Immigration Factbook日本語

Official primary source · Finansministeriet 2023

Denmark: net fiscal cost of immigration
−DKK 16 billion per year

Denmark's Finance Ministry (Finansministeriet) publishes the most comprehensive official accounting of immigration's net fiscal effect in Europe — broken down by origin, residence duration, and generation.

🌐 日本語版·Source: Finansministeriet 2023 (2019 data, revised Sept. 2023)

−16bn DKK

All immigrants & descendants — net annual fiscal balance

Finansministeriet 2023

−27bn DKK

Non-Western immigrants & descendants — net annual cost

Finansministeriet 2023

+11bn DKK

Western immigrants & descendants — net annual contribution

Finansministeriet 2023

What does −DKK 16bn mean in practice?

The −DKK 16bn aggregate is an average across all immigrants. It masks a sign reversal between Western and non-Western immigrants. Western immigrants (EU, North America, Australia) contribute +DKK 11bn; non-Western immigrants cost −DKK 27bn.

Fiscal outcome depends heavily on immigration motive. Labour migrants generally produce positive contributions; refugees and family reunification migrants produce net costs — a pattern documented across all Nordic countries.

Finansministeriet uses a static model measuring current-year tax and benefit flows. It does not project lifetime contributions, descendants' economic effects, or long-run GDP impacts.

Denmark is one of the most transparent countries in the world for this type of accounting. Equivalent official estimates are published only by Norway (SSB) and Germany (Ifo/IAB) among Western countries.

Has the figure improved since 2019?

The 2019 dataset (revised 2023) is the most recent official calculation published by Finansministeriet as of 2025.

Employment of non-Western immigrants has improved: the number of MENAPT-origin workers rose from 62,800 (Q4 2019) to 80,800 (Q4 2024) — a +29% increase that suggests the net cost has narrowed, but no new official accounting has been published to confirm this.

A future update would likely show a lower negative balance, but the sign reversal between Western and non-Western immigrants is structural and unlikely to disappear.

Cross-country comparison

Direct comparison requires caution — methodologies, scope, and reference years differ significantly.

CountryOfficial estimateScope

Denmark−DKK 16bn/yearAll immigrants & descendants

Norway−NOK 4.1m/person (R3 group)Asylum & non-European family migration, NPV

Germany−€2.1bn/year2015 refugee cohort

Sweden+SEK 6bn/yearLabour migrants only; total not published

Primary source

📄

Finansministeriet (2023). Indvandreres nettobidrag til de offentlige finanser i 2019 — revised September 2023

PDF report →Publication page →

Explore further

🇩🇰

Denmark — full data

Demographics, employment, crime, education, housing

💰

Fiscal cost — 20 countries

Cross-country net fiscal impact comparison

🗂️

20-Country Matrix

All themes at a glance

⚖️

Denmark's policy shift

Why did Denmark tighten its immigration policy?

All content on this site is based on primary sources from public institutions and research bodies. See in-text links for each source.

MethodologySourcesAboutEditorial CharterChangelog