A regional council ( sv, region) is a self-governing

local authority Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

. There are 21 regional councils (one of which is a municipality having the same responsibilities as a

county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irel ...

), each corresponding to a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

. Regional councils are governed by a regional assembly (''regionfullmäktige'') that is elected by the regional electorate every four years in conjunction with the

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

. The most important responsibilities of regional councils are the public health care system and public transportation. It is one of the principal administrative subdivisions of Sweden. Within the same geographical borders as the regional councils, there are county administrative boards, an administrative entity appointed by the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

. As of 2010, the different regional council assemblies had a combined total of 1,696 seats. Constitutionally, the regional councils exercise a degree of municipal self-government provided by the

Basic Laws of Sweden The Basic Laws of Sweden ( sv, Sveriges grundlagar) are the four constitutional laws of the Kingdom of Sweden that regulate the Swedish political system, acting in a similar manner to the constitutions of most countries. These four laws are: t ...

. This does not constitute any degree of federalism, which is consistent with Sweden's status as a

unitary state A unitary state is a sovereign state governed as a single entity in which the central government is the supreme authority. The central government may create (or abolish) administrative divisions (sub-national units). Such units exercise only ...

. Within the geographic boundaries of the county there are also several smaller

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

and administrations that exercise local self-government independent of the regional councils. These can also be referred to as "primary municipalities" or ''primärkommuner'', while the larger regional councils are ''sekundärkommuner'', "secondary municipalities". The

Municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

of Gotland is an exception, due to its geographical boundaries, as

Gotland Municipality Region Gotland, officially Gotlands kommun ( en, Gotland Municipality), is a municipality that covers the entire island of Gotland in Sweden. The city of Visby is the municipality's seat. Gotland Municipality is the 39th most populous municipali ...

also has the responsibilities of a regional council. Historically, Stockholm was separate from counties and was not under the jurisdiction of the Stockholm County Council until 1967, and some other large cities were in counties but outside regional councils. The cities handled the responsibilities. The two last such cities were Malmö and Göteborg until 1998. In January 2020, the county councils (''landsting'') of Sweden were officially reclassified as Regions (''regioner''). ''De facto,'' the regional councils had already adopted the 'Region' title well before the new law was adopted.

References

External links

Municipalities and regions
*Official translation of th
Local Government ActAbout Stockholm County Council
{{DEFAULTSORT:County Councils Of Sweden Government of Sweden

See also

References

External links