Skåne County

Skåne County (Swedish: Skåne län), sometimes referred to as Scania County in English, is the southernmost county, or län, of Sweden, basically corresponding to the traditional province Skåne. It borders the counties of Halland, Kronoberg and Blekinge and connects to Capital Region, Denmark by the Öresund Bridge. The seat of residence for the Skåne Governor is the city of Malmö. The headquarters of Skåne Regional Council are located both in Kristianstad and Malmö.[4]

This article is about the administrative county. For other uses, see Skåne (disambiguation).
Skåne County

Skåne län
County of Sweden
Flag
Coat of arms
Skåne County in Sweden
Location map of Skåne County in Sweden
Coordinates: 55°59′43″N 13°26′30″E
Country Sweden
Founded1 January 1997
CapitalMalmö, Kristianstad
Municipalities
Government
 • GovernorAnneli Hulthén
 • County CouncilSkåne Regional Council
Area
 • Total11,302.77 km2 (4,364.02 sq mi)
Population
 (September 30, 2017)[2]
 • Total1,340,415
 • Density120/km2 (310/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
ISO 3166 codeSE-M
Nominal GRDPSEK 531 billion (2017)[3]
Nominal GRDP per capitalSEK 398,000 (2017)[3]
NUTS RegionSE224
Website
Counties before 1997.

The present county was created in 1997 when Kristianstad County and Malmöhus County were merged; it covers around 3% of Sweden's total area, while its population of 1.3 million comprises 13% of Sweden's total population. Prince Oscar is Duke of Skåne.

Endonym and exonym

When the new county was established in 1997, it was decided to name it after the historical province Skåne so it was given the name Skåne län. The most common name used in English is Skåne County,[5][6][7] even if the form Scania County occurs.[8][9][10][11] It cannot be considered wrong to use either form in English.

Heraldry

The coat of arms for Skåne County is the same as for the province of Skåne, only with the tinctures reversed and the crown, beak and tongue of the griffin in the same color. When the arms are shown with a royal crown it represents the County Administrative Board, which is the regional presence of (royal) government authority. Blazon: "Gules, a Griffin's head erased Or, crowned and armed the same".

Provinces

Skåne County is the administrative equivalent of the province of Skåne, but it also includes an insignificant part of the province of Halland.

Administration

Skåne County is administered as Region Skåne, one of the 20 county councils of Sweden. Its main responsibilities are for the public healthcare system and public transport. In addition, it has for a trial period assumed certain tasks from the County Administrative Board. The two former administrative county councils of the province of Skåne shown on the map, Kristianstad County and Malmöhus County, which were established in 1719 were merged in 1997, forming the present county with boundaries that are almost identical to the boundaries of the province.

The seat of residence for the Governor (landshövding) is the city of Malmö. The County Administrative Board is a Government Agency headed by a Governor. See List of Skåne Governors.

County council

Region Skåne is an evolved County Council, which was established in 1999 when the County Councils of the former counties were amalgamated.

Its county or regional assembly is the highest political body in the region and its members are elected by the electorate,[12] as opposed to the county administrative board, that guards the national interests in the county under the chairmanship of the county governor (landshövding in Swedish).

Municipalities
Municipalities of Skåne

Skåne County contains 33 municipalities[13] (Swedish: kommuner), the largest by population being Malmö Municipality (340,000 inhabitants), Helsingborg Municipality (145,000), Lund Municipality (123,000 inhabitants) and Kristianstad Municipality (85,000 inhabitants). The municipalities have municipal governments, similar to city commissions, and are further divided into parishes. The parish division is traditionally used by the Church of Sweden, but also serves as a divisioning measure for Swedish census and elections.

  1. Bjuv
  2. Bromölla
  3. Burlöv
  4. Båstad
  5. Eslöv
  6. Helsingborg
  7. Hässleholm
  8. Höganäs
  9. Hörby
  10. Höör
  11. Klippan
  12. Kristianstad
  13. Kävlinge
  14. Landskrona
  15. Lomma
  16. Lund
  17. Malmö
  18. Osby
  19. Perstorp
  20. Simrishamn
  21. Sjöbo
  22. Skurup
  23. Staffanstorp
  24. Svalöv
  25. Svedala
  26. Tomelilla
  27. Trelleborg
  28. Vellinge
  29. Ystad
  30. Åstorp
  31. Ängelholm
  32. Örkelljunga
  33. Östra Göinge

Elections
The electoral districts of Skåne County for national parliamentary elections
Main article: Skåne Regional Council

The county is divided into four parliamentary constituencies or electoral districts, electing 47 of the 349 members of the Riksdag. Each district is made up of one or more municipalities.

In the 2018 general election, Sweden Democrats performed particularly well in Skåne County, having the highest number of voters in 21 out of the county's 33 municipalities.[14]

Overall representation in the Riksdag during 2018–2022 mandate period was as follows:[15]

PartySeats±
Social Democratic12−1
Sweden Democrats11+2
Moderate Party9−4
Centre Party4+2
Liberals4-
Christian Democrats3+1
Left Party2+1
Green Party2−2
Total47−1

Localities in order of size

The ten most populous localities of Skåne County in 2018 were:[16]

Locality Population
Malmö 316,588
Helsingborg 109,869
Lund 91,940
Kristianstad 40,926
Landskrona 33,049
Trelleborg 30,436
Ängelholm 28,251
Hässleholm 19,597
Eslöv 19,573
Ystad 19,498

The ten largest municipalities of the county by total area are:[17]

MunicipalitySize (km2)
Kristianstad1,820.76
Hässleholm1,307.43
Simrishamn1,254.90
Ystad1,184.41
Trelleborg1,176.64
Båstad 881.91
Vellinge 707.87
Höganäs 676.26
Osby 598.84
Skurup 511.60

Transport
See also: Scania, Pågatågen, and Øresundståg

The motorway built between Malmö and Lund in 1953 was the first motorway in Sweden. With the opening of the Öresund Bridge between Malmö and Copenhagen (the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe) in 2000, the Swedish motorways were linked with European route E20 in Denmark, and the two countries' railway systems were physically connected. Before the bridge was built there were train ferries operated between Helsingborg and Helsingør. There are also train ferries to and from Germany and Poland.

Skåne has three major public airports, Malmö Airport, Ängelholm–Helsingborg Airport and Kristianstad Airport. One of the oldest airports in the world still in use is located in Skåne, namely Ljungbyhed Airport, in operation since 1910. Starting in 1926, the Swedish Air Force used the airport for flight training, and up until the military school was moved to the nearby Ängelholm F10 Wing in 1997, the airport was extremely busy. In the late 1980s, it was Sweden's busiest airport, with a record high of more than 1,400 take-offs and landings per day.[18]

The major ports of Skåne are Trelleborg, Ystad, Åhus, Copenhagen Malmö Port, Landskrona Harbour and Helsingborg Harbour. Ferry connections across the Baltic Sea operate from several smaller ports as well.

References
  1. "Land- och vattenareal i kvadratkilometer efter region, arealtyp och år" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. Retrieved 2019-08-07.
  2. "Folkmängd i riket, län och kommuner 30 september 2017 och befolkningsförändringar 1 juli–30 september 2017. Totalt". Statistics Sweden. 2017-11-08. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 2017-11-19.
  3. "Bruttoregionprodukt (BRP), sysselsatta och löner (ENS2010) efter region, tabellinnehåll och år" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. Retrieved 2019-08-07.
  4. "Koncernkontoret" (in Swedish). Region Skåne. Retrieved 2019-08-07.
  5. Board, County Administrative. "County Administrative Board". www.lansstyrelsen.se. Archived from the original on 2017-10-20. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  6. make_lan_html02.pl. "County of Skåne - Facts". www.sna.se. Archived from the original on 31 January 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  7. "Contacting the Police - www.polisen.se". polisen.se. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  8. "Lund University". lu.se. Archived from the original on 15 November 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  9. "Swedish Environmental Protection Agency" (PDF). naturvardsverket.se. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  10. "Malmo - Nordicnet.net". www.nordicnet.net. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  11. "ESMS : Malmo Sturup". www.airportnavfinder.com. Archived from the original on 28 August 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  12. Region Skåne. Democracy-Increased autonomy Archived 2004-10-23 at Archive.today. Official site. Retrieved 24 August 2007.
  13. "Snabbfakta of Skåne" (in Swedish). Skåne Regional Council. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
  14. Orange, Richard (11 September 2018). "Sweden Democrats biggest in two-thirds of Skåne districts". The Local. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  15. "Mandatfördelning" (in Swedish). Valmyndigheten. 2018-11-06.
  16. "Folkmängd per tätort efter region och vart 5:e år" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. Retrieved 2019-08-07.
  17. "Land- och vattenareal i kvadratkilometer efter region, arealtyp och år" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. Retrieved 2019-08-07.
  18. "Ljungbyheds Militärhistoriska Museum" (in Swedish). Retrieved 2019-07-08.
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