The 1970 Danish Municipal Reform was an extensive administrative reform in Denmark which on 1 April 1970 reduced the number of Danish municipalities (singular Danish: Kommune) from 1,098 to 277 and the number of counties (singular Danish: Amt) from 25 to 14. The reform also abolished the last privileges for market towns (Danish Købstad).
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History
In 1841, a law provided for the establishment of 1,021 parish municipalities (Singular Danish: Sognekommune) for the first time, and their numbers increased over the years, as did the number of købstadskommuner (Singular Danish: Købstadskommune). The parish municipalities belonged to 24 counties (Danish: Amt) while the market towns were under direct control of the Ministry of Interior Affairs. Originally the municipalities held only small areas of responsibility. During the 20th century, they were granted responsibility for the hospital service for the non-urban population.
In 1958, interior minister Søren Olesen initiated the preparations which would eventually lead to the 1970 Municipal Reform. The number of municipalities peaked in 1965 at 1,345: there were 1,257 parish and 88 market city municipalities, with Copenhagen and Frederiksberg included in the latter total. At the time of the reform the number of municipalities had already been reduced to 1,098.
Scope
The reform reduced the number of municipalities from 1,098 to 277 and the number of counties from 25 to 14. The concept of market towns was abandoned, and after the reform Copenhagen and Frederiksberg were the only municipalities which did not belong to a county.
1974 adjustment
The reform was not fully implemented until 1 April 1974 when the number of municipalities was further reduced to 275.