Subdivisions of the Nordic countries

The countries and autonomous islands in the Nordic region have some similarly named country subdivisions, although their translations into English may differ.

Administrative subdivisions in the Nordic region in 1998.
Note that Greenland and Denmark got new municipalities, and that Denmark also replaced the counties with regions.

Subdivisions of Denmark

• Mainland Denmark
  • 3 historical "lands" and numerous smaller traditional districts
    • 5 regions
    • 98 municipalities
  • Until 2006-12-31
    • 13 counties (amter)
      • 270 municipalities (kommuner), including three municipalities with county privileges: Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, and Bornholm
• 2 autonomous insular overseas units
  • Faroe Islands
    • six traditional districts (sýslur) - ancient jurisdiction districts
    • seven electoral constituencies - based on the sýslur
      • 30 modern municipalities - based on towns and mergers of municipalities
  • Greenland
    • 4 municipalities
    • 1 national park

Subdivisions of Iceland

• 6 electoral constituencies (kjördæmi)
• 8 statistical regions (landsvæði)
• 23 traditional counties (sýslur) and 25 independent towns (kaupstaðir)
• 74 municipalities (sveitarfélög)

Subdivisions of Finland

• Mainland Finland (level NUTS 1)
  • State organization, controlled by the executive branch of the central government (Government of Finland and its ministries)
    • until 1634: provinces (Finnish: maakunta, Swedish: landskap) -> historical provinces of Finland
    • 1634–1997: counties (Finnish: lääni, Swedish: län)
    • 1997–2009: 6 provinces of Finland (Finnish lääni, Swedish län), level NUTS 2
      • divided into 90 state local districts of Finland (Finnish kihlakunta, Swedish härad), which serve as the official local administrative units of the state, providing the registry office, police and judicial administration
    • Also, 12 numbering areas
  • Municipalities, controlled by the respective municipal councils (Finnish: valtuusto, Swedish: fullmäktige)
    • 432 municipalities (Finnish kunta, Swedish kommun), LAU 2 (NUTS 5)
    • the municipalities co-operate in 74 sub-regions (Finnish seutukunta, Swedish ekonomisk region), LAU 1 (NUTS 4)
    • and in 20 regions of Finland (Finnish maakunta, Swedish landskap), level NUTS 3, within the 6 provinces
• NUTS codes of the European Union
• Åland, an autonomous insular region (level NUTS 1)

Subdivisions of Åland

• 3 subregions: Mariehamn, Countryside and Archipelago
• 16 municipalities

Subdivisions of Norway

• Mainland Norway
  • 19 counties of Norway (fylker, called amter before 1918)
  • 430 municipalities (kommuner)
  • historic
    • 5 landsdeler (regions)
    • landskap (traditional districts, often based on earlier petty kingdoms)
• several overseas units
  • Svalbard (part of Troms)
  • Jan Mayen (part of Nordland)
  • other possessions

Subdivisions of Sweden

• 3 (or 4, the 4th being modern Finland) original lands of Sweden
• Until 1634: landskap (historic provinces)
• From 1634: län (counties)
  • 290 kommuner (municipalities)
• The Swedish government is investigating the possibilities of merging the current 21 counties into 9 larger regions. If approved, these would come into effect around 2015.
• NUTS codes of the European Union