For the first time since 2001, Copenhagen is actually losing people, according to figures from the national statistics keeper Danmarks Statistik.
The figures showed that 69 more people had left the Danish capital than moved in by the end of 2015. Many families with children are relocating to other parts of Zealand, such as Roskilde, Køge, Hillerød and Helsingør.
“A deciding factor behind these figures are that families with small children – who want to leave the city but are hesitant to sell their apartment and purchase a house during a recession – are now beginning to move out,” Hans Skifter Andersen, a professor of housing and welfare at Aalborg University, told Politiken newspaper.
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Minus 4,000 by 2020
If the development continues, about 4,000 more people will have left Copenhagen than moved there by 2020.
In 2014, 764 more people moved to Copenhagen compared to those who left.