Prefectures of Denmark

The Republic of Denmark comprises 22 prefectures (Danish: præfekturer; sg. præfektur), which function as the country's administrative divisions and act as the intermediate level of government, between the municipalities and the national government. All but two prefectures each have the same status as an administrative division directly answerable to the national government which contains several individual municipalities—the two exceptions are Copenhagen, the national capital, which forms its own prefecture in spite of being a single municipality (the municipal and prefectural governments are consolidated); and the Danish Antilles, an overseas collectivity of seven islands in the Caribbean, technically a prefecture but granted significantly more autonomy than the other prefectures.

Each prefecture has its own administration, with the seat of government always located in the prefecture's most populous municipality; this municipality is called the "district town" (amtby(en)), and houses the prefectural administration, led by an elected official called the "prefect" (præfekt(en)). Prefectural administrations handle regional matters, such as highways and expressways, public transit, land use and planning, agriculture, energy and sanitation services, and public security, with municipalities responsible for local services like roads and housing and the national government for services like intercity rail, airports and air transport regulation, healthcare, education, foreign affairs and defence.