Skåne County

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This article is about the administrative county. For other uses, see Skåne (disambiguation).
Skåne County
Skåne län
County of Sweden
Coat of arms
Seal
 
Coordinates: 55°59′43″N 13°26′30″E / 55.995309°N 13.441772°E / 55.995309; 13.441772Coordinates: 55°59′43″N 13°26′30″E / 55.995309°N 13.441772°E / 55.995309; 13.441772
Country Sweden
Founded 1997
Capital Malmö
Government
 • Governor Margareta Pålsson
 • Council Skåne Regional Council
Area[1]
 • Total 11,034.5 km2 (4,260.4 sq mi)
Population (March 31, 2011)[2]
 • Total 1,251,213
 • Density 110/km2 (290/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code SE-M
GDP/ Nominal SEK 278,254 million (2004)
GDP per capita SEK 331,700 (2010)
NUTS Region SE224
Website www.m.lst.se
Counties before 1997.

Skåne County (Skåne län), sometimes referred to as Scania County in English, is the southernmost administrative county or län, of Sweden, basically corresponding to the traditional province Scania (which in Swedish is called Skåne). It borders the counties of Halland, Kronoberg and Blekinge. The seat of residence for the Skåne Governor is the town of Malmö. The headquarters of Region Skåne is the town of Kristianstad.[3]

The present county was created in 1997 when Kristianstad County and Malmöhus County were merged, and it covers around 3% of Sweden's total area, but its population of 1,250,000 comprises 13% of Sweden's total population.

Endonym and exonym

When the new county was established in 1997, it was decided to name it after the historical province Scania, or Skåne, as it is called in Swedish, so it was given the name Skåne län. The most common name used in English is Skåne County,[4][5][6] even if the form Scania County is not uncommon.[7][8][9][10] It can not be considered wrong to use either form in English.[citation needed]

Heraldry

The coat of arms for Skåne County is the same as for the province of Scania only with the tinctures reversed and the crown, beak and tongue of the Griffin in the same color. When the arms is shown with a royal crown it represents the County Administrative Board, which is the regional presence of (royal) government authority. Blazon: "Gules, a Griffin's head erased Or, crowned and armed the same".

Provinces

Skåne County is the administrative equivalent of the province of Scania, but it also includes an insignificant part of the province of Halland.

Administration

The seat of residence for the Governor or Landshövding is the town of Malmö. The County Administrative Board is a Government Agency headed by a Governor. See List of Skåne Governors.

The two former administrative counties of the province of Scania shown on the map, Kristianstad County and Malmöhus County, which were established in 1719 were merged in 1997, forming the present county with boundaries that are almost identical to the boundaries of the province.

County council

Skåne Regional Council (Region Skåne) is an evolved County Council, which was established in 1999 when the County Councils of the former counties were amalgamated. Its main responsibilities are for the public healthcare system and public transport. In addition, it has for a trial period assumed certain tasks from the County Administrative Board.

Its county or regional assembly is the highest political body in the region and its members are elected by the electorate,[11] as opposed to the county administrative board, that guards the national interests in the county under the chairmanship of the county governor (landshövding in Swedish).

Municipalities

Municipalities of Skåne

Skåne County contains 33 municipalities[12] (kommuner in Swedish), the largest being Malmö Municipality (301,000 inhabitants), Helsingborg Municipality (130,000), Lund Municipality (111,000 inhabitants) and Kristianstad Municipality (80,000 inhabitants). The municipalities have municipal governments, similar to city commissions, and are further divided into parishes. The parish division is traditionally used by the Church of Sweden, but also serves as a divisioning measure for Swedish census and elections.

  1. Bjuv
  2. Bromölla
  3. Burlöv
  4. Båstad
  5. Eslöv
  6. Helsingborg
  7. Hässleholm
  8. Höganäs
  9. Hörby
  10. Höör
  11. Klippan
  12. Kristianstad
  13. Kävlinge
  14. Landskrona
  15. Lomma
  16. Lund
  17. Malmö
  18. Osby
  19. Perstorp
  20. Simrishamn
  21. Sjöbo
  22. Skurup
  23. Staffanstorp
  24. Svalöv
  25. Svedala
  26. Tomelilla
  27. Trelleborg
  28. Vellinge
  29. Ystad
  30. Åstorp
  31. Ängelholm
  32. Örkelljunga
  33. Östra Göinge

Electoral districts

The electoral districts of Skåne County for national parliamentary elections

The county is divided into four parliamentary constituences or electoral districts, electing 45 of the 349 members of the Riksdag. Each district is made up of one or more municipalities.

The political parties are represented by the following number of MPs from Skåne County after the Swedish general election, 2010:

Localities in order of size

The ten most populous localities of Skåne County as defined by Statistics Sweden 2005:

# Locality Population
1 Malmö 258,020
2 Helsingborg 91 457
3 Lund 76 188
4 Kristianstad 33 083
5 Landskrona 28 670
6 Trelleborg 25 643
7 Ängelholm 22 537
8 Hässleholm 22 548
9 Ystad 17 286
10 Eslöv 16 551

Transport

The motorway built between Malmö and Lund in 1953 was the first motorway in Sweden. With the opening of the Oresund Bridge between Malmö and Copenhagen (the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe) in 2000, the Swedish motorways were linked with European route E20 in Denmark, and the two countries' railway systems were physically connected. Before the bridge was built there were train ferries operated between Helsingborg and Helsingør. There are also train ferries to and from Germany and Poland.

Scania has three major public airports, Malmö Airport, Ängelholm-Helsingborg Airport and Kristianstad Airport. One of the oldest airports in the world still in use is located in Scania, namely Ljungbyhed Airport, in operation since 1910. Starting in 1926, the Swedish Air Force used the airport for flight training, and up until the military school was moved to the nearby Ängelholm F10 Wing in 1997, the airport was extremely busy. In the late 1980s, it was Sweden's busiest airport, with a record high of more than 1,400 take-offs and landings per day.[13]

The major ports of Scania are Trelleborg, Copenhagen Malmö Port and Helsingborg Harbour. Ferry connections across the Baltic Sea operate from several smaller ports as well.

References

  1. ↑ Sveriges Nationalatlas. Retrieved 2 April 2008
  2. ↑ "Kvartal 1 2011". Statistics Sweden. Retrieved 2013-11-04. 
  3. ↑ About Region Skåne. Region Skåne. Retrieved 10 April 2008.
  4. ↑ The County Administrative Board of Skåne - Länsstyrelsen Skåne
  5. ↑ County of Skåne - Facts
  6. ↑ Contacting the Police - www.polisen.se
  7. ↑ Lund University
  8. ↑ Swedish Environmental Protection Agency
  9. ↑ Nordicnet
  10. ↑ Airport Nav Finder
  11. ↑ Region Skåne. Democracy-Increased autonomy. Official site. Retrieved 24 August 2007.
  12. ↑ Region Skåne.Municipalities in Skåne. Official site. Retrieved 24 August 2007.
  13. ↑ Ljungbyhed airport - ESTL. Fact sheet created by Lund University School of Aviation. Retrieved 22 January 2007.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Skåne County.
Municipalities and seats of Scania County
Municipalities
Municipal seats
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