A new map for Sweden

After struggles with balanced health care resources across the country, new administrative districts are proposed. 

  • According to the new map the number of Sweden's administrative districs (län) will be reduced from 21 to 6.

  • Sweden got rearranged. Well, its interior regional boundaries did. On March 9, a new map was revealed to show how the Nordic country has reduced the number of its administrative districs (län) — from 21 to 6 — after outdated divisions and great shifts in population growth in different areas. One of the goals was to create six "super regions" with an equal number of inhabitants in an effort to lower the bureaucracy and accommodate health care resources and responsibilities across the country.

  • Sweden’s administrative län divisions date back to 1634, and very little of those boundaries have changed since 1810. Sweden is historically and culturally divided into 25 "landskap" or provinces, which are regions without administrative functions. They are, however, legacies and often part and parcel of a person’s identity. The län divisions won’t really affect the cultural identity the provinces offer, but their populations have changed and many haven’t been able to meet their administrative responsibilities, so the regions must be made more equal in population (today more than half of the population is in the three largest regions).

  • The following changes are proposed:
    -Four northern counties (Norrbotten, Västerbotten, Jämtland and Västernorrland) merge into a large geographic region of 44 municipalities with a total of 880,000 inhabitants;
    -Gävleborg, Uppsala, Dalarna, Örebro, Västmanland and Södermanland counties merge with a total of 1.7 million inhabitants and 64 municipalities;
    -Stockholm and Gotland combine with 2.2 million people (with the expectation of more and rapid growth);
    -Värmland and Halland merge with Västra Götaland for a total of 2.2 million inhabitants;
    -Blekinge forms a wider region together with Skåne and a population of 1.4 million;
    -The three Småland counties of Jönköping, Kronoberg and Kalmar will merge with Östergötland with a total of 1.2 million people.