Geography of Denmark (original) (raw)

**Location:**Northern Europe, islands in the Baltic Sea and the northern part of the Jutland peninsula bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea

**Geographic coordinates:**56 00 N, 10 00 E

Map references: Europe

Area:
_total:_43,094 km²
_land:_42,394 km²
_water:_700 km²
_note:_includes the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea and the rest of metropolitan Denmark, but excludes the Faroe Islands and Greenland

**Area - comparative:**slightly less than twice the size of Massachusetts

Land boundaries:
_total:_68 km
border countries: Germany 68 km

**Coastline:**7,314 km

Maritime claims:
_contiguous zone:_24 nm
_continental shelf:_200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
_exclusive economic zone:_200 nm
_territorial sea:_12 nm

**Climate:**temperate; humid and overcast; mild, windy winters and cool summers

**Terrain:**low and flat to gently rolling plains

Elevation extremes:
_lowest point:_Lammefjord -7 m
_highest point:_Ejer Bavnehoj 173 m

Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, fish, salt, limestone, stone, gravel and sand

Land use:
_arable land:_60%
_permanent crops:_0%
_permanent pastures:_5%
_forests and woodland:_10%
_other:_25% (1993 est.)

**Irrigated land:**4,350 km² (1993 est.)

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-Sulphur 94, 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-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Climate Change-Kyoto 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

See also : Denmark