Local Government Organization at Municipal Level, Time Series, 1996-2024

The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development’s organisational database (the organisational database) is a survey distributed to all Norwegian municipalities. In each round of data collection, a similar survey is also sent to the county authorities. The survey has been conducted eight times: in 1995, 1996, and thereafter every fourth year – the year after the municipal and county council elections. Most of the questions in the survey have been asked one or more times previously, and time-series data therefore exist for large parts of the questions in the surveys.

The survey collects information on how the municipalities are organised as political entities, and how the administrative apparatus is structured. In addition, the survey examines how the municipalities communicate and interact with residents, how municipal tasks are carried out, and how operations are organised.

Data collected by the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (NIBR) (1996–2016), ideas2evidence (2020), and NIBR (2024). ideas2evidence has processed and republished data from the period 1996–2020 in this time series, and NIBR has supplemented this time-series data file with data from 2024.