Descendants of immigrants lagging behind in education system

While immigrant girls continue to improve

Dec 19, 2014

Sons of immigrants from non-western countries are still struggling when it comes to getting an education, an analysis from the think tank Kraka, has revealed.

The analysis showed that just 47 percent of 30-year-old sons of immigrants who were born in Denmark and attended public school have an education diploma of some sort.

”We have a problem getting these boys with non-western backgrounds properly integrated into the Danish education system,” Kristian Thor Jakobsen, the head of research in Kraka, told Metroxpress newspaper.

”It's serious, because without an education it is more difficult to navigate the Danish labour market, and we know that it leads to a greater risk of ending up on public benefits for longer periods of time.”

Girls improving
While the immigrant men have been struggling, the immigrant women have been steadily improving. Since 2009, the total share of women aged 30-35 with a professional education has risen from 59 percent to 66 percent.

In comparison, 80 percent of women and 73 percent of men aged 30 with a Danish background had an education.

One of the principal reasons that descendants of non-western immigrants have a tougher time in the Danish education system could be because the education of their parents is generally lower.

The analysis showed that 45 percent of those aged 25-29 with a non-western background had parents who didn't have professional education in 2013, compared to just 15 percent of people with a Danish background.

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