What is Municipalities Of Sweden?

Sweden's administration
Counties of Sweden:
Governors Administrative Boards Councils
Municipalities of Sweden:
Alphabetical list Population sorted Area sorted Density sorted Wealth sorted
See also:

Also see: List of Swedish municipalities, or related lists.

Also see: List of municipalities of Sweden by population.

The Municipalities of Sweden (kommun) are the local government entities of Sweden. The current 290 municipalities form sub-divisions to the 21 Counties of Sweden (Län). All municipalities are of a uniform type, and there are no local statutes or privileges of any kind.

Foundation

The basic regulation of Swedish municipalities can be found in the Local Government Act of 1991. It specifies several responsibilities for the municipalities, and provides outlines for local government, such as the process for electing the municipal assembly. It also regulates a process (laglighetsprövning, "legality trial") through which any citizen can appeal the decisions of the local government to a county administrative court.

Municipal government in Sweden is similar to city commission government and cabinet-style council government. A legislative municipal assembly (kommunfullmäktige) of between 31 and 101 members (always an uneven number) is elected from party-list proportional representation at municipal elections, held every four years in conjunction with the national parliamentary elections. The assembly in turn appoints a municipal executive committee (kommunstyrelse) from its members. The executive committee is headed by its chairman, (kommunstyrelsens ordförande).

History

The first local government acts were implemented on January 1, 1863. There were two acts, one for the cities and one for the countryside. The total number of municipalities was about 2,500. The rural municipalities were based on the old parishes and the then 89 cities/towns (which is the same in Swedish) were based on the old chartered cities.

The first of the two nation-wide municipal reforms of the 20th century was implemented in 1952. The number of rural municipalities was reduced from 2,281 to 816. The cities (by when 133) were not affected.

The second reform was implemented in 1971. Some amalgamations took place before and after that year, depending on local circumstances. This reform removed the remaining differences in government and privileges between cities and rural municipalities, consolidated larger mixed rural/urban municipalities, and abolished the formal term stad (city) altogether. In 1977 there were 277 municipalities. Since then some "divorces" have occurred and the number is now 290.

Some municipalities still use the term "City" (Swedish: Stad) when referring to themselves, a practice adopted by the largest municipalities Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. 13 municipalities altogether have made this choice, which is unofficial and has no effect on the administrative status of the municipality.

Sub-division

Municipalities may further be divided into boroughs (stadsdelsnämnder alt. kommundelsnämnder). The existence of such divisions are at the discretion of the municipality.

The municipalities are also divided into a total of 2,512 parishes, or församlingar (2000). These have traditionally been used as a divisioning measure by the Church of Sweden, but still have importance as districts for census and elections.

Regulations

The municipality decides whether a borough is allowed to secede and form a separate municipality. However, the question of whether a new municipality will be created is at the discretion of the central Swedish Government. It is recommended that the lower limit of a municipality be 2,000 inhabitants.

Duties

According to law, the municipalities are responsible for:

• Social service
• care and custody of elders, disable, etc.
• childcare and pre-school
• The public school system for children
• Structure and building issues
• Health and environment issues
• Sanitations and waste disposal
• Rescue service
• Water and drainage
• Order and safety

All other activities are voluntary, for instance:

• Leisure activities (e.g. for youths)
• Culture (apart from a public library, which is mandatory)
• Housing
• Power and energy
• Industry and commerce

The voluntary activities enables municipalities to distinguish themselves as the means of attracting inhabitants.

Geographical boundaries

The municipalities in Sweden cover the entire territory of the nation. Unlike the USA or Canada, there are no unincorporated areas. The municipalities in the north cover large areas of sparsely populated land. Kiruna, at 19 446 km², is sometimes held to be the world's largest "city" by area (although places like La Tuque, Quebec and Wood Buffalo, Alberta can be argued as larger). (By comparison, the total area of the state of Lebanon is 10,452 km².) At any rate, several northern municipalities are larger than many counties in the more densely populated southern part of the country.

See also

• Statistics Sweden (SCB)
• Municipal elections in Sweden, 2002
• Local federation
• List of municipalities of Sweden by area
• List of municipalities of Sweden by density
• List of municipalities of Sweden by population
• List of Swedish municipalities by county
• List of Swedish municipalities by wealth

External links

• Swedish Association of Local Authorities - Official site
• The Local Government Act in English translation (pdf)
• Swedish Government - Official site

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