A memorandum containing crime statistics from Denmark’s Ministry of Justice, to which B.T. has been granted access, shows that 44 per cent of those convicted of murder or attempted murder in the country in 2025 were non-Western immigrants or their descendants.
Non-Western immigrants and their descendants make up 11 per cent of Denmark’s population.
The memorandum, entitled «Opgørelse over dømte indvandrere og efterkommere», is not public, but has been sent to politicians at Christiansborg, where the Folketing and the Prime Minister’s Office are located, the Danish newspaper reports.
The memorandum covers convictions for rape, aggravated violence, and murder and attempted murder, respectively, committed by non-Western immigrants and descendants during the period 1983–2026.
A researcher at the Rockwool Foundation says that the overrepresentation is partly culturally determined:
According to Lars Højgaard Andersen, the higher crime rates among non-Western immigrants are due to both social and cultural factors, such as concepts of honour. This also includes the fact that young people with non-Western backgrounds are heavily involved in gang environments.
For rape convictions, the share accounted for by non-Western immigrants and their descendants was 30 per cent in 2025, according to the memorandum.
The figures show that 124 people were convicted of rape in 2025.
Of these, 22 were immigrants from a non-Western country, while 15 were descendants «of non-Western origin».
The researcher sees culture as a factor here as well:
He says that the overrepresentation may, among other things, be related to a culturally determined understanding of women and gender norms.
«In these communities, there may be a more traditional conception of gender, and thus also of how the relationship between man and woman should be», says Lars Højgaard Andersen.
Islam is not without significance either, he adds:
«It can be difficult to separate the religious from the cultural. Especially when it comes to Islam, which is not as secular as we are accustomed to in Western Europe, and where there are certain specific dogmas concerning behaviour», he says.
