The Region of Southern Denmark is one of Denmark's five administrative regions, created on January 1, 2007, as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform. This reform replaced the traditional counties ("amter") with larger regions and merged smaller municipalities into larger ones, reducing the total number of municipalities from 270 (271 before 2006) to 98. The reform significantly reduced the authority of the regional level, shifting more power to local municipalities and the central government in Copenhagen. The Region of Southern Denmark consists of 22 municipalities.
Although the reform officially took effect on January 1, 2007, the merger of the Ærøskøbing and Marstal municipalities on the island of Ærø was implemented a year earlier, on January 1, 2006. The region shares a southern border with Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, a northern border with the Central Denmark Region, and is connected to Region Zealand by the Great Belt Fixed Link.
Vejle serves as the regional capital, while Odense is the largest city and home to the main campus of the University of Southern Denmark, which also has branch campuses in Esbjerg, Kolding, and Sønderborg. The region is responsible for managing hospitals and regional public transport. Public transport is operated by Sydtrafik on the mainland and Als, and by Fynbus on Funen and nearby islands. However, the island municipalities of Ærø (since 2016) and Fanø (since 2018) manage their own public transport services.
 Denmark V • T
|
|---|
Regions
Territories
Cities and Towns
|
