Discover Denmark’s Municipal Landscape: How Local Governance Shapes Everyday Life

Municipalities of Denmark

Denmark is divided into regions, which contain 98 municipalities (Danish: kommuner; singular: kommune). The Capital Region has 29 municipalities, Southern Denmark 22, Central Denmark 19, Zealand 17, and North Denmark 11. The government plans to merge the Capital and Zealand regions on 1 January 2027 to form the Region of Eastern Denmark. The regional council will have 47 members and will be elected on 18 November 2025 during the ordinary Danish local elections.

This administrative structure was established as part of a public sector reform (Danish: Strukturreformen; English: Structural Reform) that came into effect on 26 June 2005, with council elections held on 15 November 2005. The reform abolished 13 counties (Danish: amter; singular: amt) and created five regions (Danish: regioner; singular: region), which, unlike the former counties, are not municipalities. At the same time, 270 municipalities were consolidated into 98 larger units, most of which have at least 20,000 inhabitants.

Sixty-seven of the current municipalities resulted from these mergers, with Ærø merging earlier, on 1 January 2006, and Bornholm Regional Municipality merging on 1 January 2003—prior to the reform—making a total of 68 merged municipalities. Subsequently, on 1 January 2007, 238 municipalities were merged to form 66 municipalities, bringing the total number of merged municipalities from 2003, 2006, and 2007 to 245. The remaining 30 municipalities did not merge. Lolland and Sønderborg each consist of seven former municipalities.

Before the Bornholm merger, Denmark had 275 municipalities and 14 counties. Two unique municipalities, Copenhagen and Frederiksberg, were never part of a county and functioned as counties in their own right.

Many responsibilities previously held by counties were transferred to the 98 municipalities. With these increased responsibilities, the municipal income tax rate was raised by three percentage points on 1 January 2007, a tax that had formerly been part of the county tax. The archipelago of Ertholmene is not part of any municipality but is administered directly by the Ministry of Defence.

The average land area of a Danish municipality is 432.59 km² (167.08 square miles). The area listed for each municipality or region includes both land and water, which can constitute a significant portion, as in the case of Halsnæs Municipality. According to the Constitution of Denmark (Grundlov), "Article 82. The right of municipalities to manage their own affairs independently, under State supervision, shall be laid down by statute."

In the first elections after the reform, held on 15 November 2005, 2,522 municipal councillors and 205 regional councillors were elected. By comparison, in 1997 there were 4,685 municipal and 374 county councillors across 275 municipalities and 14 counties. For example, Bornholm had 122 councillors in the 1970s and 1980s (later reduced to 89 in 1999) across five municipalities and one county. After the 2003 merger of the five municipalities and the county, a single municipal council with 27 councillors was established, reduced to 23 in 2018.

After 1 January 2007, when Bornholm Regional Municipality lost its short-lived county privileges (2003–2006), discussions arose about reducing councillors to 19, in line with guidelines for municipalities with over 20,000 inhabitants, which stipulate a maximum of 31 and a minimum of 19 councillors. Municipalities with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants have a minimum of 9 councillors. Many newly formed municipalities opted for the maximum number of councillors to ensure representation for all parts of the new municipality and for smaller political parties. For instance, Copenhagen Municipality has 55 councillors, Århus, Aalborg, and Frederiksberg (from 1 January 2026) have 31 each, and Odense has 29. Municipalities such as Gentofte, Glostrup, Hørsholm, Ishøj, Solrød, and Tårnby have increased their councillor numbers according to the new guidelines.

Council elections are held every four years on the third Tuesday of November. The most recent elections took place on 16 November 2021.

During the transitional period of 2006, the newly formed five regional and 66 municipal councils acted as merger committees (sammenlægningsudvalg), overseeing the consolidation of old counties and municipalities into the new entities. The 238 municipal councils and 13 county councils continued their work one extra year beyond their elected term (2002–2005) before ceasing to exist. Thirty-two municipalities, including the recently formed Ærø Municipality and Bornholm Regional Municipality, remained unchanged.

Before 1979, local elections were held in odd-numbered years, with councillors taking office in April, following the change in the fiscal year from 1 April–31 March to 1 January–31 December. Historical examples include elections in March 1966, March 1970, March 1974, and March 1978. After November 1981, local elections were scheduled for four-year terms starting on 1 January.

Number of municipal councillors elected and their terms:

• November 2005: 2,522 (2006–2009)
• November 2009: 2,468 (2010–2013)
• November 2013: 2,444 (2014–2017)
• November 2017: 2,432 (2018–2021)
• November 2021: 2,436 (2022–2025; Frederiksberg increased from 25 to 29 councillors)
• November 2025: 2,432 (2026–2029)

References:

1. J. Blom-Hansen, Municipal Amalgamations and Common Pool Problems: The Danish Local Government Reform in 2007, Scandinavian Political Studies, 2009, 33(1), 55-71.

2. ISM (retrieved 2026-07-09)

How did the Baltic Sea form?

It is early July, and many of us are likely on the shores of the Baltic Sea—or planning to spend at least some time along its coast. But how did this sea, which today connects so many countries, come into existence?

The Baltic Sea is the youngest sea on Earth. It acquired its present-day characteristics only a few thousand years ago. In the millennia preceding this, the Baltic basin underwent a series of rapid and profound transformations that have left a lasting imprint on its current form.

Before the last Ice Age, there was a warmer interglacial period known as the Eemian, which occurred approximately 130,000 to 115,000 years ago. During this time, global sea levels were higher, and Fennoscandia formed an island. Broad straits connected the Baltic basin with both the North Sea and the White Sea. The Eemian Sea was significantly more saline than today’s Baltic Sea. Although no Eemian deposits have been found in present-day Finnish marine areas, they have been identified in the southern Baltic region.

Before the Baltic Sea attained its modern geomorphological structure, vast depressions and lakes filled with glacial meltwater formed in the region. These basins were intermittently connected to the ocean, then isolated again, and eventually established a permanent connection to the North Sea via the Kattegat, allowing saline water to mix with freshwater. From a geological perspective, the Baltic Sea is therefore a very young sea, whose current morphology and properties developed through several transitional stages driven by the interaction of glacial melting, isostatic land uplift, and global sea-level rise.

Even several thousand years before the Last Glacial Maximum, the Baltic region already hosted a subglacial lake in northern Europe, covered by continental ice sheets.

With the rapid temperature increase marking the beginning of the present interglacial period—the Holocene—the Scandinavian ice sheet retreated inland between approximately 9660 and 8200 BCE. As the ice margin reached the area of today’s Åland Islands northeast of Stockholm, a large proglacial meltwater basin formed in front of it: the Baltic Ice Lake.

Around 8200 BCE, continued sea-level rise created a connection between this basin and the global ocean through what is now central Sweden, initiating the Littorina transgression. The resulting exchange—freshwater outflow and inflow of saline water—led to the formation of the brackish Yoldia Sea.

By about 7000 BCE, further retreat of the Scandinavian glaciers reduced pressure on the landmass, triggering isostatic uplift. This uplift severed the marine connection, drastically reducing salinity and giving rise to the freshwater Ancylus Lake.

Between roughly 6000 and 4550 BCE, rising sea levels during the Littorina transgression once again flooded the land bridge between southern Sweden and Denmark. Eastern Denmark fragmented into its present-day islands, and new marine connections opened, including near the Darss Sill off the German coast. The southern Baltic began to assume the general outlines of its modern coastline. As Scandinavia continued to rise and southern regions subsided, the sea advanced over the young glacial landscape, forming new coastal configurations such as fjords (Förden), bays, and lagoonal coasts (Bodden), including features like the Szczecin Lagoon.

These processes reflect large-scale geological and hydrographic dynamics. The Earth’s crust is not rigid; prolonged loading—such as by a 3,000-meter-thick ice sheet—causes it to subside. When the load is removed, the crust rebounds slowly due to the viscous behavior of the underlying mantle, a process known as glacial isostatic adjustment. As a result, Scandinavia continues to rise today at a rate of about 9 mm per year.

Another key factor is eustatic (climate-driven) sea-level change. During the Last Glacial Maximum, global sea levels were 80–100 meters lower than today because large volumes of water were locked in continental ice sheets. As the ice melted, sea levels rose rapidly. The interplay between land uplift and sea-level rise shaped the late- and postglacial evolution of the Baltic Sea, which can be divided into four principal stages characterized by changing connections to the ocean and varying salinity: the Baltic Ice Lake, the Yoldia Sea, the Ancylus Lake, and the Littorina Sea (with later subdivisions including the Limnea and Mya stages).

Following the onset of deglaciation around 14,000 years ago, meltwater accumulated behind the retreating ice sheet, forming a series of proglacial lakes that eventually coalesced into the Baltic Ice Lake between about 10,000 and 8500 BCE. This विशाल freshwater body extended from the island of Møn to Lake Ladoga, without yet reaching the modern German Baltic coast. Bornholm and the Danish islands were still part of the mainland. As the ice retreated further, the lake drained episodically through central Sweden, allowing marine water to enter and mix with glacial meltwater, especially near present-day Stockholm and in the Gotland Basin.

During the Yoldia Sea phase (ca. 8000–7700 BCE), isostatic uplift temporarily outpaced global sea-level rise, maintaining a short-lived connection to the North Sea and allowing marine species such as Yoldia arctica to colonize the basin.

The Ancylus Lake phase (ca. 7500–6000 BCE) marked a return to freshwater conditions due to renewed uplift closing the marine connection. The lake drained southward through what is now the Great Belt, carving deep channels still visible today in submarine troughs.

The Littorina Sea phase (ca. 6000 BCE–0 CE) began when rising sea levels re-established a stable marine connection. Saline water entered through the Danish straits, creating a brackish sea richer in salt than today’s Baltic. This phase saw extensive flooding of low-lying areas and the development of many modern coastal features.

Over the past two millennia (the Subatlantic period), the Baltic Sea has gradually freshened due to continuous river inflow and reduced saltwater exchange through the Danish straits. These later stages are sometimes referred to as the Limnea Sea and the Mya Sea, named after characteristic mollusk species.

The Baltic Sea today

Today, the Baltic Sea is an inland sea covering approximately 412,500 km² with a maximum depth of 459 meters. It is the second-largest brackish water body in the world. Ongoing geophysical processes—land uplift and sea-level rise, the latter intensified by climate change—continue to reshape the region. Scandinavia is still rising, while southern areas are subsiding, producing a “bathtub effect” in basin dynamics. In Finland, for example, land area increases by about 10 km² annually.

What does the future hold?

Global warming will inevitably affect the Baltic Sea. Rising sea levels due to melting polar ice caps will have consequences, although the Baltic coasts are generally less vulnerable to flooding than those of the North Sea, thanks to the protective postglacial landscape. However, low-lying regions near river mouths—such as the Oder, Vistula, and Neman—remain at risk. Certain areas in northern Germany, including parts of Schleswig-Holstein, are particularly vulnerable.

Even if the situation in the Baltic region may seem relatively stable, it is important to recognize the broader global implications. As contributors to climate change, we bear responsibility for mitigating its impacts—so that future generations can continue to appreciate the unique beauty of the Baltic Sea.

References:

1. A. Rosentau, V. Klemann, O. Bennike et al., A Holocene relative sea-level database for the Baltic Sea, Quaternary Science Reviews, 2021 (266), 1-19.

2. M. D. Johnson et al., Geomorphology and sedimentology of features formed at the outlet during the final drainage of the Baltic Ice Lake, Boreas, 2022, 51 (1): 20–40.

3. N.-A. Mörner, The Baltic Ice Lake-Yoldia Sea transition, Quaternary International, 1995 (27), 95–98.

4. J. Miluch et al., Paleogeographic numerical modeling of marginal seas for the Holocene – an exemplary study of the Baltic Sea, Earth System Dynamics, 2025 (16), 585–605.

5. M. Ponikowska et al., Deep crustal structure of the southern Baltic Sea in the light of seismic and potential field data, Solid Earth, 2026 (17), 85–112.

6. M. Hieronymus, Baltic Sea deep salinity: an initial and boundary value problem, Frontiers in Earth Science, 2026 (14), 1-14.

7. L J. Kaszubowski, Geological History of the Baltic Volume 2: Evolution of the Baltic Sea, 2025, 20ff.

8. GEOMAR (retrieved 2026-07-04).