This year alone, 17,000 refugees will be relocated to various Danish municipalities and will start to receive benefits such as housing, healthcare and education.

And the municipalities are warning the increase in expenditure is expected to amount to billions of kroner.

Municipalities organisation Kommunernes Landsforening (KL) has circulated the rising costs in a memo, and there is no doubt they are going to need a lot more money from the government.

Need for more money
KL chairman Martin Damm (Venstre) announced in the memo that the number of refugees, taking into account family reunification, could grow as high as 37,000 – the size of an average municipality.

“The most important thing is that there will be [the need for] some money. We have a very specific amount, but an average municipality costs about 2.5 billion to operate,” Jyllands-Posten reported him as saying.

Our best guess
The number of refugees will require an estimated 80 new daycare centres and 1,200 new educators. Additionally, KL has calculated there will be a need for 21 full-time doctors, 21 dentists and 42 dental assistants. Special remedial classes for children and housing will also have to be addressed.

“It is either understated or overstated, but it is our best guess,” said Damm.