Ballerup Municipality

Ballerup Municipality
Ballerup Kommune (Danish)
Municipality
Coat of arms of Ballerup Municipality
Coat of arms
Coordinates: 55°44′00″N 12°22′00″E / 55.7333°N 12.3667°E / 55.7333; 12.3667
CountryDenmark
RegionHovedstaden
Established1 January 1842
SeatBallerup
Government
 • MayorJesper Würtzen (S)
Area
 • Total
34.09 km2 (13.16 sq mi)
Population
 (1 January 2026)[1]
 • Total
53,950
 • Density1,583/km2 (4,099/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Municipal code151
Websitewww.ballerup.dk Edit this at Wikidata
Måløv church

Ballerup Kommune (Danish: [ˈpɛˀləʁop kʰoˈmuːnə]) is a municipality (Danish: kommune) in Region Hovedstaden on the island of Zealand (Sjælland) in eastern Denmark. It is located approximately 15 kilometers from central Copenhagen. The municipality covers an area of 34.09 km2. It is also the name of the municipal seat, Ballerup.

Overview

Other than Ballerup, the towns that make up the municipality are Måløv and Skovlunde.

The municipality has a population of 53,950 as of 1 January 2026, of those are 10,471 between 0-16 years old and 10.503 aged 65 or more.[2]

Neighboring municipalities are Herlev to the east, Furesø and Gladsaxe to the north, Egedal to the west, and Albertslund, Glostrup and Rødovre to the south.

The geography of Ballerup municipality was not affected on 1 January 2007 by the nationwide Kommunalreformen ("The Municipal Reform" of 2007).

Etymology

The name of Ballerup is a combination of the old danish male name Balli and the suffix Torp. Sources show that the name has been used since the 16th century. Since the beginning of the 14th century, there have been known variations of the name such as "Baldorp", "Balderupæ", "Balrop" and "Ballerop".

The word torp means settlement and is also the origin of the suffixes -trup, -drup and -rup, which are common in Danish place names. The resettlements, that are the foundation to many danish city names, happened during the Viking Age and parts of the Middle Ages, roughly in the years from 850 AD to 1350 AD.

Due to population growth, people moved in groups from the older settlements to newer, uncultuivated areas and thus the resettlement towns emerged. They were often named after their founder, which in the case of Ballerup might mean that the new settlement was founded by a man called Ballis.[3]

Economy

The municipality is home to companies such as GN Store Nord, Orbicon and Leo Pharma and Toms International.

Politics

As of the 2025 Danish local elections, the mayor is Jesper Würtzen of the Social Democrats who has served as mayor since 2012.[4] Ballerup has traditionally been a strong municipality for the Social Democrats, who have ever since 1952 held the mayor's position.

Municipal council

Ballerup's municipal council consists of 25 members, elected every four years.

Below are the municipal councils elected since the 2001 Danish local elections.

Election Party Total
seats 		Turnout Elected
mayor
A B C D F I O V Ø
2001 16 2 2 1 4 25 87,3% Ove E. Dalsgaard (A)
2005 15 1 2 2 2 3 68.5%
2009 15 2 4 2 2 64,1%
2013 14 1 3 5 2 71.0% Jesper Würtzen (A)
2017 16 1 1 2 3 2 70.2%
2021 13 1 3 1 2 1 1 2 65.9%
2025 10 2 2 3 2 3 1 2 65.0%
Data from valg.dk

Twin towns – sister cities

Ballerup is twinned with:[5]

Ballerup also cooperates with Ystad in Sweden.[5]

See also

  • Ballerup station
  • Ballerup Bladet
  • Ballerup Super Arena

References

  1. ^ [1] Ballerup in Numbers
  2. ^ "Ballerup i tal". ballerup.dk. Retrieved 2026-04-05.
  3. ^ "Historien om bynavnet". ballerup.dk. Retrieved 2026-04-05.
  4. ^ "Kommunalbestyrelsen". ballerup.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 2020-11-02.
  5. ^ a b "Kommunens internationale samarbejder". ballerup.dk (in Danish). Ballerup Kommune. Retrieved 2025-01-18.
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