Administrative division of Denmark

In addition to the continental European heartland, the Kingdom of Denmark also includes the autonomous outer regions of the Faroe Islands and Greenland . The constitutional unity of motherland and former possessions is known as the "Reichsgemeinschaft" (Danish rigsfællesskabet ). Since January 1st 2007, the administrative structure of the Danish heartland comprises five regions and 98 municipalities. The districts / districts (Danish amt ) were abolished in the course of a local government reform. Your responsibilities have been divided between regional and local levels.

Regions

Denmark's regions (since 2007)

Since January 1, 2007 there are five regions, population as of January 1, 2020:

region	Administrative headquarters	made up from	population
Nordjylland (North Jutland )	Aalborg	the former Nordjyllands office , the Mariager municipality of the former Århus office and parts of the former Viborg office	589.936
Midtjylland (Central Jutland)	Viborg	the former Ringkjøbing office , the Århus office without the Mariager municipality and parts of the former offices of Viborg and Vejle	1,326,340
Syddanmark (Southern Denmark)	Vejle	the former offices of Fyn , Ribe and Sønderjylland ( North Schleswig ) and parts of the former office of Vejle	1,223,105
Sjælland ( Zealand including the islands of Møn , Lolland and Falster )	Soro	the former offices of Roskilde , Storstrøm and Vestsjælland	837.359
Hovedstaden (capital Copenhagen and surroundings plus Bornholm )	Hillerød	the former København office and the former Frederiksborg office as well as the formerly free municipalities of København , Frederiksberg and Bornholm	1,846,023

The main tasks of the regions are:

Hospitals
Public health insurance (reimbursement of treatment costs for general practitioners and specialists)
psychiatry
Offers for the severely disabled
Regional development framework for the areas of nature, environment, teaching and culture. The local authorities are responsible for the practical implementation.

Compared to the previous administrative districts, the tasks of the regions are limited. The regions no longer have an independent right to tax, but are financed by state key allocations.

Municipalities

Denmark's 98 municipalities (since 2007)

Municipalities by population
population	Number of municipalities
population	Before Apr 1, 1970	From April 1, 1974	From Jan. 1, 2007
> 150,000	1	4th	4th
100,000 - 150,000	3	1	2
40,000 - 100,000	10	18th	50
20,000-40,000	22nd	25th	35
15,000-20,000	13	2	0
10,000-15,000	22nd	41	3
3,000 - 10,000	206	160	3
<3,000	821	2	1
All in all	1,098	275	98

At the regional level, the country is divided into 98 municipalities . With a typical size of over 30,000 inhabitants, the Danish municipalities are among the third largest (1st Great Britain , 2nd Ireland ) in Europe and worldwide. 25 municipalities have fewer than 30,000 inhabitants (2010). The smallest municipalities are Vallensbæk , Dragør and Langeland with fewer than 17,000 inhabitants (2018), and Læsø , Fanø , Samsø and Ærø with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants; the last five are special cases as islands .

With the enlargement of the municipalities in 2007, the municipal tasks were expanded. This should enable the municipalities to further develop and streamline the public service . However, opponents feared that the gap between citizens and local politicians could become too great and that rural areas and villages in particular could suffer as a result of austerity measures. The Association of Danish Small Islands fears consequences such as school closings , reduced care for the elderly , restrictions in ferry traffic and restrictions in the maintenance of the dykes .

Christiansø and Frederiksø are the only areas in Denmark that are not part of the municipality. As a result, residents do not pay any municipal tax. The islands are subordinate to the Ministry of Defense , which is represented by an administrator on Christiansø.

Historical administrative divisions

Oldest structures

Medieval division in Syssel .

The Landstinge in the Middle Ages

The oldest division of the country were the Syssel and Harden , which emerged in the early Viking Age . The Landstinge above the Hardentinge existed in Viborg ( Nørrejylland ), Urnehoved ( Sønderjylland ), Ringsted ( Danish Islands ) and Lund ( Skåneland ). In the Middle Ages, the division into fiefdoms followed a feudal model, mostly subordinate to a manor house . Around 1200 the Duchy of Schleswig was formed, which remained connected to the kingdom as a royal Danish fiefdom, but developed its own administrative structures in part (see Ämter und Harden in Schleswig ).

Dioceses (from 10th century)

Danish dioceses in the Middle Ages

founding	Diocese	Cathedral city	area	annotation
948	Diocese of Schleswig	Schleswig	Schleswig / South Jutland	At the time of the divisions of 1490–1523 / 1544–1711, the diocese included both the royal, the ducal and jointly ruled parts in Schleswig, unless it belonged to the diocese of Ripen. 1864/67 Prussian
948	Diocese of Ripen	Ribe	West Jutland
948	Diocese of Aarhus	Aarhus	East Jutland
988	Diocese of Funen	Odense	Funen , Langeland ; Lolland and Falster until 1803; Ærø and Alsen until 1815
991	Diocese of Roskilde	Roskilde	Sjælland , Møn and from 1653 Bornholm	1536–1922 “Diocese of Zealand”, 1922 Diocese of Copenhagen spun off
1060	Diocese of Viborg	Viborg	Central Jutland
1060	Aalborg diocese	Aalborg	North Jutland	Initially “Diocese of Vendelbo” with a bishopric in Vestervig , from 1130 “Diocese of Børglum” with its seat in Børglum . 1554 diocese of Aalborg
1066	Diocese of Lund	Lund	Skåne , Halland , Blekinge , Bornholm	1103 Archdiocese . 1653 to Sweden , Bornholm to the Diocese of Zealand
1803	Diocese of Lolland-Falster	Maribo	Lolland, Falster	spun off from the diocese of Funen
1819	Alsen-Ærø diocese	Egen	Alsen , Ærø	Out of the Diocese of Funen. Alsen 1864/67 Prussian and under Schleswig, Ærø to the diocese of Funen
1922	Diocese of Copenhagen	Copenhagen	Baltic Sea country
1922	Diocese of Hadersleben	Haderslev	Eastern South and South Jutland, Alsen, Ærø	Areas ceded to Denmark 1920-22 temporarily under Ribe
1961	Diocese of Helsingør	Elsinore	Northern Zealand	Out of the diocese of Copenhagen

With the Reformation, the dioceses were in 1536 deaneries divided, the limits on the Harden -oriented.

17th and 18th centuries

After the introduction of absolutism , King Friedrich III. Divide Denmark into 44 administrative districts (Danish amt ) in 1662 .

Denmark's administrative districts 1662–1793

No.	District	No.	District	No.	District
1	Åstrup, Sejlstrup, B ?? ørglum Amt	16	Koldinghus Office	31	Ringsted Office
2	Dueholm, Ørum, Vestervig Amt	17th	Stjernholm Office	32	Korsør Office
3	Ålborghus Office	18th	Hindsgavl Office	33	Antvorskov Office
4th	Skivehus Office	19th	Assen's office	34	Sorø Office
5	Mariager Monastery Office	20th	Rugård Office	35	Sæbygård Office
6th	Hald office	21st	Odensegård Office	36	Kalundborg Office
7th	Dronningborg Office	22nd	Nyborg Office	37	Holbæk Office
8th	Bøvling Office	23	Tranekær Office	38	Dragsholm Office
9	Lundenæs Office	24	Halsted Klosters Office	39	Jægerspris office
10	Silkeborg Office	25th	Ålholm Office	40	Kronborg Office
11	Kalø Office	26th	Nykøbing Office	41	Frederiksborg Office
12	Skanderborg Office	27	Møn Amt	42	Hørsholm Office
13	Havreballegård Office	28	Vordingborg Office	43	København's office
14th	Åkær Office	29	Tryggevælde Office	44	Bornholm's office
15th	Riberhus Office	30th	Roskilde Office

For the duchy of Schleswig, which is connected as a fief and in personal union with Denmark, see the article Ämter und Harden in Schleswig .

From 1793 to 1970

After the formation of the entire Danish state , the administrative districts were enlarged and redesigned in 1793. This structure was essentially retained until 1970.

Denmark's administrative districts 1920–1970.
No. 13 and 14 were merged in 1932

No.	District	No.	District	No.	District
01	Hjørring Office	09	Skanderborg Office (from 1824)	17th	Holbæk Office
02	Thisted office	10	Vejle Office	18th	Frederiksborg Office
03	Ålborg Office	11	Tønder Office ¹	19th	København's office
04th	Viborg Office	12	Haderslev Office ¹	20th	Roskilde Amt (until 1808, then to K ?? øbenhavn's office)
05	Rander's office	13	Aabenraa Office ^1,2	21st	Sorø Office
06th	Ringkøbing Office	14th	Sønderborg Amt ^1,2	22nd	Præstø Amt (from 1803)
07th	Ribe office	15th	Odense Office	23	Maribo Office
08th	Aarhus Office	16	Svendborg Office	24	Bornholm's office

¹ These offices were set up in 1920 following the cession of North Schleswig to Denmark on the basis of a provision in the Versailles Treaty .

² Sønderborg Amt and Aabenraa Amt were partially merged in 1932 to form the Aabenraa-Sønderborg Amt .

From 1970 to 2007

On April 1, 1970, the 23 offices (administrative districts) were replaced by 14 municipal authorities. The municipalities of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg carried out the official municipal tasks themselves because of their special requirements (metropolitan area).

At the same time, this reform reduced the number of municipalities. The municipalities were established in 1841, then in 1021. In addition, there were the towns with market rights (Danish: købstad ). The number of cities and rural communities had peaked in 1965 at 1345 (88 cities and 1257 rural communities). With the municipal reform in 1970, the title Købstad disappeared from the official vocabulary, the Harden ( Danish herred ) were also abolished and the number of municipalities was reduced from 1,098 to 277 after some voluntary amalgamations at the end of the 1960s. In 1974 the municipalities of Sengeløse and Høje-Taastrup were merged to form Høje-Taastrup Kommune and Store Magleby and Dragør to form Dragør Kommune . The number of municipalities was thus 275.

List of Danish municipalities (Danish *offices* ) 1970–2007
Surname	serial number at the same time as ISO code (card)	Administrative headquarters	Geographical location	Population (2006)	Area in km²	Inhabitants per km²
Københavns Municipality Free city	101	Copenhagen	East Zealand	501.158	91.3	5,489.1
Frederiksbergs Kommune Official City	147	Frederiksberg	Enclave in Københavns Municipality	91,855	8.7	10,560.5
København's office	015	Glostrup	Outskirts of Copenhagen	618,529	526	1,175.9
Frederiksborg Office	020	Hillerød	North Zealand	378.686	1,347	281.1
Roskilde Office	025	Roskilde	Central Zealand	241,523	891	271
Vestsjællands Amt	030	Soro	West Zealand	307.207	2,984	103
Storstrom's Office	035	Nykøbing	South Zealand , Lolland , Falster , Møn	262,781	3,398	77.3
Fyn's office	042	Odense	Funen , Langeland , Ærø	478,347	3,485	137.2
Sønderjyllands Amt	050	Aabenraa	South Jutland , Rømø , Alsen	252,433	3,939	64.1
Ribe office	055	Ribe	South West Jutland	224.261	3.132	71.6
Vejle Office	060	Vejle	Southeast Jutland	360.921	2,997	120.4
Ringkjøbing Office	065	Ringkøbing	West Jutland	275.065	4,854	56.7
Viborg Office	076	Viborg	Northwest Jutland	234,896	4.122	57
Nordjyllands Amt	080	Ålborg	North Jutland	495.090	6,173	80.2
Aarhus Office	070	Aarhus	Northeast Jutland	661,370	4,561	145
Bornholm's office from Jan. 1, 2003 regional commune	040	Rønne	Bornholm Island	43,245	587	73.6
total				5,427,459	43.093	125.9

Note: Ringkjøbing Amt was officially spelled differently than its administrative seat Ringkøbing .

Mergers through 2006 and major local government reform

From 1970 to 2007, many changes were discussed, but few were implemented. In recent years, the relatively small and financially weak municipalities on the islands of Bornholm (five municipalities in 2003) and Ærø (two municipalities in 2006) have been merged into island-wide municipalities. Bornholm's office , which had existed unchanged as an administrative district since 1662, became an unofficial "regional commune" on January 1, 2003 Bornholms regional commune . That leaves 270 municipalities and 13 official municipalities (districts).

On Langeland , two referendums were held in 1992 and 2000 in the island's three municipalities. One reason was to avoid a feared possible merger with Svendborg Municipality . Sydlangeland Commune was against amalgamation in both. On February 12, 2003 there was a referendum only in the Sydlangeland municipality. The last one was positive for a merger, which was only implemented on January 1, 2007 in the course of the state-wide municipal reform.

With this reform, only 30 of the 268 municipalities that had existed since 1974 remained unchanged (and of course Bornholm and Ærø , which had only been established a few years earlier). The remaining 238 municipalities were combined into 66 large municipalities, so that now, together with the two municipalities that were established in 2003 and 2006 and the 30 unaffected municipalities, Denmark is divided into 98 municipalities. At the same time the official communes (districts) were abolished. Five regions were newly established . Compared to the previous administrative districts, the tasks of the regions are limited. The regions no longer have an independent right to tax, but are financed by state key allocations. Other competencies were transferred to the municipalities.

literature

Ove Hansen: Sådan styres kommunen . AOF's Forlag / Forlaget Fremad, 1st edition 1978. ISBN 87-7403-131-7 .

Erik Harder: Dansk kommunestyre i grundtræk . Forlaget Commune Information , 4th edition 1985. ISBN 87-7316-211-6 .

Individual evidence

↑ Statistics banks -> Befolkning og valg -> FOLK1A: Folketal den 1. i kvartalet efter tid og område (Danish)
^ Reform meets small islands , Danmarks Radio , June 2, 2007 (Danish)
^ Statistical yearbook for Denmark 2013
↑ Per Ingesman: Kirken , in: Leon Jespersen (Red.), Dansk forvaltningshistorie , Vol. 1, Copenhagen 2000. ISBN 87-574-7691-8 . Pp. 730-754, pp. 741.
↑ Grethe Jensen, Benito Scocozza: Politics bog om danskerne og verden. Hvem Hvad Hvornår i 50 år. Politics Forlag. København 1996. ISBN 87-567-5697-6 . P. 168.

Web links

Official website of the regions (Danish, English)

Official website of the local umbrella organization Kommunernes landsforening (Danish, English)

Population of municipalities and regions 2009 (Danish, English)

State Administrations ( Memento of March 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive )

Information on local government reform ( Memento from August 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Danmarks Radio 2005 (Danish)

Maps showing the administrative structure of Denmark from 1660 to the present day The digital Byport (Danish)

[1] Statistics banks -> Befolkning og valg -> FOLK1A: Folketal den 1. i kvartalet efter tid og område (Danish)

[2] Reform meets small islands , Danmarks Radio , June 2, 2007 (Danish)

[3] Statistical yearbook for Denmark 2013

[4] Per Ingesman: Kirken , in: Leon Jespersen (Red.), Dansk forvaltningshistorie , Vol. 1, Copenhagen 2000. ISBN 87-574-7691-8 . Pp. 730-754, pp. 741.

[5] Grethe Jensen, Benito Scocozza: Politics bog om danskerne og verden. Hvem Hvad Hvornår i 50 år. Politics Forlag. København 1996. ISBN 87-567-5697-6 . P. 168.