Denmark Geography Profile 2009

Location

Northern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, on a peninsula north of Germany (Jutland); also includes two major islands (Sjaelland and Fyn)

Geographic coordinates

56 00 N, 10 00 E

Map references

Europe

Area

total: 43,094 sq km
land: 42,434 sq km
water: 660 sq km
note: includes the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea and the rest of metropolitan Denmark (the Jutland Peninsula, and the major islands of Sjaelland and Fyn), but excludes the Faroe Islands and Greenland

Area - comparative

slightly less than twice the size of Massachusetts

Land boundaries

total: 68 km
border countries: Germany 68 km

Coastline

7,314 km

Maritime claims

territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 m depth or to the depth of exploitation

Climate

temperate; humid and overcast; mild, windy winters and cool summers

Terrain

low and flat to gently rolling plains

Elevation extremes

lowest point: Lammefjord -7 m
highest point: Yding Skovhoej 173 m

Natural resources

petroleum, natural gas, fish, salt, limestone, chalk, stone, gravel and sand

Land use

arable land: 52.59%
permanent crops: 0.19%
other: 47.22% (2005)

Irrigated land

4,490 sq km (2003)

Total renewable water resources

6.1 cu km (2003)

Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural)

total: 0.67 cu km/yr (32%/26%/42%)
per capita: 123 cu m/yr (2002)

Natural hazards

flooding is a threat in some areas of the country (e.g., parts of Jutland, along the southern coast of the island of Lolland) that are protected from the sea by a system of dikes

Environment - current issues

air pollution, principally from vehicle and power plant emissions; nitrogen and phosphorus pollution of the North Sea; drinking and surface water becoming polluted from animal wastes and pesticides

Environment - international agreements

party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note

controls Danish Straits (Skagerrak and Kattegat) linking Baltic and North Seas; about one-quarter of the population lives in greater Copenhagen