Land boundaries:
total: 68 km border countries: Germany 68 km
Coastline:
7,314 km
Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
Climate:
temperate; humid and overcast; mild, windy winters and cool summers
Terrain:
low and flat to gently rolling plains
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Lammefjord −7 m highest point: Yding Skovhoej 173 m
Natural resources:
petroleum, natural gas, fish, salt, limestone, chalk, stone, gravel and sand
Land use:
arable land: 52.59% permanent crops: 0.19% other: 47.22% (2005)
Irrigated land:
4,490 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources:
6.1 cu km (2003)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):
total: 0.67 cu km/yr (32%/26%/42%) per capita: 123 cu m/yr (2002)
Natural hazards:
flooding is a threat in some areas of the country (e.g., parts of Jutland, along the southern coast of the island of Lolland) that are protected from the sea by a system of dikes
Environment - current issues:
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
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air
Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85,
Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds,
Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental
Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping,
Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution,
Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note:
controls Danish Straits (Skagerrak and Kattegat) linking Baltic and North Seas; about one-quarter of the population lives in greater Copenhagen
People
Denmark
Population:
5,484,723 (July 2008 est.)
Age structure:
0–14 years: 18.4% (male 516,735/female 490,532) 15–64 years: 65.9% (male 1,818,681/female 1,796,753) 65 years and over: 15.7% (male 374,388/female 487,634) (2008 est.)
Median age:
total: 40.3 years male: 39.4 years female: 41.2 years (2008 est.)
Population growth rate:
0.295% (2008 est.)
Birth rate:
10.71 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Death rate:
10.25 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Net migration rate:
2.49 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15–64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.77 male(s)/female total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2008 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
total: 4.4 deaths/1,000 live births male: 4.44 deaths/1,000 live births female: 4.35 deaths/1,000 live births (2008 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 78.13 years male: 75.8 years female: 80.59 years (2008 est.)
Total fertility rate:
1.74 children born/woman (2008 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.2% (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
5,000 (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
fewer than 100 (2003 est.)
Nationality:
noun: Dane(s) adjective: Danish
Ethnic groups:
Scandinavian, Inuit, Faroese, German, Turkish, Iranian, Somali
Religions:
Evangelical Lutheran 95%, other Christian (includes Protestant and
Roman Catholic) 3%, Muslim 2%
Languages:
Danish, Faroese, Greenlandic (an Inuit dialect), German (small minority) note: English is the predominant second language
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 99% male: 99% female: 99% (2003 est.)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):
total: 17 years male: 16 years female: 17 years (2006)
Education expenditures:
8.3% of GDP (2005)
Government
Denmark
Country name:
conventional long form: Kingdom of Denmark conventional short form: Denmark local long form: Kongeriget Danmark local short form: Danmark
Government type:
constitutional monarchy
Capital:
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 the North Atlantic components
Administrative divisions:
metropolitan Denmark - 5 regions (regioner, singular - region); Hovedstaden, Midtjylland, Nordjylland, Sjaelland, Syddanmark note: an extensive local government reform merged 271 municipalities into 98 and 13 counties into five regions, effective 1 January 2007
Independence:
first organized as a unified state in 10th century; in 1849 became a constitutional monarchy
National holiday:
none designated; Constitution Day, 5 June (1849) is generally viewed as the National Day
Constitution:
5 June 1953 constitution allowed for a unicameral legislature and a female chief of state
Legal system:
civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction,