View source for Lolland Municipality

{{No footnotes|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox settlement
<!-- See Template:Infobox settlement for additional fields and descriptions -->
| name                    = Lolland Municipality
| native_name             = {{native name|da|Lolland Kommune}}
| settlement_type         = [[Municipalities of Denmark|Municipality]]
| image_skyline           = Nakskov Havn.jpg
| image_alt               = 
| image_caption           =
| image_seal              = 
| seal_alt                = 
| image_flag              = Flag of Lolland Municipality, Denmark.svg
| image_shield            = Lolland Kommune coa.svg
| shield_size             = 100x80px
| image_map               = Map DK Lolland.svg
| map_alt                 = 
| map_caption             = Location in Denmark
| coordinates             = {{coord|format=dms|region:DK_type:city|display=inline,title}}
| coor_pinpoint           = 
| coordinates_footnotes   = 
| subdivision_type        = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
| subdivision_name        = Denmark
| subdivision_type1       = [[Regions of Denmark|Region]]
| subdivision_name1       = [[Region Zealand|Zealand]]
| established_title       = <!-- Established -->
| established_date        = 
| seat_type               = [[Administrative centre|Seat]]
| seat                    = [[Maribo]]
| government_footnotes    = 
| leader_party            = [[Social Democrats (Denmark)|S]]
| leader_title            = Mayor
| leader_name             = Holger Schou Rasmussen
| unit_pref               = Metric<!-- or US or UK -->
| area_footnotes          = 
| area_total_km2          = 885.40
| area_land_km2           = 
| area_water_km2          = 
| area_water_percent      = 
| area_note               = 
| elevation_footnotes     = 
| elevation_m             = 
| population_footnotes    = 
| population_total        = 39,122
| population_as_of        = 1 January 2025
| population_density_km2  = auto
| population_note         = 
| timezone1               = [[Central European Time|CET]]
| utc_offset1             = +1
| timezone1_DST           = [[Central European Summer Time|CEST]]
| utc_offset1_DST         = +2
| blank_name_sec1         = 
| blank_info_sec1         = 
| blank1_name_sec1        = [[Kommunkod|Municipal code]]
| blank1_info_sec1        = 360
| postal_code_type        = 
| postal_code             = {{#property:P281}}
| area_code_type          = 
| area_code               = {{#property:P473}}
| iso_code                = 
| website                 = {{Official URL}}
| footnotes               = 
}}
[[File:Lolland municipality numbered.svg|thumb|right|250px|[[Church of Denmark]] parishes in Lolland Municipality. Map does not reflect the current number of parishes, as parishes have been, and will be, merged because of dwindling population numbers.]]

'''Lolland Municipality''' ({{langx|da|Lolland Kommune}}) is a ''[[Municipalities of Denmark|kommune]]'' on the island of [[Lolland]] in the [[Region Sjælland]] of [[Denmark]]. According to ''Municipal And Regional Key Figures'' (www.noegletal.dk) it covers a total area of 885.40&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> (341.85 square miles) and has a population of 39,122 (1 January 2025; 44.80 inh./km<sup>2</sup>/116.03/sq.mi.). The western part of [[Guldborgsund Municipality]], the southernmost in Denmark, occupies the eastern part of the island (''Østlolland'').

The city hall and the seat of the mayor of Lolland municipality is in [[Maribo]] while the largest town is [[Nakskov]]. There are 25 members from 1. January 2018 - a reduction from 31 members - of the municipal council. The current mayor is a [[Social Democrats (Denmark)|Social Democrat]].

On Monday 1 January 2007 Lolland municipality was created as the result of [[Municipalities of Denmark#Municipal Reform 2007|''Kommunalreformen'' ("The Municipal Reform" of 2007)]], covering the former municipalities of [[Holeby]], [[Højreby]], Maribo, [[Nakskov]], [[Ravnsborg]], [[Rudbjerg]] and [[Rødby]]. The local politicians' original plan was to create two new municipalities: ''Maribo Kommune'' (''Midtlolland'': middle of the island:Holeby, Højreby, Maribo, Rødby) and: ''Nakskov Kommune'' (''Vestlolland'': western part of the island:Nakskov, Rudbjerg, Ravnsborg), but in a local referendum Wednesday 18 May 2005 it was decided by the voters to combine ''all'' of the 7 municipalities into one (the results were 51.6% for in ''Midtlolland'' and 54.6% for in ''Vestlolland''). This is on a par with [[Sønderborg Municipality]], which also is made up of 7 old municipalities, which is the highest among the new municipalities.

==Politics==
===Municipal council===
Lolland's municipal council consists of 25 members as of January 2018, elected every four years. Below are the municipal councils elected since the [[Municipalities of Denmark#Municipal Reform 2007|Municipal Reform of 2007]] which was made into law 26 June 2005 before the elections to the municipal councils including councils in the 67 new municipalities of which 66 functioned as merger committees during 2006. The new [[Ærø]] Municipality was allowed by the government to commence work from 1 January 2006. [[Bornholm]] Regional Municipality was created 1 January 2003.

{| class="wikitable" 
! rowspan="2"| Election
! colspan="9"| Party
! rowspan="2"| Total<br />seats
! rowspan="2"| Turnout
! rowspan="2"| Elected<br />mayor
|-
|style="background:#B5211D;"|'''[[Social Democrats (Denmark)|{{font color|white|A}}]]'''
|style="background:#89A920;"|'''[[Conservative People's Party (Denmark)|{{font color|white|C}}]]'''
|style="background:#C9096C;"|'''[[Socialist People's Party (Denmark)|{{font color|white|F}}]]'''
|style="background:#8B8989;"|'''{{tooltip|2=Lollandlisten|{{font color|white|L}}}}'''
|style="background:#8B8989;"|'''{{tooltip|2=Lokallisten Lolland|{{font color|white|L}}}}'''
|style="background:#F4D44D;"|'''[[Danish People's Party|{{font color|white|O}}]]'''
|style="background:#8B8989;"|'''{{tooltip|2=Din Stemme|{{font color|white|P}}}}'''
|style="background:#254C85;"|'''[[Venstre (Denmark)|{{font color|white|V}}]]'''
|style="background:#FF0000;"|'''[[Red-Green Alliance (Denmark)|{{font color|white|Ø}}]]'''
|-
|[[2005 Danish local elections|2005]]
|10
|1
|9
|1
|style="background:#CDC9C9;" rowspan="2"|
|2
|style="background:#CDC9C9;" rowspan="3"|
|8
|style="background:#CDC9C9;" rowspan="2"|
|rowspan="3"|31
|72.6%
|rowspan="2"|Stig Vestergaard (A)
|-
|[[2009 Danish local elections|2009]]
|11
|3
|9
|style="background:#CDC9C9;" rowspan="4"|
|3
|5
|64.4%
|-
|[[2013 Danish local elections|2013]]
|9
|3
|3
|1
|4
|9
|2
|73.4%
|rowspan="3"|Holger S. Rasmussen (A)
|-
|[[2017 Danish local elections|2017]]
|11
|style="background:#CDC9C9;"|
|1
|2
|3
|2
|5
|1
|rowspan="2"|25
|68.6%
|-
|[[2021 Danish local elections|2021]]
|12
|1
|1
|1
|2
|2
|5
|1
|63.05%
|-
|colspan="14"|Data from [https://www.kmdvalg.dk/kv/2005/adk.htm Kmdvalg.dk 2005], [https://www.kmdvalg.dk/kv/2009/adk.htm 2009], [https://www.kmdvalg.dk/kv/2013/Default.htm 2013] and [https://www.kmdvalg.dk/kv/2017/KMDValgKV.html 2017]
|}

==Economy==

Lolland municipality is a countryside municipality largely dependent on its agricultural industry featuring an open and intensively farmed landscape. The island has been renowned for its large sugar beet production. Despite the official vision of creating an ecologically sustainable economy agriculture is mainly conventional and focusing on cash crops like [[wheat]], [[sugar beets]], [[rapeseed]] and an intensive production. The [[sugar]] beets are refined in up to date processing facilities owned by [[Nordzucker]] in Nakskov, the main industrial center. Nordzucker also has a sugar processing factory in [[Nykøbing Falster]] in neighboring Guldborgsund Municipality.

The focus on green technologies has resulted in another landscape feature, the many [[windmill]]s dotting the island.

The shipyard ''[[Nakskov Skibsværft]]'' founded in 1916 by [[East Asiatic Company|East Asiatic Company's]] [[Hans Niels Andersen|H. N. Andersen]], who was born in Nakskov, was the largest single workplace in the area with 1,500 employees (1966:2,200 employees). It closed January 1, 1987. In the heavy industry other large industrial production sites within the municipality have concentrated their efforts on specialised parts of the production, design for instance, but all factory jobs - the majority of the jobs - have been lost, i.e. [[MAN Diesel|MAN B&W Diesel A/S]] (founded as Holeby Dieselmotorfabrik A/S in 1919) in [[Holeby]]. What remains is light industry. Among the manufactured products are: medical devices made of plastic, breakfast cereals for [[private label]] companies.

Major companies having production facilities in Lolland Municipality include [[Codan Medical]] in Rødby. It is headquartered in neighboring [[Guldborgsund Municipality]].

== Demography ==
In the census taken (date?) 1965 (not based on a computerised digital register) the municipalities within the area covering the present municipality had 61,879 inhabitants, and 1 January 1985 (registerbased) 55,897 inhabitants. In 2013 alone, population numbers fell by 2.043% (908 people), from 44,436 to 43,528 inhabitants. From 1965 to 1 December 2023, this represents a fall of 22,213 in the population number, which comes to 35.89%. The area given for the former municipalities is in square kilometers, and then in square miles: Nakskov municipality (area:32.67;12.61 square miles) alone had 17,390 inhabitants in 1965 (1998:15,549;2002: 15,152) and Maribo (area:154.02;59.46 square miles), the second most populous municipality in 1965 in the area had 12,517 (1998:11,280;2002:11,039), Ravnsborg (197.59;76.28 sq mi) had 8,708 (1999:5,780;2002: 5,677), Rødby (120.37;46.47 sq mi) 8,198 (1999: 6,809;2002:6,763), Højreby (127.79;49.33 sq mi) 5,114 (1997:4,257;2002:4,175), Holeby (116.07;44.81 sq mi) 4,993 (1996:4,269;2002:4,149), and Rudbjerg (143.41; 55.37 sq mi) 4,959 (1999:3,584;2002:3,564) inhabitants.

Towns (1 January 2023):

{| class="wikitable" style="margin-right:1em"
|-
| [[Nakskov]] || align="center"| 12,456
|-
| [[Maribo]] || align="center"| 5,734
|-
| [[Rødby]] || align="center"| 1,936
|-
| [[Rødbyhavn]] || align="center"| 1,549
|-
| [[Holeby]] || align="center"| 1,399
|-
| [[Søllested]] || align="center"| 1,363
|-
| [[Horslunde]] || align="center"| 611
|-
| [[Nørreballe]] || align="center"| 478
|-
| [[Bandholm]] || align="center"| 457
|-
| [[Dannemare]] || align="center"| 391
|}

Towns in Lolland Municipality with population numbers as of 1 January 2020. This is the contiguously built-up area, not to be confused with the previous municipalities with the same names that were made up of several whole parishes, including rural areas. Nakskov town (built-up area) had 16,935 inhabitants in 1960.

The [[Church of Denmark]] has around 50 parishes in the municipality as of August 2023.

=== Births and deaths ===
Births:413 (2006);400 (2007);376 (2008);377 (2009);375 (2010);331 (2011);324 (2012);286 (2013);309 (2014);293 (2015);270 (2016);309 (2017);292 (2018);290 (2019);215 (2020);285 (2021);254 (2022);259 (2023)

Deaths:822 (2006);759 (2007);754 (2008);755 (2009);756 (2010);711 (2011);651 (2012);739 (2013);677 (2014);675 (2015);671 (2016);667 (2017);698 (2018);694 (2019);685 (2020);700 (2021);725 (2022);661 (2023)

Births - deaths:-409 (2006);-359 (2007);-378 (2008);-378 (2009);-381 (2010);-380 (2011);-327 (2012);-453 (2013);-368 (2014);-382 (2015);-401 (2016);-358 (2017);-406 (2018);-404 (2019);-470 (2020);-415 (2021);-471 (2022);-402 (2023)

Source:Statistikbanken.dk/Befolkning og valg/(table)FODIE (births);FOD207 (deaths);BEV107 (births;deaths;birth surplus).

== Transport ==
The municipalities of Lolland and [[Bornholm]] and the archipelago of [[Ertholmene]] northeast of Bornholm are the places in eastern Denmark that are located the farthest from the capital and largest city of Denmark, [[Copenhagen]]. Although the transport to Copenhagen from Lolland can be undertaken by road and railway, Lolland from a point of view of transport can be seen as lying on a [[Dead end street|dead end]] (Danish: ''blind vej'';''blindgyde'') - at least the western part. For most people having visited or visiting Germany on the other side of [[Fehmarn Belt]], Lolland is just a drive-by place along the motorway route.

The railway passenger service in the municipality is operated by the [[railway company]] [[Lokaltog]], subsidized by the central government through [[Movia (transit agency)|Movia]], which is a part owner of the train company.

A ferry route connects Lolland with [[Langeland]] to the west.

===Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link===

The traffic [[Transport corridor|corridor]] between [[Hamburg]] and [[Copenhagen]] is [[Vogelfluglinie|linked]] via car and train ferries sailing between [[Rødby]] and [[Puttgarden]] two times an hour. This ferry route will have competition from the [[Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link]] [[Immersed tube#Examples|road and railway tunnel]] which is scheduled to be finished in 2026 and to open in 2029. The tunnel will be located in a corridor traversing Fehmarn Belt between a location (exits and entrances of the tunnel) east of the port of [[Rødbyhavn]] and a location (exits and entrances) east of the port of [[Puttgarden]]. When the tunnel is finished, Rødbyhavn will not have a train station. [[:da:Stationen ved Holeby|It will be located near Holeby]] instead, which is 10 kilometers inland. This is because the location of the tunnel changes the route of the railway and road in such a way that it will be impossible to relocate the train station from its present place to another place inside the town of Rødbyhavn itself.

== See also ==
* [[Danisco]]

== References == 
* Municipal statistics: [https://web.archive.org/web/20070812152043/http://www2.netborger.dk/Kommunefakta/ NetBorger Kommunefakta], delivered from [http://www.kmd.dk/ KMD] aka Kommunedata (Municipal Data)
* Municipal mergers and neighbors: [https://web.archive.org/web/20071011050224/http://kommune.eniro.dk/danmarkskort/ Eniro map with named municipalities]

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Lolland Kommune}}
* {{Official website|http://www.lolland.dk/|Lolland municipality's official website}} {{in lang|da}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071005153127/http://kort.krak.dk/borgerdk.kortsoegning/imapDKbig.asp Krak searchable/printable map](outline of municipality does not print out!){{in lang|da}}

{{Geographic location
 | Centre = Lolland
 | N  = ''[[Smålandsfarvandet]]''
 | E  = [[Guldborgsund Municipality|Guldborgsund]]
 | SE = ''[[Baltic Sea]]''
 | S  = ''[[Fehmarn Belt]]''<br/>{{flagicon|DEU}} [[Fehmarn]]
 | SW = ''[[Bay of Kiel]]''
 | W  = [[Langeland Municipality|Langeland]] ([[Region of Southern Denmark|Syddanmark]]) / ''Langelands Belt''
}}
{{Municipalities of Denmark}}
{{Towns of Lolland Municipality}}
{{Lolland}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Lolland Municipality| ]]
[[Category:Municipalities of Denmark]]
[[Category:Municipalities of Region Zealand]]
[[Category:Populated places established in 2007]]
[[Category:Lolland]]
[[Category:Fehmarn]]