Denmark

The Kingdom of Denmark is located on a peninsula in Northern Europe just southwest of Sweden bordering Germany, the Baltic Sea, and the North Sea. It is about twice the size of Massachusetts and covers an area of 43,094 sq. kilometers. Denmark’s total population is about 5.6 million and is heavily concentrated in the area surrounding the capital. The population is growing at a rate of 0.23% with 87% living in urban areas. The Danish capital of Copenhagen has a population of about 1.1 million with other major cities including Arhus (293,000), Odense (185,000), and Aalborg (163,000). The people are governed by a constitutional monarchy and are predominately Evangelical Lutheran. The primary language is Danish with small minorities of the population using Faroese or Greenlandic. English is the predominant second language of Denmark and many citizens understand German and French as well. Denmark joined the EU in 1973, but currently uses the Danish Krone after opting out of adopting the Euro. Recently rumors have surfaced about the possibility of Denmark voting on a referendum to adopt the Euro as early as 2010.

Denmark has a strong modern economy heavily based in foreign trade. Denmark is one of the most stable countries in the EU both politically and economically with a GDP per capita comparable to the other European powers and is known to have some of the best living conditions in the world. Its main trade partners are Germany, Sweden, UK, Netherlands, Norway, France, Italy, US and China. Its primary imports are machinery and equipment, raw materials and semi-manufactures for industry, chemicals, grains and foodstuffs, and consumer goods. Exports consist of machinery and instruments, meat and meat products, dairy products, fish, pharmaceuticals, furniture, and windmills. Denmark’s GDP (Purchasing Power Parity) is $208.5 billion and is shrinking at a real rate of 0.4% with an inflation rate of 2.6%. Denmark ranked 5thout of 185 countries in the World Bank Group’s Ease of Doing Business Ranking.

Click the links below for articles with more information on Franchising in Denmark

Doing Business in Denmark(2012)

Reform of European Union Rules on Distribution(2010)

European Commission's New Block Exemption Rules Enter Into Force June 1(2010)

* CPI Score is published by Transparency International and relates to the perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by business people and country analysts and ranges between 100 (highly clean) and 0 (highly corrupt).

**Ease of Doing Business Rankingis determined by the World Bank Group and is ranked out of a possible 185 countries.www.doingbusiness.org

Most recent statistics have been taken from the CIA World Factbook unless noted otherwise.

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