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-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds,
Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification,
Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes,
Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone
Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber
94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Sulphur 94,
Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Law of the Sea
Geography - note: controls Danish Straits (Skagerrak and Kattegat) linking Baltic and North Seas; about one-quarter of the population lives in Copenhagen
@Denmark:People
Population: 5,305,048 (July 1997 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years : 18% (male 487,731; female 463,444) 15-64 years: 67% (male 1,801,904; female 1,754,435) 65 years and over: 15% (male 330,143; female 467,391) (July 1997 est.)
Population growth rate: 0.59% (1997 est.)
Birth rate: 12.78 births/1,000 population (1997 est.)
Death rate: 11.22 deaths/1,000 population (1997 est.)