Municipalities of Norway
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- Also see: Municipalities of Norway by number.
The list of Municipalities of Norway below is sorted in alphabetical order. Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties (fylker, singular - fylke), and 430 municipalities (kommuner, cf. communes). The capital city Oslo is considered both a county and a municipality.
Municipalities are the atomic unit of local government in Norway and are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. Law enforcement and church services are provided at a national level in Norway.
Municipalities are undergoing continuous consolidation. In 1930, there were 747 municipalities in Norway. At this writing there are 431, and there are plans for further mergers and political pressure to do so. See the list of former municipalities of Norway for further detail.
The consolidation effort is complicated by a number of factors. Since block grants are made by the national government to the municipalities based on an assessment of need, there is little incentive for the municipalities to lose local autonomy. The national policy is that municipalities should only merge voluntarily, and studies are underway to identify potential gains.
There are also an Municipalities of Norway and a list by municipality number.
List by county
Largest municipalities
With population as of January 1, 2008 (source: SSB
)
- Oslo, 560 484 inhabitants
- Bergen, 247 746
- Trondheim, 165 191
- Stavanger, 119 586
- Bærum, 108 144
- Kristiansand, 78 919
- Fredrikstad, 71 976
- Tromsø, 65 286
- Sandnes, 62 037
- Drammen, 60 145
- Asker, 52 922
- Skien, 50 864
- Sarpsborg, 51 053
- Bodø, 46 049
- Skedsmo, 46 146
- Sandefjord, 42 333
- Ålesund, 41 833
- Larvik, 41 723
- Arendal, 40 701
- Karmøy, 38 926
- Tønsberg, 38 393
- Porsgrunn, 34,186
- Haugesund, 32 956
- Ringsaker, 32 144
- Lørenskog, 31 853
References
External links
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Last updated on Tuesday March 11, 2008 at 06:07:05 PDT (GMT -0700)
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