Crime among refugees and descendants

98.5% of refugees and their reunified family in Denmark do not commit crimes.

This means that only a small fraction of the group does commit crimes, and that number has been declining in recent years. The group is still overrepresented in crime statistics compared to ethnic Danes*, but there are a number of possible explanations for this, which will be discussed below.

For each generation of refugees in Denmark, a smaller share is convicted of a crime than in the previous generation.

*) In this article, we use the terms “ethnic Danes” and “Danish citizens” which are not entirely identical. We follow the definition provided by the datasets used. When the term “Danish citizens” is used, it is contrasted to people who do not hold Danish citizenships. When the term “ethnic Danes” is used, it is as opposed to people who originate from a country other than Denmark.

Who commits crime in Denmark?

Let’s begin by making one thing clear: The vast majority of crimes in Denmark are committed by Danish citizens.

More ethnic Danes than foreigners who originate from outside the country’s borders – both Western and non-Western – commit violent crimes, rape, and murder; more ethnic Danes than foreigners have a criminal record; and more ethnic Danes than foreigners are serving time in Danish prisons.

This is a trivial observation as there are obviously many more ethnic Danes than foreigners in Denmark. But listening to the political and public debate, you easily get the impression that crime could be entirely eliminated if only criminal foreigners were deported. That is by no means the case.

8 out of 10 crimes committed in Denmark are committed by Danish citizens. That has been the case for at least the past 20 years.

In 2024, the most recent year for which data is available, 228,000 crimes resulted in a conviction. 

Danish citizens accounted for 183,000, or 80%, of these. Twenty years earlier, in 2004, 195,000 cases resulted in convictions. Back then, Danes accounted for 162,000, or 83%.

The picture does not change dramatically if we zoom in on criminal offenses. Here, Danish citizens accounted for 74% (34,000 out of 46,000) in 2024.

Nor does it change if we zoom in further on specific criminal offenses, for example aggravated assault (1,024 out of 1,309), rape (561 out of 734), or murder (53 out of 68). Throughout the picture is the same: Crime in Denmark is predominantly committed by Danes.

TOTAL OFFENSES – ALL CRIMES, 2024

Foreigners legally residing in Denmark (including descendants and permanent residents) do, however, account for a larger share of the crimes committed today than they did 20 years ago. In 2004, they accounted for 7.4% of all offenses and 12.6% of criminal offenses. By 2024, those figures had risen to 14.6% and 18.1%.

Part of the explanation for this is natural: More foreigners have arrived over the past 20 years, which means they make up a significantly larger share of the Danish population today than they did back then – from 5% in 2004 to 11% in 2024. It goes without saying that, all other things equal, a growing population will lead to more crimes, even if only a small share of the population is committing crimes. When the population of foreigners grows faster than the ethnic Danish population, it will account for a growing share of the crimes committed.

All non-Westerners

Refugees originate from one of the so-called non-Western countries, a term used by Statistics Denmark that includes most of the world’s countries.

For both ethnic Danes and non-Western foreigners in Denmark, crime rates are declining. The proportion of non-Western descendants with criminal records has dropped even more sharply, though from a significantly higher level. As a group, however, they have become less criminal.

SHARE CONVICTED OF CRIMINAL OFFENSES

The graph shows the share of people, aged 15-79, who have been convicted of one or more offenses. Note that the groups are not directly comparable, because descendants as a group are younger than the others. Since crime is mostly committed during youth, descendants appear here to be more criminal than if the group’s age composition were similar to that of the other groups.

Even when zooming in on young men – the group where crime is most prevalent – crime rates are declining.

By looking solely at young people (ages 15-29), the groups become more comparable. Non-Western descendants, as a group, are on average younger than both the ethnic Danish population and the group of non-Western immigrants. This is because descendants are defined as being born in Denmark to immigrant parents, including refugees. A large proportion of immigrants in Denmark have only arrived here over the past 40 years, and thus not enough time has passed for descendants to resemble the other groups in terms of age composition.

If the groups are compared without taking age into account, descendants will appear to be more criminal, since it is true for all groups that crime is predominantly committed during youth. Therefore, we focus below on men aged 15-29.

SHARE OF CONVICTED MEN, AGED 15-29, BY YEAR (ALL OFFENSES)

The graph includes all offenses, including, for example, traffic violations.

Twenty years ago, 8.5% of young ethnic Danes were convicted of a crime within a year. That figure has since dropped to 5.8%. Similarly, the share of convicted young people of non-Western descent dropped from 20.9% to 15.9% between 2004 and 2024. Although the share convicted of crimes is somewhat higher than for ethnic Danes, young people of non-Western descent have become significantly less criminal.

They are still overrepresented compared to ethnic Danes but have on average become far more law-abiding.

Over the past 20 years, it has become far less likely for a young, non-Western descendant to receive a conviction.

DROP IN SHARE CONVICTED FROM 2004 TO 2024 (MEN AGED 15-29, ALL OFFENSES).

Refugees and family reunified with them

The same trend is evident when looking specifically at refugees and their family members. Since 2020, there has been a significant decline in the share of young male refugees convicted of criminal offenses over the course of a year – from 3.8% in 2020 to 1.5% in 2023.

In 2024, the corresponding figure for young ethnic Danish men was 1.2%.

This means that today, 98.5% of refugees and reunified family are NOT convicted of a crime within a year, while the same is true for 98.8% of ethnic Danes.

SHARE OF REFUGEES AND REUNIFIED FAMILY CONVICTED (MEN AGED 15-29, CRIMINAL OFFENSES)

The Rockwool Foundation has demonstrated that each generation of refugees is less likely to commit crime than the previous one. Only about 6% of the refugees who arrived in Denmark in 2010-14 had been convicted of at least one criminal offense 10 years later. The same was true for approx. 11% of those who arrived in 2000-04 and 18% of those who arrived in 1990-94.

Data from Statistics Denmark show that a similar pattern emerges for groups of non-Western immigrants and their descendants.

Refugees, non-Western immigrants and their descendants thus follow the societal trend toward lower crime rates. And this trend is observed across refugees’ gender, age and country of origin.

Although refugees are still overrepresented compared to ethnic Danes, research by the Rockwool Foundation shows that refugees have narrowed the gap over the past 40 years.

Prison sentences

Danish citizens are predominantly responsible for the serious crimes that result in unconditional prison sentences.

73% of the criminal offenses that have resulted in unconditional prison sentences over the past 20 years were committed by Danish citizens.

Looking at aggravated assault and murder, the share is even higher. Here, Danish citizens accounted for 80.3% and 81.6% respectively.

SHARE OF UNCONDITIONAL PRISON SENTENCES, 2004-2024

Indeed, the vast majority of inmates serving sentences in Danish prisons are Danish citizens. According to the latest figures from the Danish Prison Service, there were 2,812 inmates serving prison sentences in October 2024. 80% (2,253 persons) of them were Danish citizens.

232 came from one of ten countries from which Denmark has historically received many refugees or were stateless.

INMATES SERVING SENTENCES IN DANISH PRISONS

The crime index

In the public and political debate, it is often pointed out that non-Westerns immigrants and particularly their descendants are overrepresented in crime statistics. This is not wrong. 

According to the publication from Statistics Denmark 'Indvandrere i Danmark 2025', male descendants from Lebanon, for example, have a so-called crime index of 386, while the corresponding figures for Somali, Syrian and Iraqi descendants are 316, 312 and 268 respectively. This means that these groups are 2-4 times as likely to commit crimes as the general population.

These are, however, relatively small groups, which means that a few individuals can skew the result.

The index figure for male Syrian descendants for example is based on only 901 people. With such a small group, it doesn’t take many additional people with or without criminal convictions to drastically skew the index figures. Therefore, crime index figures must be used with caution.

Another problem with relying too much on the crime index is that it is a relative measure: It compares one group’s crime rate to that of a larger group. Therefore, the index says nothing of the crime rate within a group but merely compares the crime rates of different groups with the crime rate of the population as a whole.

A group can have a high crime index – and thus be overrepresented – and still have a pretty low crime rate. And it is possible for the group’s index score to rise over time, even though the group becomes less criminal. When crime declines in society as a whole, the benchmark moves with it.

Therefore, the crime index cannot stand alone when examining the criminality of a group. It must be compared to absolute figures, and here the picture is – as shown above –unambiguous: The share of the population committing crime is declining, regardless of whether one looks at ethnic Danes, non-Western immigrants, or non-Western descendants.

Many factors come into play

The overrepresentation of non-Western immigrants, refugees, and their descendants in the crime statistics does not occur in a vacuum. There are many factors that influence whether a given person ends up getting convicted of a crime. And the circumstances are not necessarily the same for ethnic Danes and citizens of foreign backgrounds.

Socioeconomic conditions

People are more likely to commit crimes if they are young, male, have a low level of education and low income, a weak attachment to the labour market, and grew up in an environment with high crime rates.

Descendants are, on average, younger than ethnic Danes because their parents typically immigrated to Denmark only over the past 40 years.

Male non-Western descendants are slightly less likely to pursue higher education than ethnic Danish men, and on average, they have grown up in families with weaker ties to the labour market and lower incomes.

Some refugees have mental health issues, which can also affect their children’s upbringing. Many have come to Denmark fleeing war, persecution, despotic regimes or brutal civil wars. Approx. 33% of newly arrived refugees in Denmark have PTSD or exhibit similar symptoms, and many have been subjected to torture. On average, they have poorer mental and physical health than ethnic Danes, which also can lead to a weaker attachment to the labour market.

Structural factors

Part of the explanation also lies in political choices.

The Rockwool Foundation has shown that lower benefits for refugees contribute to increased crime within this group. The significant reduction in benefits for refugees, which was introduced with the “starthjælp” program in 2002 and has since been continued under various names, has led to refugees committing more crime than they otherwise would have. For one thing, refugees became more likely to commit theft in supermarkets.

The research also shows a wide range of other negative consequences of low benefits: More refugee children performed poorly in school, fewer young people completed secondary education and more became dependant on public benefits. All of which contribute to circumstances that we know are associated with an increased risk of committing crime. And a loss for the economy as a whole. Low benefits for refugees have thus led to more crime.

This only makes it more concerning that the Danish parliament chose to continue the low benefits for non-Western foreigners with the social benefits reform that took effect in the summer of 2025.

Overrepresentation in crime statistics is thus, to a certain extent, a result of political choices. When a group’s means of subsistence is reduced, they seek other ways to make a living. A few of them choose a path of crime.

Changes in criminal legislation

The way politicians legislate plays a significant role. Over the past few decades, Danish politicians have, for example, taken a hard line against gang crime – with doubled penalties and search zones – as well as sexual offenses, terrorism, violence, and economic crime.

Research conducted by the think tank Justitia shows that from 2000 to 2017, 83 amendments to the criminal law were enacted, of which 46 were expansions and 20 criminalized an area that had not previously been criminalized.

This affects criminality. For example, there has been an increase in the issuance of fines because there is no longer a distinction between “soft” and “hard” drugs.

When the parliament criminalizes an area, it also “creates” new criminals, because some people previously – and legally – acted in ways that are now prohibited. And if foreigners are more likely to commit the practices being criminalized than ethnic Danes it contributes to the overrepresentation of foreigners in crime statistics.

This is not to say that politicians should not enact anti-gang measures, knife laws, search zones, or tighten laws against drugs in effort to reduce crime. But in relation to criminality, one must consider who is most affected by the legislation.

Today, any prison sentence means permanent exclusion from becoming a Danish citizen.

Ethnic profiling

The way the police conduct their work is also a factor. The Institute for Human Rights has investigated so-called ethnic profiling in Denmark and found that immigrants and their descendants – especially those originating from Middle Eastern and North African countries – are charged and arrested significantly more often than ethnic Danes, without this subsequently leading to a conviction. More than one in five charges against people from Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait, and Somalia end without a conviction.

This overemphasis on foreigners in the work of the police may mean that ethnic minorities have a harder time “getting away with” crimes than ethnic Danes do.

It is of course only right that people are held accountable for the crimes they commit, but when efforts are directed at one ethnic group rather than another, it contributes to distorting the picture of who commits crime in society.

All of the above is not to say that foreigners would not be overrepresented in crime statistics if the aforementioned factors were taken into account. There is no way to know. But it is likely that the group would be less overrepresented. And it underscores the point that the responsibility for how foreigners fare in society does not lie with themselves alone.

Prevention

The most effective way to combat crime – and the best way to help the victims – is to prevent crime from occurring in the first place. The social housing initiatives, with which Denmark has many years of experience, have focused, among other things, on getting teenage boys off the streets and into sports and after school-jobs, and on helping adults overcome drug abuse and gang involvement through exit programs.

Several high-risk neighbourhoods have seen a reduction in crime statistics through these initiatives, as documented by VIVE in 2019.

Unfortunately, these initiatives have been scaled back overall and replaced with more coercive measures under the Parallel Societies Law (originally passed as the Ghetto Law).