Map of Denmark | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
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Background: Once the seat of rapacious Viking raiders and later a major power in northwestern Europe, Denmark has evolved into a modern, prosperous nation that is participating in the political and economic integration of Europe. So far, however, they have opted out of some aspects of the European Union's Maastricht Treaty.


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Location: Northwestern Europe, bordering the North Sea on a peninsula north of Germany

Geographic coordinates

Map reference: Arctic Region, Europe, Standard Time Zones of the World

Area
Total: 43,070 km²
Land: 42,370 km²

Land boundaries: total 68 km, Germany 68 km

Coastline: 3,379 km
Contiguous zone: 4 nm
Continental shelf: 200 m depth or to depth of exploitation
Exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 3 nm

Maritime claims

Climate

Terrain: low and flat to gently rolling plains

Elevation

Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, fish, salt, limestone

Land use
Arable land: 61%
Permanent crops: 0%
Meadows and pastures: 6%
Forest and woodland: 12%
Other: 21%

Irrigated land: 4,300 km² (1989 est.)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards

Geography


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Population: 5,175,922 (July 1993 est.)
Growth rate: 0.23% (1993 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Dane(s)
Adjective: Danish

Ethnic groups: Scandinavian, Eskimo, Faroese, German

Languages: Danish, Faroese, Greenlandic (an Eskimo dialect), German (small

Religions: Evangelical Lutheran 91%, other Protestant and Roman Catholic 2%, other 7% (1988)

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: 0.23% (1993 est.)

Birth rate: 12.5 births/1000 population (1993 est.)

Death rate: 11.42 deaths/1000 population (1993 est.)

Net migration rate: 1.24 migrant(s)/1000 population (1993 est.)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: air and water pollution
Current issues note: controls Danish Straits linking Baltic and North Seas

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 7.1 deaths/1000 live births (1993 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 75.51 years
Male: 72.63 years
Female: 78.56 years (1993 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.68 children born/woman (1993 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1980)
Total population: 99%
Male: NA%
Female: NA%

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: Kingdom of Denmark
Conventional short form: Denmark
Local long form: Kongeriget Danmark
Local short form: Danmark

Government type: constitutional monarchy

Capital: Copenhagen

Administrative divisions:

Dependent areas

Independence: 1849 (became a constitutional monarchy)

National holiday: Birthday of the Queen, 16 April (1940)

Constitution: 5 June 1953

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

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: 21 years of age; universal

Executive branch: monarch, heir apparent, prime minister, Cabinet

Legislative branch: unicameral parliament (Folketing)

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation:

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Peter Pedersen DYVIG
In the us chancery: 3,200 Whitehaven Street NW, Washington, DC 20,008
In the us telephone: (202) 234-4,300
In the us fax: (202) 328-1470
In the us consulates general: Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador Richard B. STONE
From the us embassy: Dag Hammarskjolds Alle 24, 2,100 Copenhagen O
From the us mailing address: APO AE 9,716
From the us telephone: 45 (31) 42-31-44
From the us fax: 45 (35) 43-0223

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 small-scale and corporate industry, extensive government welfare measures, comfortable living standards, and high dependence on foreign trade. Denmark's new center-left coalition government will concentrate on reducing the persistent high unemployment rate and the budget deficit as well as following the previous government's policies of maintaining low inflation and a current account surplus. In the face of recent international market pressure on the Danish krone, the coalition has also vowed to maintain a stable currency. The coalition hopes to lower marginal income taxes while maintaining overall tax revenues; boost industrial competitiveness through labor market and tax reforms and increased research and development funds; and improve welfare services for the neediest while cutting paperwork and delays. Prime Minister RASMUSSEN's reforms will focus on adapting Denmark to EC's economic and monetary union (EMU) criteria by 1999, although Copenhagen won from the EC the right to opt out of the EMU if a national referendum rejects it. Denmark is, in fact, one of the few EC countries likely to fit into the EMU on time. Denmark is weathering the current worldwide slump better than many West European countries. As the EC's single market (formally established on 1 January 1993) gets underway, Danish economic growth is expected to pickup to around 2% in 1993. Expected Danish approval of the Maastricht treaty on EC political and economic union in May 1993 would almost certainly reverse the drop in investment, further boosting growth. The current account surplus remains strong as limitations on wage increases and low inflation - expected to be around 1% in 1993 - improve export competitiveness. Although unemployment is high, it remains stable compared to most European countries.

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: 1% (1992)

Real gdp per capita: $18,200 (1992)

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: accounts for 4% of GDP and employs 5.6% of labor force (includes fishing and forestry; farm products account for nearly 15% of export revenues; principal products - meat, dairy, grain, potatoes, rape, sugar beets, fish; self-sufficient in food production

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

Industrial production growth rate: growth rate 1.9% (1992)

Labor force: 2,553,900
By occupation private services: 37.1%
By occupation government services: 30.4%
By occupation manufacturing and mining: 20%
By occupation construction: 6.3%
By occupation agriculture forestry and fishing: 5.6%
By occupation electricity-gas-water: 0.6% (1991)

Unemployment rate: 11.4% (1992)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: revenues $48.8 billion; expenditures $55.3 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1992)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $37.3 billion (f.o.b., 1992)
Commodoties: meat and meat products, dairy products, transport equipment (shipbuilding), fish, chemicals, industrial machinery
Partners:

Imports: $30.3 billion (c.i.f., 1992)
Commodoties: petroleum, machinery and equipment, chemicals, grain and foodstuffs, textiles, paper
Partners:

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: Danish kroner (DKr) per US$1 - 6.236 (January 1993), 6.036 (1992), 6.396 (1991), 6.189 (1990), 7.310 (1989), 6.732 (1988)


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Electricity

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Percent of gdp: exchange rate conversion - $2.8 billion, 2% of GDP (1992)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 118
Usable: 109
With permanentsurface runways: 28
With runways over 3659 m: 0
With runways 2440-3659 m: 9
With runways 1220-2439 m: 7 services; 4,509,000 telephones; buried and submarine cables and microwave radio relay support trunk network; broadcast stations - 3 AM, 2 FM, 50 TV; 19 submarine coaxial cables; 7 earth stations operating in INTELSAT, EUTELSAT, and INMARSAT

Heliports

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

Railways

Roadways

Waterways: 417 km

Merchant marine:

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international:

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs