire after the announcement. “But we also live in a world of great uncertainty: it is important to remember that only a year and a half ago we had the highest inflation in 40 years.” 

Wammen said that better-than-expected employment figures had pushed the ministry to adjust its estimate of its spending leeway under Denmark fiscal rules by 11.25 billion kroner between 2024 and 2030. As a result, he said, he planned to earmark an addition 4.1 billion kroner for public spending in 2025. 

“Over 3 million are in employment, and the progress in employment has been particularly high in the private sector,” he said in a press release. “At the same time, unemployment is low.” 

He pointed to the increase in the number of labour migrants coming to Denmark as a result of the government’s policies, adding that more reforms would be needed in future to increase the labour supply due to a demographic situation which meant the country was about to see a larger number of people retiring than coming into the system. 

“With the reforms that have been implemented and are underway, the government has increased the labor supply by 29,000 full-time workers in 2030. The government aims to increase the labor supply by 45,000 full-time workers,” he said. 

The increased spending leeway, he said, would make it easier for the government to take Denmark through some of the major changes it needs to make in the coming years. 

“This gives us an even stronger foundation for handling the challenges we face. At the same time, we must also continue to be aware that we still need more hands and minds in both the public and private sectors if we are to ensure growth, welfare, green transition and our security in Denmark, among other things,” he said. 

Wammen told the public broadcaster TV2 that much of the extra money would be used to increase funding to municipalities and the regional governments who run Denmark’s healthcare system. 

But also warned that it was important that the government does not shift to a more expansive economic policy that breathed life back into inflation.

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