Denmark
- Capital:
- Copenhagen
- Continent:
- Europe
- Region(s):
- Northern Europe
- Largest Cities:
- Copenhagen, Arhus, Odense
- Abbreviation:
- DNK
* As of 6/9/2025
1 birth
Every 8.9 minutes
1 death
Every 9.1 minutes
1 immigrant
Every 23.6 minutes
1 person
Every 22.5 minutes
Denmark is the southernmost Nordic country in Northern Europe, where it’s bordered by Germany, Norway and Sweden. The Kingdom of Denmark is comprised of the country of Denmark, which consists of Jutland, a peninsula, and a large archipelago, as well as two autonomous constituent countries: Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
Nearly 90% of Denmark’s population is comprised of people of Danish descent, which means having at least one parent born in the country with Danish citizenship. Most of the remaining 10% are immigrants or the descendants of recent immigrants, most of whom came from Turkey, Somalia, Iraq, South Asia, the Middle East, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. About 34% of the non-Danish citizens have a Western background.
Popular languages in use in among the Denmark population include Danish, Faroese, and Greenlandic. The Denmark population also enjoys a relatively healthy life expectancy rate and it rates 47th in the world in this respect. The overall average is 79.5 years and this can be split between males at 77.1 years and females at 82.1 years.
Denmark is often ranked as one of the world’s happiest countries due to its low income inequality and excellent health care and education. Its current position on the World Happiness Report as of 2018 is number 3, with a rating of 7.555 out of 10.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark is the official state religion, and the vast majority of Danes are Christian with 71.7% of the population. Within that figure, 60% are Lutheran, 2.2% are Orthodox, 1.2% are Catholic, and 8.3% of people practice another denomination of Christianity. Although Denmark has an official religion, it is not often brought into politics and many politicians are Atheist. A substantial 25.7% of people in Denmark are either Atheist or Agnostic and the remaining 2.6% of people practice a religion other than Christianity.
The services sector in Denmark dominates the economy and employs 80% of its citizens. The people living there have comfortable living standards, the income per capita is the tenth-highest in the world, and income inequality is fairly minimal. Although the services sector employs most people, trade makes up 50% of the nation’s GDP. There is no minimum wage in Denmark and their unemployment is lower than most other countries in the EU.
The government in Denmark operates under the Nordic model, where there are high taxes internationally as well as high levels of government spending. The Danish government is set up as a constitutional monarchy, where the Monarch has central power as well as the executive and legislative power. The parliament, however, is sovereign. The cabinet within in the executive branch is appointed by the monarch, but all executive actions are monitored and balanced by the parliament, known as the Folketing, which has more power than any other parliament in the EU. The Danish judiciary is completely separate from both the Folketing and the monarch.
The country of Denmark has been in existence since at least the 10th century, but it didn’t become the constitutional monarchy it is today until 1849. Unlike most countries in Europe, Denmark was neutral throughout both world wars until the Nazis invaded the country in the early 1940s, which the Danish resisted to the best of their ability. Greenland became part of Denmark in 1953 until they were granted in home rule in 1979.