Young people moving in Denmark are increasingly concentrating in Aarhus, while Copenhagen is losing some of its pull as high housing costs push more young residents towards municipalities around the capital. New figures analysed by DR show that the geography of youth migration has shifted considerably since 2010, with consequences for universities, smaller cities and local labour markets.
Aarhus is attracting more young people from across Denmark
The clearest change is the growing attraction of Aarhus, Denmark’s second-largest city. According to DR’s analysis, around one in three moves by young people leaving Southern, Western and Eastern Jutland now ends in Aarhus, a considerably larger proportion than in 2010.
The city is also attracting young people from Funen and Bornholm, while Aalborg has strengthened its position as the main destination for young people moving within North Jutland.
Official data from Statistics Denmark track movements among people aged 15 to 29 between municipalities and regions. The latest tables cover the period from 2007 to 2025.
The trend towards moving farther from home has developed over a longer period. In 2024, 50,942 people aged 15 to 29 moved out of their parents’ home and into another municipality, 20 per cent more than in 2007, according to Statistics Denmark.
Copenhagen is becoming harder for young people to settle in
The pattern around Copenhagen is moving in a different direction.
DR found that a larger share of young people who might previously have settled in the capital are instead moving to municipalities such as Brøndby, Høje-Taastrup and Glostrup.
Housing costs are an important part of that shift. Copenhagen remains a major destination for education and work, but establishing a permanent home there has become more difficult for many younger residents.
The result is a more dispersed pattern across the metropolitan area, in contrast with the increasing concentration around Aarhus.
Statistics Denmark has previously found that young people also tend to leave their parental home later in Copenhagen and surrounding municipalities than in much of the rest of the country.
Smaller study cities are losing students
The movement towards Denmark’s largest university cities is creating difficulties for educational institutions elsewhere.
The difference is particularly visible in teacher training. This year, 505 students are starting teacher education in Aarhus, compared with only 45 in Esbjerg, Denmark’s sixth-largest city, according to DR.
Other provincial study centres are facing similar trends. Haderslev, Skive, Hobro, Ikast and Nørre Nissum have each lost around one third of their students over five years, based on figures from Denmark’s Ministry of Higher Education and Science cited by DR.
Alexander Christian von Oettingen, rector of UC Syd, said the imbalance makes it harder to train enough teachers, social educators, nurses and social workers for Southern Denmark.
Many young people who move away for higher education do not subsequently return, he argued, turning student migration into a longer-term demographic and workforce problem.
Young people moving in Denmark also reshape local labour markets
The effects extend beyond universities.
Businesses in areas losing younger residents risk having a smaller pool of qualified workers. Karsten Rieder, director of Business Esbjerg, told DR that political intervention may be needed to make it easier to establish education programmes outside the largest cities and to limit the growing imbalance.
The government acknowledges the problem but has rejected the idea that students should simply be forced to study somewhere they do not want to live.
Minister for Higher Education and Science (Uddannelses- og forskningsminister) Christina Egelund said smaller youth cohorts will make the coming years particularly difficult for smaller study cities.
Provincial educational institutions have received additional funding, and recent reforms are intended to improve their financing. Popular programmes including medicine, psychology and law have also been introduced in Esbjerg in an attempt to attract more students to Southern Denmark.
The challenge is not only keeping young people from leaving
Researchers caution that preventing young people from moving to larger cities may not be realistic.
Elise Stenholt Lange, a postdoctoral researcher at Aalborg University who studies migration patterns, told DR that smaller communities should also focus on making themselves places that young people may eventually want to return to.
For Danish municipalities, the changing migration map therefore poses a broader question than where students choose to study. The growing pull of Aarhus, the redistribution of young residents around Copenhagen and the decline of some provincial study centres are increasingly affecting where Denmark trains its workforce, where businesses can recruit employees and which parts of the country are able to retain younger generations.
