Gotland County ( sv, Gotlands län) is 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 ...

or '' län'' of Sweden. Gotland is located in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

to the east of

Öland Öland (, ; ; sometimes written ''Øland'' in other Scandinavian languages, and often ''Oland'' internationally; la, Oelandia) is the second-largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area ...

, and is the largest of Sweden's islands. Counties are usually sub-divided into municipalities, but Gotland County consists of only one

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 ...

, which also serves as a municipality,

Region Gotland 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 municipal ...

. Gotland County is the only county in Sweden that is not governed by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

. 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 A county administrative board ( sv, länsstyrelse) is a Swedish Government Agency in each of the counties of Sweden, led by a vice-regal governor ( sv, landshövding) appointed by the government for a term of six years. The lists of gubernatorial o ...

, which oversees implementation of the Swedish state government. Both the County Administrative Board and the municipality have their seat in the largest city,

Visby Visby () is an urban area in Sweden and the seat of Gotland Municipality in Gotland County on the island of Gotland with 24,330 inhabitants . Visby is also the episcopal see for the Diocese of Visby. The Hanseatic city of Visby is arguably th ...

, with over 22,000 inhabitants.

Province

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 km²

Administration

Gotland is the only

Swedish county The counties of Sweden (Swedish: ''Sveriges län'') are the top-level geographic subdivisions of Sweden. Sweden is today divided into 21 counties; however, the number of counties has varied over time, due to territorial gains/losses and to div ...

that is not administered by a

. Instead, 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 ...

is tasked with the responsibilities of a county, including public health care and public transport. The main aims of the

are to fulfil the goals set in national politics by the Riksdag and 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 ...

, 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 is a Government agency headed by a Governor.

Mats Löfving Mats Olov Löfving (born 27 May 1961) is a Swedish police officer, Deputy Director of the Swedish Police Authority. He has served as Chief of Police of both Östergötland and Västra Götaland, and has been appointed as the next regional chie ...

is the regional police chief for both Stockholm and Gotland Counties.

Politics

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 the trial period.

Governors

Localities in order of size

The five most populous localities of Gotland County in 2010:

Foreign background

SCB 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.

Heraldry

Gotland County inherited its coat of arms from the province of Gotland. When it is shown with a royal crown it represents the County Administrative Board.

References

External links

Gotland County Administrative BoardRegion Gotland
{{Authority control

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 ...

Counties of Sweden