Young Danish women moving to the cities

69 municipalities across the nation have at least 10 percent more young men than women

Feb 23, 2016

More and more young women in Denmark are leaving the rural life behind to make something of themselves in the cities.

The result is 69 municipalities across the nation having at least 10 percent more men than women in the 20-29 age bracket – up from 44 in 2008 – according to a new survey from Momentum, the newsletter of the local government association, KL.

“It’s got a lot to do with education, but also about connection,” Rasmus Ole Rasmussen, an associate professor at the Institute for People and Technology at the University of Roskilde, told Momentum.

“One could say that the women can and want to, while the men can’t and don’t want to. They are dependent on the environment they come from and the effect it has had on them. The women also have a network, but they are mobile, while the boys often want to stay the same with the same interests.”

Big city lights
A Momentum survey in 2008 showed that women were leaving outlying municipalities, but today medium-sized cities like Skanderborg, Viborg and Aalborg are also seeing an exodus of their young female populations.

The five municipalities in Denmark with the biggest surplus of men compared to women aged 20-29 are Ærø (84 percent), Samsø (51), Fanø (40), Norddjurs (37) and Lemvig (34).

Meanwhile, the six municipalities in Denmark with the biggest surplus of women compared to men aged 20-29 are Frederiksberg (16 percent), Copenhagen (13), Gentofte (10), Vallensbæk (3), Hørsholm (3) and Aarhus (2).