IN STATS: How safe is Denmark in comparison to similar countries?
Copenhagen Police said this week they are searching for a gunman who briefly entered a hair salon in the city’s Nørrebro district on Tuesday, shot another man and then fled. How common are shootings in Denmark and how does its record on gun crime compare to other countries ?
The Nørrebro shooting incident occurred just before 6pm on Tuesday and the victim was working in the salon. His condition is stable, police said.
“We are very interested in what became of him after he disappeared from there. So anyone who has seen the slightest thing, we’d like to hear from,” Jensen said.
Police have not released any information about a motive. But does this story stand out as a rare occurrence or is this type of gun violence more common that you might think?
Phrased differently, how safe is Denmark and how does its record on gun violence compare to other countries?
How do you define safety?
Safety can refer to many things, from the presence of international or domestic conflicts, to political instability, to the number of police officers in a certain country.
The Institute for Economics and Peace, a global think tank dedicated to developing metrics to analyse peace and to quantify its economic benefits, is behind the Global Peace Index which ranks 163 countries yearly based on their levels of peace.
The index uses 23 different indicators to measure how peaceful a country is, with these indicators split into three different categories, covering ongoing domestic and international conflicts, societal safety and security and militarisation.
The societal safety and security category looks at ten different criteria to evaluate the level of harmony or discord within a nation.
Some of these criteria refer to crime, such as the level of perceived criminality in society, the number of homicides per 100,000 people, the level of violent crime, the likelihood of violent demonstrations, the number of jailed population per 100,000 people and the number of internal security officers and police per 100,000 people.
Where does Denmark place on this list?
Denmark placed 4th out of 163 countries in the 2022 peace index, on a scale where 1 is most peaceful and 163 is least peaceful.
Only, Iceland, New Zealand and Ireland placed higher than Denmark, while fellow Nordic countries, Finland, Norway and Sweden placed 14th, 17th and 26th respectively.
On the criterion "level of perceived criminality in society", Denmark placed in the highest category, "more peaceful" in 18th place, again ahead of Sweden but behind Norway, Finland and Iceland, and ahead of countries such as the UK (33rd), the US (35th) and Canada (36th).
Sweden was ranked 1 out of 5 on "violent crime", with 1 being the best possible score and 5 being the worst. The other Nordic countries who were all ranked 1 apart from Sweden, which got a score of 2. Denmark’s score here puts it in the same category as countries such as the UAE, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Japan and South Korea, while Sweden is grouped with the UK, the US, Germany, France, Spain, Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Sri Lanka, China, Chile and Cuba.
According to the data, Denmark had 1.48 homicides per 100,000 people in 2022. Norway recorded fewer homicides (1.28 per 100,000 people respectively), while Sweden, Iceland and Finland recorded more (1.61, 1.74 and 1.82, respectively).
What about gun crime?
Mass shootings in Denmark are extremely rare. The Copenhagen shootings on 3rd July 2022, which claimed three lives, was the first mass shooting for seven years. In 2015, two people were killed and five police officers injured in a series of Islamist-motivated shootings at a cultural centre and synagogue in Copenhagen.
Police figures from 2022 state that there were 18 shooting incidents in public places last year related gang crime including biker gangs. That compares to 33 such incidents in 2021 and 49 in 2020, the figures show.
Violent incidents related to gangs resulted in 4 deaths last year (including shootings, stabbings and other violence). That compares to 6 deaths in 2021 and 16 the year before, although the number of incidents registered by police was up slightly in 2022 at 36 compared to 28 the year before.
According to data from the Swedish police, Sweden had 47 deadly shootings in 2020 and 45 in 2021, or around 0.4-0.45 deadly shootings per 100,000 people. The number of deadly shootings in Sweden increased to 62 in 2022, giving a result of 0.65 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.
For comparison, the average for Europe is approximately 0.16 gun related deaths per 100,000 inhabitants according to a 2021 report from the Swedish national council for crime prevention (Brå).
While these figures appear to put Denmark in a very favourable light compared to its neighbour, it should be noted that a turf war between gangs in Copenhagen in 2017 resulted in a spike in gun violence that year. Some 87 gang-related shooting incidents were registered that year.
READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: How gun control laws work in Denmark
So, is Denmark safe?
On a global level, Denmark is a safe country, with a score of 1 for almost every indicator in the Global Peace Index (the only exceptions being 2 for weapons imports and neighbouring country relations).
When compared to other similar countries, such as the G7 countries and other countries in Europe, Denmark is above average, both on overall Global Peace Index score but also on specific categories such as the level of perceived criminality and the number of homicides per 100,000 people.
Denmark’s level of gun crime is lower than in comparable.
According to the statistics, Denmark is one of the least dangerous countries in the world, and also in Europe on most indicators, including gun violence. Ultimately, however, whether you feel safe or not depends on many factors, including personal ones.
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The Nørrebro shooting incident occurred just before 6pm on Tuesday and the victim was working in the salon. His condition is stable, police said.
“We are very interested in what became of him after he disappeared from there. So anyone who has seen the slightest thing, we’d like to hear from,” Jensen said.
Police have not released any information about a motive. But does this story stand out as a rare occurrence or is this type of gun violence more common that you might think?
Phrased differently, how safe is Denmark and how does its record on gun violence compare to other countries?
How do you define safety?
Safety can refer to many things, from the presence of international or domestic conflicts, to political instability, to the number of police officers in a certain country.
The Institute for Economics and Peace, a global think tank dedicated to developing metrics to analyse peace and to quantify its economic benefits, is behind the Global Peace Index which ranks 163 countries yearly based on their levels of peace.
The index uses 23 different indicators to measure how peaceful a country is, with these indicators split into three different categories, covering ongoing domestic and international conflicts, societal safety and security and militarisation.
The societal safety and security category looks at ten different criteria to evaluate the level of harmony or discord within a nation.
Some of these criteria refer to crime, such as the level of perceived criminality in society, the number of homicides per 100,000 people, the level of violent crime, the likelihood of violent demonstrations, the number of jailed population per 100,000 people and the number of internal security officers and police per 100,000 people.
Where does Denmark place on this list?
Denmark placed 4th out of 163 countries in the 2022 peace index, on a scale where 1 is most peaceful and 163 is least peaceful.
Only, Iceland, New Zealand and Ireland placed higher than Denmark, while fellow Nordic countries, Finland, Norway and Sweden placed 14th, 17th and 26th respectively.
On the criterion "level of perceived criminality in society", Denmark placed in the highest category, "more peaceful" in 18th place, again ahead of Sweden but behind Norway, Finland and Iceland, and ahead of countries such as the UK (33rd), the US (35th) and Canada (36th).
Sweden was ranked 1 out of 5 on "violent crime", with 1 being the best possible score and 5 being the worst. The other Nordic countries who were all ranked 1 apart from Sweden, which got a score of 2. Denmark’s score here puts it in the same category as countries such as the UAE, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Japan and South Korea, while Sweden is grouped with the UK, the US, Germany, France, Spain, Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Sri Lanka, China, Chile and Cuba.
According to the data, Denmark had 1.48 homicides per 100,000 people in 2022. Norway recorded fewer homicides (1.28 per 100,000 people respectively), while Sweden, Iceland and Finland recorded more (1.61, 1.74 and 1.82, respectively).
What about gun crime?
Mass shootings in Denmark are extremely rare. The Copenhagen shootings on 3rd July 2022, which claimed three lives, was the first mass shooting for seven years. In 2015, two people were killed and five police officers injured in a series of Islamist-motivated shootings at a cultural centre and synagogue in Copenhagen.
Police figures from 2022 state that there were 18 shooting incidents in public places last year related gang crime including biker gangs. That compares to 33 such incidents in 2021 and 49 in 2020, the figures show.
Violent incidents related to gangs resulted in 4 deaths last year (including shootings, stabbings and other violence). That compares to 6 deaths in 2021 and 16 the year before, although the number of incidents registered by police was up slightly in 2022 at 36 compared to 28 the year before.
According to data from the Swedish police, Sweden had 47 deadly shootings in 2020 and 45 in 2021, or around 0.4-0.45 deadly shootings per 100,000 people. The number of deadly shootings in Sweden increased to 62 in 2022, giving a result of 0.65 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.
For comparison, the average for Europe is approximately 0.16 gun related deaths per 100,000 inhabitants according to a 2021 report from the Swedish national council for crime prevention (Brå).
While these figures appear to put Denmark in a very favourable light compared to its neighbour, it should be noted that a turf war between gangs in Copenhagen in 2017 resulted in a spike in gun violence that year. Some 87 gang-related shooting incidents were registered that year.
READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: How gun control laws work in Denmark
So, is Denmark safe?
On a global level, Denmark is a safe country, with a score of 1 for almost every indicator in the Global Peace Index (the only exceptions being 2 for weapons imports and neighbouring country relations).
When compared to other similar countries, such as the G7 countries and other countries in Europe, Denmark is above average, both on overall Global Peace Index score but also on specific categories such as the level of perceived criminality and the number of homicides per 100,000 people.
Denmark’s level of gun crime is lower than in comparable.
According to the statistics, Denmark is one of the least dangerous countries in the world, and also in Europe on most indicators, including gun violence. Ultimately, however, whether you feel safe or not depends on many factors, including personal ones.
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