People moving from the country to the city is not a new concept, however in Denmark the increasing rate of urbanisation is intensifying.
According to numbers from both Eurostat and Danmark Statistik, EU and Danish statistics agencies respectively, Denmark is one of the EU countries that has proportionately experienced the greatest rural to urban migration, reports Jyllands-Posten.
This growth has been especially evident in densely populated metropolitan areas. Since 2009, the population in cities of at least 20,000 people has increased by 7.6 percent, while rural areas have seen a decrease of 5.6 percent in population.
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Unattractive outskirts
Martin Damm, the president of the municipal association Kommunernes Landsforening, says that parliament has a “great responsibility” in addressing this issue.
“We don’t exactly have to chase people out of rural areas, but we are well on the way of doing so,” he tells Jyllands-Posten. “Cities will soon become the only place where people can educate themselves, so it’s no wonder that young people are moving there.”
Jørgen Møller, a village researcher at Aalborg University, agrees, adding that it is difficult to “live a good life” in rural areas where programmes, cultural offerings, housing prices, public services and health service are “lagging far behind”.
“We’ve had an idea that one should be able to live a good life everywhere in Denmark, but it seems to have become somewhat difficult,” he told Jyllands-Posten.
Several politicians and experts are calling for the creation of a commission to look into this alarming migration, as well as how to re-invigorate the Danish ideal Møller described.
