More Danes are living under the country’s poverty line, according to new research from think-tank Kraka. The latest study showed that over the last nine years the number of people finding it difficult to afford to put hot food on the table has doubled.
Kraka revealed that there were 46,600 “poor” people in the country in 2011 compared to 23,500 in 2002. Almost 20 per cent of Danes whose income falls below the Scandinavian country’s poverty line resides in public housing, while 75 per cent of people in the public housing sector are from non-Western countries.
Denmark’s first official poverty line was listed in 2013. People on an annual income of less than 103,200 kroner before tax for three years in a row are classed as poor.
Kristian Thor Jakobsen, an economist at Kraka, said the fact more people are having to survive on the bare minimum will likely lead to serious societal consequences. He explained that what it means is some people don’t have the resources to live like the rest of society and can’t afford things such as Christmas presents or after-school activities for their children.
Jutland is the poorest area of the country, with the number of poor people increasing from 2,800 to 5,361 between 2002 and 2011. Jakobsen said southern Jutland has suffered a greater rise in poverty than anywhere else in Denmark, adding that the fact the differences are so huge is “interesting”.