A small country in Northern Europe is the main member of the community. The Kingdom of Denmark also includes two small territories - the Faroe Islands and Greenland. The Danish economy is one of the most highly developed and stable in the European Union. It has a balanced state budget and low inflation.
general information
Denmark is the southernmost of the Scandinavian countries, it borders with Sweden in the northeast, Norway with the north, and has a common border with Germany on the south. The country is washed by two seas - the Baltic and the North. Located on the peninsula of Jutland and includes 409 islands that are combined into the Danish archipelago. The country's territory covers an area of 43, 094 square meters. km, is at 130 place among countries in the world for this indicator. Denmark is a typical maritime country, it does not have a single point, which would be located from the sea further than 60 km. The only land border with Germany is only 68 km long.
The capital of the country is Copenhagen, founded in 1167. 1.34 million people live in the city, taking into account suburban residents. There are several cities with a population of about 100 thousand people - Aarhus, Odense and Aalborg. A small open economy is heavily dependent on foreign trade, which is why the Danish economy is heavily influenced by global market conditions. There are practically no natural resources in the state. There are deposits of peat, clay and limestone. Since 1970, oil has been extracted on the shelf of the North Sea and the development of natural gas fields has begun.
Political structure
The country is governed by the principles of a constitutional monarchy, the head of state is the monarch (currently Queen Margrethe II), who performs mainly representative functions. The Queen represents the legislative branch in conjunction with Folketing, a unicameral parliament.
The Danish state, once the birthplace of the Vikings, and then a major Northern European power, has now become a modern, prosperous small country that is actively involved in European political and economic cooperation. He is one of the founders of the North Atlantic bloc, which it has been in since 1949. In the same year, she joined the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which later became the European Union. Although the Danish economy is fully integrated into the European one, the country has not entered into a monetary and economic union, it has its strong positions on some other issues.
Population
Approximately 5.69 million people live in the country, mostly of Scandinavian descent. Small groups are represented by Inuit (Greenland Eskimos), Faroese, Germans, Friezes. Immigrants from various countries in Asia and Africa make up approximately 6.2% of the population. Due to the high level of development and stability of the Danish economy, life expectancy is quite high: for men - 78 years, for women - 86 years. The country has more than 2 million families, 1 million students. Of the 100 families, 55 have their own homes.
Most citizens speak Danish. Although in a small area located on the border with Germany, the additional language is German. A significant part of the Danes knows English well, especially residents of large cities and youth. Along with a good level of education, knowledge of languages makes the country's labor resources highly competitive in Europe.
The quality of life is at an average level among Western European countries, with a fairly low stratification of the population in terms of wealth. Many experts call Denmark one of the most expensive countries in Europe. Living in it costs 41% more than the EU average. In terms of GDP (57, 070.3 US dollars) per capita, it is in ninth place in the world.
Economics overview
The country's modern market economy is characterized by a developed industry, with leading global corporations in the pharmaceutical, maritime, and renewable energy industries. Denmark's small high-tech agriculture has significant export potential. The country's post-industrial economy has a dominant position in terms of contribution to GDP of 71%, followed by industry - 26%, agriculture - 3%. In the service sector, 79% of the population is employed, industry - 17%, and agriculture - 4%.
The country is part of the EU, but not the eurozone, and has retained its national currency. According to the Central Bank of Russia, the average annual rate of the Danish krone was 9.9262 rubles per DKK. The government uses a wide range of instruments to liberalize trade, stimulate production, and especially for the fair distribution of income. Denmark's GDP in 2017 reached 314.27 billion US dollars and took 36th place in the world list.
The main characteristics of the economy
In recent years, the Danish economy has been growing at a relatively low rate. In 2015, it grew by 1.6%, in 2016 - by 2%, in 2017 - by 2.1%. In 2018, growth rates are expected to decline slightly.
The country is characterized by a low level of unemployment in 2017 - 5.5% according to the national labor survey. At the same time, the situation on the labor market was somewhat tense. Employers encountered some difficulties in finding workers with the necessary qualifications. Some vacancies at the enterprises were not closed. The national government offers many programs to improve the professional level of the unemployed to work in industries that require qualified employees.
The country's advantages are also: low inflation at 2.4%, a large surplus in the balance of payments, a strong and high-tech production, and hydrocarbon reserves. The negative factors are: high taxes, declining competitiveness due to high salaries and a strong Danish krone exchange rate.
Financial system
For a long time, the country managed to maintain a surplus of the state budget, in 2008, in connection with the global financial crisis, the budget balance was in the red. Since 2014, the budget has been balancing between surplus and deficit. In 2017, the state budget was formed with a surplus of 1%. In subsequent years, the government plans a deficit of 0.7%.
The main problem for the country remains the need to increase state and municipal housing costs in 2018. Measures are being taken to reduce public debt in 2018 to the level of 35.6% of the country's GDP and in 2019 to 34.8% in 2019. Responsibility for this and monetary policy lies with the National Bank of Denmark.
Industry
The main industrial capacities are concentrated in the western regions of the country and on Funen Island, about 60% of the industry's products are exported. About a quarter of sales is engineering products. Danish companies occupy leading positions in the world in many industries, including the production of wind generators, refrigeration equipment, apparatus for wireless telecommunications, hearing aids, electronic products and many others.
For a long time shipbuilding has been one of the key industries in the country, but its share in the world market is gradually declining. In recent years, shipbuilding enterprises have been working mainly for local shipping companies. For example, the world's largest container shipping operator and the world's third largest port operator AP Moller-Maersk Group owns a shipyard on which it builds container ships. It was on it that in 2006 the world's largest container ship Emma Mærsk was built.
Energy and petrochemistry
The country is the only EU member that fully provides itself with energy. Denmark is a leader in the use of renewable energy, including bio, wind and solar. Since 2011, it ranks first in the world in terms of income from the use of renewable energy sources in the country's GDP.
Since the beginning of the 70s, Denmark has been developing hydrocarbon deposits on the shelf of the North Sea (a total of 19 fields). A significant part of the extracted oil and gas is used domestically for energy production and various products of the chemical industry. The largest Danish companies produce mineral fertilizers, chemicals, heat-insulating and heat-resistant materials.
Agriculture and forestry
The most frequently promoted visual image of the country, which is actively supported by the government, is ecological agricultural production. For a long time, the industry has been the driver of the economy. Danish agriculture employs 120, 000 people (5% of the working population). High-tech and intensive agricultural production still accounts for up to a third of the country's exports. Denmark dominates the global bacon market (70%), ranks second in sales of canned meat (21%), fourth in oil (12%), and holds a good position in the cheese and fish markets. One of the largest companies in the country and the world is Carlsberg Brugguirierne og Tuborg Brugguirierne, which produces famous beers.
Now the Danish forest industry accounts for 10% of all employed in the country. The vast majority of enterprises in the industry are, in fact, small workshops with 5-10 employees. Since the 17th century, furniture has become the country's largest export item. The bulk of timber for the industry is imported from the Baltic countries, Sweden, Finland, Poland.
International trade - import
The government strongly supports measures to further liberalize foreign trade. Denmark has long had a positive balance of payments, being a net exporter of agricultural products, oil and gas. At the same time, it is heavily dependent on imports of raw materials and components for its manufacturing sector. The country in terms of foreign trade per capita is in first place in the world.
Denmark maintains trade relations with almost all countries of the world. The country's industry is largely focused on imported raw materials, since it practically does not have its own natural resources. Most imported products from Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and China. The main products purchased are machinery and equipment, raw materials and semi-finished products for industry, chemicals, and consumer goods. According to the data of 2017, products are imported from Russia to Denmark in the amount of 2 948 thousand US dollars per year. The main part is made up of mineral products - almost 80%, followed by metals (17.7%), wood and pulp and paper products (about 5%).
