Roma in Denmark:
The Roma population in Denmark can broadly be distinguished into two categories; domestic Roma and mobile EU citizens of Roma origin living in Denmark. There are no official statistics on the national Roma population in Denmark since ethnic data is not registered by Danish authorities and institutions. Estimations of the population size range between 1,500-10,000 national Roma in Denmark. The domestic Roma population comprises migrant workers who arrived from the former Yugoslav republics in Denmark in the 1970s and their families, and former refugees from the Balkan war who came in the 1990s and their families.
Regarding mobile EU citizens of Roma origin, there are no official statistics on the numbers who reside in Denmark. There are currently no active Roma NGOs in Denmark, and national organisations and institutions that work with human rights and the social inclusion of minorities do not have Roma-specific activities.
Roma who hold national citizenship or permanent residency in Denmark are entitled to rights and state services on an equal footing with the majority population in Denmark. This includes access to public education, public health care, social housing, labour market assistance, etc. The national Roma population, for this reason, has access to social housing, education, employment measures, etc. However, discrimination against Roma occurs within these sectors.
Key problems:
There are challenges concerning the structural and horizontal preconditions for Roma inclusion in a Danish context. Roma inclusion is not mainstreamed as a particular component across ministries and other public authorities at the national level. Apart from the new Roma strategy, the Roma are not mentioned in documents and programmes concerning social inclusion at the municipal level. Ethnic data is unavailable on the national Roma population, and there is a general lack of knowledge about their situation, including their access to education, employment, housing and health care.
Danish Strategy on Roma Equality, Inclusion, and Participation in accordance with Council Recommendations of 12 March 2021 (Ministry of Immigration and Integration, 2021, in Danish)
RCM 2 (2021-2025) reports:
Roma Civil Monitor (2022)Â Civil society monitoring report on the quality of the national strategic framework for Roma equality, inclusion, and participation in Denmark. ENGLISH – DANISH SUMMARY
RCM 1 (2017-2020) reports:
Roma Civil Monitor (2017) Civil society monitoring report on implementation of the national Roma integration strategies in Denmark: Focusing on structural and horizontal preconditions for successful implementation of the strategy. ENGLISH
Roma Civil Monitor (2018) Civil society monitoring report on implementation of the national Roma integration strategy in Denmark: Assessing the progress in four key policy areas of the strategy. ENGLISH
Roma Civil Monitor (2019) Civil society monitoring report on implementation of the national Roma integration strategy in Denmark: Identifying blind spots in Roma inclusion policy. ENGLISH
Roma Civil Monitor 2017-2020 country fiche: Denmark