86 percent of the Danish population lives in urban areas. The population of Denmark proper is 5,352,815 (2001 estimate), giving the country an overall population density of 124 persons per sq km (322 per sq mi).

Denmark is almost entirely inhabited by ethnic Danes. Very few Faeroese or Greenlanders have settled in continental Denmark, despite their status as Danish citizens. Small German, Jewish, and Polish minorities, on the other hand, have been long established and are substantially assimilated. In the 1960s an economic expansion required more labour than the nation could supply, and “guest workers” (gæstearbejdere) made their way into Denmark. In the late 1980s the most numerous ethnic minorities in Denmark were Turks, Yugoslavs, Iranians, and Pakistanis.