Denmark

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

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

mean elevation:

34 m

elevation extremes:

-7 m lowest point: Lammefjord; 171 highest point: Mollehoj/Ejer Bavnehoj

• 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;
• much of country's household and industrial waste is recycled

• composed of the Jutland Peninsula and a group of more than 400 islands (Danish Archipelago);
• controls Danish Straits (Skagerrak and Kattegat) linking Baltic and North Seas;
• about one-quarter of the population lives in greater Copenhagen

noun:

Dane(s)

adjective:

Danish

0-14 years:

16.57% (male 493,829 /female 468,548)

15-24 years:

12.67% (male 377,094 /female 358,807)

25-54 years:

39.03% (male 1,147,196 /female 1,119,967)

55-64 years:

12.33% (male 356,860 /female 359,264)

65 years and over:

19.42% (male 518,200 /female 609,737) (2018 est.)

total dependency ratio:

56 (2015 est.)

youth dependency ratio:

26.3 (2015 est.)

elderly dependency ratio:

29.7 (2015 est.)

potential support ratio:

3.4 (2015 est.)

at birth:

1.05 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

0-14 years:

1.05 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

15-24 years:

1.04 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

25-54 years:

0.99 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

55-64 years:

0.99 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

65 years and over:

0.81 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

total population:

0.97 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

conventional long form:

Kingdom of Denmark

conventional short form:

Denmark

local long form:

Kongeriget Danmark

local short form:

Danmark

etymology:

the name derives from the words "Dane(s)" and "mark"; the latter referring to a march (borderland) or forest

name:

Copenhagen

geographic coordinates:

55 40 N, 12 35 E

time difference:

UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

daylight saving time:

+1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October

note: applies to continental Denmark only, not to its North Atlantic components

• metropolitan Denmark - 5 regions (regioner, singular - region);
• Hovedstaden (Capital), Midtjylland (Central Jutland), Nordjylland (North Jutland), Sjaelland (Zealand), Syddanmark (Southern Denmark)

note: an extensive local government reform merged 271 municipalities into 98 and 13 counties into five regions, effective 1 January 2007

history:

several previous; latest adopted 5 June 1953 (2016)

amendments:

• proposed by the Folketing with consent of the government;
• passage requires approval by the next Folketing following a general election, approval by simple majority vote of at least 40% of voters in a referendum, and assent by the chief of state;
• changed several times, last in 2009 (Danish Act of Succession) (2016)

citizenship by birth:

no

citizenship by descent only:

at least one parent must be a citizen of Denmark

dual citizenship recognized:

yes

residency requirement for naturalization:

7 years

highest courts:

Supreme Court (consists of the court president and 18 judges)

judge selection and term of office:

• judges appointed by the monarch upon the recommendation of the Minister of Justice with the advice of the Judicial Appointments Council, a 6-member independent body of judges and lawyers;
• judges appointed for life with retirement at age 70

subordinate courts:

• Special Court of Indictment and Revision;
• 2 High Courts;
• Maritime and Commercial Court;
• county courts

description:

unicameral People's Assembly or Folketing (179 seats, including 2 each representing Greenland and the Faroe Islands; members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote; members serve 4-year terms unless the Folketing is dissolved earlier)

elections:

last held on 18 June 2015 (next to be held by June 2019)

election results:

• percent of vote by party - A 26.3%, DF 21.1%, V 19.5%, EL 7.8%, LA 7.5%, AP 4.8%, SLP 4.6%, SF 4.2%, C 3.4%, other 0.9%;
• seats by party - A 47, DF 37, V 34, EL 14, LA 13, AP 9, SLP 8, SF 7, C 6;
• composition - men 112, women 67, percent of women 37.4%;
• note - does not include each of the 2 seats from Greenland and the Faroe Islands

• The Alternative A or AP [Uffe ELBAEK]
• Conservative People's Party or DKF or C [Soren PAPE POULSEN]
• Danish People's Party or DF or O [Kristian THULESEN DAHL]
• Liberal Alliance or LA [Anders SAMUELSEN]
• Liberal Party (Venstre) or V [Lars LOKKE RASMUSSEN]
• Red-Green Alliance (Unity List) or EL [collective leadership, Pernille SKIPPER, spokesperson]
• Social Democrats or A [Mette FREDERIKSEN]
• Social Liberal Party or B or SLP [Morten OSTERGAARD]
• Socialist People's Party or SF [Pia OLSEN DYHR]

chief of mission:

Ambassador Lars Gert LOSE (since 17 September 2015)

chancery:

3200 Whitehaven Street NW, Washington, DC 20008

telephone:

[1] (202) 234-4300

FAX:

[1] (202) 328-1470

consulate(s) general:

Chicago, Houston, New York, Silicon Valley

chief of mission:

Ambassador Carla SANDS (since 15 December 2017)

embassy:

Dag Hammarskjolds Alle 24, 2100 Copenhagen 0

mailing address:

Unit 5280 ODC, DPO, AE 09716

telephone:

[45] 33 41 71 00

FAX:

[45] 35 43 02 23

• 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;
• the banner is referred to as the Dannebrog (Danish flag) and is one of the oldest national flags in the world;
• traditions as to the origin of the flag design vary, but the best known is a legend that the banner fell from the sky during an early-13th century battle;
• caught up by the Danish king before it ever touched the earth, this heavenly talisman inspired the royal army to victory;
• in actuality, the flag may derive from a crusade banner or ensign

note: the shifted cross design element was subsequently adopted by the other Nordic countries of Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden

• barley, wheat, potatoes, sugar beets;
• pork, dairy products;
• fish

agriculture:

2.4%

industry:

18.3%

services:

79.3% (2016 est.)

lowest 10%:

23.4% (2016 est.)

highest 10%:

23.4% (2016 est.)

general assessment:

• excellent telephone and Internet services;
• Denmark's competitive telecom market has led to the country having the second highest broadband penetration rate in Europe;
• the fixed-line sector continues to see a decline in revenue while customers move to VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and mobile alternatives;
• growth has been stimulated by the availability of LTE services;
• the government is able to offer broadband coverage in rural areas (2017)

domestic:

• buried and submarine cables and microwave radio relay form trunk network;
• multiple mobile-cellular communications systems;
• fixed-line 26 per 100, 124 per 100 for mobile-cellular (2017)

international:

• country code - 45;
• a series of fiber-optic submarine cables link Denmark with Canada, Faroe Islands, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and UK;
• satellite earth stations - 18 (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 (2015)

• strong public-sector TV presence with state-owned Danmarks Radio (DR) operating 6 channels and publicly owned TV2 operating roughly a half-dozen channels;
• broadcasts of privately owned stations are available via satellite and cable feed;
• DR operates 4 nationwide FM radio stations, 10 digital audio broadcasting stations, and 14 web-based radio stations;
• in 2010, there were 140 commercial and 187 community (non-commercial) radio stations (2012)

number of registered air carriers:

10 (2015)

inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 76 (2015)

annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers:

582,011 (2015)

annual freight traffic on registered air carriers:

0 mt-km (2015)

total:

3,476 km (2017)

standard gauge:

3,476 km 1.435-m gauge (1,756 km electrified) (2017)

total:

74,558 km (2017)

paved:

74,558 km (includes 1,205 km of expressways) (2017)

total:

654 (2017)

by type:

bulk carrier 7, container ship 114, general cargo 77, oil tanker 75, other 381 (2017)

major seaport(s):

Baltic Sea - Aarhus, Copenhagen, Fredericia, Kalundborg

cruise port(s):

Copenhagen

river port(s):

Aalborg (Langerak)

dry bulk cargo port(s):

Ensted (coal); North Sea - Esbjerg,

• 18 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service;
• conscripts serve an initial training period that varies from 4 to 12 months according to specialization;
• former conscripts are assigned to mobilization units;
• women eligible to volunteer for military service;
• in addition to full time employment, the Danish Military offers reserve contracts in all three branches (2016)

Iceland, the UK, and Ireland dispute Denmark's claim that the Faroe Islands' continental shelf extends beyond 200 nmsovereignty dispute with Canada over Hans Island in the Kennedy Channel between Ellesmere Island and GreenlandDenmark (Greenland) and Norway have made submissions to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) and Russia is collecting additional data to augment its 2001 CLCS submission

refugees (country of origin):

19,221 (Syria) (2017)

stateless persons:

7,990 (2017)