The massive growth of Novo Nordisk A/S is concealing weaknesses in Denmark’s economy, which would have stagnated over the past year and a half without its pharmaceutical industry.

Drugmakers have boosted Danish gross domestic product growth by almost two percentage points from the end of 2021 through the first quarter of 2023, according to new calculations by Sydbank A/S. The industry now makes up about 5% of the economy, with Novo likely accounting for a large majority of this.