Denmark Region, which encompasses the Copenhagen metropolitan area with the exception of the subtracted province East Zealand but includes the Baltic Sea island of Bornholm, has a population three times larger than that of North Denmark Region, which covers the more sparsely populated area of northern Jutland. Under the county system certain densely populated municipalities, such as Copenhagen Municipality and Frederiksberg, had been given a status equivalent to that of counties, making them first-level administrative divisions. These "sui generis" municipalities were incorporated into the new regions under the 2007 reforms. The Kingdom of Denmark is a unitary state that comprises, in
Municipalities of Denmark 1 January 2003 after the merger of its county with the 5 municipalities was approved in a law by the Folketing 19 March 2002 - thereby abolishing one of the 14 counties in the process - because of its remote location 150 km (93 mi) southeast of Copenhagen retains "some" regional functions and is thus called a "Regional Municipality" - it performs some tasks that are only performed by the regions in the rest of Denmark. (From 1 January 2018 Fanø Municipality will also handle a task on the island which was formerly the responsibility of the Region of Southern