| Municipalities of Denmark Kommuner i Danmark (Danish) | |
|---|---|
 Map showing the post-2007 municipalities of Denmark. | |
| Category | Municipality |
| Location | Denmark |
| Found in | Regions |
| Number | 98 (as of 2021) |
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Denmark is divided into five regions, which contain 98 municipalities (Danish: kommuner, [kʰoˈmuːnɐ]; sg. kommune, [-nə]). The Capital Region has 29 municipalities, Southern Denmark 22, Central Denmark 19, Zealand 17 and North Denmark 11. The government intends to merge R. Hovedstaden with R. Sjælland 1 January 2027 to form Region Østdanmark (Region of Eastern Denmark). The regional council will have 41 members, and will be elected Tuesday 18 November 2025 in the ordinary 2025 Danish local elections.[1]
This structure was established per an administrative reform (Danish: Strukturreformen; English: (The) Structural Reform) of the public sector of Denmark, effective 26 June 2005 (council elections 15 November 2005), which abolished the 13 counties (amter; singular amt) and created five regions (regioner; singular region) which unlike the counties (1970–2006) (Danish (singular) amtskommune lit. 'county municipality') are not municipalities. The 270 municipalities were consolidated into 98 larger units, most of which have at least 20,000 inhabitants.
67 of the present municipalities are mergers as a result of the administrative reform, with Ærø being allowed to merge already on 1 January 2006, and one municipality, Bornholm Regional Municipality, being a merger from 1 January 2003, before the reform, that is 68 merged municipalities in all. 238 municipalities were merged 1 January 2007 to form 66 municipalities for a total of 245 merged municipalities in 2003, 2006, and 2007. The 30 remaining municipalities have not merged. Lolland, and Sønderborg each consist of seven (7) former municipalities.
Before the merger on Bornholm there were 275 municipalities and 14 counties. Two sui generis municipalities, namely Copenhagen and Frederiksberg, were never a part of a county, but were counties in their own right.
Many of the responsibilities of the former counties were taken over by the 98 municipalities. With the increased responsibilities, the income tax rate that each of the 98 municipalities levies was raised by three percentage points on 1 January 2007. This tax had once been a part of the tax levied by the former counties.
The archipelago of Ertholmene is not part of any municipality, but is administered by the Ministry of Defence.
The average land area of a Danish municipality is 432.59 km2, 167.08 square miles. The area given in each article about municipalities – and regions – is the total area of land and water, of which the latter can make up a large part for instance in Halsnæs Municipality.
- ^ [1] 1 January 2027: Region of Eastern Denmark