What you need to know for the test
- Denmark consists of the peninsula of Jutland (Jylland) and 443 named islands; among the most important are Zealand (Sjælland), Funen (Fyn) and Bornholm.
- Denmark has about 6 million inhabitants, and the country's area is about 43,000 km².
- The largest cities are Copenhagen (the capital), Aarhus, Odense and Aalborg.
- Denmark's highest natural point is Møllehøj in eastern Jutland – about 170 metres above sea level.
- Since the structural reform of 2007, Denmark has been divided into 5 regions and 98 municipalities (kommuner).
- The Danish Realm (rigsfællesskabet) consists of Denmark, the Faroe Islands (home rule 1948) and Greenland (home rule 1979, self-government 2009).
- The Faroe Islands and Greenland each elect two members to Folketinget (the Danish parliament).
- Denmark joined NATO in 1949 and the EC (now the EU) in 1973 – but kept the krone when the Danes voted no to the euro in 2000.
A country of one peninsula and many islands
Denmark consists of one large peninsula, Jutland, and 443 named islands, of which only about 80 are inhabited. The largest island is Zealand, where Copenhagen is located. Between Jutland and Zealand lies Funen, and out in the Baltic Sea lies Bornholm, which together with the small Ertholmene islands is the only place in Denmark where the bedrock can be seen. South of Zealand lie the islands of Lolland and Falster.
Denmark's area is about 43,000 km², and the country is one of the lowest-lying in the world. The highest natural point, Møllehøj in eastern Jutland, is only about 170 metres above sea level. Because of the many islands, Denmark has a very long coastline of about 7,300 km, and nowhere in the country is more than 52 km from the sea. Denmark has only one land border: the 68 kilometres with Germany in Southern Jutland (Sønderjylland). The country is surrounded by the North Sea (in Danish also called Vesterhavet), the Kattegat and the Baltic Sea, which are connected by the three straits: the Little Belt (Lillebælt), the Great Belt (Storebælt) and the Øresund.
Cities, population and bridges
Denmark has about 6 million inhabitants. The capital and largest city is Copenhagen (København) on the eastern part of Zealand – about a third of the population lives in the capital area. The country's second-largest city is Aarhus (about 300,000 inhabitants) on the east coast of Jutland. Number three is Odense (about 200,000 inhabitants) on Funen, and number four is Aalborg (about 125,000 inhabitants) in North Jutland. The fifth-largest is Esbjerg in western Jutland.
Today the parts of the country are connected by bridges and tunnels. The first Little Belt Bridge between Jutland and Funen opened in 1935. The Great Belt Link between Funen and Zealand was inaugurated in 1997 for trains and in 1998 for cars. And in 2000 the Øresund Link created a fixed connection across the Øresund strait between Zealand and neighbouring Sweden.
5 regions and 98 municipalities
With the structural reform (strukturreformen), which came into force on 1 January 2007, 271 municipalities were merged into 98 municipalities, and the former 14 counties were replaced by 5 regions: Region Hovedstaden, Region Sjælland, Region Syddanmark, Region Midtjylland and Region Nordjylland. The municipalities can levy taxes themselves, while the regions receive their money from the state and the municipalities. Region Hovedstaden and Region Sjælland will be merged on 1 January 2027 into the new Region Østdanmark.
Municipalities and regions carry out many of the tasks of the welfare society, and municipal councils and regional councils are elected every four years – read more under elections and parties.
The Danish Realm: Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland
Denmark forms the Danish Realm together with the Faroe Islands and Greenland. The official name of the realm is 'Kongeriget Danmark' (the Kingdom of Denmark). Grundloven (the Danish constitution) applies to all three parts of the realm, which have the king as head of state – read more about the royal house. The Faroe Islands and Greenland each elect two members to Folketinget, the so-called North Atlantic seats. The two countries pass their own laws in many areas, but Folketinget and the Danish authorities are responsible for, among other things, foreign and security policy as well as currency and monetary policy.
The Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands (Færøerne) are a group of 18 islands in the Atlantic Ocean with 54,000 inhabitants; the capital and largest town is Tórshavn. The Faroe Islands were granted home rule by law in 1948. The home rule consists of the Lagting (Lagtinget), a popularly elected legislative assembly, and a local government led by the lagmand. When Denmark joined the EC in 1973, the Faroe Islands chose to remain outside.
Greenland
Greenland (Grønland) is the world's largest island and has about 57,000 inhabitants; the capital and largest town is Nuuk (Godthåb). Until 1953 Greenland was a Danish colony. Greenland was granted home rule in 1979, and in 2009 this arrangement was replaced by a self-government arrangement, which gave Greenland self-determination in even more areas – and which established that the Greenlanders are a people with the right to full independence when they themselves want it. The self-government consists of the parliament (Inatsisartut) and the government (Naalakkersuisut). Greenland joined the EC together with Denmark in 1973 but left again in 1985 after a referendum.
Denmark in the world: the EU, opt-outs and NATO
Denmark joined the EC (now the EU) in 1973. After the Danes voted no to the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, the Edinburgh Agreement gave Denmark four EU opt-outs: union citizenship, the common currency (the euro), defence, and justice and home affairs. In the referendum of 2000, 53.2 percent of Danes voted no to adopting the euro, and Denmark therefore still has its own currency, the krone. Denmark does, however, pursue a fixed exchange rate policy, so the krone's rate follows the euro. The defence opt-out was abolished after a referendum in 2022.
After the Second World War, Denmark gave up its traditional policy of neutrality and in 1949 became a member of the defence alliance NATO. Central to the NATO treaty is Article 5, which says that an attack on one member country is considered an attack on all. Read more in Denmark after 1945.
Business life in brief
Denmark has an open economy in which exports account for about half of total production. Denmark has always been a great seafaring nation: the shipping company Mærsk was the world's second-largest container shipping company in 2023. Vestas was the world's largest manufacturer of wind turbines in 2024, and agriculture remains an important export industry, even though far fewer people work in farming itself today – about 60 percent of the country is cultivated. Read more about jobs and industry under the labour market.