Denmark
Denmark (Danish: Danmark, pronounced dan-mark) is a Nordic nation in Northern Europe located near the Baltic Sea. European Denmark, the southernmost of the Scandinavian nations, comprises a peninsula, Jutland, and an archipelago of 443 named islands, the biggest of which are Zealand, Funen, and the North Jutlandic Island. Jutland is the capital of the country. There is flat, fertile terrain and sandy beaches on the islands, and the islands are characterised by low height and a moderate climate. Denmark is located southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it has a border with Germany to the south. A unitary state under Danish law, the Kingdom of Denmark includes metropolitan Denmark as well as the Faroe Islands and Greenland, both of which are autonomous regions in the North Atlantic Ocean, according to its constitution. As of 2020, Denmark will have a total land area of 42,943 km2 (16,580 sq mi). Copenhagen, the country's capital and biggest city, with a population of 800,000 people (as of 2021), with a metropolitan population of 5.85 million people (as of 2021).
The Constitution of Denmark was signed on June 5, 1849, thus bringing an end to the absolute monarchy that had been in place since 1660. It creates a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy as its organisational structure. Both the Danish government and the national parliament are based in Copenhagen, which serves as the country's capital as well as its biggest city and commercial centre. Denmark exerts hegemonic control over the Danish Realm, delegating authority to local governments to manage internal matters. As a member of the European Economic Community (now known as the European Union) in 1973, Denmark, along with Greenland, but not the Faroe Islands, retained its own currency, the krone; it also secured several opt-outs from membership.
A developed country, Danes enjoy a good level of life. In certain national performance measures, such as education, health care, the protection of civil rights, democratic government and equality for LGBT people, the country scores well. This country was one of the founding members of NATO, the Nordic Council, the OECD, the OSCE, and the United Nations, and it is also a member of the Schengen Area. The Danish language is partly mutually intelligible with both Norwegian and Swedish, indicating that Denmark and its Scandinavian neighbours have strong linguistic connections.