Pakistanis in Denmark

Last updated

Danish Pakistanis
Flag of Denmark.svg Flag of Pakistan.svg
Total population
25,661 (2019 official estitmate) [1]
Languages
Urdu, Punjabi, and other languages of Pakistan; Danish [2]
Religion
Sunni Islam [3] Minority Ahmadiyya
Related ethnic groups
Pakistani diaspora

Danish Pakistanis (Danish : Dansk-pakistanere) form the country's fifth largest community of migrants and descendants from a non-Western country, with 14,379 migrants and 11,282 locally born people of Pakistani descent as of 1 January 2019 according to the latest figures published by the government of Denmark. [4]

Contents

Migration history

The earliest Pakistani migrants came to Denmark in the 1960s and 1970s as migrant workers, a large portion from Punjab, in particular Kharian and nearby regions, as it is in Norway as well. Though the Danish government restricted labour migration in 1973, the Pakistani community continued to grow, largely through family reunification and transnational marriages. [5] The spouses in these transnational marriages came largely from Pakistan, but roughly 3,000 were drawn from among the community of British Pakistanis as well. [6] Beginning in the 1990s, the Danish People's Party and the Social Democrats began to call for restrictions on family reunification in order to control the growth of immigrant communities. [5] Among other restrictions included new laws introduced in early 2000 which require that both parties to transnational marriages be at least 24 years of age, that they must live in their own accommodation of at least twenty m2
per person and no more than two persons per room, and that the Denmark-resident applicant for a transnational marriage must have a gross income of kr 8,986. [7] In response to the newly tightened migration requirements, more than a thousand Pakistanis from Denmark established residence in the Swedish border city of Malmö (on the strength of European Union laws on freedom of movement for workers) and applied for family reunification there, taking advantage of the laxity of the Swedish laws in this regard. Most returned to Denmark after the process was complete. [8] One of the more visible signs of this is the increasing number of cars with Swedish license plates in the Copenhagen suburb of Ishøj.

Religion

Denmark's oldest mosque, opened in Hvidovre in 1967, is operated by the Pakistan-based Ahmadiyya denomination Nusrat-Jehan-Moschee Kopenhagen.jpg
Denmark's oldest mosque, opened in Hvidovre in 1967, is operated by the Pakistan-based Ahmadiyya denomination

Most Pakistanis in Denmark are Muslims. Like in other communities, a number of different movements are found, such as the Sunni Hanafi Barelwi movement is represented by the Muslim Institute in Copenhagen, while the Minhaj-ul-Quran movement has its head office in northwest Nørrebro [ citation needed ] and also maintains a presence in Amager, Ishøj, Gladsaxe, and Lyngby-Taarbæk. [3] 43% regularly attend prayers at a mosque, the highest among immigrants from Muslim-majority countries and nearly double the average. [9]

Pakistanis in Denmark have set up a number of religious schools. Of the fourteen Muslim schools in Denmark as of 1995, the majority are run by either Pakistanis or Arabs. Denmark has the highest percentage of privately run, publicly funded Muslim schools in Europe however, the presence of independent Muslim schools has drawn debate and criticism from members of the Danish public. [10]

Like other European countries, Denmark also has a minor presence of followers of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, a heterodox sect formed during British colonial rule. The first full translation of the meanings of the Qur'an into Danish was performed by an Ahmadi Muslim convert. [11] They also build the first purpose build mosque in Denmark which is located in Hvidovre, Copenhagen & was inaugurated in 1967. [12]

Lifestyle

From the 1970s to the 1990s, it was common for Pakistani migrants in Denmark to use their family social networks back in Pakistan to arrange marriages for their children. Such marriages were often negatively portrayed as "forced marriages" in Danish media, especially in the case of cousin marriages. [13] However, with tightened requirements on transnational marriages, the number of marriages between Pakistanis in Denmark has increased instead. The proportion of such marriages doubled from 20% to 40% between 1989 and 2003. [14] Common Pakistani marriage practises continued among migrants in Denmark with children marrying in their late teens or early twenties (especially for women) and newlyweds continuing to live with the groom's parents. [7] Among the Pakistani youth between the ages of 17 and 27 years, 31% were either married or engaged, about average for immigrants from Muslim-majority countries. However, only 10% had girlfriends or boyfriends. [2] Disagreement about marriage is often a source of intergenerational conflict. Of Pakistani youths with girlfriends or boyfriends, only 31% report that their parents accept their choice. [15] Even parents who accept their children choosing their own spouses generally maintain an expectation of ethnic endogamy. [16] In one widely publicised case in 2006, a 19-year-old girl died in an honor killing by her father and brothers because they disapproved of her choice of spouse. [17] [18] [19] In general, though, attitudes towards marriage show a trend of liberalisation,[ citation needed ] with parents and their children continuing to expand their boundaries of who is or is not an acceptable marriage partner. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the divorce rate has also been growing. [20]

Employment

2003 statistics on immigrants from Muslim-majority countries in Denmark found that Pakistanis had the lowest unemployment rate out of all groups surveyed, at 6.8%. [21] 47% are members of trade unions. [21]

Socioeconomics

Media

Pakistanis in Denmark were served by six Urdu-language publications as of 2008: Tarjumaan International, a magazine for Asian Community in Europe promoting peace, harmony and mutual interaction among world communities, Al Djihad, a magazine about Islamic and social activities published by Ahmediya Mosque. Binat-e-Islam by Minhaj-ul-Quran, a magazine aimed at young Muslim women. Shaheen, Tanzeem, and Waqar magazines focused on Pakistani culture and politics published on a monthly or bimonthly basis, and Etnica, a multilingual journal which covers immigrant issues and politics in Denmark. [6]

Crime

According to Statistics Denmark, 0,8% of male Pakistani descendants received a court sentence for violent crime in 2016, four times higher than the national average. This was at the lower end for non-Western immigrant males, where male Somali descendants were at the high end at 3.0%. [22]

Health

Many Pakistanis in Denmark suffer from vitamin D deficiency. 21% of women and 34% of men have osteopenia. [23] Rates of veiling and staying indoors have been suggested as a reason for vitamin D deficiency. [24]

Notable people

See also

Related Research Articles

Chain migration is the social process by which immigrants from a particular area follow others from that area to a particular destination. The destination may be in another country or in a new location within the same country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religion in Denmark</span>

Christianity is the largest religion in Denmark. As of 2022, 72.5% of the population of Denmark were registered members of the Church of Denmark, the officially established church, which is Protestant in classification and Lutheran in orientation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islam in Denmark</span> Overview of the role of the Islam in Denmark

Islam in Denmark, being the country's largest minority religion, plays a role in shaping its social and religious landscape. According to a 2020 analysis by Danish researcher Brian Arly Jacobsen, an estimated 256,000 people in Denmark — 4.4% of the population — were Muslim in January, 2020. The figure has been increasing for the last several decades due to multiple immigration waves involving economic migrants and asylum seekers. In 1980, an estimated 30,000 Muslims lived in Denmark, amounting to 0.6% of the population.

Turks in Germany, also referred to as German Turks and Turkish Germans, are ethnic Turkish people living in Germany. These terms are also used to refer to German-born individuals who are of full or partial Turkish ancestry. Whilst the majority of Turks arrived or originate from Turkey, there are also significant ethnic Turkish communities living in Germany who come from Southeastern Europe, the island of Cyprus, as well as Turkish communities from other parts of the Levant. At present, ethnic Turkish people form the largest ethnic minority in Germany. They also form the largest Turkish population in the Turkish diaspora.

Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of that country's immigration laws, or the continuous residence in a country without the legal right to. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upward, from poorer to richer countries. Illegal residence in another country creates the risk of detention, deportation, and/or other sanctions.

Codevelopment is a trend of thought and a development strategy in development studies which considers migrants to be a developing factor for their countries of origin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Somali diaspora</span> Somali emigrants and their descendants

The Somali diaspora or Qurbajoogta refers to Somalis who were born in Greater Somalia and reside in areas of the world that they were not born in. The civil war in Somalia greatly increased the size of the Somali diaspora, as many Somalis moved from Greater Somalia primarily to Europe, North America, Southern Africa and Australia. There are also small Somali populations in other pockets of Europe and Asia. The UN estimates that in 2015, approximately 2 million people from Somalia were living outside of the country's borders.

Turks in the Netherlands refers to people of full or partial Turkish ethnicity living in the Netherlands. They form the largest ethnic minority group in the country; thus, the Turks are the second-largest ethnic group in the Netherlands after the ethnic Dutch. The majority of Dutch Turks descend from the Republic of Turkey; however, there has also been significant Turkish migration waves from other post-Ottoman countries including ethnic Turkish communities which have come to the Netherlands from the Balkans, the island of Cyprus, as well as from other parts of the Levant. More recently, during the European migrant crisis significant waves of Turkish minorities from Syria and Kosovo have also arrived in the Netherlands. In addition, there has been migration to the Netherlands from the Turkish diaspora; many Turkish-Belgians and Turkish-Germans have arrived in the country as Belgian and German citizens.

A transnational marriage or international marriage is a marriage between two people from different countries/races. It can either be a marriage between two people of the same race from two different countries living in the same country or marriage between two people from two different countries with different races.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Immigration to Europe</span>

Immigration to Europe has a long history, but increased substantially after World War II. Western European countries, especially, saw high growth in immigration post 1945, and many European nations today have sizeable immigrant populations, both of European and non-European origin. In contemporary globalization, migrations to Europe have accelerated in speed and scale. Over the last decades, there has been an increase in negative attitudes towards immigration, and many studies have emphasized marked differences in the strength of anti-immigrant attitudes among European countries.

Turks in Denmark, also referred to as Turkish Danes or Danish Turks refers to ethnic Turkish people living in Denmark. They currently form the largest ethnic minority group in the country; thus, the Turks are the second-largest ethnic group in Denmark, after the ethnic Danish people. The majority of Danish Turks descend from the Republic of Turkey; however, there has also been significant Turkish migration from other post-Ottoman countries including ethnic Turkish communities which have come to Denmark from the Balkans, the island of Cyprus, and more recently Iraq and Syria.

Pakistanis in Japan form the country's third-largest community of immigrants from a Muslim-majority country, trailing only the Indonesian community and Bangladeshi community. As of June 2023, official statistics showed 23,417 registered foreigners of Pakistani origin living in the country. There were a further estimated 3,414 illegal immigrants from Pakistan in Japan as of 2000. The average increase in the Pakistani population is about 2-3 persons per day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denmark–Pakistan relations</span> Bilateral relations

Denmark–Pakistan relations are the foreign relations that are established between Pakistan and Denmark. Pakistan has an embassy in Copenhagen. Denmark also has an embassy in Islamabad; it suffered a suicide car bomb attack in June 2008, killing five Pakistanis and one Dane.

Azerbaijan though not a popular destination for immigrants, has recently experienced waves of immigration with the collapse of the Soviet Union, especially from ethnic Azerbaijanis mostly from Armenia, Russia and the rest of the former Soviet Union. Meskhetian Turks were also relocated to Azerbaijan from Central Asia before and after the end of the Soviet Union. With the booming petroleum industry, immigration from Turkey has also followed. In 2010, every eighth resident in Azerbaijan was a migrant, of whom more than 90% of them are Azerbaijanis and 70% are internally displaced persons from the territories occupied by Armenia.

Somalis in Pakistan are residents of Pakistan who are of Somali ancestry. They are a small community of mainly students as well as some secondary migrants, most of whom arrived after the start of the civil war in Somalia in the early 1990s.

Denmark has seen an increase in immigration over the past 30 years, with a large part of the immigrants originating from non-Western countries. As of 2014, more than 8 percent of the population of Denmark consists of immigrants. As of Q2 of 2022, the population of immigrants is 652,495, excluding Danish born descendants of immigrants to Denmark. This shift in demographics has posed challenges to the nation as it attempts to address cultural and religious differences, labour shortages, employment gaps, education of immigrants and their descendants, spatial segregation, crime rates and language abilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahmadiyya in Denmark</span>

Ahmadiyya is an Islamic branch in Denmark, under the spiritual leadership of the caliph in London. Kamal Yousuf, an Ahmadi Muslim missionary, who was appointed for disseminating Ahmadiyya teachings in Scandinavia, first toured Denmark in 1956. The earliest Danes to have converted to the movement were from the 1950s and the Community was first established in 1959, during the last few years of the Second Caliphate. Today, there are two Ahmadi mosques, of which one is purpose-built mosque, the oldest in the country. There are an estimated 600 Ahmadi Muslims in the country.

Hometown associations (HTAs), also known as hometown societies, are social alliances that are formed among immigrants from the same city or region of origin. Their purpose is to maintain connections with and provide mutual aid to immigrants from a shared place of origin. They may also aim to produce a new sense of transnational community and identity rooted in the migrants' country of origin, extending to the country of settlement. People from a variety of places have formed these associations in several countries, serving a range of purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Pakistanis</span> Residents of Pakistan who are of full or partial European origin

European Pakistanis are the residents of Pakistan who are of full or partial European origin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Punjabis</span> People of Punjabi origin living in the UK

British Punjabis are citizens or residents of the United Kingdom whose heritage originates wholly or partly in the Punjab, a region in the Indian subcontinent, which is divided between India and Pakistan. Numbering 700,000 in 2006, Punjabis represent the largest ethnicity among British Asians. They are a major sub-group of the British-Indian and British Pakistani communities.

References

Notes

  1. "Map Analyser". Statbank.dk. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  2. 1 2 Rashmi 2006, p. 81
  3. 1 2 Svanberg 1999, p. 389
  4. "Map Analyser". www.statbank.dk. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
  5. 1 2 Rytter 2004 , p. 5
  6. 1 2 Hussain 2001 , p. 6
  7. 1 2 Rytter 2004 , pp. 12–13
  8. Rytter 2004 , p. 15
  9. Goli & Rezaei 2005 , p. 32
  10. Svanberg 1999 , p. 399
  11. Svanberg 1999 , pp. 392–393
  12. Carlsen, Anders Damgaard (21 July 2017). "Kom med til indvielsen af Danmarks første moske i 1967" (in Danish). DR. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  13. Rytter 2003 , Hvad er et arrangeret ægteskab?
  14. Rytter 2004 , p. 17
  15. Rashmi 2006 , p. 83
  16. Rytter 2003 , Hvad nu hvis man selv finder en pige?
  17. "Nine Pakistanis face trial in Denmark", Dawn, Pakistan, 16 May 2006, retrieved 19 November 2008
  18. "9 convicted in honour killing", Dawn, 28 June 2006, retrieved 19 November 2008
  19. "Danish court sentences nine Pakistanis", Dawn, 29 June 2006, retrieved 19 November 2008
  20. Rytter 2003 , Er vi i grunden så forskellige?
  21. 1 2 Goli & Rezaei 2005 , p. 9
  22. "Indvandrere i Danmark 2017". Statistics Denmark. p. 111 last paragraph, Figur 6.7. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  23. Andersen et al. 2008
  24. Holvik et al. 2005
  25. Goli & Rezaei 2005 , p. 38
  26. Nadeem Farooq, The Social Liberal Party, Folketinget, retrieved 21 August 2012

Sources

Further reading