Denmark consists of the peninsula of Jutland and an archipelago of more than 400 islands of which about 70 are inhabited.
The official name of Denmark is the Kingdom of Denmark.
The Kingdom of Denmark also includes the self-governing territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland in the north Atlantic Ocean.
Denmark borders Sweden, and Germany, as well as the North Sea and Baltic Sea.
The official language of Denmark is Danish.
In 2015, Denmark was estimated to have a population of 5,699,220.
Denmark is the smallest as well as the most southerly and most low-lying of the three Scandinavian countries.
Copenhagen, Denmark’s capital, sits on the coastal islands of Zealand and Amager, linked to Malmo in southern Sweden by longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe the Öresund Bridge.
About 65% of Denmark is farmland and 11% woodlands.
Greenland is the world’s largest island covering 2,175,597 square kilometers (840,002 square miles).
About 80% of Greenland is covered by a huge ice-sheet that is up to 3 kilometars (1.86 miles) thick.
The country’s average height above sea level is only 31 meters (101 feet).
The highest natural point in Denmark is Møllehøj, at 170 meters (558 feet).
No matter where you are in Denmark, you’ll never be more than 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the sea.
Denmark has 7,314 kilometers (4,545 miles) of coastline.
Denmark is a natural home for various flora and fauna. Mammals include several deer species including roe, red and fallow, hares, foxes, squirrels and more.
There is also an abundant bird life with more than 300 species recorded in the country.
It either rains or snow every second day (on an average) in Denmark.
Crispy pork with parsley sauce, or ‘Stegt flæsk med persillesovs’, is Denmark’s official national dish.
Although today known world-wide as “Danishes” these pastries did not originate in Denmark, but were brought to Denmark by Austrian bakers, particularly from Vienna in the 1850’s when Danish pastry workers went on a long-term wage strike.
Probably everyone at some point has been told the fairy tale of the ugly duckling who grew into a beautiful swan. Without doubt, Hans Christian Andersen is the most famous Dane of all time, thanks to his magical fairy tales, which are loved by children and adults around the world.
The United States bought the Virgin Islands, part of the West Indies, from Denmark in 1917.
Lego® was invented in Denmark. Company came to be called “Lego”, derived from the Danish phrase leg godt, which means “play well”.
Denmark took 1st spot on the United Nation’s World Happiness Report, 2013 & 2014 and came in 3rd in the 2015 report, following closely behind Switzerland and Iceland.
Denmark is considered the “least corrupt” country in the world.
Not only all education is free in Denmark – students also receive 900 dollars/month from the state that they can use for whatever they want and never have to pay back.
Danes have a special word for that cosy feeling of togetherness which gets them through the winter – Hygge. It is more a state of mind than any thing else, but coming together and enjoying good times in great company is often (hopefully) hyggeligt.
Walt Disney visited Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen once and was so inspired that he decided to create something similar in America: Disneyland.
The flag of Denmark is the oldest state flag in the world still in use by an independent nation. It was adopted in 1219.
The Danish monarchy is over 1000 years old, making it the 4th oldest continuous monarchy in the world.
The Vikings came from three countries of Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
The world’s smallest hotel is in Denmark. A double room measuring just 2.4 meters (8 foot) by 3 meters (10 foot) wide is the only room Central Hotel, which fits neatly onto the floor above Copenhagen’s Central Cafe.
The people of Denmark were justifiably proud when one of their own, Niels Bohr, won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. The famous Carlsberg brewery marked the occasion by giving him a house and piping fresh beer into it continuously, straight from the brewery.
Janus Friis, the Danish IT entrepreneur who developed the Internet telephone company Skype out of nothing, sold it to Microsoft Corporation for $8.5 billion USD in 2011.
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