Denmark

C

Plants and Animals

Relatively little wild vegetation remains in Denmark, because so much of the land is under cultivation. Forests cover about 10 per cent of the country; the main tree species are conifer, beech, oak, and ash. Several varieties of ferns and mosses common to middle Europe are also found. Roe and red deer are the only large mammals; small mammals include the fox, squirrel, and hare. There are more than 300 species of bird and many species of freshwater and salt-water fish; cod, herring, and plaice form the basis of the fishing industry.

D

Environmental Concerns

Considered highly advanced in environmental planning and world environmental activism, Denmark is also a leader in pollution control and was the first industrialized country to establish a Ministry of the Environment. Denmark recognizes most of its protected areas as biotopes and special zones rather than strictly delimited parks and reserves. Commercial activity is strictly regulated to preserve the natural and historical value of the landscape. About 32 per cent (1997) of the country falls into protected areas.

Danes cut their overall energy consumption by 22 per cent between 1979 and 1989. Ninety-eight per cent of the nation’s sewage is treated, and sulphur dioxide emissions dropped 40 per cent between 1978 and the early 1990s. Nevertheless, challenging problems remain to be solved—agricultural run-off has recently caused harmful algal blooms in the North Sea and increasingly threatens drinking water. The country is working to clean up nearly 3,000 hazardous waste sites discovered during the 1980s.

Denmark has ratified the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and contains many designated sites. It has also ratified the World Heritage Convention. There is an immense tundra biosphere reserve in north-eastern Greenland, a Danish dependency, under the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Man and the Biosphere Program. Other international environmental agreements ratified include those on air pollution, the Antarctic Treaty, biodiversity, climate change, endangered species, environmental modification, hazardous wastes, marine dumping, marine life, nuclear testing, ozone layer, ship pollution, tropical timber, and whaling. Regionally, Denmark is party to agreements to protect terrestrial and marine habitat under standards set by the European Union, Bern Convention, Helsinki Convention, Council of Europe (CE), and Nordic Council, among others.

III

Population

Denmark’s population is extremely homogenous; 96 per cent are ethnic Danes who are closely related to the people of Norway and Sweden. There is a small immigrant population, mainly comprising other Scandinavians, Inuit, Germans, Turks, Iranians, Vietnamese, and Somalis. There is an ongoing debate over immigration levels.

A

Population Characteristics

About 86 per cent of the Danish population lives in urban areas. Metropolitan Denmark (excluding the Faroe Islands and Greenland) has a population of 5,468,120 (2007 estimate), giving the country an overall population density of about 129 people per sq km (334 per sq mi). The population of Greenland is 56,344 (2007 estimate), and that of the Faroe Islands, 47,511 (2007 estimate).

Denmark has had a very low birth rate (average births per childbearing woman are 1.74) for many years and as a result the native-born population is ageing and declining. Immigration has so far offset losses in reproductive replacement, and the total population seems to have stabilized at 5.47 million. The upward shift in age distribution has been emphasized by Denmark’s long life expectancy: about 76 years for men; 80 years for women.

Less than half of the population lives in a traditional nuclear family, and cohabiting partners have the same rights as married couples. Denmark was the world’s first country to legalize marriage, in 1990, of homosexual couples in the form of registered partnerships, thereby granting them equal legal marital status.

B

Political Divisions

For administrative purposes, Denmark was divided into five large regions in 2007: namely, Hovedstaden, Midtjylland, Nordjylland, Sjælland, and Syddanmark. Further reform merged the former 271 municipalities into 98 larger units.