Administrative and electoral divisions of Iceland

Municipalities

There are 79 municipalities in Iceland which govern most local matters like schools, transport and zoning.

Counties

Iceland's 23 counties are for the most part historical divisions. Currently, Iceland is split up among 26 magistrates that represent government in various capacities. Among their duties are local police (except in Reykjavík, where there is a special office of police commissioner) tax collection, declaring bankruptcy and marrying people outside of the church.

Regions

There are eight regions which are primarily used for statistical purposes; the district court jurisdictions also use an older version of this division.

Constituencies

Until 2003, the constituencies for the parliament elections were the same as the regions, but by an amendment to the constitution they were changed to the current six constituencies. The change was made in order to balance the weight of different districts of the country since a vote cast in the sparsely populated areas around the country would count much more than a vote cast in the Reykjavík city area. The imbalance between districts has been reduced by the new system, but still exists.

Farthings

Historically, Iceland was divided into four landsfjórðungar (singular landsfjórðungur) or farthings, that were named after the Cardinal directions. These were administrative divisions established in 965 for the purpose of organising regional assemblies ("fjórðungsþing" - farthing assemblies) and for regional courts ("fjórðungsdómar" - farthing courts). Each farthing contained three local assemblies (held in spring and autumn) except the Norðlendingafjórðungur which had four.

ee also

*Subdivisions of the Nordic countries