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“Denmark is a constitutional monarchy. It has a representative parliamentary system with a head of government – the prime minister – and a head of state – the monarch – who officially retains executive power, although duties are strictly representative and ceremonial. The kingdom also comprises 2 autonomous constituent countries in the Atlantic, neither of which are EU members: the Faroe Islands and Greenland.”

Source: European Union. EU Member Countries In Brief: Denmark. Last accessed Nov. 21, 2022.

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“Denmark is a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy. The government is the executive body and the parliament is the legislative body. The Supreme Court is not politically appointed, as it is in some other countries. The minimum percentage of the votes necessary for a party to be represented in the parliament is 2% and, at the time of writing, there are nine political parties in the parliament, plus four representatives for Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The participation in national elections is generally high. The three largest parties are the Liberal Party, the Social Democrats and the Danish People’s Party. There is a long tradition in Denmark of minority governments consisting of two or three parties. The current government, which has been in power since autumn 2011, is made up of a coalition between the Social Democratic Party, the Social-Liberal Party and the Socialist People’s Party and is supported by the Unity List. The government succeeded a coalition between the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party supported by the Danish People’s Party, which was in power from 2001 to 2011.

“The Danish Ministry of Health (Sundhedsministeriet) has over the last decade been combined with and/or separated from the Ministry of Interior (Indenrigsministeriet), and consequently has had several name changes. From 2001 to 2007, it was combined with the Ministry of Interior and was thus called Ministry of Interior and Health (Indenrigs – og Sundhedsministeriet). From 2007 to 2010, it was separated and named the Ministry of Health and Prevention (Ministeriet for Sundhed og Forebyggelse) but from 2010, it was again combined with the Ministry of Interior. From October 2011, it has been separated from the Ministry of Interior and is now called the Ministry of Health.”

Source: Olejaz M, Juul Nielsen A, Rudkjøbing A, Okkels Birk H, Krasnik A, Hernández-Quevedo C. Denmark: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2012, 14(2):1 – 192.

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“The regional political level comprises five regions. One of the main responsibilities of this level of government is the health care sector. The local level comprises 98 municipalities. The municipalities are responsible for environment and technology, schools, social services, prevention and health promotion, as well as certain health care services. The regions and the municipalities have separate responsibilities and, in comparison with the state, the regions do not have any governing or regulatory role with regard to the municipalities.”

Source: Olejaz M, Juul Nielsen A, Rudkjøbing A, Okkels Birk H, Krasnik A, Hernández-Quevedo C. Denmark: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2012, 14(2):1 – 192.

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World Health Systems Facts is a project of the Real Reporting Foundation. We provide reliable statistics and other data from authoritative sources regarding health systems in the US and sixteen other nations.

Page last updated August 24, 2023 by Doug McVay, Editor.