Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/845

 xVREA AND POPULATION

489

3. Ministry of Justice and for Iceland. — N. R. Rump, June 13, 1896.

4. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. — N. F. Ravn {ad interim).

5. Ministry of War.— Colonel C. F. Tu:t:en, May 25, 1897.

6. Ministry of Marine. — ViceAdmiral N. F. y^'a^;?;,, January 4, 1879.

7. Ministry of Public Instruction and Ecclesiastical Affairs. — Bishop H. V. Sthyr, May 25, 1897.

8. Ministry of Agriculture.— Alfred Hage, May 25, 1897.

The ministers are individually and collectively responsible for their acts, and if impeached, and found guilty, cannot be pardoned without the consent of the Folkething.

Denmark is divided into 18 counties (Amter), each of which is administered by a Governor (Amtmand), and the counties into Hundreds (Herreder), each with a portion of the Peace (Herredsfoged or Birkedommer). In the towns there is a Mayor, appointed by the government, with or without aldermen. The Hundreds are divided into parishes of which there are, in all, about 1,070. Copenhagen forms a district by itself, and has its own form of administration.

The chief of the dependencies of the Crown of Denmark, Iceland, has its owni constitution and administration, under a charter which came into force August 1, 1874. By the terms of this charter, the legislative power is vested in the Althing, consisting of 36 members, 30 elected by popular suffrage, and 6 nominated by the king. A minister for Iceland, nominated by the king, is at the head of the administration ; while the highest local authority is vested in the governor, who resides at Reikjavik. Besides him there are two Amtmands for the western and the northern districts of Iceland.

Area and Population

The following table gives the area and population of Den- mark, according to the last decennial census, taken February 1, 1890:—

Divisions

Area

Englisli sq. ni.

Population 1890

Population per sq. m.

City of Copenhagen (Kjbbenhavu)\ without suburbs. . ., / Islands in the Baltic Peninsula of Jutland Faeroe Islands (17 inhabited).

Total

7-7

5,024

9,743

514

312,859

917,401

942,120

12,955

40,569

183 96 25

143

15,289

2,185,335

The population (excluding the Faeroes) consisted of 1,059,322 males and 1,112,983 females. The total population at the census of 1870 was 1,794,723, and of 1880 1,980,259, showing an increase during each of the two decennial periods of nearly 10 per cent., or 1 per cent, per annum. In Denmark proper the town population has increased from 515,758 in 1880 to 663,121 in 1890. or at the rate of 28'7 per cent. ; while the rural popula- tion has increased from 1,453,281 in 1880 to 1,509,084 in 1890, or at the rate of 377 per cent. The popuLation is almost entirely