Overview:
This modern economy features high-tech agriculture, up-to-date
small-scale and corporate industry, extensive government welfare
measures, comfortable living standards, and high dependence on foreign
trade. Denmark's new center-left coalition government will concentrate
on reducing the persistent high unemployment rate and the budget
deficit as well as following the previous government's policies of
maintaining low inflation and a current account surplus. In the face
of recent international market pressure on the Danish krone, the
coalition has also vowed to maintain a stable currency. The coalition
hopes to lower marginal income taxes while maintaining overall tax
revenues; boost industrial competitiveness through labor market and
tax reforms and increased research and development funds; and improve
welfare services for the neediest while cutting paperwork and delays.
Prime Minister RASMUSSEN's reforms will focus on adapting Denmark to
the criteria for European integration by 1999; although Copenhagen has
won from the European Union (EU) the right to opt out of the European
Monetary Union (EMU) if a national referendum rejects it. Denmark is,
in fact, one of the few EU countries likely to fit into the EMU on
time. Denmark is weathering the current worldwide slump better than
many West European countries. As the EU's single market (formally
established on 1 January 1993) gets underway, Danish economic growth
is expected to pickup to around 2% in 1994. Danish approval of the
Maastricht treaty on EU political and economic union in May 1993 has
reversed the drop in investment, further boosting growth. The current
account surplus remains strong as limitations on wage increases and
low inflation - expected to be around 2% in 1994 - improve export
competitiveness. Although unemployment is high, it remains stable
compared to most European countries.
National product:
GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $95.6 billion (1993)
National product real growth rate:
0.5% (1993)
National product per capita:
$18,500 (1993)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
1.8% (1993 est.)
Unemployment rate:
11.8% (1993 est.)
Budget:
revenues:
$48 billion
expenditures:
$55.7 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1993)
Exports:
$36.7 billion (f.o.b., 1993)
commodities:
meat and meat products, dairy products, transport equipment
(shipbuilding), fish, chemicals, industrial machinery
partners:
EC 54.3% (Germany 23.6%, UK 10.1%, France 5.7%), Sweden 10.5%, Norway
5.8%, US 4.9%, Japan 3.6% (1992)
Imports:
$29.7 billion (c.i.f., 1993 est.)
commodities:
petroleum, machinery and equipment, chemicals, grain and foodstuffs,
textiles, paper
partners:
EC 53.4% (Germany 23.1%, UK 8.2%, France 5.6%), Sweden 10.8%, Norway
5.4%, US 5.7%, Japan 4.1% (1992)
External debt:
$40 billion (1992 est.)
Industrial production:
growth rate -2.5% (1993 est.)
Electricity:
capacity:
11,215,000 kW
production:
34.17 billion kWh
consumption per capita:
6,610 kWh (1992)
Industries:
food processing, machinery and equipment, textiles and clothing,
chemical products, electronics, construction, furniture, and other
wood products, shipbuilding
Agriculture:
accounts for 4% of GDP and employs 5.6% of labor force (includes
fishing and forestry); farm products account for nearly 15% of export
revenues; principal products - meat, dairy, grain, potatoes, rape,
sugar beets, fish; self-sufficient in food production
Economic aid:
donor:
ODA and OOF commitments (1970-89), $5.9 billion
Currency:
1 Danish krone (DKr) = 100 oere
Exchange rates:
Danish kroner (DKr) per US$1 - 6.771 (January 1994), 6.484 (1993),
6.036 (1992), 6.396 (1991), 6.189 (1990), 7.310 (1989)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
@Denmark, Communications
Railroads:
2,770 km; Danish State Railways (DSB) operate 2,120 km (1,999 km rail
line and 121 km rail ferry services); 188 km electrified, 730 km
double tracked; 650 km of standard-gauge lines are privately owned and
operated
Highways:
total:
66,482 km
paved:
concrete, asphalt, stone block 64,551 km
unpaved:
gravel, crushed stone, improved earth 1,931 km
Inland waterways:
417 km
Pipelines:
crude oil 110 km; petroleum products 578 km; natural gas 700 km
Ports:
Alborg, Arhus, Copenhagen, Esbjerg, Fredericia; numerous secondary and
minor ports
Merchant marine:
347 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 4,974,494 GRT/6,820,067 DWT,
bulk 15, cargo 110, chemical tanker 24, combination bulk 1, container
51, liquefied gas 36, livestock carrier 4, oil tanker 33, railcar
carrier 1, refrigerated cargo 21, roll-on/roll-off cargo 39, short-sea
passenger 12
note:
Denmark has created its own internal register, called the Danish
International Ship register (DIS); DIS ships do not have to meet
Danish manning regulations, and they amount to a flag of convenience
within the Danish register; by the end of 1990, 308 of the Danish-flag
ships belonged to the DIS
Airports:
total:
118
usable:
109
with permanent-surface runways:
28
with runways over 3,659 m:
0
with runways 2,440-3,659 m:
9
with runways 1,220-2,439 m:
7
Telecommunications:
excellent telephone, telegraph, and broadcast services; 4,509,000
telephones; buried and submarine cables and microwave radio relay
support trunk network; broadcast stations - 3 AM, 2 FM, 50 TV; 19
submarine coaxial cables; 7 earth stations operating in INTELSAT,
EUTELSAT, and INMARSAT
@Denmark, Defense Forces
Branches:
Royal Danish Army, Royal Danish Navy, Royal Danish Air Force, Home
Guard
Manpower availability:
males age 15-49 1,360,050; fit for military service 1,168,940; reach
military age (20) annually 36,800 (1994 est.)
Defense expenditures:
exchange rate conversion - $2.6 billion, 2% of GDP (1993)
@Djibouti, Geography
Location:
Eastern Africa, at the entrance to the Red Sea between Eritrea and
Somalia
Map references:
Africa, Middle East, Standard Time Zones of the World
Area:
total area:
22,000 sq km
land area:
21,980 sq km
comparative area:
slightly larger than Massachusetts
Land boundaries:
total 508 km, Eritrea 113 km, Ethiopia 337 km, Somalia 58 km
Coastline:
314 km
Maritime claims:
contiguous zone:
24 nm
exclusive economic zone:
200 nm
territorial sea:
12 nm
International disputes:
none
Climate:
desert; torrid, dry
Terrain:
coastal plain and plateau separated by central mountains
Natural resources:
geothermal areas
Land use:
arable land:
0%
permanent crops:
0%
meadows and pastures:
9%
forest and woodland:
0%
other:
91%
Irrigated land:
NA sq km
Environment:
current issues:
desertification
natural hazards:
prone to earthquakes, droughts
international agreements:
party to - Endangered Species, Law of the Sea, Ship Pollution; signed,
but not ratified - Biodiversity, Climate Change
Note:
strategic location near world's busiest shipping lanes and close to
Arabian oilfields; terminus of rail traffic into Ethiopia; a vast
wasteland
@Djibouti, People
Population: 412,599 (July 1994 est.) Population growth rate: 2.71% (1994 est.) Birth rate: 42.94 births/1,000 population (1994 est.) Death rate: 15.8 deaths/1,000 population (1994 est.) Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1994 est.) Infant mortality rate: 111 deaths/1,000 live births (1994 est.) Life expectancy at birth: total population: 49.23 years male: 47.42 years female: 51.1 years (1994 est.) Total fertility rate: 6.21 children born/woman (1994 est.) Nationality: noun: Djiboutian(s) adjective: Djiboutian Ethnic divisions: Somali 60%, Afar 35%, French, Arab, Ethiopian, and Italian 5% Religions: Muslim 94%, Christian 6% Languages: French (official), Arabic (official), Somali, Afar Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.) total population: 48% male: 63% female: 34% Labor force: NA by occupation: a small number of semiskilled laborers at the port and 3,000 railway workers note: 52% of population of working age (1983)
@Djibouti, Government