NorrbottenCounty seat: Luleå. The largest county by area.
VästerbottenCounty seat: Umeå. Second largest county by area.
JämtlandCounty seat: Östersund. Third largest county; it borders Norway.
VästernorrlandCounty seat: Härnösand. On the Gulf of Bothnia.
GävleborgCounty seat: Gävle. On the Baltic Sea coast.
Svealand (the middle) 7
DalarnaCounty seat: Falun. Called Kopparberg County until 1997.
VärmlandCounty seat: Karlstad. Borders Norway to the west.
StockholmCounty seat: Stockholm, the national capital. Most people of any county.
UppsalaCounty seat: Uppsala. On the eastern coast, facing the Baltic Sea.
SödermanlandCounty seat: Nyköping. Its largest settlement is Eskilstuna.
VästmanlandCounty seat: Västerås. Has a shoreline on Lake Mälaren.
ÖrebroCounty seat: Örebro. Borders six other counties.
Götaland (the south) 9
Västra GötalandCounty seat: Gothenburg. Second most people, after Stockholm.
SkåneCounty seat: Malmö. The southernmost county, also called Scania.
GotlandCounty seat: Visby. Sweden's largest island, with the fewest people.
ÖstergötlandCounty seat: Linköping. The Baltic Sea is on its east.
JönköpingCounty seat: Jönköping, at Lake Vättern's southern end.
KalmarCounty seat: Kalmar. Includes the island of Öland.
HallandCounty seat: Halmstad. On the western coast.
KronobergCounty seat: Växjö. An inland county in the province of Småland.
BlekingeCounty seat: Karlskrona. The smallest county by area.
How this list was compiled: The 21 counties, the administrative center of each (the county seat of a detail line; the list names a second town for Skåne, Kristianstad, and for Västra Götaland, Vänersborg), the areas and populations behind 'largest', 'smallest', 'most people' and 'fewest people' (Norrbotten 98,244.8 square km, Västerbotten 55,186.2, Jämtland 49,341.2, Blekinge 2,946.4; Stockholm 2,415,139 people, Västra Götaland 1,744,859, Gotland 61,001), the year 1634, the counties and provinces compared, Kopparberg County renamed Dalarna in 1997, Skåne formed in 1997 and Västra Götaland in 1998, and Öland County united with Kalmar County: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counties_of_Sweden (lead, List of counties and History), read 2026-10-09. Names and codes: ISO 3166-2:SE as printed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-2:SE, read 2026-10-09. The three lands and the 25 provinces they hold: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lands_of_Sweden; the lands group provinces, not counties, so each county is filed under the land most of it lies in, as the map source does. The second fact of a detail line is from the lead of that county's own article, each read 2026-10-09: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jämtland_County, /Västernorrland_County, /Gävleborg_County, /Dalarna_County, /Värmland_County, /Örebro_County, /Västmanland_County, /Uppsala_County, /Stockholm_County, /Södermanland_County, /Östergötland_County, /Jönköping_County, /Halland_County, /Kronoberg_County, /Skåne_County and /Gotland_County. Vänern and Vättern the two largest lakes of Sweden: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vänern and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vättern; Öland off the southeast coast: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Öland; all read 2026-10-09. The map was drawn for this site from Natural Earth 5.1.2, a public-domain map dataset; where a part lies on the map (a coast, a corner, a neighbor) was read from that drawing. Licence: own work
The drawing: Drawn for this site from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_admin_1_states_provinces (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_admin_1_states_provinces.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Surrounding land from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_admin_0_countries (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_admin_0_countries.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Capitals from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_populated_places_simple (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_populated_places_simple.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Water cut out of the shapes from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_lakes (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_lakes.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection centred on 60.2°N 16.6°E. Outlines simplified; small islands are left out. Licence: public domain (Natural Earth terms of use: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/)
How it works
This Sweden map quiz asks for the 21 counties, the län, from the large ones of the north down to the small ones of the south. The two big gaps in the south are Vänern and Vättern, Sweden’s largest lakes: open water, never asked.
Read the full guide
Three rounds, north to south
The first round is Norrland, the north: five counties, from Norrbotten down to Gävleborg. The second is Svealand, the middle, with seven, from Dalarna on the Norwegian border to Stockholm on the coast. The third is Götaland, the south, with nine, the island of Gotland among them.
County seats
Press Show me the labels first, then tap a county for its name and administrative center. Five counties are named after theirs: Stockholm, Uppsala, Örebro, Jönköping and Kalmar. Skåne is run from Malmö, Västra Götaland from Gothenburg and Norrbotten from Luleå.
Four names start with Väst: Västerbotten and Västernorrland in the north, Västmanland in the middle and Västra Götaland on the west coast.
Öland, the thin island along the southeast coast, belongs to Kalmar. Gotland, farther out, is a county by itself.
Typed answers need no Swedish letters: Skane or Scania for Skåne, Orebro for Örebro.
Questions and answers
What are the 21 counties of Sweden?
From north to south: Norrbotten, Västerbotten, Jämtland, Västernorrland, Gävleborg, Dalarna, Värmland, Örebro, Västmanland, Uppsala, Stockholm, Södermanland, Västra Götaland, Östergötland, Jönköping, Kalmar, Gotland, Halland, Kronoberg, Blekinge and Skåne.
What is the difference between a county and a province in Sweden?
The 21 counties, the län, are the administrative units, first set up in 1634, each with a governor. The 25 provinces, the landskap, are older and have no political role today. County borders often follow them, but not everywhere.
What is the smallest county in Sweden?
Blekinge, on the south coast, is the smallest by area, and Gotland has the fewest people. At the other end, Norrbotten is the largest county by area and Stockholm has the most people.