Classification of centrality

Centrality 1994 is one of the three criteria in the Standard Classification of Municipalities.Centrality is a measure of a municipality's geographical position seen in relation to a centre where higher order of functions (central functions as bank,post office) is found. Central functions are found mainly in urban settlements.Urban settlements are divided into three levels. Urban settlements on level 3 shall normally have a population of at least 50 000 and otherwise have functions as a regional centre, urban settlements on level 2 shall have a population of between 15 000 and 50 000 and urban settlements on level 1 shall normally have a population of between 5 000 and 15 000. In order to characterize the possibilities the population in a municipality has for commuting to one or more of these urban settlements, municipalities have been divided into four centrality levels (code 3-0). In addition it has also been indicated whether the location of a municipality enables occasional day visits to an urban settlement on level 3 within a reasonable travelling time and cost (code A and B). Level 3 is split in three new levels in the Standard Classification of Centrality 2008.

Centrality 2020

The classification shows different groupings of the centrality index. Group 1 constains the most central municipalities (highest indexes) and group 6 the least central (lowest indexes). The centrality index is a code that gives a value for each municipality, reflecting its degree of centrality. The calculation of the centrality index is based on travel time to workplaces and service functions from all populated basic statistical units. Norway’s 356 municipalities (as per 1 January 2020) are made up of approximately 13 500 populated basic statistical units.