Denmark may be known as one of the world's wealthy nations, but based on figures from the national statistics office Danmarks Statistik, it is quickly becoming a less prosperous country to live in.

The figures showed that since 2007 the Danish gross national product (GNP) has fallen by 4 percent and, because the population has increased by 3 percent (or 180,000 people), the total average prosperity per capita has dropped by 7 percent.

“It's the biggest downturn in recent times. You probably have to go back to the 1930's for a worse development,” Steen Bocian, the chief economist with Danske Bank, told Jyllands-Posten newspaper.

“The crisis we are experiencing now has been extremely deep and long-lasting.”

READ MORE: Denmark ranked fourth best country to live in

Down on rich list
Bocian added that people who had lost their jobs or had never been able to land a job had become significantly poorer.

Denmark's prosperity per capita is at 320,000 kroner, which is actually 28 percent higher than in 1990 and 56 percent higher than in 1980, so the nation's prosperity per capita is still in good shape. But prosperity per capita has increased in Germany by 6 percent, in Sweden by 2 percent and Great Britain by 1 percent.

Denmark's prosperity woes mean that it has taken a tumble from being the world's 11th richest nation in 2007 to the 20th richest now.