51 Amazing Facts about Denmark | Amazing Facts 4U
Land & Geography
- The official name of Denmark is the Kingdom of Denmark.
- Denmark shares a land border with only one country , Germany and is connected to Sweden by a bridge.
- Denmark has a population of just over 5.5 million people. More than 80% of the Danish population are members of the Danish National Evangelical Lutheran Church seeing themselves as protestants.
- Along with the Jutland Peninsula, there are 443 named islands in Denmark. Over 70 of these islands are inhabited, with the largest two being Zealand and Funen.
- Denmark has 500km of clean sandy beaches, and the cleanest sea in the European Union.
- The capital city of Denmark is Copenhagen, located on the island of Zealand with population of 1.2 million. With historical palaces and gardens and parks, it is the most visited of all Nordic cities.
- The Kingdom of Denmark also includes the self-governing territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland in the north Atlantic Ocean.
- Faroe Islands used to belong to Norway, but were lost from them after the King of Norway lost drunken poker game with King of Denmark. They have been self governing since 1948.
- Although it’s near to Canada and has it’s own government, Greenland is actually a part of Denmark. It is the world’s largest island with an area of 2,175,600 sq km.
- Amazingly the ice free part of Greenland is almost 10 times larger than Denmark.
- Denmark is a relatively flat country with no mountains the highest natural point, Møllehøj, rising to just 170.86 m (561 ft) and the country’s average height above sea level is only 31 m (102 ft).
- Around 65% of Denmark is farmland and 11% woodlands. Denmark also has many beautiful beaches around its coastline.
- In a year, the average temperature changes from 0 °C in January to 16 °C in August.
History
- There is evidence that people have lived in Denmark since the Stone Age.
- Danish Vikings invaded Western Europe and ventured as far as North Africa during the 9th and 10th centuries.
- The Danish royal family is probably the oldest uninterrupted European monarchy. The first king of the “official line”, ruled from 934 A.D.
- First acknowledged in 1219, the Danish flag remains the oldest state flag in the world still in use by an independent nation.
- Between 1397 and 1524, the whole of Scandinavia (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland) as well as southern Finland was unified under Danish rule, with Copenhagen as capital. The Denmark-Norway Union (including Iceland and Greenland) lasted until 1814.
Places
- The Royal Library in Copenhagen is the oldest in Scandinavia (1673). It consists of 500,000 volumes and 20,000 manuscripts. Among them the last great collection of manuscripts in Sanskrit, Pali and Sinhalese languages.
- The world-famous Tivoli amusement park in downtown Copenhagen is one of biggest and oldest in World. Once Walt Disney visited Tivoli and he was so excited with it that later he decided to make something similar which resulted in creating the famous Disney Land.
People Customs & Culture
- The official language of Denmark is Danish which is a language similar to Norwegian and Swedish however most people also understand and speak English.
- The average tax rate in Denmark is high at 49%.
- International surveys and studies have consistently ranked Denmark as the happiest place in the world based on standards of health, welfare, and education.
- Denmark is ranked very high as the world’s most democratic and least corrupted country.
- Danish people have the lowest income inequality in the world.
- Fifty percent of Copenhageners commute to work via bike. Copenhagen has been rated as the world’s top cities for cyclists.
- Copenhageners cycle a total of 1.2 km every day along 340 km of cycle lanes.
- The average maternity leave is 52 weeks and is 100% paid for.
- Amazingly Denmark has a Law on Personal Names. Parents can choose from a list of only 7,000 preapproved names. If a name isn’t on the list you need special permission from local church and government officials.
- Children are all in day care from six months so that frees up a lot of time.
- Amazing fact is that it is not unusual for Danes to leave their child outside home or in a car or carriages alone without fearing that they will be kidnapped or harmed in any way.
- All Danish families receive over $1,500 each year for each child under 18 years old.
- Amazingly Denmark is so safe that there are hardly any crimes. Nobody gets burgled, nobody gets raped and above all nobody gets their car stolen.
- Suicide is very rare and total number is in single figure for the whole country.
- If you don’t want to be married to someone you can just divorce then and carry on with the rest of your life. There is legally no forced marriage against your wish.
- One in every four Danes has the surname Jensen, Hansen or Nielsen. Two-thirds of the population have a surname ending in ‘sen’.
- Education in Denmark is provided free of charge at all levels and there are nine years of compulsory education.
- Unemployment is not a problem . Amazing fact is if you lose your job, the government will continue to pay 90% of your salary for up to two years!
- Sentences are really lenient here and one can do murder and only get three years prison.
- Danish men marry the oldest of all Europeans , at 32 years old average.
- Danes are very polite but amazingly ‘Please’ and ‘Thank You’ equivalent words are not found in the Danish dictionary.
- Many Danes do not understand what the word Vegan means. Veggie option in Denmark is chicken or fish.
Politics/ Legal
- Denmark is ruled by a queen (Queen Margrethe II) and amazingly her husband is a prince not a king!
- Denmark was the first European country to abolish slavery.
- Denmark is part of the European Union, but the country decided to retain its own currency the Danish krone.
Economy & Corporates
- The A.P. Møller-Mærsk Group commonly known as Mærsk, headquartered in Copenhagen, is the largest container ship operator and supply vessel operator in the world, employing over 100,000 people in 125 countries.
Inventions
- LEGO was invented in Denmark. Legoland and the company headquarters are located in Billund, on the Jutland peninsula.
Famous People
- Denmark has 14 Nobel laureates, mainly in Literature , Physiology and Medicine. This is one of the highest numbers of Nobel laureates per capita in the world.
- The architect of the iconic Sydney Opera House was the Dane Jørn Utzon (1918-2008). In 2007, he became only the second person to have his work recognised as a World Heritage Site while he was still alive.
- Nobel Prize winner Physicist known for the explanation of the periodic system of elements was Danish.
Sport
- Denmark’s national sport is football. Denmark is also a strong cycling nation . The national men’s handball team have also won the most medals in European Championship history.
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