Denmark | Facts & Information

Updated September 9, 2022 | Infoplease Staff
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Facts & Figures

  • Sovereign: Queen Margrethe II (1972)

    Prime Minister: Lars Lokke Rasmussen (2015)

    Land area: 16,359 sq mi (42,370 sq km); total area: 16,639 sq mi (43,094 sq km)1

    Population (2014 est.): 5,569,077 (growth rate: 0.22%); birth rate: 10.22/1000; infant mortality rate: 4.1/1000; life expectancy: 79.09

    Capital and largest city (2011 est.): Copenhagen, 1.206 million

    Monetary unit: Krone

    National name: Kongeriget Danmark

    Current government officials

    Languages: Danish, Faroese, Greenlandic (Inuit dialect), German; English is the predominant second language

    Ethnicity/race: Scandinavian, Inuit, Faroese, German, Turkish, Iranian, Somali

    National Holiday: Constitution Day, June 5

    Religions: Evangelical Lutheran (official) 80%, Muslim 4%, other (denominations of less than 1% each, includes Roman Catholic, Jehovah's Witness, Serbian Orthodox Christian, Jewish, Baptist, and Buddhist) 16% (2012 est.)

    Literacy rate: 99%

    Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2013 est.): $211.3 billion; per capita $37,800. Real growth rate: 0.1%. Inflation: 0.8%. Unemployment: 6%. Arable land: 57.99%. Agriculture: barley, wheat, potatoes, sugar beets; pork, dairy products; fish. Labor force: 2.795 million; agriculture 2.6%, industry 20.3%, services 77.1% (2013 est.). Industries: iron, steel, nonferrous metals, chemicals, food processing, machinery and transportation equipment, textiles and clothing, electronics, construction, furniture and other wood products, shipbuilding and refurbishment, windmills, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment. Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, fish, salt, limestone, stone, gravel and sand. Exports: $106 billion (2013 est.): machinery and instruments, meat and meat products, dairy products, fish, chemicals, furniture, ships, windmills. Imports: $98.45 billion (2013 est.): machinery and equipment, raw materials and semimanufactures for industry, chemicals, grain and foodstuffs, consumer goods. Major trading partners: Germany, Sweden, UK, U.S., Netherlands, Norway, China (2012).

    Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 2.431 million (2012); mobile cellular: 6.6 million (2012). Broadcast media:strong public-sector television presence with state-owned Danmarks Radio (DR) operating 4 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, 15 digital audio broadcasting stations, and about 15 web-based radio stations; approximately 250 commercial and community radio stations are operational (2007). Internet hosts:4.297 million (2012). Internet users: 4.75 million (2009).

    Transportation: Railways: total: 2,667 km km (2011). Highways: total: 73,197 km; paved: 73,197 km (includes 1,111 km of expressways) (2011). Waterways: 400 km (2010). Ports and harbors: Aalborg, Aarhus, Copenhagen, Ensted, Esbjerg, Fredericia, Kalundborg. Airports: 92 (2013 est.).

    Transportation: Railways: total: 2,667 km km (2012). Highways: total: 73,929 km; paved: 73,929 km (includes 1,143 km of expressways) (2012). Waterways: 400 km (2010). Ports and harbors: Aalborg, Aarhus, Copenhagen, Ensted, Esbjerg, Fredericia, Kalundborg. Airports: 80 (2010 est.).

    International disputes: Iceland, the UK, and Ireland dispute Denmark's claim that the Faroe Islands' continental shelf extends beyond 200 nm; Faroese continue to study proposals for full independence; sovereignty dispute with Canada over Hans Island in the Kennedy Channel between Ellesmere Island and Greenland; Denmark (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.

    Major sources and definitions

    Outlying Territories of Denmark

See also: