Denmark: Less immigrants dropouts

A rule setting a minimum age for the immigration of foreign spouses has led to more Danes with immigrant backgrounds completing their education

More young people with immigrant backgrounds are completing an education, thanks in part to an immigration regulation aimed at preventing forced marriages.

The trend is especially apparent amongst young men. Figures from the Danish Institute of Governmental Research (AKF) showed that 20 percent fewer men with an immigrant background dropped their studies in 2004 compared with 2001.

Overall, the study showed that marriages between Danish residents and foreigners result in a 17 percent greater chance of not completing an education.

The '24-year rule' requires Danish residents and their foreign spouses both be 24 before they may seek residency in Denmark. The rule was enacted primarily as a way to prevent forced marriages between Danish citizens of immigrant background and foreigners, but it also sought to get young people to finish their educations before marrying.

Helena Skyt Nielsen from AKF said that the 24-year rule successfully helps integration through education.

Bertil Haarder, the education minister, agreed and said he was pleased with the development.

'I wouldn't call the statistic an added bonus, though. I'd call it the top prize,' he told public broadcaster DR. 'The goal of the 24-year rule was precisely that - to ensure that the young people would get an education before they got married.'

Source: Copenhagen Post (English)

See also: Denmark: Immigrants overtake Danes in education , Denmark: Evading the 24 year law

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This at best PR spin of an unindented consequence and at worst nothing but propagandistic rhetoric. They might as well castrate immigrants to reduce child leukemia in second generation immigrants or just start shooting immigrants for a dramatic reduction in anti-immigrant hate crimes.