Population sizeSince the early 1970s, Denmark has had a population of more than 5 million inhabitants. The size of the population has seen a slow, but steady increase since 1970, and on 1 January 2012 it was 5.6 million people. However, during the early 1980s, the population fell due to reductions in the number of births. Women are in the majorityThough more boys than girls are born every year, women comprise slightly more than half of the Danish population (50.4 per cent). This is because of higher mortality rates among men. There are more men than women in all age groups up to 55 years, except for the 36-year-olds, but women take over in all subsequent age groups. The age group 94-97 comprises more than four times as many women as men. More births than deathsPopulation developments depend on four components: live births, deaths, immigration, and emigration. The population increase during recent years is the result of two things: positive natural increase (births ÷ deaths) and positive net migration (immigration ÷ emigration). Positive net migration means that more people enter Denmark than leave it. We are growing older The Danish population is getting older. The average age in Denmark was 40.5 years as of 1 January 2012. For men, this figure was 39.6 years, and for women, it was 41.5 years. When examining 1980 figures, the average age was 3.8 years lower (an overall average age of 36.7 years; 35.5 years for men, 38.0 years for women). This increase in the average age is caused by an increase of 62 per cent in the number of people over the age of 80. The increase is also occasioned by the fact that the large generations from the mid-1940s have now reached their sixties, as well as the fact that the large generations from the mid-1960s are now being classified to an older age group and are replaced by smaller generations. More Danes are older than 100 years The number of people who are 100 years of age or more is rising. On 1 January 2012 a total of 924 people (771 women and 153 men) were 100 years or more. In 1980, only 158 people (40 men and 118 women) were 100 years of age or older. That is six times as much in a period of 30 years. The demographic dependency ratioThe demographic dependency ratio is calculated on the basis of the population distribution by age. Dependency ratio shows the relationship between the number of persons outside the economically active population and the number of persons available to support them -i.e. the population of working age.The demographic dependency ratio will increase in the years to come If the economically active (working) population is calculated as those within the 20-59 age group, the dependency ratio in 2012 is 0.91. This implies that for every 100 economically active individuals, 91 persons need support.On the basis of the projections on population development in 2011, the demographic dependency ratio will increase to 0.95 in 2020 and reach 1.07 in 2030. In the 1970s, the dependency ratio was higher, 0.94 on average. In the late 1990s, it was as low as 0.76. This i...

Some individuals with keratoconus are at high risk of developing acute corneal hydrops. These patients could be managed more aggressively to reduce their risk of developing this complication of their disease.