Counties of Sweden

From Wikinfo

[[sv:L�n]]

A County, or [[L�n]], is an administrative and political subdivision of Sweden. Sweden is divided into 21 counties, and in each county there is a County Administrative Board as well as a County Council. The County Administrative Board, or L�nsstyrelse, is appointed by the Government to coordinate administration with national political goals for the County. The County Council on the other hand is a regional government, i.e. a political assembly appointed by the electorate to deliberate on the "municipal" affairs of the County, primarily regarding the public health care system.

Contents 1 List of counties 2 Establishment 2.1 Historical subdivisions 3 See also 3.1 External links 3.1.1 References

List of counties

1. Blekinge County
2. Dalarna County
3. Gotland County
4. [[G�vleborg County]]
5. Halland County
6. [[J�mtland County]]
7. [[J�nk�ping County]]
8. Kalmar County
9. Kronoberg County
10. Norrbotten County
11. [[Sk�ne County]]
12. Stockholm County
13. [[S�dermanland County]]
14. Uppsala County
15. [[V�rmland County]]
16. [[V�sterbotten County]]
17. [[V�sternorrland County]]
18. [[V�stmanland County]]
19. [[V�stra G�taland County]]
20. [[�rebro County]]
21. [[�sterg�tland County]]

Each county is further divided into a total of 289 Municipalities or Kommuner (2002).

Establishment

The Counties were established in 1634 on count Axel Oxenstierna's initiative, superseding the Provinces of Sweden to introduce a modern administration. The most significant change to the county system took place when Sweden, after the Finnish War, was forced to cede the [[�sterland|Eastern counties]] to Russia in the Treaty of Fredrikshamn (1809). Despite this the county reform survived in Finland until 1997 and is still in force in Sweden today.

Abolished counties include Gothenburg and Bohus County, Skaraborg County, [[�lvsborg County]], [[Malm�hus County]], Kristianstad County, Norrland County, [[H�rn�sand County]], Hudiksvall County and [[�land County]].

Historical subdivisions

The Provinces of Sweden, or Landskap, and the Lands of Sweden, or Landsdelar, lack political importance today but are culturally of great significance. The division into the lands of [[G�taland]], Svealand and Norrland is commonly used as a geographical reference.

See also

• Government of Sweden
• County Administrative Boards of Sweden
• County Governors of Sweden
• County Councils of Sweden
• Municipalities of Sweden

• Realm of Sweden
• Lands of Sweden
• Provinces of Sweden
• Dominions of Sweden

• ISO 3166-2 codes for Sweden

External links

• The Swedish County Administrative Boards
• Official site of the Swedish government

References

• Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Counties_of_Sweden" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counties_of_Sweden, used under the GNU Free Documentation License