Copenhagen and different nationalities

Hello everyone,

I was very impressed to see people from every single continent living in Copenhagen. So, when you walk out in the street, do you really recognize this multicultural effect, or is it a majority of Danish people that you see?

Thanks,
Iris:D

Everfire: In the 1970s, Denmark was one of the most homogenous societies in the world - and for people in the early 1970s to think that one day you would have African, Asian and other people speaking Danish with the same accent as Danes must have been amusing. But this is a reality now, but at the same time foreigners make up a much smaller percentage in Denmark than they do in say, Germany.

I don't consider Denmark to be multicultural , and the percentage of Danes in Greenland is higher than the percentage of foreigners in Denmark, and I don't think Greenland is considered to be multiracial except in the cultural sphere perhaps.

Although there are people from all over the world in Denmark, then the percentage of these people is very small, and in fact few nationalities make up a vast majority of foreigners in Denmark including some European countries, and Middle Eastern countries.

I have never met a Saudi in Denmark, nor someone from Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Taiwan, Bangladesh or Mexico.
And this also goes for most other countries be it a very rich place like Abu Dhabi or a developing country like Burma.

Although Denmark is more international now than in the past - you can not see loads of Korean restaurants, or Indian, or even the great dishes of the Middle East, apart from a couple of stereotyped dishes such as kebab. Maybe this is to come? Or maybe Western food will continue to be the prefered cuisines of Denmark, but one thing is sure - you dont find the traditional Danish food in many places anymore.

Multiculturism is in fact a difficult topic to discuss.

In the United Arab Emirates, Qatar or Oman, you find that foreigners are in a majority, and locals are in a minority - however the foreigners are guest workers and not permanent immigrants so can the Indians, Filipinos and Pakistanis who form a majority in some Middle Eastern countries be said to be living in multiracial societies? Sure, you have all sorts of restaurants, and interestingly the Indians, the Bangladeshis etc that are in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are not part of that country's culture - they are very Indian, Bangladeshi, Filipino etc and usually dont speak Arabic.

In the USA , again we see multiracial society - European majority but with a large Hispanic and Black and increasing Asian minorities - there everyone is a permanent immigrant , but whether they are Korean, Mexican or Italian - they are expected to integrated into an "Anglo-Saxon" culture , or at least this is the dominant culture.

So both the Gulf states of the Middle East and USA are "multiracial" in each their own ways.

Then there are Malaysia and Singapore, perhaps the best examples of successfull multiculturism although I have never been there - 3 races co-exist side by side: The Chinese, the Malays and the Indians. While the Chinese are in a majority in Singapore, then the Malays are in a majority in Malaysia.
Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism and Christianity co-exist peacefully, the largest religions of our world.