There are 15 counties in Norway. The 15 counties are administrative regions that are the first-level administrative divisions of Norway. The counties are further subdivided into 357 municipalities. The island territories of Svalbard and Jan Mayen are outside the county divisions and they are ruled directly from the national level. The capital city of Oslo is both a county and a municipality.
The Norwegian Army is the land warfare service branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces. The Army is the oldest of the Norwegian service branches, established as a modern military organization under the command of the King of Norway in 1628. The Army participated in various continental wars during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries as well, both in Norway and abroad, especially in World War II (1939–1945). It constitutes part of the Norwegian military contribution as a charter member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) since 1949.
The Norwegian Home Guard is the rapid mobilization force within the Norwegian armed forces. Its main focus is local defense and civil support, but it can also detach volunteers for international operations. Its main tasks are safeguarding territorial integrity, strengthening military presence, and protecting important infrastructure.
Norwegian Postal Codes are four-digit codes, known in Norwegian as postnummer. Posten, the Norwegian postal service, makes small modifications to the postal code system each year. In 1999, Posten made considerable changes to the postal codes in Norway.
Most of the Norwegian counties and municipalities have their own flag. They are based on the respective coat of arms of the subdivision. However they are seldom used. Most public buildings and private homes use the National flag.
This is an incomplete list of Norwegian coats of arms. Today most municipalities and all counties have their own coats of arms. Many Norwegian military units and other public agencies and some private families have coats of arms. For more general information see the page about Norwegian heraldry.
The following are lists of county governors of the various counties of Norway. The Norwegian counties are under the supervision of county governors, appointed by the Norwegian government. Historically, there were larger diocesan counties that supervised smaller subordinate counties as well. This distinction was abolished on 1 January 1919. On 1 January 2020, there was a major reorganization and reduction of counties in Norway.
The court of appeal is the second level of courts of justice in Norway, reviewing criminal and civil cases appealed from the district courts. There are six courts of appeal, each covering a jurisdiction and based in a city. Each court is led by a senior judge president (førstelagmann) and several appellate judges (lagdommer). The courts are administered by the Norwegian National Courts Administration. Decisions from civil and criminal matters, except the question of guilt, can be appealed from the courts of appeal to the Supreme Court.
Norway is commonly divided into five major geographical regions. These regions are purely geographical and cultural, and have no administrative purpose. However, in 2017 the government decided to abolish the current counties of Norway and to replace them with fewer, larger administrative regions. The first of these new areas came into existence on 1 January 2018, when Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag merged to form Trøndelag.
As a member of EFTA, Norway (NO) is not included in the Classification of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), but in a similar classification used for coding statistical regions of countries that are not part of the EU but are candidate countries, potential candidates or EFTA countries. The three levels are:
Nationwide local elections for seats in municipality and county councils were held throughout Norway on 12 September 2011. Several municipalities also opened the polling booths on 11 September. For polling stations this meant that two elections, the municipal elections and the county elections ran concurrently. In addition, an advisory referendum was held in Aust-Agder to determine whether to merge the county with Vest-Agder.
Hallvard Trætteberg was the leading Norwegian heraldic artist and the expert adviser on heraldry to the Government of Norway and the Norwegian royal family for much of the 20th century. From about 1930 he played a central role in the renewal of public heraldry in Norway with an emphasis on simplification. He gave the coat of arms of Norway a modern design and designed several county and municipal coats of arms, seals of the bishops of the Church of Norway, and monograms. He also wrote several books.
Allied Forces South Norway (SONOR) was a NATO command tasked with the defense of Southern Norway. SONOR's area of responsibility included all of Norway with the adjacent sea territory excluding the three northernmost counties of Norway, which were under Allied Forces North Norway.
Local elections were held in Norway on 9 September 2019. Voters elected representatives to municipal and county councils, which are responsible for education, public transport, health, and elderly care, and for the levy of certain taxes.
The District Football Associations are the local governing bodies of association football in Norway. District FAs exist to govern all aspects of local football in their defined areas, providing grassroots support to the Norwegian Football Federation by promoting and administering football, futsal and beach soccer in their respective districts. Prior to the establishment of a national league these local governing bodies organised their own regional leagues.
