Denmark covers 42,924 square kilometres and is located in Scandinavia, south-west of Sweden, south of Norway and borders on Germany in the south. Denmark has 5,883,562 inhabitants (in the second quarter of 2022). Denmark is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, which consists of the Faeroe Islands, Greenland and Denmark (Rigsfællesskabet).
Denmark is a constitutional monarchy and the monarch is the head of state. The monarch does not have any independent political power, but performs certain official functions related to the political life such as formally appointing the Prime Minister and signing bills passed by the Danish Parliament (Folketinget). A government accepted by Folketinget governs Denmark.
The framework for Danish democracy is the constitution of 1849, which describes the fundamental principles and rules for society. For instance, the constitution secures rights and duties of individual citizens, including personal freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of association. Furthermore, the constitution states that all children of compulsory education age are entitled to education in the Danish public school (the Folkeskole) cost-free.
The official language is Danish. This is also the language of instruction in schools. However, English is a compulsory subject in primary and lower secondary education from form level 1 and in general upper secondary education. In addition, most higher education institutions offer courses and programmes in English.
References
Bibliography
Denmark.dk: Government and politics. [Accessed 19 July 2022]
Denmark.dk: One of the world's oldest monarchies. [Accessed 19 July 2022]
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (Udenrigsministeriet): The Danish Commonwealth (Rigsfællesskabet). [Accessed 19 July 2022]
Statistics Denmark, 2022: Population figures. [Accessed 19 July 2022]
Study in Denmark: Find your study programme. [Accessed 19 July 2022]
The European Union, 2022: Facts and figures on life in the European Union. [Accessed 19 July 2022]
The Danish Parliament: The Constitutional Act. [Accessed 19 July 2022]
Legislation and official policy documents
Legal Information (Retsinformation), 1953: The Constitutional Act of Denmark (Danmarks Riges Grundlov (Grundloven) (*1)), LBK no. 169 of 05/06/1953. [Accessed 19 July 2022]