After in many years having a primary focus on integration on the job market, it is increasingly acknowledged that citizens with an immigrant background should also contribute to other parts of social life on a par with the rest of the population. Often, this is referred to as active citizenship or democratic integration.

In February 2010 the government set the goal that in 2020, Denmark should be World Champions in democratic integration. We need to maintain a position as one of the freest countries in the world when it comes to political and other liberty rights. And Denmark should continue to be a country in which interpersonal trust and trust in public institutions is high.

The inter-ministerial working group for better integration has therefore assessed active citizenship by way of a large questionnaire amongst ethnic Danes, immigrants and their descendants from seven out of the ten largest non-Western countries of origin.