DENMARK
GEOGRAPHY
Total area: 43,070 km2; land area: 42,370 km2; includes the island
of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea and the rest of metropolitan Denmark, but
excludes the Faroe Islands and Greenland
Comparative area: slightly more than twice the size of
Massachusetts
Land boundaries: 68 km with Germany
Coastline: 3,379 km
Maritime claims:
Contiguous zone: 4 nm;
Continental shelf: 200 m (depth) or to depth of exploitation;
Exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm;
Territorial sea: 3 nm
Disputes: Rockall continental shelf dispute involving Iceland,
Ireland, and the UK (Ireland and the UK have signed a boundary agreement
in the Rockall area); Denmark has challenged Norway's maritime claims
between Greenland and Jan Mayen
Climate: temperate; humid and overcast; mild, windy winters and
cool summers
Land use: arable land 61%; permanent crops NEGL%; meadows and
pastures 6%; forest and woodland 12%; other 21%; includes irrigated 9%
Environment: air and water pollution
Note: controls Danish Straits linking Baltic and North Seas
PEOPLE
Population: 5,132,626 (July 1991), growth rate NEGL% (1991)
Birth rate: 12 births/1,000 population (1991)
Death rate: 11 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
Net migration rate: NEGL migrants/1,000 population (1991)
Infant mortality rate: 6 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)
Life expectancy at birth: 73 years male, 79 years female (1991)
Total fertility rate: 1.6 children born/woman (1991)
Nationality: noun--Dane(s); adjective--Danish
Ethnic divisions: Scandinavian, Eskimo, Faroese, German
Religion: Evangelical Lutheran 91%, other Protestant and Roman
Catholic 2%, other 7% (1988)
Language: Danish, Faroese, Greenlandic (an Eskimo dialect); small
German-speaking minority
Literacy: 99% (male NA%, female NA%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1980 est.)
Labor force: 2,581,400; private services 36.4%; government services
30.2%; manufacturing and mining 20%; construction 6.8%; agriculture,
forestry, and fishing 5.9%; electricity/gas/water 0.7% (1990)
Organized labor: 65% of labor force
GOVERNMENT
Long-form name: Kingdom of Denmark
Type: constitutional monarchy
Capital: Copenhagen
Administrative divisions: metropolitan Denmark--14 counties (amter,
singular--amt) and 1 city* (stad); Arhus, Bornholm, Frederiksborg,
Fyn, Kobenhavn, Nordjylland, Ribe, Ringkobing, Roskilde,
Sonderjylland, Staden Kobenhavn*, Storstrom, Vejle, Vestsjaelland,
Viborg; note--see separate entries for the Faroe Islands and Greenland
which are part of the Danish realm and self-governing administrative
divisions
Independence: became a constitutional monarchy in 1849
Constitution: 5 June 1953
Legal system: civil law system; judicial review of legislative
acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations
National holiday: Birthday of the Queen, 16 April (1940)
Executive branch: monarch, heir apparent, prime minister, Cabinet
Chief of State--Queen MARGRETHE II (since January 1972);
Heir Apparent Crown Prince FREDERIK, elder son of the Queen (born 26
May 1968);
Head of Government--Prime Minister Poul SCHLUTER (since 10
September 1982)
Political parties and leaders: Social Democratic, Svend AUKEN;
Conservative, Poul SCHLUTER;
Liberal, Uffe ELLEMANN-JENSEN;
Socialist People's, Holger K. NIELSEN;
Progress Party, Pia KJAERSGAARD;
Center Democratic, Mimi Stilling JAKOBSEN;
Radical Liberal, Marianne JELVED;
Christian People's, Flemming KOTOED-SVENDSEN;
Left Socialist, Elizabeth BRUN-OLESEN;
Justice, Poul Gerhard KRISTIANSEN;
Socialist Workers Party, leader NA;
Communist Workers' Party (KAP), leader NA;
Common Course, Preben Moller HANSEN;
Green Party, Inger BORLEHMANN
Suffrage: universal at age 21
Elections:
Parliament--last held 12 December 1990 (next to be held by
December 1994);
results--Social Democratic 37.4%, Conservative 16.0%, Liberal 15.8%,
Socialist People's 8.3%, Progress Party 6.4%, Center Democratic 5.1%,
Radical Liberal 3.5%, Christian People's 2.3%, other 5.2%;
seats--(175 total; includes 2 from Greenland and 2 from the Faroe
Islands) Social Democratic 69, Conservative 30, Liberal 29,
Socialist People's 15, Progress Party 12, Center Democratic 9, Radical
Liberal 7, Christian People's 4
Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Peter Pedersen DYVIG;
Chancery at 3200 Whitehaven Street NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone
(202) 234-4300; there are Danish Consulates General at Chicago, Houston,
Los Angeles, and New York;
US--Ambassador Keith L. BROWN; Embassy at Dag Hammarskjolds Alle
24, 2100 Copenhagen O (mailing address is APO New York 09170);
telephone 45 (31) 42 31 44
Flag: 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
Overview: This modern 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. The Danish economy is likely to maintain
its slow but steady improvement in 1991. GDP grew by 1.3% in 1990
and probably will grow by about 1.25% in 1991; unemployment is running
close to 10%. In 1990 Denmark had the lowest inflation rate in the EC,
a record trade surplus, and the first balance-of-payments surplus in
26 years. As the government prepares for the economic integration of
Europe during 1992, growth, investment, and competitiveness are expected
to improve, reducing unemployment, inflation, and debt.
GDP: $78.0 billion, per capita $15,200; real growth rate 1.3%
(1990)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.7% (1990)
Unemployment rate: 9.5% (1990)
Budget: revenues $62.5 billion; expenditures $60 billion, including
capital expenditures of $NA billion (1989)
Exports: $34.8 billion (f.o.b., 1990);
commodities--meat and meat products, dairy products, transport
equipment, fish, chemicals, industrial machinery;
partners--EC 52.2% (Germany 19.5%, UK 10.9%, France 6.1%), Sweden
12.5%, Norway 5.8%, US 5.0%, Japan 4.3% (1990)
Imports: $31.6 billion (c.i.f., 1990);
commodities--petroleum, machinery and equipment, chemicals, grain
and foodstuffs, textiles, paper;
partners--EC 57% (Germany 25.6%, UK 8.4%), Sweden 12.7%, US 6.7%
(1990)
External debt: $45 billion (1990)
Industrial production: growth rate 2.1% (1989)
Electricity: 11,215,000 kW capacity; 30,910 million kWh produced,
6,030 kWh per capita (1989)
Industries: food processing, machinery and equipment, textiles and
clothing, chemical products, electronics, construction, furniture, and
other wood products
Agriculture: accounts for 5% of GNP and employs 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
Economic aid: donor--ODA and OOF commitments (1970-89) $5.9 billion
COMMUNICATIONS
Railroads: 2,675 km 1.435-meter standard gauge; Danish State
Railways (DSB) operate 2,025 km (1,999 km rail line and 121 km rail ferry
services); 188 km electrified, 730 km double tracked; 650 km of
standard-gauge lines are privately owned and operated
Highways: 66,482 km total; 64,551 km concrete, bitumen, or stone
block; 1,931 km gravel, crushed stone, improved earth
Ports: Alborg, Arhus, Copenhagen, Esbjerg, Fredericia;
numerous secondary and minor ports
Merchant marine: 281 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 4,888,064
GRT/7,131,949 DWT; includes 13 short-sea passenger, 85 cargo, 15
refrigerated cargo, 35 container, 40 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 1 railcar
carrier, 37 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 14 chemical
tanker, 22 liquefied gas, 4 livestock carrier, 14 bulk, 1 combination
bulk; note--Denmark has created its own internal register, called the
Danish International Ship Register (DIS); DIS ships do not have to
meet Danish manning regulations, and they amount to a flag of convenience
within the Danish register; by the end of 1990, 258 of the Danish-flag
ships belonged to the DIS
Civil air: 69 major transport aircraft
Airports: 129 total, 112 usable; 27 with permanent-surface
runways; none with runways over 3,659 m; 9 with runways 2,440-3,659 m;
7 with runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications: excellent telephone, telegraph, and broadcast
services; 4,509,000 telephones; stations--2 AM, 15 (39 repeaters) FM, 27
(25 repeaters) TV; 7 submarine coaxial cables; 1 earth station operating
in INTELSAT, 4 Atlantic Ocean, EUTELSAT, and domestic systems
DEFENSE FORCES
Branches: Royal Danish Army, Royal Danish Navy, Royal Danish Air
Force
Manpower availability: males 15-49, 1,369,684; 1,179,991 fit for
military service; 36,991 reach military age (20) annually
Defense expenditures: $2.4 billion, 2% of GDP (1990)
