Fewer Danes living in rural areas

Increasing housing price disparity between rural and urban districts

Apr 15, 2016

More and more Danes in rural areas are packing up and relocating to the big cities, according to a new report by Nykredit bank.

The report showed that pretty much all larger cities in Denmark are experiencing population increases, while smaller towns and villages are haemorrhaging residents.

“It’s a very potent trend that clearly indicates that there are massive population changes taking place in rural areas,” Mira Lie Nielsen, a housing economist with Nykredit, told Finans.dk.

“The tendency to drift towards the big city life has increased in the years following the financial crisis and the new type of jobs that are largely city orientated. The industrial and agricultural jobs, which have traditionally been in rural areas, have been reduced dramatically in recent years.”

Housing differences
From 2010-2016 the number of people in Copenhagen increased from 1,181,239 people to 1,280,371, while the populations in rural districts have dropped from 728,882 to 695,306 during the same timeframe.

In fact, 38 percent of all Danes live in Copenhagen or one of the other large cities in the country – a 6 percent increase in just six years.

The trend has also led to a considerable disparity in housing prices between urban and rural areas. A 140 sqm home costs on average 487,000 kroner in Lolland, but 5.2 million kroner in Gentofte.