Denmark

Airports

total: 118 usable: 109 with permanent-surface runways: 28 with runways over 3,659 m: 0 with runways 2,440-3,659 m: 9 with runways 1,220-2,439 m: 7

Highways

total: 66,482 km paved: concrete, asphalt, stone block 64,551 km unpaved: gravel, crushed stone, improved earth 1,931 km

Inland waterways

417 km

Merchant marine

347 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 4,974,494 GRT/6,820,067 DWT, bulk 15, cargo 110, chemical tanker 24, combination bulk 1, container 51, liquefied gas 36, livestock carrier 4, oil tanker 33, railcar carrier 1, refrigerated cargo 21, roll-on/roll-off cargo 39, short-sea passenger 12 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, 308 of the Danish-flag ships belonged to the DIS

Pipelines

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

Ports

Alborg, Arhus, Copenhagen, Esbjerg, Fredericia; numerous secondary and minor ports

Railroads

2,770 km; Danish State Railways (DSB) operate 2,120 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

Telecommunications

excellent telephone, telegraph, and broadcast 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

Branches

Royal Danish Army, Royal Danish Navy, Royal Danish Air Force, Home Guard

Defense expenditures

exchange rate conversion - $2.6 billion, 2% of GDP (1993)

Manpower availability

males age 15-49 1,360,050; fit for military service 1,168,940; reach military age (20) annually 36,800 (1994 est.)

Agriculture

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

Budget

revenues: $48 billion expenditures: $55.7 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1993)

Currency

1 Danish krone (DKr) = 100 oere

Economic aid

donor: ODA and OOF commitments (1970-89), $5.9 billion

Electricity

capacity: 11,215,000 kW production: 34.17 billion kWh consumption per capita: 6,610 kWh (1992)

Exchange rates

Danish kroner (DKr) per US$1 - 6.771 (January 1994), 6.484 (1993), 6.036 (1992), 6.396 (1991), 6.189 (1990), 7.310 (1989)

Exports

$36.7 billion (f.o.b., 1993) commodities: meat and meat products, dairy products, transport equipment (shipbuilding), fish, chemicals, industrial machinery partners: EC 54.3% (Germany 23.6%, UK 10.1%, France 5.7%), Sweden 10.5%, Norway 5.8%, US 4.9%, Japan 3.6% (1992)

External debt

$40 billion (1992 est.)

Fiscal year

calendar year

Imports

$29.7 billion (c.i.f., 1993 est.) commodities: petroleum, machinery and equipment, chemicals, grain and foodstuffs, textiles, paper partners: EC 53.4% (Germany 23.1%, UK 8.2%, France 5.6%), Sweden 10.8%, Norway 5.4%, US 5.7%, Japan 4.1% (1992)

Industrial production

growth rate -2.5% (1993 est.)

Industries

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

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

1.8% (1993 est.)

National product

GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $95.6 billion (1993)

National product per capita

$18,500 (1993)

National product real growth rate

0.5% (1993)

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. 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 the criteria for European integration by 1999; although Copenhagen has won from the European Union (EU) the right to opt out of the European Monetary Union (EMU) if a national referendum rejects it. Denmark is, in fact, one of the few EU countries likely to fit into the EMU on time. Denmark is weathering the current worldwide slump better than many West European countries. As the EU's single market (formally established on 1 January 1993) gets underway, Danish economic growth is expected to pickup to around 2% in 1994. Danish approval of the Maastricht treaty on EU political and economic union in May 1993 has reversed 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 2% in 1994 - improve export competitiveness. Although unemployment is high, it remains stable compared to most European countries.

Unemployment rate

11.8% (1993 est.)

Area

total area: 43,070 sq km land area: 42,370 sq km comparative area: slightly more than twice the size of Massachusetts note: includes the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea and the rest of metropolitan Denmark, but excludes the Faroe Islands and Greenland

Climate

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

Coastline

3,379 km

Environment

current issues: air pollution; nitrogen and phosphorus pollution of the North Sea; drinking and surface water becoming polluted from animal wastes natural hazards: NA international agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber, Wetlands, Whaling; signed, but not ratified - Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Law of the Sea

International disputes

Rockall continental shelf dispute involving Iceland, Ireland, and the UK (Ireland and the UK have signed a boundary agreement in the Rockall area); dispute between Denmark and Norway over maritime boundary in Arctic Ocean between Greenland and Jan Mayen has been settled by the International Court of Justice

Irrigated land

4,300 sq km (1989 est.)

Land boundaries

total 68 km, Germany 68 km

Land use

arable land: 61% permanent crops: 0% meadows and pastures: 6% forest and woodland: 12% other: 21%

Location

Nordic State, Northern Europe, bordering the North Sea on a peninsula north of Germany

Map references

Arctic Region, Europe, Standard Time Zones of the World

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

Natural resources

petroleum, natural gas, fish, salt, limestone

Note

controls Danish Straits linking Baltic and North Seas; about one-quarter of the population lives in Copenhagen

Terrain

low and flat to gently rolling plains

Administrative divisions

metropolitan Denmark - 14 counties (amter, singular - amt) and 1 city* (stad); Arhus, Bornholm, Frederiksborg, Fyn, Kbenhavn, Nordjylland, Ribe, Ringkbing, Roskilde, Snderjylland, Staden Kbenhavn*, Storstrm, 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

Capital

Copenhagen

Constitution

5 June 1953

Digraph

DA

Diplomatic representation in US

chief of mission: Ambassador Peter Pedersen DYVIG chancery: 3200 Whitehaven Street NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: (202) 234-4300

Executive branch

chief of state: Queen MARGRETHE II (since NA January 1972); Heir Apparent Crown Prince FREDERIK, elder son of the Queen (born 26 May 1968) head of government: Prime Minister Poul Nyrup RASMUSSEN (since NA January 1993) cabinet: Cabinet; appointed by the monarch

FAX

(202) 328-1470 consulate(s) general: Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York

FAX

[45] (35) 43-0223

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

Independence

1849 (became a constitutional monarchy)

Judicial branch

Supreme Court

Legal system

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

Legislative branch

unicameral

Member of

AfDB, AG (observer), AsDB, Australia Group, BIS, CBSS, CCC, CE, CERN, COCOM, CSCE, EBRD, EC, ECE, EIB, ESA, FAO, G-9, GATT, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, LORCS, MTCR, NACC, NATO, NC, NEA, NIB, NSG, OECD, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNOMIG, UNMOGIP, UNPROFOR, UNTSO, UPU, WEU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, ZC

Names

conventional long form: Kingdom of Denmark conventional short form: Denmark local long form: Kongeriget Danmark local short form: Danmark

National holiday

Birthday of the Queen, 16 April (1940)

Parliament (Folketing)

elections last held 12 December 1990 (next to be held by December 1994); results - Social Democratic Party 37.4%, Conservative Party 16.0%, Liberal 15.8%, Socialist People's Party 8.3%, Progress Party 6.4%, Center Democratic Party 5.1%, Radical Liberal Party 3.5%, Christian People's Party 2.3%, other 5.2%; seats - (179 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

Political parties and leaders

Social Democratic Party, Poul Nyrup RASMUSSEN; Conservative Party, Torben RECHENDORFF; Liberal Party, Uffe ELLEMANN-JENSEN; Socialist People's Party, Holger K. NIELSEN; Progress Party, Johannes SORENSEN; Center Democratic Party, Mimi Stilling JAKOBSEN; Radical Liberal Party, Marianne JELVED; Christian People's Party, Jann SJURSEN; Common Course, Preben Moller HANSEN; Danish Workers' Party

Suffrage

21 years of age; universal

Type

constitutional monarchy

US diplomatic representation

chief of mission: Ambassador Edward E. ELSON embassy: Dag Hammarskjolds Alle 24, 2100 Copenhagen O mailing address: APO AE 09716 telephone: [45] (31) 42-31-44

Birth rate

12.45 births/1,000 population (1994 est.)

Death rate

11.28 deaths/1,000 population (1994 est.)

Ethnic divisions

Scandinavian, Eskimo, Faroese, German

Infant mortality rate

6.9 deaths/1,000 live births (1994 est.)

Labor force

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

Languages

Danish, Faroese, Greenlandic (an Eskimo dialect), German (small minority)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 75.81 years male: 72.93 years female: 78.86 years (1994 est.)

Literacy

age 15 and over can read and write (1980 est.) total population: 99% male: NA% female: NA%

Nationality

noun: Dane(s) adjective: Danish

Net migration rate

1.1 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1994 est.)

Population

5,187,821 (July 1994 est.)

Population growth rate

0.23% (1994 est.)

Religions

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

Total fertility rate

1.68 children born/woman (1994 est.)