Denmark Online Business Education. Administration. Economy. Politics. Culture. Religion. Media

Denmark
Online Business Education. Economy. Politics. Culture. Religion. Media

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Denmark

Country Profile

Capital City: Copenhagen (pop. 0.5 million in Copenhagen and 1.8 million in the Copenhagen Region)

Other Cities: Aarhus (289 000), Odense (184 000), Aalborg (162 000).

Local Time: UTC +1h

Geography:
Location: Northern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, on a peninsula north of Germany (Jutland); also includes two major islands (Sjaelland and Fyn)
Area: 43 096 sq. km. (16 640 sq. mi.)
Terrain: Low and flat or slightly rolling; highest elevation is 173 m. (568 ft.).
Border countries: Germany

Climate: Temperate. The terrain, location, and prevailing westerly winds make the weather changeable.

Government:
Type: Constitutional Monarchy.
Constitution: 5 June 1953.

People:
Nationality: Noun--Dane(s). Adjective--Danish.
Population (2004): 5.4 million.
Ethnic groups: Scandinavian, German, Inuit, (Greenland) Faroese.
Religion: Evangelical Lutheran 84.3%. Catholics, Jews, other Protestant denominations, and Muslims account for approximately 5%.
Languages: Danish, some German, Faroese, Greenlandic. English is the predominant second language. Literacy: 100%

Business

Currency: Danish Krone (DKK)

Natural resources: Petroleum, natural gas, fish, salt, limestone, chalk, stone, gravel and sand.

Agriculture products: Barley, wheat, potatoes, sugar beets; pork, dairy products; fish.

Industries: Iron, steel, nonferrous metals, chemicals, food processing, machinery and transportation equipment, textiles and clothing, electronics, construction, furniture and other wood products, shipbuilding and refurbishment, windmills.

Exports partners: Germany 16.9%, Sweden 14%, UK 6.9%, USA 5.4%, France 5.2%, Netherlands 5.1%, Norway 4.8% (2004)

Imports partners: Germany 22.9%, Sweden 12.4%, Netherlands 7.6%, France 5.6%, UK 5.4%, Norway 5%, Italy 4.3% (2004)

Internet Links

Official Sites of Denmark

Kongehuset

Denmark

Folketinget

Prime Minister's Office

Udenrigsministeriet

Diplomatic Missions
Royal Danish Embassy in the U.S.

Denmarks Missions Abroad

Consular Services

Foreign Embassies and Consulates in Denmark

Statistics
Danmarks Statistik

Weather
Danmarks Meteorologiske Institut (DMI)

Maps
Map of Denmark

Introduction

Denmark

Background: Once the seat of Viking raiders and later a major north
European power, Denmark has evolved into a modern, prosperous nation that
is participating in the general political and economic integration of
Europe. However, the country has opted out of European Union's Maastricht
Treaty, the European monetary system (EMU), and issues concerning certain
internal affairs.

Geography Denmark

Location: Northern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea,
on a peninsula north of Germany (Jutland); also includes two major islands
(Sjaelland and Fyn)

Geographic coordinates: 56 00 N, 10 00 E

Map references: Europe

Area: total: 43,094 sq km water: 700 sq km note: includes the island
of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea and the rest of metropolitan Denmark
(the Jutland Peninsula, and the major islands of Sjaelland and Fyn),
but excludes the Faroe Islands and Greenland land: 42,394 sq km

Area - comparative: slightly less than twice the size of Massachusetts

Land boundaries: total: 68 km border countries: Germany 68 km

Coastline: 7,314 km

Maritime claims: continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of
exploitation exclusive economic zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 12 NM

Climate: temperate; humid and overcast; mild, windy winters and cool
summers

Terrain: low and flat to gently rolling plains

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Lammefjord -7 m highest point: Yding
Skovhoej 173 m

Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, fish, salt, limestone, stone,
gravel and sand

Land use: arable land: 56% permanent crops: 0% other: 44% (1998 est.)

Irrigated land: 4,760 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards: flooding is a threat in some areas of the country (e.g.,
parts of Jutland, along the southern coast of the island of Lolland)
that are protected from the sea by a system of dikes

Environment - current issues: air pollution, principally from vehicle
and power plant emissions; nitrogen and phosphorus pollution of the
North Sea; drinking and surface water becoming polluted from animal
wastes and pesticides

Environment - international agreements: party to: Air Pollution, Air
Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants,
Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile
Organic Compounds, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change,
Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species,
Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Marine Life
Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution,
Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but
not ratified: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Law of the Sea

Geography - note: controls Danish Straits (Skagerrak and Kattegat)
linking Baltic and North Seas; about one-quarter of the population lives
in greater Copenhagen

People Denmark

Population: 5,368,854 (July 2002 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 18.7% (male 514,589; female 488,121) 15-64
years: 66.4% (male 1,806,722; female 1,760,149) 65 years and over: 14.9%
(male 334,599; female 464,674) (2002 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.29% (2002 est.)

Birth rate: 11.74 births/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Death rate: 10.81 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Net migration rate: 2.01 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05
male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 65 years and over:
0.72 male(s)/female total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2002 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 4.97 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:   79.67 years (2002 est.) male: Total fertility
rate: 1.73 children born/woman (2002 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.17% (1999 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 4,300 (1999 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths: less than 100 (1999 est.)

Nationality: noun: Dane(s) adjective: Danish

Ethnic groups: Scandinavian, Inuit, Faroese, German, Turkish, Iranian,
Somali

Religions: Evangelical Lutheran 95%, other Protestant and Roman Catholic
3%, Muslim 2%

Languages: Danish, Faroese, Greenlandic (an Inuit dialect), German
(small minority) note: English is the predominant second language

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total
population: 100% male: NA% female: NA%

Government Denmark

Country name:   Kingdom of Denmark conventional short form: Government
type: constitutional monarchy

Capital: Copenhagen

Administrative divisions: metropolitan Denmark - 14 counties (amter,
singular - amt) and 2 kommunes*; Arhus, Bornholm, Fredericksberg*,
Frederiksborg, Fyn, Kobenhavn, Kobenhavns*, Nordjylland, Ribe, Ringkobing,
Roskilde, Sonderjylland, Storstrom, Vejle, Vestsjalland, Viborg note:
see separate entries for the Faroe Islands and Greenland, which are part
of the Kingdom of Denmark and are self-governing overseas administrative
divisions

Independence: first organized as a unified state in 10th century;
in 1849 became a constitutional monarchy

National holiday: none designated; Constitution Day, 5 June is generally
viewed as the National Day

Constitution: 1849 was the original constitution; there was a major
overhaul 5 June 1953, allowing for a unicameral legislature and a female
chief of state

Legal system: civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts;
accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch: chief of state: Queen MARGRETHE II (since 14 January
1972); Heir Apparent Crown Prince FREDERIK, elder son of the monarch (born
26 May 1968) head of government: Prime Minister Anders Fogh RASMUSSEN
(since 27 November 2001) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the prime minister
and approved by Parliament elections: none; the monarch is hereditary;
following legislative elections, the leader of the party that wins the
most seats is usually appointed prime minister by the monarch

Legislative branch: unicameral Parliament or Folketing (179 seats,
including 2 from Greenland and 2 from the Faroe Islands; members are
elected by popular vote on the basis of proportional representation to
serve four-year terms) elections: results: percent of vote by party -
NA%; seats by party - Liberal Party 56, Social Democrats 52, Danish
People's Party 22, Conservative Party 16, Socialist People's Party 12,
Social Liberal Party 9, Christian People's Party 4, Unity List 4; note
- does not include the 2 seats from Greenland and the 2 seats from the
Faroe Islands

Judicial branch: Supreme Court (judges are appointed by the monarch
for life)

Political parties and leaders: Center Democratic Party [Mimi JAKOBSEN];
Christian People's Party [Jann SJURSEN]; Conservative Party (sometimes
known as Conservative People's Party) [Bendt BENDTSEN]; Danish People's
Party [Pia KJAERSGAARD]; Liberal Party [Anders Fogh RASMUSSEN]; Social
Democratic Party [Poul Nyrup RASMUSSEN]; Social Liberal Party (sometimes
called the Radical Left) [Marianne JELVED, leader; Johannes LEBECH,
chairman]; Socialist People's Party [Holger K. NIELSEN]; Red-Green Unity
List (bloc includes Left Socialist Party, Communist Party of Denmark,
Socialist Workers' Party) [collective leadership]

Political pressure groups and leaders: NA

International organization participation: AfDB, AsDB, Australia Group,
BIS, CBSS, CCC, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, EIB, ESA, EU, FAO, G- 9,
IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS,
IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MONUC, NATO, NC, NEA,
NIB, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, UN, UNAMSIL, UNCTAD,
UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNMEE, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNMOGIP, UNMOP, UNMOT,
UNOMIG, UNTAET, UNTSO, UPU, WEU (observer), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO, ZC

Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Ulrik
Andreas FEDERSPIEL consulate(s) general: Chicago, Los Angeles, and New
York FAX: [1] (202) 328-1470 telephone: [1] (202) 234-4300 chancery:
3200 Whitehaven Street NW, Washington, DC 20008

Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador
Stuart BERNSTEIN embassy: Dag Hammarskjolds
PSC 73, APO AE 09716 telephone:
Flag description: red with a white cross that extends to the edges of
the flag; the vertical part of the cross is shifted to the hoist side,
and that design element of the Dannebrog (Danish flag) was subsequently
adopted by the other Nordic countries of Finland, Iceland, Norway,
and Sweden

Economy Denmark

Economy - overview: This thoroughly modern market economy features
high-tech agriculture, up-to-date small-scale and corporate industry,
extensive government welfare measures, comfortable living standards,
a stable currency, and high dependence on foreign trade. Denmark is
a net exporter of food and energy and has a comfortable balance of
payments surplus. The government has been successful in meeting, and
even exceeding, the economic convergence criteria for participating in
the third phase (a common European currency) of the European Monetary
Union (EMU), but Denmark, in a September 2000 referendum, reconfirmed
its decision not to join the 11 other EU members in the euro. Even so,
the Danish currency remains pegged to the euro.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $149.8 billion (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 1.1% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $28,000 (2001 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 3% industry: 22% services: 75%
(2001 est.)

Population below poverty line: NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 2%
highest 10%: 24% (2000 est.)

Distribution of family income - Gini index: 24.7 (1992)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.4% (2001 est.)

Labor force: 2.856 million (2000 est.)

Labor force - by occupation: services 79%, industry 17%, agriculture 4%
(2000 est.)

Unemployment rate: 5.3% (2000)

Budget: revenues: $52.9 billion expenditures: $51.3 billion, including
capital expenditures of $500 million (2001 est.)

Industries: food processing, machinery and equipment, textiles and
clothing, chemical products, electronics, construction, furniture,
and other wood products, shipbuilding, windmills

Industrial production growth rate: 1% (2001 est.)

Electricity - production: 35.792 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 83.86% hydro: 0.08%
other: 16.06% (2000) nuclear: 0%

Electricity - consumption: 33.925 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - exports: 7.679 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - imports: 8.318 billion kWh (2000)

Agriculture - products: barley, wheat, potatoes, sugar beets; pork,
dairy products; fish

Exports: $52.4 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Exports - commodities: machinery and instruments, meat and meat products,
dairy products, fish, chemicals, furniture, ships, windmills

Exports - partners: EU 65.9% (Germany 19.1%, Sweden 12.9%, UK 9.8%,
France 5.0%, Netherlands 5.0%), US 5.9%, Norway 5.5% (2000)

Imports: $44.1 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, raw materials and
semimanufactures for industry, chemicals, grain and foodstuffs,
consumer goods

Imports - partners: EU 69.7% (Germany 21.1%, Sweden 12.3%, UK 8.6%,
Netherlands 7.5%, France 5.2%, Italy 4.4%), US 4.1% (2000)

Debt - external: $21.7 billion (2000)

Economic aid - donor: ODA, $1.63 billion (1999)

Currency: Danish krone (DKK)

Currency code: DKK

Exchange rates: Danish kroner per US dollar - 8.418 (January 2002),
8.323 (2001), 8.083 (2000), 6.976 (1999), 6.701 (1998), 6.604 (1997);
note - the Danes rejected the euro in a 28 September 2000 referendum

Fiscal year: calendar year

Communications Denmark

Telephones - main lines in use: 4.785 million (1997)

Telephones - mobile cellular: 1,444,016 (1997)

Telephone system:   excellent telephone and telegraph services domestic:
network, 4 cellular mobile communications systems international: 18
submarine fiber-optic cables linking Denmark with Norway, Sweden, Russia,
Poland, Germany, Netherlands, UK, Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Canada;
satellite earth stations - 6 Intelsat, 10 Eutelsat, 1 Orion, 1 Inmarsat
(Blaavand-Atlantic-East); note - the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland,
Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) share the Danish earth station and the Eik,
Norway, station for worldwide Inmarsat access (1997)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 2, FM 355, shortwave 0 (1998)

Radios: 6.02 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations: 26 (plus 51 repeaters) (1998)

Televisions: 3.121 million (1997)

Internet country code: .dk

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 13 (2000)

Internet users: 2.93 million (2001)

Transportation Denmark

Railways:   2,859 km (508 km privately owned and operated) standard gauge:
(1998 est.)

Highways: total: 71,474 km paved: 71,474 km (including 880 km of
expressways) unpaved: 0 km (1999)

Waterways: 417 km

Pipelines: crude oil 110 km; petroleum products 578 km; natural gas
700 km

Ports and harbors: Abenra, Alborg, Arhus, Copenhagen, Esbjerg,
Fredericia, Kolding, Odense, Roenne (Bornholm), Vejle

Merchant marine: total: 301 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 6,258,959
GRT/8,143,520 DWT note: includes some foreign-owned ships registered
here as a flag of convenience: Germany 1, Greenland 1, Indonesia 1,
Netherlands 1, Norway 9, United Kingdom 1 (2002 est.) ships by type:
bulk 8, cargo 105, chemical tanker 26, container 72, liquefied gas 20,
livestock carrier 5, petroleum tanker 25, railcar carrier 1, refrigerated
cargo 13, roll on/roll off 16, short-sea passenger 7, specialized tanker 3

Airports: 116 (2001)

Airports - with paved runways: total: 28 over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047
m: 7 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 914 to 1,523 m: 12 under 914 m: 3 (2001)

Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 88 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to
1,523 m: 7 under 914 m: 80 (2001)

Military Denmark

Military branches: Royal Danish Army, Royal Danish Navy, Royal Danish
Air Force, Home Guard

Military manpower - military age: 18 years of age (2002 est.)

Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 1,287,168 (2002 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 1,099,900
(2002 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 29,212
(2002 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: $2.47 billion (FY99/00)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 1.4% (FY99/00)

Transnational Issues Denmark

Disputes - international: Rockall continental shelf dispute involving
Denmark, Iceland, and the UK (Ireland and the UK have signed a boundary
agreement in the Rockall area); dispute with Iceland over the Faroe
Islands' fisheries median line boundary within 200 NM; disputes with
Iceland, the UK, and Ireland over the Faroe Islands continental shelf
boundary outside 200 NM; Faroese are considering proposals for full
independence

This page was last updated on 1 January 2002

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