Emigration Mysteries

More detail into emigrations in 2023

Previously published on LinkedIn

Maybe we have it all backwards. The figures for emigration from Denmark of internationals are quite high but what if people were keeping their jobs but living over the border to Germany or Sweden?
I took a look at where foreigners used to live before they moved to Sweden in 2023 and sure enough, the "capital region", so I guess a lot of people live on Skåne and do a cheeky commute to CPH.

But then again, if the same was happening with people moving to Germany and commuting to their Danish job, there would be more people in Germany who previously lived in South Jutland but there are loads from the Capital Region and Middle Jutland too, so I guess people are really REALLY moving. When that tunnel gets built, will internationals stick around on Lolland or will they commute in everyday?

I was curious about Americans who move to Denmark and then go back to the USA. I have had a LOT of friends and students who fit that pattern in the 16 years I have lived here, and sure enough, it is a national pattern (I am not the common factor). It is possible to recruit Americans but a harder prospect to retain, even with our maternity leave and pensions that the cinema adverts like to remind us. If it's so good here, why don't they stay?

Then I went down an absolute rabbit hole and uncovered a deep mystery of intrigue about Italians.

Italians in 2023 left Denmark for another country (as in, not Italy), in the highest numbers, so I was curious. Where do Italians like to go?

The biggest destination is "not stated" and this is a big problem in the stats in general where people don't let the authorities know where they are going. I would like to imagine they're all going home (but emigrating Danes don't always disclose their destination either). Come on people, do it for the data granularity.

After Italy and "unknown", Italians are going to Argentina. And that's not all! Italians living in Argentina also come to Denmark. After about 2018, the numbers get crazy. Thousands of Italians crossing from Denmark to Argentina and back again.

Isn't that mysterious?!

I was completely baffled because I didn't know that a LOT of Argentinians have dual citizenship and since an EU passport is a lot more handy if you want to move to Denmark, that will be the citizenship recorded for posterity. It also might explain why so many Italians are moving to Spain after Denmark, perhaps they are also Italian-Argentinian Spanish-speakers?

Anyway, it made me think about how if Denmark wants to be a more attractive country for Italians (just like for Americans, Denmark can recruit but not particularly retain), it wouldn't be just a question of making things more comfortable for people with Italian cultural expectations, it would also need to take into account the Argentinian experience too.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the deep dive into Danish migration data.
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