The Danish Population in Words and Numbers

Denmark has a population of 5,383,507 (January 2003), distributed on 2.5m households and the population is almost constant these days. The population density is high 125 per sq. km. The language spoken is Danish. It has many vowels including the special letters æ, ø and å and many significant glottal stops, which make it difficult for foreigners to learn Danish. Although the distance from the west coast of Jutland to the capital in the east is less than 300 km, there is a distinct division into dialects with associated alleged character differences from the taciturn Jutlanders in the west through the garrulous natives of Funen in the middle to the Zealanders in the east, whose broad and drawling dialect calls to mind the fat lands owned by their ancestors. The metropolitan population speak a flat and rapid language indicating that here the pace is fast and people are not putting up with anything.

Family Types (January 2002)

Source: Statistics Denmark.

For every three marriages there is a divorce. Thus, in 2002, there were 37.3 marriages per 1,000 unmarried men over 18 years of age and 13.9 divorces per 1,000 married men. In Denmark, women enjoy a respected and free status. Women got the vote in 1915 and already in 1908 for local elections. The latest constitutional amendment in 1953 introduced female succession to the throne, although a prince will always precede his sister even if he is younger than her.

Denmark has still to experience a female Prime Minister. 38% of the members of the parliament, the Folketing, are women. Equal pay has to a considerable extent been achieved. Gender discrimination in job advertisements is prohibited. Danish women have an employment frequency of almost 75% one of the highest in the world. The public childcare system enhances women‘s opportunities to pursue a career outside the home. Around 94% of all children aged 3-5 are looked after in day-care institutions. 84.3% of the Danes belong to the Lutheran National Church. The second-largest religious group is the Moslems, who constitute about 3% of the population.

Families’ Access to Computer and Internet at Home (1997-2002)

Source: Statistics Denmark.

Danes form associations whenever they spot a sensible or enjoyable reason for doing so. Every third Dane has attended at least one association meeting within the last month. Association life is also training in democracy.

The Danes are newspaper readers. In the past, every major provincial town had a newspaper for each of the four main parties. The introduction of television led to many newspaper closures, but there are still over 30 daily newspapers and many district weeklies and trade papers. There are several public and private radio and television stations, which were only recently allowed to show advertisements. On average, Danes watch television for 2 hours 30 minutes a day. The media play a major role in the public debate, but are sometimes accused of having too great influence on the legislation through the individual causes they champion. The media themselves claim they play an important part in safeguarding democracy in Denmark and the almost minimal degree of corruption at all social levels.

Common to all Danes is their tendency to take the ups and downs of life with a touch of irony, often self-irony. In mixed marriages the foreign spouse often complains that it can be difficult to understand what the partner really means, because in keeping with the nature of irony, he tends to say the opposite of what he means. The tone between Danes is relaxed. Almost everyone is addressed by the informal du. The formal De is rarely used and only when speaking to an older, distinguished person. In the schools, the pupils are on first-name terms with the teachers.

With an open economy and great dependence on what is happening in the surrounding world, the Danes have benefited from their open and international attitude. Thus they consistently support maximum free trade in the world. Over the years, there have also been traces of local insularity, snobbery and conformity. It was best not to be different. The Ugly Duckling of the fairytale writer Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) is given a hard time because it is odd. The Danish-Norwegian author Aksel Sandemose (1899-1965) invented the concept Janteloven (The Jante Law) with the bigoted rules he felt dominated his birthplace, a provincial town in Jutland. The (fictitious) rules include: ‘Do not imagine you are anything special‘. ‘Do not imagine you can teach us anything‘.

The gross domestic product per capita was $29,717 in 2001 the second-highest in the EU, exceeded only by Luxembourg. In addition to the statefunded welfare and security, Danes are materially well-off also in terms of their own means. In 100 Danish households in 2002, 58 owned their house or flat, 9 also had a summerhouse, 54 a car, 75 a washing machine, 55 a dishwasher, 58 a microwave oven, 84 a video player, 92 a CD player, 21 a DVD player, 72 a home computer, 46 an answerphone, 84 a mobile phone and 59   access to the internet. There is also free internet access in many libraries.

Traditionally, Denmark has been placed high on international barometers of quality of life. The welfare system pushes it up. But it is pulled down by the average life expectancy of 74.5 years for men and 79.2 for women, which is lower than in Denmark‘s neighbouring countries. The experts attribute this to rich food, too little exercise (although many jog) and too much smoking. However, the health authorities act with campaigns on every front and in the past approximately five years the life expectancy has improved considerably.

Cancer is the main cause of death (26.5% of the men, 25.5% of the women). Heart diseases account for 24.0% and 22.8% respectively, accidents 4.6% and 3.6%. 2.0% of the men, 0.7% of the women commit suicide. The old myth of Denmark as a country with many suicides is greatly exaggerated. In 2002, 7 persons died of Aids-related illnesses. Some 250 drug-related deaths are registered annually. Abortion was legalised in 1973. In 2001, there were 15,315 legal abortions, corresponding to 12.3 per 1,000 women aged 15-49.

In 1966, the ban on written pornography was lifted and in 1969, Denmark was the first country in the world to legalise picture pornography.

A day nursery on an outing to Dyrehaven (The Royal Deer Park) north of Copenhagen. Photo: Mogens Ladegaard