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).
Denmark
Denmark is the only country to officially use the word 'ghetto' in the 21st century to denote certain residential areas. Since 2010, the Danish Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing publishes the "ghettolisten" (List of ghettos) which in 2018 consists of 25 areas. As a result, the term is widely used in the media and common parlance. 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, 8.7% of Denmark's population consisted of non-Western immigrants or their descendants. The population proportion of 'ghetto residents' with non-Western background was 66.5%. In 2018, the government has proposed measures to solve the issue of integration and to rid the country of 'parallel societies and ghettos by 2030'. The measures focus on physical redevelopment, control over who is allowed to live in these areas, crime abatement and education. These policies have been criticized for undercutting 'equality before law' and for portraying immigrants, especially Muslim immigrants, in a bad light. 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.