New Danish citizens have lower criminal conviction rates than the population as a whole, according to a special analysis by Statistics Denmark (Danmarks Statistik) for public broadcaster DR. The figures cover people who gained Danish citizenship between 2018 and 2024 and were convicted in the year they became citizens or the following year.
Just 0.2% of these new citizens received a conviction under Denmark’s Criminal Code during that period. By comparison, around 0.4% of the wider population were convicted of a Criminal Code offence over a single year, according to DR’s comparison with national statistics.
The two measures are not directly equivalent. Newly naturalised citizens were observed for the remainder of the year in which they received citizenship and the whole of the next year, while the population-wide figure covers one year. The comparison also uses different age ranges and does not adjust for demographic differences. Nevertheless, the observed conviction rate among new citizens was lower despite their potentially longer observation period.
Why Denmark’s citizenship rules matter
One explanation is that Denmark already excludes many people with criminal records from obtaining citizenship. The country tightened the rules in 2018, introducing stronger barriers for people convicted of offences such as gang-related crime, violence against children and sexual offences. The requirements have subsequently been tightened further.
Under the current rules published by the Ministry of Immigration and Integration (Udlændinge- og Integrationsministeriet), prison sentences and certain serious offences can prevent naturalisation. Even a fine of DKK 3,000 (about €400) or more, including for speeding, can trigger a waiting period of four years and six months, subject to the applicable rules and possible exemptions.
Lars Højsgaard Andersen, a research professor studying crime at the Rockwool Foundation, told DR that people who successfully meet these demanding conditions over several years are a selected group.
“If you are able to comply with the requirements over a number of years and are granted citizenship, there is a very high probability that you will not commit crime afterwards.”
Andersen also pointed to age. Younger men are more likely to commit crimes, while many applicants obtain citizenship in their twenties or thirties, when offending rates tend to decline. The analysis does not establish that stricter citizenship rules alone caused the lower conviction rate.
What the figures show about new Danish citizens
The analysis concerns convictions under the Criminal Code, rather than all breaches of the law. Traffic offences, including speeding fines, are excluded. It also focuses on the period immediately around naturalisation, so it cannot establish what happens to the same people many years after receiving citizenship.
Nor should the results be confused with statistics on immigrants in general. They concern people who have successfully completed Denmark’s naturalisation process, not everyone living in the country with a foreign background. The figures measure recorded convictions, not every offence committed.
The findings add evidence to an increasingly contentious debate. Earlier in October, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen spoke about immigration and crime as the government considered additional screening of citizenship applicants. These new figures address a narrower question: how often people who have actually obtained Danish nationality are convicted soon afterwards.
Among those hoping to become citizens is Ayham Abdalmajeed Abdullah, who fled the war in Syria and has a Danish wife and two children. Named in a proposed citizenship bill, he told DR that people who have spent years meeting the requirements do not regard obtaining a passport as a reason to start breaking the law.
For the people granted citizenship in the years examined, a criminal conviction shortly after naturalisation was rare. That finding does not settle Denmark’s wider debate over immigration, but it offers a more precise picture of the people who pass its citizenship requirements.
