Gotland County ( Swedish : Gotlands län ) is a county or län of Sweden . Gotland is located in the Baltic Sea to the east of Öland , and is the largest of Sweden's islands . Counties are usually sub-divided into municipalities, but Gotland County consists of only one county council , which also serves as a municipality, Region Gotland . Gotland County is the only county in Sweden that is not governed by a municipal council . The municipality handles the tasks that are otherwise handled by the county council: mainly health care and public transport. Like other counties, Gotland has a County Administrative Board , which oversees implementation of the Swedish state government. Both the County Administrative Board and the municipality have their seat in the largest city, Visby , with over 22,000 inhabitants. Princess Leonore, the daughter of Princess Madeleine , is Duchess of Gotland.
19-402: The provinces of Sweden are no longer officially administrative units but are used in reporting population size, politics, etc. In that case, the province, the county and the municipality all have identical borders and cover an area of 3151 km Gotland is the only Swedish county that is not administered by a county council . Instead, the municipality is tasked with the responsibilities of
38-569: A county, including public health care and public transport. The main aims of the County Administrative Board are to fulfil the goals set in national politics by the Riksdag and the Government , to coordinate the interests and promote the development of the county, to establish regional goals and safeguard the due process of law in the handling of each case. The County Administrative Board
57-478: A number of municipalities ( kommuner ), the existence of which is partly at the discretion of the central government. Since 2004 their number has been 290, thus an average of 13.8 municipalities per county. Until 1968, the City of Stockholm had its own "county code" A , which is still used interchangeably with AB in some contexts, and County of Stockholm had county code B . L was for Kristianstad County and M
76-551: Is a Government agency headed by a Governor. Mats Löfving is the regional police chief for both Stockholm and Gotland Counties. During a trial period the County Council provisions for Gotland has been evolved to provisions for a Regional Council, meaning that it has assumed certain tasks from the County Administrative Board. Similar provisions are applicable to the counties of Västra Götaland and Skåne during
95-467: Is a role fulfilled by the historical provinces of Sweden ( Swedish : landskap ). This level of administrative unit was first established in the 1634 Instrument of Government on Lord Chancellor Count Axel Oxenstierna 's initiative, and superseded the landskap, in order to introduce a more efficient administration of the realm. At that time, they were what the translation of län into English literally means: fiefdoms . The county borders often follow
114-516: Is shown with a royal crown it represents the County Administrative Board. Counties of Sweden The counties of Sweden ( Swedish : Sveriges län ) are the first-level administrative subdivisions of Sweden . There are twenty-one counties; however, the number of counties has varied over time, due to territorial changes and to divisions and/or mergers of existing existing counties. They are not regarded as geographical areas by Swedes as they are not connected to dialects or identity, which
133-636: The population registration . The agency was formed on 1 January 2004 through the merger of the Swedish National Tax Board ( Riksskatteverket ) and the then 10 existing regional tax authorities ( skattemyndigheter ). The Swedish Tax Agency (and prior to that, the Swedish National Tax Board) was also formerly the parent agency of the Swedish Enforcement Administration ( Kronofogdemyndigheten ). Since 1 July 2008,
152-736: The 2000s, many major government agencies have reorganised from a county-based subdivisional structure into larger geographical or functional areas. This include the Swedish Tax Agency (1 January 2004), the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (1 January 2005), the Swedish Public Employment Service (1 January 2008), and the Swedish Police Authority (1 January 2015). With county codes, which were official until 1974. Each county region contains
171-408: The county administrative board are to supervise local state administration (that is not otherwise assigned to other government agencies), and to coordinate political goals with the central government. The regional council is the elected regional political assembly that oversees the municipal affairs of the county, primarily in regard to public healthcare , public transport , and culture. Beginning in
190-532: The following proposal has in 2016 emerged: The main difference is that the proposed Bergslagen is divided to other counties, and Stockholm is on its own (plus the small Gotland which has air connections to Stockholm) The counties in Sweden correspond to the third level of division in the European Union 's system of Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics . For the purpose of creating regions corresponding to
209-759: The loss of Finland to Russia in 1809). In 1812, some provinces were moved from Götaland to Svealand . After the Finnish War , Sweden was forced to cede the counties in Finland to Russia following the Treaty of Fredrikshamn in (1809). However, the counties were upheld in Finland until a reform in 1997. They are still in use in Sweden, 370 years later. The counties in Finland established in 1634 were: Turku and Pori County , Nyland and Tavastehus County , Viborg and Nyslott County , Ostrobothnia County and Kexholm County . Over time
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#1732855023333228-529: The number of subdivisions in Finland increased to twelve, until a reorganization in 1997 reduced their number to six provinces , while keeping the administrative model intact. The counties in Finland were abolished in 2010. Abolished counties in current-day Sweden proper were: Counties in Swedish-ruled Finland were: Under the aegis of the Swedish government , Ansvarskommittén has been investigating
247-529: The possibilities of merging the current 21 counties into 6 to 9 larger regions. These proposals are from their final report, delivered in 2007: A model for this comes from the merger of some counties into Skåne County and Västra Götaland County in 1997 and 1998, respectively, which is now considered a success. The counties are discussing the proposal. An obstacle is that Stockholm County does not want to merge with any other county, while its neighbours want to merge with Stockholm. After this discussion
266-479: The provinces were grouped in three lands: Götaland , being southern and western Sweden; Svealand being eastern and south-eastern, and Norrland being the entire northern half. The names of the first two refer to ancient tribes, and the third is a geographical reference. They are still commonly used as geographical references. The boundaries have changed over time, with the most significant in 1658 (the cession of provinces from Denmark-Norway to Sweden) and 1812 (due to
285-467: The provincial borders, but the Crown often chose to make slight relocations to suit its purposes. In every county there is a county administrative board ( länsstyrelse ) headed by a governor ( landshövding ), appointed by the government , as well as a separate regional council ( region ). In the county of Gotland however, the county's only municipality has adopted regional responsibilities. The aims of
304-427: The second level, counties have been grouped into eight Riksområden , or National Areas : Stockholm , East Middle Sweden , North Middle Sweden , Middle Norrland , Upper Norrland , Småland and the islands , West Sweden and South Sweden . Swedish Tax Agency The Swedish Tax Agency ( Swedish : Skatteverket ) is a government agency in Sweden responsible for national tax collection and administering
323-411: The trial period. The five most populous localities of Gotland County in 2010: Statistics Sweden have collected statistics on backgrounds of residents since 2002. These tables consist of all who have two foreign-born parents or are born abroad themselves. The chart lists election years and the last year on record alone. Gotland County inherited its coat of arms from the province of Gotland. When it
342-614: Was for Malmöhus County but since they were merged to form Skåne County , M is usually used. O used to stand for Gothenburg and Bohus County but has been used for Västra Götaland County since it was merged with Skaraborg County ( R ) and Älvsborg County ( P ). Sweden's provinces , or landskap , and the "lands" , or landsdelar , lack political importance today but are common denominations culturally and historically. The provinces had their own laws and justice systems and could have large cultural and religious differences. The province of Småland (literally small land ) historically
361-454: Was several provinces with its own laws. Here burial tradition in the era before the Viking Age could differ significantly from province to province. The province of Norrbotten is a relatively recent creation; it was part of Västerbotten which extended all the way to Österbotten in today's Finland before 1809. Finnish and Swedish Lappland was also one province until 1809. Historically,
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