How this dataset is built

Source

The data comes from Statistics Norway’s Klass API, classification 131, Standard for kommuneinndeling. Klass is SSB’s official register for classifications and code lists, and it records every approved change to municipality codes and names.

Coverage

The dataset covers 2,097 recorded changes across 1,199 municipalities from 1839 to 2026. It includes mergers, divisions, name changes and code changes at the municipality level.

Method

• We fetch every change record and every version of the classification from the Klass API.
• Validity periods are split at each year a code participates in a change, so the source and target periods match the historical record exactly.
• Change type is classified per row by looking at how many old codes map to how many new codes on a given date: merger, division, name change, code change, or combined code and name change.
• Unchanged rows are dropped, so only actual boundary or identity changes appear in the dataset.

Notes and descriptions

Each row includes the official Norwegian note from Klass, split by source and target municipality where available. We also generate a plain-language description in the interface that summarises what happened, for example: “In 2020, several municipalities merged into one.”

Download

You can download the full dataset as an Excel file from the button in the header. The spreadsheet follows the same column layout as the original master list and can be used for analysis, mapping or research.