Denmark Leaders Stats

Helle Thorning-Schmidt became Denmark's first female head of government after her alliance secured a narrow majority in parliament following elections in September 2011.

The opposition parties ousted the rightist coalition of Lars Lokke Rasmussen in a closely fought election.

Ms Thorning-Schmidt was a member of the European Parliament before taking over as leader of the Social Democrats in 2005. She led them to defeat in the 2007 election, having campaigned to relax immigration rules and oppose tax cuts.

Taxation and immigration remain controversial issues among the parties of Ms Thorning-Schmidt's coalition.

Born in 1966, Helle Thorning-Schmidt studied political science in Denmark and Belgium before working as a Danish trade union consultant in Brussels.

She married Stephen Kinnock, the current head of the World Economic Forum and son of British Labour politicians Neil and Glenys Kinnock, in 1996. They have two daughters.

Ms Thorning-Schmidt is known in Denmark for her stylish dress sense, leading some papers to dub her "Gucci Helle". Less helpful was an official investigation into her tax affairs last year, in which she acknowledged having made a mistake in declaring Mr Kinnock a non-resident. The couple were cleared of wrongdoing.