Length

Län ( Swedish ) is the name of a province in Sweden . The provincial organs perform state administrative tasks at the regional level (with the exception of financial, judicial and military administration). There are currently 21 provinces.

These organs do not include the provincial councils (Swedish landsting ), which, as so-called secondary municipalities, perform tasks within the framework of local self-government and are therefore independent of the state administration, even if their territorial boundaries mostly coincide with those of the provinces.

history

In the wake of the political reforms of Gustav II Adolf , the political and administrative division of the country was also renewed in 1634, and provinces (swedish län ) were created, which were administered by a governor (swed. Landshövding ). Major changes happened in 1810 when Finland was ceded to Russia and the present-day provinces were created in Norrland , and in the 1990s when the two present-day provinces of Skåne län (1997 by the merger of the provinces of Malmöhus län and Kristianstads län ) and Västra Götalands län (1998 through the union of the provinces Göteborgs och Bohus län , Älvsborgs län and Skaraborgs län ).

organization

At the head of the provincial administration is the district president (Swedish Landshövding ), who is appointed by the government for a term of six years. The district president is the chairman of the provincial government (swed. Länsstyrelse ), which has been elected by the provincial parliaments since the 1970s. The internal organization of the provincial government and its offices is now left to them, so that there is no uniform model.

tasks

The provincial governments have two central tasks: on the one hand they are representatives of the state power in their region, on the other hand they should represent the regional interests of the province.

The administrative tasks cover a broad spectrum, from civil defense to spatial planning, transport, agriculture and fishing, animal welfare to environmental protection, culture and the like. a. The provincial governments are also responsible for policing and elections.

list

The Swedish provinces

Length	Residential city	Part of the country	Letter	SCB code	Residents	Area (km²)	Inhabitants per km²
Blekinge län	Karlskrona	Skåneland	K	10	159,606	3,039.4	52.5
Dalarna County	Falun	Svealand	W.	20th	287,966	30,222.8	9.5
Gävleborg County	Gävle	Norrland	X	21st	287,382	19,629.7	14.6
Gotland County	Visby	Götaland	I.	09	59,686	3,166.8	18.8
Hallands Lan	Halmstad	Skåneland	N	13	333,848	5,687.5	58.7
Jämtland County	Ostersund	Norrland	Z	23	130.810	53,752.8	2.4
Jönköpings län	Jonkoping	Götaland	F.	06	363,599	11,693.1	31.1
Kalmar Lan	Squid	Götaland	H	08	245,446	11,636.7	21.1
Kronobergs län	Vaxjo	Götaland	G	07	201,469	9,385.2	21.5
Norrbotten County	Luleå	Norrland	BD	25th	250.093	105,208.8	2.4
Örebro län	Örebro	Svealand	T	18th	304.805	9,633.3	31.6
Östergötland County	Linkoping	Götaland	E.	05	465.495	12,230	38.1
Skåne County	Malmo	Skåneland	M.	12	1,377,827	11,302.2	121.9
Södermanland County	Nykoping	Svealand	D.	04	297,540	7,026.1	42.3
Stockholm County	Stockholm	Svealand	FROM	01	2,377,081	7,153.9	332.3
Uppsala län	Uppsala	Svealand	C.	03	383.713	8,608.1	44.6
Värmland County	Karlstad	Svealand	S.	17th	282.414	21,789.1	13
Västerbotten County	Umeå	Norrland	AC	24	271.736	58,875.4	4.6
Västernorrlands Lan	Harnösand	Norrland	Y	22nd	245,347	22,957.6	10.7
Västmanland County	Västerås	Svealand	U	19th	275,845	5,658.7	48.7
Västra Götalands län	Gothenburg	Götaland	O	14th	1,725,881	28,778	60