Until 1 January 2007 Ringe municipality was a municipality (Danish, kommune ) in the former Funen County on the island of Funen in central Denmark. The municipality covered an area of 154 km², and had a total population of 17,177 (2005). Its last mayor was Bo Andersen, a member of Venstre (Liberal Party). The main town and the site of its municipal council was the town of Ringe.
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in Denmark and in the region of Southern Schleswig in northern Germany, where it has minority language status. Also, minor Danish-speaking communities are found in Norway, Sweden, Spain, the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Argentina. Due to immigration and language shift in urban areas, around 15–20% of the population of Greenland speak Danish as their first language.
Denmark is divided into five regions, which contain 98 municipalities. This structure was established per an administrative reform of the public sector of Denmark, effective 26 June 2005, which abolished the 13 counties and created five regions which unlike the counties (1970-2006) are not municipalities. The 270 municipalities were consolidated into 98 larger units, most of which have at least 20,000 inhabitants.
Fyns Amt is a former county in central Denmark, comprising the islands of Funen, Langeland, Tåsinge, Ærø, and approximately 90 other islands, of which only 25 are inhabited. The county was formed on 1 April 1970, comprising the former counties of Odense and Svendborg. The county was abolished from 1 January 2007, when it merged into Region Syddanmark.
The municipality was created in 1970 as the result of a kommunalreform ("Municipality Reform") that merged a number of existing parishes:
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or more curates, and who operates from a parish church. Historically, a parish often covered the same geographical area as a manor. Its association with the parish church remains paramount.
- Espe Parish (Sallinge Herred)
- Gestelev Parish (Sallinge Herred)
- Heden Parish (Sallinge Herred)
- Hellerup Parish (Vindinge Herred)
- Herringe Parish (Sallinge Herred)
- Hillerslev Parish (Sallinge Herred)
- Krarup Parish (Sallinge Herred)
- Ringe Parish (Gudme Herred)
- Søllinge Parish (Vindinge Herred)
- Sønder Højrup Parish (Vindinge Herred)
- Vantinge Parish (Sallinge Herred)
Ringe municipality ceased to exist as the result of Kommunalreformen ("The Municipality Reform" of 2007). It was merged with existing Broby, Faaborg, Ryslinge, and Årslev municipalities to form the new Faaborg-Midtfyn municipality. This created a municipality with an area of 638 km² and a total population of 51,144 (2005). The new municipality belongs to Region of Southern Denmark.
The Region of Southern Denmark is an administrative region of Denmark established on Monday 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, which abolished the traditional counties ("amter") and set up five larger regions. At the same time, smaller municipalities were merged into larger units, cutting the number of municipalities from 271 before 1 January 2006 to 98. The Region of Southern Denmark has 22 municipalities. The reform was implemented in Denmark on 1 January 2007, although the merger of the Funish municipalities of Ærøskøbing and Marstal, being a part of the reform, was given the go-ahead to be implemented on Sunday 1 January 2006, one year before the main reform. It borders Schleswig-Holstein (Germany) to the south and Central Denmark Region to the north and is connected to Region Zealand via the Great Belt Fixed Link.
