Denmark is divided into five regions, which contain 98 municipalities (Danish: kommuner, [kʰoˈmuːnɐ]; sg.

[1] This structure was established per an administrative reform (Danish: Strukturreformen; English: (The) Structural Reform) of the public sector of Denmark, effective 26 June 2005 (council elections 15 November 2005), which abolished the 13 counties (amter; singular amt) and created five regions (regioner; singular region) which unlike the counties (1970–2006) (Danish (singular) amtskommune lit.

With the increased responsibilities, the income tax rate that each of the 98 municipalities levies was raised by three percentage points on 1 January 2007.

The right of municipalities to manage their own affairs independently, under State supervision, shall be laid down by statute.

The newly formed five regional and 66 municipal councils acted as transitional merger committees (sammenlægningsudvalg) in 2006 with the responsibility of arranging the mergers (singular sammenlægning) of the old counties and municipalities into five and 66 new entities respectively.

Local elections were held in November 1981 for the four-year term of office (1 January) 1982 – (31 December) 1985.

The reform was initiated from 1958 by the Interior Minister Søren Olesen, (1891–1973), a member of the Justice Party of Denmark.

A few years later, the number was slightly reduced again to 275 as a few municipalities in Copenhagen County merged.

(Since 1 January 1962 only two mayors of Høje-Taastrup have been Social Democrats, namely Per Søndergaard from 1 April 1978 until 31 December 1981 (three years and nine months), and Anders Bak (1948–2006) from 1986 until 2005 (20 years); Michael Ziegler, Conservative People's Party, has been mayor from 1 January 2006).

[7] Many of the 275 municipalities after 1 April 1974 built large city halls to consolidate the administration, thus changing the cityscape of Denmark.

It also consolidated other municipal enterprises and the purchase of goods and services from the private sector.

Until 1978 the fiscal year from 1 April to 31 March was in use in the public sector since a law was passed in 1849.

Among the reasons advanced in favour of the reform were more synergies through economies of scale (critical mass and greater professional and financial sustainability) and big item discounts and the possibility of offering a wider array of services closer to the public (via a one-stop place of access to the public sector not unlike the unitary councils) Also, the reform was intended to alleviate the financial problems of depopulation in some areas due to limited job opportunities, high unemployment and aging, and to make introduction of new information technology more affordable.

A commission on structural reform was set up by the government 1 October 2002 and presented its report 9 January 2004.

It was then presented to politicians, researchers, and journalists, more than 1,000 in all, 14 January 2004 in Vingstedcentret in Egtved Municipality near Vejle.

Then the mergers were specified and approved in a departmental order (Danish: ministeriel bekendtgørelse) signed 29 June 2005 by Lars Løkke Rasmussen, then minister of the interior and health.

Since the counties were not the only structure based on the municipal layout of Denmark, other related changes were carried out as well.