| Tønder Municipality | |
| Native Name: | |
| Flag Size: | 120x80px |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Established Title: | Established |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Area Total Km2: | 1252 |
| Population As Of: | 1. January 2024 |
| Population Footnotes: | [1] |
| Population Total: | 36651 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Utc Offset: | +1 |
| Utc Offset Dst: | +2 |
Tønder Municipality (Danish: Tønder Kommune, German: Kommune Tondern, Northern Frisian: Tuner Komuun) is a kommune in the Region of Southern Denmark on the Jutland peninsula in south Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 1,252 km2, and has a total population of 36,651 (2024). Its mayor is Jørgen Popp Petersen, a member of the regional Schleswig Party.[2]
The main town and the site of its municipal council is the town of Tønder. It consists of six old municipalities, the former Tønder municipality (1970-2006) with 12,706 inhabitants in January 2000 on 184.59 square kilometers among them.
The municipality was created in 1970 as the result of a Danish: kommunalreform ("Municipal Reform") that merged a number of existing parishes:
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| 3,500 | ||
| 3,200 | ||
| 3,100 | ||
| 1,400 | ||
| 1,200 | ||
| 1,100 | ||
| 800 | ||
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| 270 | ||
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| 270 |
On 1 January 2007, Tønder municipality was enlarged as the result of Kommunalreformen ("The Municipal Reform" of 2007) when the Bredebro, Højer, Løgumkloster, Nørre-Rangstrup (without Bevtoft Parish), and Skærbæk municipalities were merged into the new Tønder municipality.
Tønder's municipal council consists of 31 members, elected every four years. The municipal council has nine political committees.[3]
Below are the municipal councils elected since the Municipal Reform of 2007.
| Election | Party | Total seats | Turnout | Elected mayor | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 31 | 73.0% | Vagn Terkel Pedersen (V) | ||||||
| 2009 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 68.1% | (V) | ||||||||
| 2013 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 1 | 73.3% | |||||||
| 2017 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 15 | 1 | 72.0% | Henrik Frandsen (V) | |||||
| 2021 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 69.8% | (S) | ||||||
| Data from Kmdvalg.dk 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2021 | ||||||||||||||||
Tønder Municipality is home to the only officially recognised ethno-linguistic minority of Denmark proper, the North Schleswig Germans. This minority makes up about 6% of the total population of the municipalities of Aabenraa/Apenrade, Haderslev/Hadersleben, Sønderborg/Sonderburg and Tønder/Tondern. In these four municipalities, the German minority enjoys certain linguistic rights in accordance with the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.