(COPENHAGEN) - The number of people wanting Denmark to pull out of the European Union is at a record high with nearly one in five Danes now favouring withdrawal, according to a poll published on Thursday.

While 78 percent of those questioned in the survey published by the financial daily Boersen said Denmark should remain in the 27-nation bloc, 18 percent said the country should withdraw and a further four percent was undecided.

The paper said the percentage of those opposed was the highest since Denmark joined the EU in January 1973.

Analysts ascribed the growing hostility partly to a ruling by the European Court of Justice in July that may sound the death knell for Denmark's restrictive immigration policy by forcing it to ease family reunification rules.

A total of 1,050 people were questioned for the survey by the Greens Institute which was conducted between September 29 and October 1.

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