Gotland County (Swedish: Gotlands län) is a county or län of Sweden. Gotland is located in the Baltic Sea to the east of Öland, and is the largest of Sweden's islands. Counties are usually sub-divided into municipalities, but Gotland County consists of only one county council, which also serves as a municipality, Region Gotland. Gotland County is the only county in Sweden that is not governed by a municipal council. 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, which oversees implementation of the Swedish state government. Both the County Administrative Board and the municipality have their seat in the largest city, Visby, with over 22,000 inhabitants. Princess Leonore, the daughter of Princess Madeleine, is Duchess of Gotland.
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[3]
Administration
Gotland is the only Swedish county that is not administered by a county council. Instead, the municipality is tasked with the responsibilities of a county, including public health care and public transport.
The main aims of the County Administrative Board are to fulfil the goals set in national politics by the Riksdag and the Government, 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 is the regional police chief for both Stockholm and Gotland Counties.[4]
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.
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.[6] The chart lists election years and the last year on record alone.
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.
