Denmark

§1. Denmark Introduction

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 political and economic integration of Europe. So far, however, the
  country has opted out of some aspects of the European Union's Maastricht
  Treaty, including the economic and monetary system (EMU) and issues
  concerning certain internal affairs.

§2. Denmark Geography

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

Geographic coordinates:
  56 00 N, 10 00 E

Map references:
  Europe

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

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:
  contiguous zone: 24 NM 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: 60%
  permanent crops: 0%
  permanent pastures: 5%
  forests and woodland: 10%
  other: 25% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land:
  4,350 kmē (1993 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-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile
    Organic Compounds, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change,
    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: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants,
    Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Climate Change-Kyoto 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

§3. Denmark People

Population:
  5,352,815 (July 2001 est.)

Age structure:
  0-14 years: 18.59% (male 510,826; female 484,385)
  15-64 years: 66.56% (male 1,804,617; female 1,758,019)
  65 years and over: 14.85% (male 331,906; female 463,062) (2001 est.)

Population growth rate:
  0.3% (2001 est.)

Birth rate:
  11.96 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)

Death rate:
  10.9 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)

Net migration rate:
  1.98 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 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 (2001 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
  5.04 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
  total population: 76.72 years male: 74.12 years
  female: 79.47 years (2001 est.)

Total fertility rate:
  1.73 children born/woman (2001 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%, Muslims
  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%

§4. Denmark Government

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:
  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 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 Poul Nyrup RASMUSSEN (since 25 January
    1993)
  cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the prime minister and approved by Parliament
  elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; prime minister appointed 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: last held 11 March 1998 (next to be held by March 2002)
  election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party -
    progovernment parties: Social Democratic Party 65, Socialist People's
    Party 13, Social Liberal Party 7, Red-Green Unity List 5; opposition:
    Liberal Party 43, Conservative Party 17, Danish People's Party 13, Center
    Democratic Party 8, Christian People's Party 4, Progress Party 4; seats
    by party as of 1 January 2001: government coalition parties - Social
    Democrats 63, Social Liberals 7; pro-government parties - Socialist
    People's Party 13, Unity List 5; opposition - Liberals 42, Conservatives
    16, Danish People's Party 13, Center Democrats 8, Christian People's
    Party 4, Progress Party 4 (now named Freedom 2000); does not include the
    4 overseas seats

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]; Progress Party (now named Freedom 2000) [Kim
  BEHNKE]; 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, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol,
  IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MONUC, NATO, NC, NEA, NIB, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD,
  OPCW, OSCE, PCA, UN, 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 chancery: 3200
    Whitehaven Street NW, Washington, DC 20008
  telephone: [1] (202) 234-4300
  FAX: [1] (202) 328-1470
  consulate(s) general: Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York

Diplomatic representation from the US:
  chief of mission: Ambassador Stuart BERNSTEIN embassy: Dag Hammarskjolds
    Alle 24, 2100 Copenhagen
  mailing address: PSC 73, APO AE 09716
  telephone: [45] 35 55 31 44
  FAX: [45] 35 38 96 16

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

§5. Denmark Economy

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, and high dependence on foreign
  trade. Denmark is a net exporter of food and energy and has a comfortable
  balance of payments surplus. The center-left coalition government has
  reduced the formerly high unemployment rate and attained a budget surplus
  as well as followed the previous government's policies of maintaining low
  inflation and a stable currency. The coalition has lowered marginal income
  tax rates and raised environmental taxes thus maintaining overall tax
  revenues. Problems of bottlenecks, and longer term demographic changes
  reducing the labor force, are being addressed through labor market reforms.
  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 - $136.2 billion (2000 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
  2.8% (2000 est.)

GDP - per capita:
  purchasing power parity - $25,500 (2000 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
  agriculture: 3% industry: 25%
  services: 72% (2000 est.)

Population below poverty line:
  NA%

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

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
  2.9% (2000 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:
  3% (2000 est.)

Electricity - production:
  37.885 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - production by source:
  fossil fuel: 88.4% hydro: 0.07%
  nuclear: 0%
  other: 11.53% (1999)

Electricity - consumption:
  32.916 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - exports:
  7.28 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - imports:
  4.963 billion kWh (1999)

Agriculture - products:
  grain, potatoes, rape, sugar beets; pork and beef, dairy products; fish

Exports:
  $50.8 billion (f.o.b., 2000)

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

Exports - partners:
  EU 66.5% (Germany 20.1%, Sweden 11.7%, UK 9.6%, France 5.3%, Netherlands
  4.7%), Norway 5.8%, US 5.4% (1999)

Imports:
  $43.6 billion (f.o.b., 2000)

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

Imports - partners:
  EU 72.1% (Germany 21.6%, Sweden 12.4%, UK 8.0%, Netherlands 8.0%, France
  5.8%), Norway 4.2%, US 4.5% (1999)

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 - 7.951 (January 2001), 8.083 (2000), 6.976
  (1999), 6.701 (1998), 6.604 (1997), 5.799 (1996); note - the Danes rejected
  the Euro in a 28 September 2000 referendum

Fiscal year:
  calendar year

§6. Denmark Communications

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

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

Telephone system:
  general assessment: excellent telephone and telegraph services
  domestic: buried and submarine cables and microwave radio relay form trunk
    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:
  2.3 million (2000)

§7. Denmark Transportation

Railways:
  total: 2,859 km (508 km privately owned and operated)
  standard gauge: 2,859 km 1.435-m gauge (600 km electrified; 760 km double
    track) (1998)

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: 342 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 6,073,489 GRT/8,027,002 DWT
  ships by type: bulk 10, cargo 128, chemical tanker 27, container 76,
    liquefied gas 26, livestock carrier 6, petroleum tanker 22, railcar
    carrier 1, refrigerated cargo 13, roll on/roll off 23, short-sea
    passenger 7, specialized tanker 3
  note: includes some foreign-owned ships registered here as a flag of
    convenience: Finland 1 (2000 est.)

Airports:
  119 (2000 est.)

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 (2000 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
  total: 91 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
  914 to 1,523 m: 7
  under 914 m: 83 (2000 est.)

§8. Denmark Military

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

Military manpower - military age:
  18 years of age

Military manpower - availability:
  males age 15-49: 1,292,619 (2001 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service:
  males age 15-49: 1,106,094 (2001 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
  males: 29,212 (2001 est.)

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

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

§9. Denmark Transnational Issues

Disputes - international:
  Rockall continental shelf dispute involving 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
