The Faeroe Islands and Greenland , in the North Atlantic, are self-governing dependencies within the Danish realm. In addition to Denmark's Scandinavian majority, there are Eskimo, Faeroese and German minorities. Denmark has an excellent system of public education, developed largely in the 19th cent. Financial and other services, trade, transportation, and communication are also important. There is a large fishing industry, and Denmark possesses a commercial shipping fleet of considerable size.
Tourism is also an important industry.
The country's leading trade partners are Germany, Sweden, Great Britain, and other European Union countries as well as the United States. Denmark suffered severe economic problems throughout the 1980s, and in the 1990s it had a high unemployment rate, large public-sector expenses, and a massive foreign debt. However, tight fiscal and monetary policies combined with an increasing export base held some promise of economic recovery. Government Denmark is a constitutional monarchy, governed according to the 1953 constitution. Executive power is exercised by the monarch through his or her ministers, led by the prime minister, who is the head of government.