Islam in Denmark
Islam in Denmark being the country's largest minority religion plays a role in shaping its social and religious landscape. According to a 2018 estimate, a little more than 300.000 people or 5.3% of the population in Denmark is Muslim. The figure has been increasing for the last several decades. In 2009, the U.S. Department of State reported the share as approximately 3.7% of the population. Earlier sources, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, have cited lower percentages. However, according to figures reported by the BBC in 2005, about 270 thousand Muslims lived in Denmark at the time (4.8% out of a population of 5.6 million).
Ghetto
Denmark is the only country to officially use the word 'ghetto' to denote certain residential areas. The legal designation is applied to areas based on the residents' income levels, employment status, education levels, criminal convictions and 'non-Western' ethnic background. In 2017, the population of Denmark was 5.7 million, of which 8.7% were non-Western immigrants or their descendants. The population proportion of 'ghetto residents' with non-Western background was 66.5%. Since 2010, the Danish Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing publishes the "ghettolisten" (The list of ghettos) which in 2018 consists of 25 areas. In his New Year Speech for 2018, the Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen announced his government's intention to "end the existence of parallel societies and ghettos by 2030". The government has since proposed measures to solve the issue of integration which include policies like 30 hours of obligatory daycare per week for 'ghetto children' starting age 1, lowering social welfare for ghetto residents, incentives for reducing unemployment, demolition and rebuilding of certain tenements, doubling punishment for certain crimes like theft and vandalism in the ghettos, rights for landlords to refuse housing to convicts, etc. While some proposals like restricting 'ghetto children' to their homes after 8 p.m. have been rejected for being too radical, most of the 22 proposals have been agreed upon by a parliamentary majority. The policies have been criticized for undercutting 'equality before law' and for portraying immigrants, especially Muslim immigrants, in a bad light.