List of municipalities of Norway

Municipalities in Norway are the basic unit of local government. Norway is divided into 15 administrative regions, called counties. These counties are subdivided into 357 municipalities (as of 2024). The capital city Oslo is both a county and a municipality.

Municipalities are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.^[1] Law enforcement and church services are provided at a national level in Norway.

Municipalities are undergoing continuous change by dividing, consolidating, and adjusting boundaries. In 1930, there were 747 municipalities in Norway. As of 2024, there are 357 municipalities. See the list of former municipalities of Norway for further details about municipal mergers.

The consolidation effort has been underway since the work of the Schei Committee in the 1960s. This work has been 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.

^ Hansen, Tore; Vabo, Signy Irene, eds. (2022-09-20). "kommunestyre". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 2022-10-14.

[ks-1] Hansen, Tore; Vabo, Signy Irene, eds. (2022-09-20). "kommunestyre". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 2022-10-14.

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