Danish Americans

Danish Americans
Dansk-amerikanere (Danish)
Denmark United States
Total population
1,215,809[1]
0.4% of the U.S. population (2019)
Regions with significant populations
Minnesota, Wisconsin, Utah, Iowa, Washington, California, Nebraska, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois and Montana
Languages
English (American English dialects), Danish
Religion
Christianity (predominantly Lutheran; also other Protestant churches, Catholicism and Mormonism)
Related ethnic groups
Danes, Greenlanders, Faroese Americans, Greenlandic Americans, Danish Canadians, Danish Australians, Scandinavian Americans, Norwegian Americans, European Americans
Distribution of Danish Americans according to the 2000 census.

Danish Americans (Danish: Dansk-amerikanere) are Americans who have ancestral roots originated fully or partially from Denmark. There are approximately 1,300,000 Americans of Danish origin or descent.[2][3]

Most Danes who came to the United States after 1865 did so for economic reasons. The Danish population in Europe had grown significantly by 1865 due to advancements in medicine and food industries, leading to higher poverty rates and an increase in Danish migration to other countries. The sale of lands was another reason for migration, with many Danes becoming farmers in Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Dakotas. During the 1870s, almost half of all Danish immigrants settled in the US with their families, but by the 1890s, family immigration accounted for only 25% of the total. Many of these immigrants eventually returned to Denmark. Greater land inequality in certain areas of Denmark was linked to higher rates of emigration. In addition, Mormon missionaries converted many Danes who moved to Utah. Danish Americans assimilated into American society more quickly than other European groups and were the least united in preserving their cultural heritage.

  1. ^ "American Community Survey 2019 1-Year Estimates". data.census.gov. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  2. ^ Bureau, U. S. Census. "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 9, 2019. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  3. ^ John Mark Nielsen, and Peter L. Petersen. "Danish Americans." in Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 2, Gale, 2014), pp. 1–14. online.