Administrative divisions edit

Norway, a unitary state, is divided into nineteen first-level administrative counties (fylker). The counties are administrated through directly elected county assemblies who elect the County Governor. Additionally, the King and government are represented in every county by a fylkesmann, who effectively acts as a Governor.[1] As such, the Government is directly represented at a local level through the County Governors’ offices. The counties are then sub-divided into 430 second-level municipalities (kommuner), which in turn are administrated by directly elected municipal council, headed by a mayor and a small executive cabinet. The capital of Oslo is considered both a county and a municipality. Norway also has two integral overseas territories, Jan Mayen and Svalbard. There are three Antarctic and Subantarctic dependencies: Bouvet Island, Peter I Island and Queen Maud Land.

In addition, there are 96 settlements with city status in Norway. In most cases, the city borders are coterminous with the borders of their respective municipalities. Often, Norwegian city municipalities include large non-built up areas; for example, Oslo municipality contains large forests, located north and southeast of the city, and over half of Bergen municipality consists of mountainous areas.[2] The counties of Norway are:

Administrative centre Most populous municipality
  Østfold Sarpsborg Fredrikstad I
  Akershus Oslo Bærum II
  Oslo City of Oslo Oslo III
  Hedmark Hamar Ringsaker IV
  Oppland Lillehammer Gjøvik V
  Buskerud Drammen Drammen VI
  Vestfold Tønsberg Sandefjord VII
  Telemark Skien Skien VIII
  Aust-Agder Arendal Arendal IX
  Vest-Agder Kristiansand Kristiansand X
  Rogaland Stavanger Stavanger XI
  Hordaland Bergen Bergen XII
  Sogn og Fjordane Leikanger Førde XIII
  Møre og Romsdal Molde Ålesund XIV
  Sør-Trøndelag Trondheim Trondheim XV
  Nord-Trøndelag Steinkjer Stjørdal XVI
  Nordland Bodø Bodø XVII
  Troms Tromsø Tromsø XVIII
  Finnmark Vadsø Alta XIX


  1. ^ "Local Government". Norway.org. 2009-06-10. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
  2. ^ "Kvartalsvise befolkningsendringer" (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. Retrieved 10-09-2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)