Denmark

Almost 6 million:

Denmark proper : 5,5 mill.

Iceland : 300.000 (as a foreign language)

Faroe Islands : 50.000 (second language)

Greenland : 50.000 (second language)

Germany : 50.000 (primary or secondary language)

As always with metropolitan areas it's a question of definitions:

Municipality : 526.918 (Sep 2009) [21% are 1st and 2nd generation immigrants]

Capital (Copenhagen, Frederiksberg & Gentofte) : 683.397 (Jan 2009) [12,4% of DK]

Greater Copenhagen : 1.167.569 (2006) [21,2 % of Denmark]

Developments:

The municipality of Copenhagen has experienced a significant decline since the population peaked right after after WWII at 628.397 persons. This is due to a move from outdated flats in the 'old' city to the suburbs.

Increasingly Greater Copenhagen and the neighbouring Greater Malmö just across the Oeresund strait are in many regards working to develop a common metropolitan area (Öresund region) which is home to 1,8 mill inhabitants.

As always with metropolitan areas it's a question of definitions:

Municipality : 526.918 (Sep 2009) [21% are 1st and 2nd generation immigrants]

Capital (Copenhagen, Frederiksberg & Gentofte) : 683.397 (Jan 2009) [12,4% of DK]

Greater Copenhagen : 1.167.569 (2006) [21,2 % of Denmark]

Developments:

The municipality of Copenhagen has experienced a significant decline since the population peaked right after after WWII at 628.397 persons. This is due to a move from outdated flats in the 'old' city to the suburbs.

Increasing Greater Copenhagen and the neighbouring Greater Malmö just accross the Oeresund strait are in many regards working to develop a common metropolitan area (Öresund region) which is home to 1,8 mill inhabitants.

Denmark's main exports include machinery, medical instruments, pharmaceuticals, and furniture. They also export agricultural products like pork, dairy products, and fish.

Yes, by current definitions. Denmark has been a Constitutional monarchy from 1848. Since 1901 it has been combined with Parlimentarism, which means that no government can have a majority of the Parliament against it. Women has had the right to vote in national elections since 1915 (first used in 1918).

National parliament: All citizens of age 18 and up. (Men obtained the right in 1849, but in the beginning had to fulfil certain social and economic criteria, so less than 10% could actually vote; Women's suffrage was granted in 1915).

Municipal councils: Everybody age 18+ with at least 3 years recidency in the country. (Foreign citizens got the voting right in 1981).

Denmark introduced Democracy in 1849, but only from 1901 was so-called parlimentarism enforced, which means that no government can have a majority in parliament against it. Until 1915 only men had the vote, so you can of course discuss how democratic the system was!

Greenland is a self-governing province of Denmark.

Potatos, rice, pasta, cow, pig, lamb, chicken, turkey, a variety of fish, cabbage, corn, peas, pepperfruit, beetroot, onion, garlic, rye bread, white bread, local and foreign fruits. I could go on, but I want time to celebrate Christmas a year from now.

Example dishes:

Breakfast: Oatmeal with wilk and sugar on top.

Lunch: A few slices of rye bread with butter and sliced meat or leverpostej (pate of pork liver).

Dinner: Green beans, potatos with brown sauce, and frikadeller (meat balls).

Perhaps a banana or apple in between and chocolate or ice cream in the late evening.

Danish food is often fat and doesn't contain a lot of chilli.

Frikadeller - pan-fried balls of minced meat

People of Denmark eat on average 26 pounds of candy each year.

"Stegt flæsk" - Fried slices of juicy pork on the bone with tasty Danish potatoes and creamy parsley sauce is one of the Danes favourite everyday dishes and is mostly eaten during the cold and wet winter periods.

Smoked ham or pork

salani - "Spegepolse"

Head cheese or Brawn - "Sylte"

Smoked Herring

Marinated or pickled herring

Cheese - Ost

The postal code for the country of Denmark is "DENMARK", or alternatively "DANEMARK", which is the French word for Denmark. Denmark has its own system of postal codes for addresses within the country.

The Danish army's resistance against the German invasion in April 1940 was limited due to the overwhelming strength of the German forces. They fought primarily to defend their sovereignty and national integrity, but faced a swift occupation. Ultimately, the Danish government chose to surrender to minimize civilian casualties and avoid destruction, reflecting the dire situation. Their brief conflict highlighted the complexities of wartime decisions in the face of aggression.

No.

Isn't US the biggest country in the world?

Langelinie Terminal

Denmark is culturally (as well as in other regards) part of Scandinavia whose culture in terms of religion, traditions etc. was starting to separate out of a bigger Germanic common culture in the 5th century. Since then Scandinavian culture has been distinct by RELATIVELY low level of authority-distance within the social groups. In popular literature this is often exemplified by the viking raids of the 8th to 11th century that allegedly some times could be carried out by almost self-organising groups with the leadership of a lord or king. As part of the Northern European revolt against the Catholic ecclesiastical hierarchy all of Scandinavia became Lutheran protestant. In this religious denomination one does not recognise the religious authority of the Pope, the bishops or the priest - in principle there is nobody between the ordinary human being and God himself. In the 17th and 18th century, travellers have described the peasant populations of both Denmark and Sweden as relatively educated and independent indicating that the lower classes were RELATIVELY less impoverished and subdued than in most European countries. All of this seem to point to an historical root to the egalitarian society that eventually materialised in the Scandinavian welfare states in the mid 20th century (although they were realised by the Social-democratic parties/movements, which were not a Scandinavian invention, but a direct import from Germany).

Among the Scandinavian countries Denmark is usually described as having a more laid-back and informal culture, but the differences within Scandinavia is probably much smaller than between Scandinavia and the rest of the world (not including Holland and the Northern most part of Germany, which have comparable cultures.

Alaska is much bigger than Denmark. However, Denmark also can include Greenland, which is bigger than Alaska.

The same as the rest of the northern hemisphere.

The Islands were bought by the US in 1917. They had been a profitable colony until the mid 19th century, but became a liability after the abolition of slavery and changing sailing routes in the region. Denmark was thus eager to sell and during WWI USA finally wanted to buy to eliminate the risk of Germany taken them over and using them as a submarine base. The price was $ 25 million, and the deal had to pass a public vote in Denmark.

It may be interesting to note that even though Denmark was late in freeing the slaves (decided in 1847 to take effect after 12 years, but implemented in 1848 due to a slave rebellion in the West Indies/Virgin Isl.), she was actually the first colonial power to ban the Slave trade. A law was passed in 1792 to have effect in 1802, i.e. before the famous Wilberforce had success with a similar law for the British Empire.

Ireland is larger than Denmark.

No, it is not.

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It depends on how you define Denmark. If you mean Denmark proper (European Denmark bordering Germany) the answer is no, but if you mean the State called The Kingdom of Denmark, then in reality it is a federation, since Greenland and the Faroe Islands constitute two self-governing parts of the state (and Denmark proper the third part). The seats in the Danish Parliament are split in a fixed relation between the three parts of the state: Denmark 175 seats, Greenland 2 and the Faroe Islands 2. [Just to avoid confusion: In spite of the above nobody calls Denmark a Federation]

No, absolutely no problems (= risk factors) one should consider when going to Denmark. You may have heard/read about gang wars during the summer 2009 (turf wars between Hell's Angels and Immigrant gangs), but they have stopped shooting in the streets(!) and it was only in very limited areas anyway. So unles your business is exactly drugs, then there is no reason to worry :-)

Copenhagen is the capitol of Denmark in Europe.

Longest day (midsummer): 17 hours on June 21
Shortest day (midwinter): 7 hours on Dec 21