Denmark conviction totals versus population-adjusted rates

Raw totals and population-adjusted rates answer different questions. Denmark’s sexual-offence conviction tables illustrate why the denominator must stay visible.

By Doggy. Adapted from my original Instagram carousel, with source notes and workings collected in one place.

Denmark conviction totals versus population-adjusted rates: original carousel slide 1 of 6 — Original carousel, slide 1 of 6.

The 2025 totals

The original analysis records 1,066 guilty-person entries for sexual offences in 2025: 839 Danish-origin entries, 155 immigrant entries and 72 descendant entries. The largest group total is Danish-origin, but these population groups differ substantially in size.

Ancestry category	2025 entries
Danish origin	839
Immigrants	155
Descendants	72
Total	1,066

A separate five-year rate comparison

For a less volatile rate comparison, the research combines 2021–2025 guilty-person entries and annual population denominators. These are crude annualised rates per 1,000 residents, using the full population denominator in the original analysis.

Category	Five-year entries	Population-years	Annual rate per 1,000
Danish origin	4,135	25,104,478	0.1647
Immigrants	896	3,434,261	0.2609
Descendants	309	1,061,363	0.2911

For example, 896 ÷ 3,434,261 × 1,000 = approximately 0.2609. Relative to the Danish-origin rate, the displayed immigrant rate is approximately 1.58 times as high and the descendant rate approximately 1.77 times as high.

Country-of-origin comparison

Using the same 2021–2025 denominator method, and requiring at least 20 entries per origin group, the original analysis reports these annual rates per 1,000 residents:

Origin	Annual rate per 1,000
Syria	0.6695
Somalia	0.6369
Iraq	0.5449
Lebanon	0.5130
Afghanistan	0.4950
Danish origin	0.1647

Why definitions matter

These figures are not adjusted for age or sex. Descendants and immigrants can have different demographic structures, so the difference does not by itself measure the effect of integration. Guilty-person entries across years are not necessarily unique people. Country of origin does not identify religion or establish causation.

The separate country-ranking article uses a population aged 15–79 and a 10,000-resident eligibility threshold. Its rates differ because its denominator and inclusion rules differ. The two series should not be mixed.