OFFICIAL NAME: Kingdom of Denmark
CAPITAL: Copenhagen
SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT: Constitutional Monarchy
AREA: 43,076 Sq Km (16,632 Sq Mi)
ESTIMATED 2000 POPULATION 5,212,500

LOCATION & GEOGRAPHY: Denmark is located in North Europe and consists of the greater part of the Jutland Peninsula as well as a number of islands in the Atlantic Ocean, Baltic Sea and North Sea such as Greenland and the Faroe Islands. It is bound by Skagerrak to the north, Kattegat and Baltic Sea to the east, the North Sea to the west and Germany to the south. Denmark is a low lying country characterized by a mixture of glacial moraine deposits of clay, sand, gravel and limestone which form undulating plains with rolling hills that are interspersed with lakes. The coastline is indented with many lagoons and fjords. Major Cities (pop. est.); Copenhagen 1,342,700, Arhus 204,100, Odense 140,900, Alborg 115,000 (1992). Land Use; forested 10%, pastures 5%, agricultural-cultivated 60%, other 25% (1993).

CLIMATE: Denmark has a temperate maritime climate that is very changeable under the marine influences and the effect of the Gulf Air Stream. Generally, the winters are cold and cloudy, although summers are warm and sunny. Average annual precipitation is 600 mm (24 inches) and snow falls between January and March. Although rainfall occurs throughout the year it is heaviest between August and October and lowest during the spring and winter months. Average temperature ranges in Copenhagen are from -3 to 2 degrees Celsius (27 to 36 degrees Fahrenheit) in February to 14 to 22 degrees Celsius (57 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit) in July.

PEOPLE: Denmark is the most ethnically homogeneous nation in the world with a prominent Nordic group of people. The Danes account for 97% of the population and are racially from a mixture of New Stone Age and various Gothic German and Scandinavian groups that have immigrated there. The principal ethnic alien groups include the British, Yugoslavs or South Slavs and Iranians.

DEMOGRAPHIC/VITAL STATISTICS: Density; 119 persons per sq km (309 persons per sq mi) (1991). Urban-Rural; 86.4% urban, 13.6% rural (1990). Sex Distribution; 49.3% male, 50.7% female (1990). Life Expectancy at Birth; 71.8 years male, 77.7 years female (1988). Age Breakdown; 17% under 15, 23% 15 to 29, 22% 30 to 44, 17% 45 to 59, 14% 60 to 74, 7% 75 and over (1990). Birth Rate; 12.4 per 1,000 (1990). Death Rate; 11.9 per 1,000 (1990). Increase Rate; 0.5 per 1,000 (1990). Infant Mortality Rate; 7.5 per 1,000 live births (1990).

RELIGIONS: The official religion is Evangelical Lutheran which accounts for around 91% of the population while Roman Catholics and Jews account for less than 1% combined.

LANGUAGES: The official language is Danish which is a branch of the East Scandinavian group of languages that are derived from primitive Norse.

EDUCATION: Aged 25 or over and having attained: primary 2.8%, lower secondary 25.0%, upper secondary or vocational 46.1%, advanced vocational 6.8%, higher 9.6%, unspecified 9.7% (1988). Literacy; literate population aged 15 or over virtually 100% (1988).

MODERN HISTORY - WWII TO 1993: In 1945 after the defeat of Germany which had occupied the country from 1940, Denmark continued its political reforms and economic expansion under King Frederick IX who inherited the throne. In 1953 a new constitution removed the upper house of parliament, allowed the royal succession to females and made Greenland a province and not a colony of Denmark. In 1949 Denmark abandoned its neutrality and became a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In 1959 the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) was formed by Denmark and 6 other countries. Denmark also began a 10 year development program in Greenland which was to expand and modernize Greenland's fishing and food processing industries. In 1972 King Frederick IX died and his daughter Margrethe II acceded him to the throne. In 1973 Denmark entered the EU and during the 1970's there was a decline in production and investment and rise in unemployment. In 1982 a Conservative Party led by Poul Schluter won the chance to lead a Conservative coalition government for the first time since 1901. During the 1980's Schulter imposed a series of austerity programs that brought inflation well down. In Dec. 1990 Prime Minister Schluter was re-elected after snap elections. During 1991 Denmark was one of the first western nations to establish diplomatic relations with the newly independent Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania while an agreement was reached with Sweden on the construction of a bridge and a rail-road tunnel link between the two countries by the end of the century. In June 1992 referendum on the EU's Maastricht Treaty for closer European political union resulted in a 50.7 to 49.3%, although defiant, "no" vote which sent shock waves through the 11 EU member states. In Oct. 1992 the Conservative-Liberal coalition produced an eight-point solution outlined in a White Paper to the deadlock with the EU on the Maastricht Treaty while Prime Minister Schluter insisted that the Treaty could not be ratified without Denmark. In Dec. 1992 the EU summit in the UK agreed to exempt Denmark from key treaty points, allowing another referendum to be scheduled for 1993. Also in 1992 unemployment remained high, although the economy continued to revive with low inflation and trade surpluses. On Jan. 14, 1993 Prime Minister Schluter resigned after a judicial inquiry accused him of misleading the parliament over measures taken to prevent Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka from entering Denmark. As a result, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen of the Social Democrats formed a four-party coalition government, the first majority government since 1971. The new government announced May 18, 1993 as the new date for the country's second Maastricht Treaty referendum. On May 18, 1993 the Treaty with opt-out clauses received a 56.8% yes vote and resulted in two nights of riots between disgruntled youths and police. In 1993 the economy continued to perform well in the face of the general European recession while the government also announced plans to reduce the very high levels of income tax and introduce "green" taxes to offset the revenue losses.

CURRENCY: The official currency is the Krone (Dkr) (plural; Kroner) divided into 100 Ore.

ECONOMY: Gross National Product; USD $137,610,000,000 (1993). National Debt; Dkr 628,370,000,000 (1993). Imports; Dkr 191,325,000,000 (1993). Exports; Dkr 232,884,000,000 (1993). Tourism Receipts; USD $3,052,000,000 (1993). Balance of Trade; Dkr 120,497,000,000 (1994). Economically Active Population; 2,910,325 or 56.2% of total population (1993). Unemployed; 11.2% (1994).

MAIN TRADING PARTNERS: Its main trading partners are Germany, Sweden, the UK, the USA, Norway, Italy, France, Switzerland, Japan and Iran.

MAIN PRIMARY PRODUCTS: Cattle, Cereals, Coal, Cryolite, Fish, Fodder, Iron Ore, Lead, Molybdenum, Oil and Natural Gas, Pigs, Potatoes, Poultry, Uranium, Zinc.

MAJOR INDUSTRIES: Agriculture, Chemicals, Engineering, Fishing, Food Processing, Furniture, Glass, Pharmaceuticals, Petroleum Refining, Porcelain, Ship Building, Textiles.

MAIN EXPORTS: Animal Foodstuffs, Chemicals, Dairy Products, Electronic Equipment, Fish, Furniture, Leather, Machinery, Meat, Oil and Gas, Sugar.

TRANSPORT: Railroads; route length 2,837 km (1,763 mi) (1988), passenger-km 4,988,000,000 (3,099,000,000 passenger-mi) (1988), cargo ton-km 1,653,000,000 (1,132,000,000 short ton-mi) (1988). Roads; length 70,774 km (43,977 mi) (1990). Vehicles; cars 1,595,834 (1989), trucks and buses 294,635 (1989). Merchant Marine; vessels 1,260 (1990), deadweight tonnage 7,173,057 (1990). Air Transport; passenger-km 4,258,000,000 (2,646,000,000 passenger-mi) (1990), cargo ton-km 123,155,000 (84,349,000 short ton-mi) (1990).

COMMUNICATIONS: Daily Newspapers; total of 42 with a total circulation of 1,668,000 (1993). Radio; receivers 5,200,000 (1994). Television; receivers 2,700,200 (1994). Telephones; units 3,059,800 (1993).

MILITARY: 27,000 (1994) total active duty personnel with 60.4% army, 17.0% navy and 17.0% air force while military expenditure accounts for 2.0% (1993) of the Gross National Product (GNP).

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