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| 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)
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