Denmark
Area: 42,930 sq km (2,210,415 sq km including Greenland and the Faroe Islands)
Population: 5.4 million
Capital City: Copenhagen
People: Overwhelmingly Danish by origin; non-EU immigrants number about 4.5% of the population.
Languages: Danish. English is widely spoken throughout Denmark to a very high standard.
Faroese is spoken in the Faroes: it is not mutually comprehensible with Danish. In Greenland, both Danish and Greenlandic (an Inuit dialect) are spoken.
Religions: The Evangelical Lutheran Church is the state church. About 84% of Danes belong to it (and about 95% were brought up in it). There are small numbers of other Christian denominations. It is estimated that Muslims form about 3-4% of the population.
Currency: Danish Krone (DKK)
Head of State: Queen Margrethe II
Prime Minister: Lars Løkke Rasmussen (Liberals)
Foreign Minister: Lene Espersen (Conservatives)
Political Parties Represented in Parliament:
Venstre (Denmark’s Liberal Party) - The largest party in Denmark with 47 seats in parliament. It is led by PM Lars Løkke Rasmussen.
Social Democrats (Socialdemokraterne) -The party has 45 of 179 seats in parliament. It is led by Helle Thorning-Schmidt.
Danish People’s Party (Dansk Folkeparti) - The party has 25 seats in parliament. It is led by Pia Kjærsgaard.
Socialist People’s Party (Socialistisk Folkeparti) - The party has 23 seats in parliament. It is led by Villy Søvndal.
Conservative People’s Party (Det Konservative Folkeparti) -The party has 18 seats in parliament. It is led by Lene Espersen.
The Social Liberals (Det Radikale Venstre) - The party has nine seats in parliament. It is led by Margrethe Vestager.
Red Green Alliance (Enhedslisten) - The party has four seats in parliament and has a collective leadership
Liberal Alliance - The party has three seats in parliament. It is led by Anders Samuelsen
Outside of parties: 1
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, 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 but Denmark controls its foreign affairs.
The Faroes, 18 islands in the Atlantic, are self-governing but belong to the Kingdom of Denmark.
HEALTH
- Infant mortality rate (2005) - 4.63/1,000.
- Life expectancy - men 75.8 years, women 80.1 years (2006).
