Counties

Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties (Norwegian: singular fylke, plural fylker). The counties form the primary first-level subdivisions of Norway and are further divided into 431 municipalities (kommune, pl. kommuner). The capital Oslo is considered as both a county and a municipality.

The following list shows the Norwegian counties as they have been since 1919, with their current administrative centres. The county numbers are from the official numbering system ISO 3166-2:NO, which follows the coastline from the Swedish border in the southeast to the Russian border in the northeast. The number 13 was dropped from the system when the city of Bergen (county no. 13) was merged into Hordaland (county no. 12) in 1972.

1. Østfold - Sarpsborg

2. Akershus - Oslo

3. City and county of Oslo

4. Hedmark - Hamar

5. Oppland - Lillehammer

6. Buskerud - Drammen

7. Vestfold - Tønsberg

8. Telemark - Skien

9. Aust-Agder - Arendal

10. Vest-Agder - Kristiansand

11. Rogaland - Stavanger

12. Hordaland - Bergen

14. Sogn og Fjordane - Leikanger

15. Møre og Romsdal - Molde

16. Sør-Trøndelag - Trondheim

17. Nord-Trøndelag - Steinkjer

18. Nordland - Bodø

19. Troms - Tromsø

20. Finnmark - Vadsø

Regions

Norway is divided into five major regions (landsdeler), which consist of counties as follows:

Nord-Norge (Bokmål) or Nord-Noreg (Nynorsk)

Finnmark
Troms
Nordland

Trøndelag

Nord-Trøndelag
Sør-Trøndelag

Vestlandet

Møre og Romsdal
Sogn og Fjordane
Hordaland
Rogaland

Sørlandet

Vest-Agder
Aust-Agder

Østlandet (Bokmål) or Austlandet (Nynorsk)

Telemark
Buskerud
Hedmark
Oppland
Akershus
Oslo (city)
Vestfold
Østfold

The division into regions is, by convention, based on geographical and also dialectical differences, but it also follows the county borders approximately. Other regions exist for various purposes of government. Administratively, the traditional regions as listed above play less of a role - the major administrative units are at county level.