Subdivisions of Norway - Formal Subdivisions

Formal Subdivisions

The political administration of Norway takes place at three levels:

• Kingdom, covering all of metropolitan Norway including its integral overseas areas of Svalbard and Jan Mayen. Whereas Svalbard is subject to an international treaty with some limits to Norwegian sovereignty, Jan Mayen shares county governor (fylkesmann) with Nordland county.
• Counties, known in Norwegian as fylker (singular fylke), of which there are 19. These derive in part from divisions that preceded Norway's constitution in 1814 and independence in 1905. The counties also function as constituencies during elections for Parliament.
• Municipalities, known in Norwegian as kommuner (singular kommune) of which there are 430. In addition the Longyearbyen local authority has some similarieties with a municipality.
• External dependencies

As infrastructure for travel and communication has improved over the years, the benefits of consolidation are under ongoing discussion. The number of municipalities has decreased from 744 in the early 1960s to today's number, and more mergers are planned. Similarly, the political responsibilities of the counties has been decreased, and there was talk of combining them into 5–9 regions by 2010. These plans were, however, recently abandoned.

Within the government administration, there are a few exceptions to the county subdivision:

• The Norwegian court system is divided into six appellate districts.
• The state Church of Norway is divided into eleven dioceses.
• The 13 constituencies for elections to the Sámi Parliament of Norway, which is a part of the Norwegian state apparatus, do not follow the county borders - sometimes encompassing several counties. They do, however, follow municipality borders.