Counties of Denmark
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Denmark was until December 31, 2006 divided into 13 counties (Danish: amter), and 270 municipalities (kommuner). On January 1, 2007, the counties were replaced by five Regions and the number of municipalities slashed to 98.
Copenhagen County comprised all the municipalities of metropolitan Copenhagen, except Copenhagen Municipality and Frederiksberg Municipality.
Bornholm was originally divided in five municipalities and a county comprising the entire island. These six administrations merged on January 1, 2003 forming the new Bornholm Regional Municipality, giving it a status resembling the municipalities of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg. On January 1, 2007, these three municipalities lost their special status and their responsibilities and powers have been reduced to the same level as the 95 other municipalities.
Greenland and the Faroe Islands are also part of the Kingdom of Denmark, but both enjoy internal autonomy. Both are largely self-governing, and each community sends two members to the Danish Parliament. The Faroe Islands obtained self-government in 1948; previously the islands had the status of a Danish amt.
See also the ranked list of Danish counties.
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[edit] Reform
A government proposal in 2004 called for the counties to be replaced by five large regions with health care as their sole responsibilities; two regions in Jutland, two regions in Zealand and one region covering Funen and the southernmost part of Jutland. The proposal also required the municipalities to merge reducing them from 271 to about 100, with a minimum of 20,000 inhabitants in each municipality, although some exceptions were made to this rule.
The reform was confirmed by the Danish Parliament on February 24, 2005, and the counties were abolished on January 1, 2007.
[edit] List of counties (1970-2006)
| Key | Name | Capital | Status | Population | Area (km²) | Pop. density (per km²) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Copenhagen | Copenhagen | Municipality | 501,158 | 91.3 | 5,489.1 |
| 2 |  |
Frederiksberg | Frederiksberg | Municipality | 91,855 | 8.7 | 10,560.5 |
| 3 |  |
Copenhagen | Glostrup | County | 618,529 | 526 | 1,175.9 |
| 4 |  |
Frederiksborg | Hillerød | County | 378,686 | 1,347 | 281.1 |
| 5 |  |
Roskilde | Roskilde | County | 241,523 | 891 | 271 |
| 6 |  |
West Zealand | Sorø | County | 307,207 | 2,984 | 103 |
| 7 |  |
Storstrøm | Næstved | County | 262,781 | 3,398 | 77.3 |
| 8 |  |
Funen | Odense | County | 478,347 | 3,485 | 137.2 |
| 9 |  |
South Jutland | Aabenraa | County | 252,433 | 3,939 | 64.1 |
| 10 |  |
Ribe | Ribe | County | 224,261 | 3,132 | 71.6 |
| 11 |  |
Vejle | Vejle | County | 360,921 | 2,997 | 120.4 |
| 12 |  |
Ringkjøbing | Ringkøbing | County | 275,065 | 4,854 | 56.7 |
| 13 |  |
Viborg | Viborg | County | 234,896 | 4,122 | 57 |
| 14 |  |
North Jutland | Ålborg | County | 495,090 | 6,173 | 80.2 |
| 15 |  |
Århus | Århus | County | 661,370 | 4,561 | 145 |
| 16 |  |
Bornholm | Rønne | Regional municipality | 43,245 | 587 | 73.6 |
| — |  |
Denmark | Copenhagen | Entire country | 5,427,459 | 43,093 | 125.9 |
Note: Ringkjøbing County officially used a different spelling than its capital city, Ringkøbing.
