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1
- Political Status
Denmark is
a constitutional monarchy. The kingdom is made up
of Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Queen
Margrethe II has been reigning since 1972. The
monarch has a symbolic power. The Prime Minister is
Mr Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, he was elected in
1993.
There are 179
members in the Folketing, elected for a four year
term of office (two of them represent Greenland and
two the Faroes).
The social
democrats won the elections in 1993.
Historical
Outline
1815 Norway became
independent of Denmark following the Congress of
Vienna
1864 Prussia conquered Schleswig-Holstein.
1915 Women obtained the right to vote
1918 An 8 hour working day is adopted
1940 Germany invades Denmark
1953 Following a constitutional reform women
obtained the right to come to the throne. The Upper
Chamber is abolished.
1972 Denmark is admitted into the European
Union
1973 1st January 1973 : Denmark officially becomes
a member of the CEE
1982 The Prime Minister is central right-wing, M
Poul Schlüter
1985 Greenland, which belongs to Denmark, leaved
the CEE
1992 The Maastricht Treaty is rejected by a 50.7%
majority
1993 The Maastricht Treaty is unanimously
adopted
25/1/93 M. Poul Nyrup Rasmussen becomes Prime
Minister
2
- Geographical
Situation
Denmark is made up of 483 islands and is situated
in the centre of northern Europe. It has a 68 km
long border with Germany. On the north and west it
is bordered by the North Sea, and on the east by
the Baltic.
The Skagerrak and
the Kattegat separate Denmark from the rest of the
Scandinavian peninsula, Sweden is 4 kms off the
coast, on the Oresund.
The capital is Copenhagen, which is situated at at
latitude of 55° N and a longtitude of 12°
E on the island of Sjaelland.
There is total of 7,500 kms of coastline. In the
west these take the form of sand lagoons. In the
north the Limfjord, which measures 180 kms long,
cuts the Jutland peninsula and opens the Kattegat
to the North Sea.The eastern coastline is full of
deep indentations.
The main islands are Fionie (Gun), Seeland and
Lolland, there are other smaller ones like the
island of Bornholm in the east, made of
granite.
Jylland is a vast plain with a maximum altitude of
173 meters (Yding Skovhoj) on the Jutland
peninsula, covered with Scottish-type of vegetation
: heather, willows, myrtles and scrub.
Only about a hundred of the islands are
inhabited.
Regions :
In the west :
Nordjutland, the capital is Alborg
Ringköbing, the capital is Holstebro
Viborg, the capital is Viborg
Arhus, the capital is Arhus
Vejle, the capital is Horsens
Ribe, the capital is Esbjerg
Sonderjylland, the capital is Haderslev
In the east (Island
of Seeland) :
Vestsjelland
Roskilde
Frederiksborg
Kobenhavn
Storström
3
- Economy
The Danish economy is very strong, Denmark is
the second richest country in the European Union.
The Danes enjoy one of the best standards of living
in the world. Social indemnities are the highest in
the world, there are only 2% of 'poor' households
in Denmark (10% in France), the unemployed receive
an unchanging allowance for a five year period.
Salaries have gone up over the last years more than
in any other country in Europe.
The three keys to
the success of the Danish economy are creativity,
specialization and know-how. Its expansion is based
on three main sectors : advanced technologies, the
pharmaceutical and medical industry and services in
general.
The working
population is divided amongst the sectors in the
following way : 5% in the primary sector, 27% in
the secondary sector and 68% in the tertiary
sector.
In 1999 the economy slowed down a bit, but picked
up again slowly in 2000. This recovery was partly
due to exports, which, in spite of having
difficulty competing due to high salary costs,
improved their orientation according to demands
from the Asian and European markets. Internal
demand remained restrained due to the after effects
of fiscal measures taken in 1998. It is not
impossible that the government will again employ a
restrictive budgetary policy to contain a rate of
inflation which is higher than the European
average.
The rate of
outstanding payments in Danish companies is one of
the lowest in Europe. The economic fabric is
healthy, the public debt is down to 50.9% of the
GDP and there is a surplus budget.
The social policy
concerning the job market is undergoing reform,
with a new system of paid leave being offered to
both the unemployed and the working population
destined to allow everyone to improve their level
of education and a rotation system which will allow
parents to stay at home for certain periods of
time. This attempt resulted in a drop of about 12%
in the unemployment figures of 1994 and 1995, and
the unemployment rate had fallen to 5.7% in 1999.
Regulations concerning the taking on and the laying
off of staff are very flexible.
Finland and Sweden
entered the EEC on the 1st January 1995, and this
guaranteed allies for Denmark within the Union to
help protect Scandinavian identity against the
policies of national integration. However Denmark
still remains out of the the economic and monetary
Union.
Economic
statistics
|
(in
percentage)
|
1997
|
1998
|
1999
|
2000
|
|
economic
growth
|
3.1
|
2.7
|
1.3
|
1.5
|
|
consumption
(variation)
|
3.7
|
3.5
|
1.1
|
1.5
|
|
investment
(variation)
|
10.4
|
6.9
|
1.3
|
1.7
|
|
inflation
|
1.9
|
1.8
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2.1
|
2.5
|
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unemployment
rate
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7.7
|
6.4
|
5.7
|
5.8
|
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short term
interest rate
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3.7
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4.1
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3.3
|
3.7
|
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public
balance/GDP
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0.1
|
0.9
|
2.9
|
2.2
|
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public
debt/GDP
|
64.5
|
59.6
|
55.4
|
51.6
|
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exports
(variation)
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4.4
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1.4
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3.6
|
3.8
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Imports
(variation)
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8.5
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6.4
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1.9
|
3.6
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Trade
balance (billions of $)
|
5.5
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3.7
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4.6
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4.5
|
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income
from tourisme (billions of $)
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3.19
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3.21
|
-
|
-
|
|
foreign
investment (billions of $)
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2.79
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6.67
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7.46
|
-
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(source
OEDC)
4
- Agriculture
Denmark is intensively farmed, particularly in the
north, along the Baltic. 60% of the territory is
arable land. Denmark exports two thirds of its
production (for 4% of the GDP), 90% of its fishing
production. The food industry represents 25% of the
exports. The trade balance is positive. In this
country which is both agriculturally and
commercially orientated (Copenhagen means 'the city
of merchants'), stock breeding is encouraged by the
growing of cereals and fodder.
Agriculture in
Denmark
(in millions of tons, head)
Production
.............1997 ......1998 .....1999 ..... world
rating
Barley.....................3.887 .....3.565
....3.500 .........13th
Wheat ....................
4.965......4.928....4.900 ......... 19th
Potatoes...................1.545......1.456....1.477
Animal
production (figures 1999):
- cattle :
1,9968,000
- pigs : 11,991,000.
Denmark is one of the leading exporters of pork and
milk products.
The main crops are
barley (28% of the farmed land), wheat (22%), colza
and potatoes.
Forests cover 10% of the territory and in 1998
2.129 million cubic meters of timber were cut.
5
- Industry
Denmark has off-shore reserves of petrol (153
million tons) and natural gas. The annual petrol
production amounts to about 10 million tons (14.7
million in 1999), natural gas was 7.8 million tons.
Wind turbines were installed in the 70s and today
furnish 10% of the country's electricity needs.
These wind turbines have also become the most
prestigious Danish export and are continuing to
develope. From 2003 it is projected that Danes will
be using at least 20% of energy produced by wind
turbines.
Manufacturing
industries represent 20% of the Danish GDP. Danish
industry is characterized by its small and medium
sized industries (apart from Lego which is the
world leader in games). The main sectors are
foodstuffs and transport material which make up
half the industrial added value. The chemical
industry is developing. Other sectors are
agricultural machinery, naval mechanics (Diesel),
electronics (Bang & Olufsen) and
furniture.
The Oresund bridge
was opened in July 2000 and this links Copenhagen
to the Swedish town of Malmö in less than
thirty minutes, creating the biggest urban centre
in northern Europe. The Oresund region has one of
the highest purchasing powers in Europe and is
among the top areas specialized in high tech
industries, telecommunications and distribution.
The Storebelt bridge already linked the west of
Denmark to its capital in 1998 and now the Oresund
is spreading Copenhagen and Malmö's influence
eastwards. Half of Sweden's population, and half of
Swedish export industries will be able to reach the
city in less than three hours. With this in mind, a
lot of companies are moving in northern Europe :
IBM, Mercedez Benz and Goeorg Jensen have already
transferred their headoffices or their management
centres to the region.
The main national
entreprises are :
Tele Danemark A/S
(Electronics)
Den Danske Bank e
Carlsberg Koncern (Foodstuffs)
Danisco A/S (Foodstuffs)
MD Foods Amba (Foodstuffs)
Tank & Ruteskibe (Metallurgy)
FLS Industries A/S (Metallurgy)
Lego (Games)
Diesel (Naval mechanics)
Bang & Olufsen (Electronics)
Maersk Line (Maritime and air transport)
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS)
Dansk Shell A/S (Petrol)
IBM Danmark A/S (Computor sciences)
(source : Danish
Embassy)
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