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Last reviewed: 06 January 2012 |
Country information
DENMARK COUNTRY PROFILE
Country Facts
Area: 42,930 sq km (2,210,415 sq km including Greenland and the Faroe Islands)
Population: 5.54 million (2010)
Capital City: Copenhagen
People: Mostly Danish by origin; non-EU immigrants number about 6.6% of the population (2010)
Languages: Danish. English is widely spoken throughout Denmark to a very high standard. In the Faroe Islands and Greenland, their native tongues as well as Danish are spoken.
Religions: The Evangelical Lutheran Church is the state church. About 80% of Danes belong to it. There are small numbers of other Christian denominations. It is estimated that Muslims constitute about 3-4% of the population.
Currency: Danish Krone (DKK)
Head of State: Queen Margrethe II
Prime Minister: Helle Thorning Schmidt (Social Democrats)
Foreign Minister: Villy Søvndal (Socialist People’s Party)
Political Parties Represented in Parliament:
Venstre (Denmark’s Liberal Party) - The largest party in Denmark with 47 seats in parliament. It is led by ex PM Lars Løkke Rasmussen.
Social Democrats (Socialdemokraterne) -The party has 44 of 179 seats in parliament. It is led by PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt.
Danish People’s Party (Dansk Folkeparti) - The party has 22 seats in parliament. It is led by Pia Kjærsgaard.
The Social Liberals (Det Radikale Venstre) - The party has 17 seats in parliament. It is led by Margrethe Vestager.
Socialist People’s Party (Socialistisk Folkeparti) - The party has 16 seats in parliament. It is led by Villy Søvndal.
Conservative People’s Party (Det Konservative Folkeparti) -The party has eight seats in parliament. It is led by Lars Barfoed.
Unity List (Enhedslisten) - The party has 12 seats in parliament and has a collective leadership
Liberal Alliance - The party has nine seats in parliament. It is led by Anders Samuelsen
Greenland and the Faroes: two parties from each country have four seats in the Danish Parliament. Three of the parties support the Government at present
The Danish Parliament’s website: http://www.ft.dk
Membership of international groups/organisations: United Nations (UN), European Union (EU), North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Nordic Council, World Trade Organisation (WTO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Organisation for Co-operation and Security in Europe (OSCE), Council of Europe (CoE), Council of the Baltic Sea States, Arctic Council, Antarctic Treaty.
DID YOU KNOW?
Denmark has the oldest monarchy in the world, starting with Gorm the Elder who was King from 900AD.
- Denmark is made up of a peninsula (Jutland) and 406 islands, many of them linked by bridges including the 13.4 km long Great Belt Bridge.
- The world's oldest amusement park is Bakken (The Hill) north of Copenhagen, which opened in 1583 and still operates today.
- The highest point in Denmark called the Himmelbjerg (Sky Mountain) is only 180m above sea level.
- Greenland is geographically part of the North American continent but it was governed by Denmark for centuries. It was granted self-government by the Danish parliament in 1978, and gained further autonomous competences with the Home Rule Act of 2010, but Denmark retains responsibility for foreign affairs and defence.
- The Faroes, 18 islands in the Atlantic, are self-governing but belong to the Kingdom of Denmark.
HEALTH
- Infant mortality rate (2011) – 3.1/1,000.
- Life expectancy - men 76.9 years, women 81.1 years (2011).
