War in Ukraine

Immigration from Ukraine per week

These are experimental statistics and the weekly immigration figures will be published once a month. The figures for the preceding weeks will also be updated. There are continuous updates back in time, so the data for previous weeks will be changed with new updates.

In 2023, a total of 8,200 Ukrainian citizens immigrated to Denmark. In comparison, 31,400 Ukrainian citizens immigrated to Denmark in 2022, and in 2021, this figure was 1,900.

At the same time, 6,200 Ukrainian citizens emigrated in 2023. In 2022, this figure was 4,600. The majority of the emigrated Ukrainian citizens have indicated that they have gone back to Ukraine. Some have not indicated where they travelled to after leaving Denmark.

While the majority of people of Ukrainian origin in Denmark were men in their 30s before 2022, a different sex and age composition came to Denmark during 2022 and 2023. For both of those years, the majority of immigrated Ukrainians were women and children. However, the composition of Ukrainian immigrants is slightly different in 2023 from in 2022. In 2022, the shares for women and men were 49 per cent and 16 per cent respectively. In 2023, women accounted for 43 per cent, while men accounted for 32 per cent of the Ukrainian immigrants. The remaining immigrants were children under the age of 18.

Together, women and children accounted for 68 per cent of immigrants in 2023, compared to 84 per cent in 2022.

Labour force participation

Shortly after the war in Ukraine began, a broad majority of the political parties in the Danish parliament passed a special law that would give residence permit to Ukrainians who immigrated after the invasion, thus offering them a fast track to get a job. Of the Ukrainian citizens covered by the special law, 6,800 people were in paid employment in December 2022. Hereof 4,700 women and 2,200 men.

Approximately 1,200 were employed in accommodation and food service activities and another 1,200 were employed in activities that include cleaning and temporary employment agency services. About 1,000 were employed in agriculture and 700 in trade activities and another 700 in manufacturing activities.

Over the past 30 years, natural gas accounted for 10 to 25 per cent of Denmark’s energy consumption. The consumption is not limited to any particular industry and, in 2022, households accounted for one fifth.

Denmark’s consumption of natural gas at the lowest level since 1990

In 2022, Denmark’s total energy consumption of 677 petajoules was distributed on a range of different energy sources, such as oil products, renewable energy and natural gas. Denmark’s consumption of natural gas was 66 petajoules in 2022, which corresponds to approximately 10 per cent of the total energy consumption. Natural gas became an increasingly important part of Denmark’s energy consumption until the mid-00s, after which there has been a downward trend.  The natural gas share of total energy consumption peaked in 2004 with 25 per cent.

”In 2022, the natural gas share of Denmark’s energy consumption was at the lowest level measured over the past 30 years. In 2022, the consumption of natural gas was less than a third of the highest level in the period, which was in 2004,” says Thomas Eisler, head of statistics, and goes on:

”Natural gas is definitely still an important element in the foundation of our energy consumption, but it no longer carries as much weight as in 2004, for example, where natural gas accounted for a quarter of total Danish energy consumption”.

Energy consumption by source of energy

Note: The energy consumption is stated without Danish transport operations abroad.
Source: www.statbank.dk/ene2ha

The consumption of natural gas is evenly distributed across three industries and the households

Manufacturing, energy supply, mining and quarrying and households each accounted for more than 15 per cent of the natural gas consumption in 2022 and, in combination, for almost 90 per cent of total consumption. Mining and quarrying, which uses natural gas as a source of energy on drilling platforms in the North Sea, accounted for 29 per cent, which is more than any of the other groups use, while energy supply with its 15 per cent used the least of these groups. The remaining roughly 13 per cent was used in other industries or could be categorised as loss and wastage.

”The figures show that the natural gas consumption is spread across a relatively wide range of sectors. Among other things, this means that a change in the supply of natural gas can have very direct and noticeable consequences not just for the business sector, but also households,” says Thomas Eisler.

Total consumption of natural gas distributed on industries and households. 2022

Source: www.statbank.dk/ene2ha

For more details on natural gas, see for example this article on natural gas consumption during the winter (in Danish) or this table, which shows the weekly consumption of natural gas: www.statbank.dk/gasbrug.

In 2022, EU imports of natural gas from Russia declined by 44 per cent

Denmark produced natural gas corresponding to 81 per cent of the consumption in 2022, and for that reason, we only depend partially on natural gas from abroad. Denmark imports natural gas from Norway and Germany. In 2022, the majority of these imports came from Norway with 86 per cent, while all the imports in 2020 and 2021 came from Germany.

The increased imports from Norway followed the opening of Baltic Pipe in October 2022. Baltic Pipe connects the Norwegian gas fields in the North Sea with Poland via Denmark. The majority of these imports from Norway are therefore channelled as exports to Poland. Germany imports natural gas from several countries.

Looking at total natural gas imports to the EU, you can see that Russia is the source of a significant share of the natural gas supply in the EU. However, it has declined a good deal from 2021 to 2022. While the EU’s imports of natural gas from Russia could cover 42 per cent of the EU consumption in 2021, this had dropped to 27 per cent in 2022.

”Since 1990, Russia has been an important supplier of natural gas to the EU. Imports from Russia declined in 2022 to the lowest level in the period. A large part was substituted by imports from other countries, especially the USA. However, the consumption has also been cut down by 13 per cent according to figures from Eurostat,” says Thomas Eisler, head of statistics in this area at Statistics Denmark.

The EU’s imports of natural gas from Russia as a share of the EU’s total consumption of natural gas

Source: Eurostat and Eurostat

Stocks of natural gas restored after the invasion of Ukraine

Denmark has two central stocks of natural gas – one in Ll. Torup and one in Stenlille. The stocks are built up over the summer, where the consumption is low, and are partly emptied in the winter. With almost 33 petajoules, stocks were level with previous years at the beginning of 2023 after running lower than usual at the same time in 2022. The consumption of natural gas dropped by 36.1 per cent from 2021 to 2022 and a further 4.8 per cent from 2022 to 2023. The consumption is assessed here without offshore (drilling platforms) and biogas, which is fed into the natural gas network.

”Available natural gas stocks were rebuilt during 2022 and thus ended at approximately the same level as at the end of 2019 and 2020, which continued into 2023,” says Thomas Eisler, head of statistics in this area at Statistics Denmark.

These assessments are experimental statistics and are updated weekly.

Note: The natural gas stocks are assessed as the average weekly stocks.

The price development after the beginning of the war in Ukraine

In 2022, consumers in both Denmark and abroad have experienced historically high price increases on their goods. In 2023, however, inflation has subsided somewhat. For example, the price of natural gas and electricity has dropped significantly, while prices of some food products are still increasing.

”Many factors, such as interest rates, labour costs and raw materials, influence price developments, and the increase in the consumer price index has been significantly higher since the beginning of 2022 than what we have seen in the past ten years. The invasion of Ukraine is also pushing up prices. This is partly because the invasion has caused the prices of natural gas, fuel and food products such as cereals and oils to rise further,” says Christian Lindeskov, senior head clerk at Statistics Denmark.

Price increases on consumer goods in Denmark and abroad

The Danish consumer price index has gone up significantly since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, but Denmark is not the only country to experience increasing consumer prices. The rest of the EU has also seen large increases, and they have in fact been slightly higher than what we have seen in Denmark. The trend and correlation also applies to core inflation (inflation excluding energy and unprocessed food).

Note: The HICP is calculated for the 28 old EU member states including the UK until January 2020 and the 27 member states excluding the UK from 2020 onwards. Inflation in the EU, which is the annual development in the HICP, is therefore calculated over a period both with and without the UK from February 2020 to January 2021. As of February 2021, the EU corresponds to EU-27 (excluding the UK).

Source: www.statbank.dk/pris117

This section contains a series of facts on Denmark’s economic relationship with Russia, which includes trade with and investments in Russia.

Trade

In 2023, Denmark's exports of goods and services to Russia totalled DKK 2.6 billion, while imports amounted to DKK 3.6 billion. Both exports and imports were way below half of what they were in 2022, accounting for 0.1 per cent and 0.2 per cent of total Danish exports and imports respectively in 2023, compared to 0.4 per cent and 0.5 per cent in 2022, which was already far below the level in 2021. The countries we traded with the most were Germany, USA and Sweden.

Note: Both goods crossing and goods not crossing the Danish border are included.

Of total exports to Russia, goods accounted for DKK 2.0 billion, while services accounted for DKK 0.6 billion in 2023. For imports, DKK 2.6 billion were spent on goods and DKK 1.0 billion was spent on services.

If you dive into the services, maritime transport was the main source of imports in 2023, while travel was the main source of exports.

If you look into the details of imports and exports of goods, Denmark mainly imported iron and steel from Russia in 2023 when you look at the goods that crossed the Danish border.

Imports from Russia with top three commodity groups, current prices

Source: www.statbank.dk/sitc2r4

Exports to Russia with top three commodity groups, current prices

Source: www.statbank.dk/sitc2r4

Facts on SITC commodity groupings:

This breakdown is based on the SITC2 commodity grouping by the UN’s Standard International Trade Classification (SITC).
The principle of the commodity grouping in SITC is the degree of processing of the goods (raw materials, semi-finished products, finished goods). 

”Both exports and imports in relation to Russia have declined a great deal from 2022 to 2023, and even more from 2021,” says Stefan Anbro, head of statistics, and he adds:

”Further, we have imported a significant amount of gas from Russia over the years, but because it is transported through Germany, it is not registered as imports from Russia.”

Decline in the number of Danish affiliates in Russia

In 2022, the number of Danish affiliates in Russia was reduced by 17 per cent, and the number of employees working in the affiliates was reduced by 21 per cent compared to 2021. There were 125 Danish affiliates in Russia with 17,100 employees altogether in 2022. In 2021, there were 151 Danish affiliates with 21,700 employees. The majority of employees in Danish affiliates in Russia (12,000) are employed in manufacturing, mining and quarrying and in public utilities.

By comparison, the number of employees in Danish affiliates abroad has increased in the remaining countries in BRICS.

The development in number of employees in Danish affiliates in BRICS countries compared with the previous year, 2022

Source: www.statbank.dk/ofats4

Danish investments in Russia

By the end of 2023, Denmark held direct financial assets totalling DKK 8.1 billion in Russia. This is more than a halving from DKK 22.7 billion in January 2022 and also a decline since January 2023, when assets in Russia totalled DKK 13.8 billion. The assets are mainly made up of direct investments. In comparison, Danish assets abroad totalled DKK 9,360 billion at the same time. Thus, Russia only accounted for 0.09 per cent of Danish assets abroad. Russia does in fact not play a very big role in Danish financial investments abroad.

On the other hand, Russia has played a bigger part when you include investments made through other countries. For example, a Danish company invests in a holding company in Sweden, the first investment country, from where it invests in Russia, the ultimate investment country. An analysis from 2019 (in Danish) shows that Danish investments in this way totalled over DKK 70 billion. It is not to say, however, how much these investments are worth at the moment.

This section focuses solely on direct investments, which accounted for 7.8 of the DKK 8.1 billion in the asset portfolio.

Portfolio investments at the end of 2023 totalled DKK 0.2 billion - down from DKK 9.6 billion at the beginning of 2022 and DKK 0.4 billion at the beginning of 2023.

Other investments declined from DKK 2.1 billion in January 2023 to DKK 0.2 billion at the end of the year.

Danish assets in Russia, DKK billion

Note: Portfolio investments include shares or other equity investments that are not direct investments, investment fund certificates and bonds etc. (also called debt instruments).
Source: Special data run from Nationalbanken (the central bank of Denmark)

This section contains a series of facts on Denmark’s economic relationship with Ukraine, which includes trade and investments.

Trade

In 2023, Denmark's exports of goods and services to Ukraine totalled DKK 5.1 billion, while imports amounted to DKK 3.2 billion. Both exports and imports have increased since 2022, but Ukraine is a relatively small trading partner for Denmark. Exports have now increased to twice the value of exports to Russia, which have declined a lot since the beginning of the war. Imports are almost level with those from Russia. In this respect, foreign trade has moved significantly since the beginning of the war.

Throughout the period shown in the figure, exports to Ukraine have surpassed imports. Of all exports, goods accounted for DKK 2.7 billion, while services accounted for DKK 2.4 billion. For imports, goods accounted for DKK 1.0 billion and services for DKK 2.2 billion.

To get a breakdown of the goods, we use the statistics on goods crossing the Danish border. However, the above figure also includes goods not crossing the Danish border. These include, for example, goods bought and sold abroad in connection with processing abroad, profits from the sale of finished goods bought and resold directly, and purchases of fuel and other goods for consumption in connection with transport abroad.

In particular, furniture, clothing and textiles were imported from Ukraine in 2023 categorised by SITC commodity groups.

Imports from Ukraine with top three commodity groups, current prices

Source: www.statbank.dk/sitc2r4

Exports to Ukraine consisted especially of various processed goods and medicine.

Exports to Ukraine with top three commodity groups, current prices

Source: www.statbank.dk/sitc2r4

Danish investments in Ukraine

By the end of 2023, Denmark held Ukrainian direct financial assets totalling DKK 3.8 billion in Ukraine. This is a halving from DKK 6.7 billion in January 2022, but a slight increase from DKK 3.2 billion at the beginning of 2023. The assets are mainly made up of direct investments. In comparison, Danish assets abroad totalled DKK 9,360 billion at the same time. In other words, Ukraine plays a minor role in direct Danish investments abroad.

Direct investments accounted for DKK 2.7 billion, while portfolio investments accounted for DKK 1 billion at the end of 2023. Especially the portfolio investments have seen a decline since 2022. In January 2022, portfolio investments in Ukraine totalled DKK 3.9 billion.

Danish assets in Ukraine, DKK billion

Note: Portfolio investments include shares or other equity investments that are not direct investments, investment fund certificates and bonds etc. (also called debt instruments).

Source: Special data run from Nationalbanken (the central bank of Denmark)