NorwayCounty number 15
Møre og Romsdal is a county in Norway with 27 municipalities. Møre og Romsdal brings together Sunnmøre, Romsdal and Nordmøre between ocean, fjords and mountains. Ålesund, Molde and Kristiansund are important centres in a county known for maritime industries, seafood, furniture and distinctive cultural landscapes.
Content updated:
SSB · 2026
See how many people live in the county, how many homes it has, and which municipalities have the most residents. Figures are from Statistics Norway (SSB).
Ranked by municipal population, rather than the size of cities or urban settlements. A municipality may contain several settlements and extensive rural areas.
2026 · SSB
Choose a municipality to open its profile. Small island municipalities are marked with a dot.
Known for
The Atlantic Road and the Geirangerfjord
Southern Sunnmøre, central Romsdal and northern Nordmøre have different landscapes and local identities. Ålesund, Molde and Kristiansund serve as regional centres. Fjords and mountains divide settlements, with islands along the outer coast. Geirangerfjord belongs to UNESCO’s West Norwegian Fjords site. Nature provides livelihoods and tourism opportunities but also transport challenges, so map distance alone says little about how the county connects.
Fishing, shipping and industrial development shaped coastal communities. Ålesund’s reconstruction after the 1904 fire created its distinctive Art Nouveau centre. The county continued in 2020, but boundaries changed: Rindal joined Trøndelag in 2019 and Halsa in 2020, while Hornindal became part of Volda. Haram became a separate municipality again in 2024. Historical statistics therefore require attention to the boundaries represented by each figure.
The county’s industrial mapping covers maritime and seafood industries, oil and gas, process industries and furniture. This breadth connects coastal expertise with manufacturing communities.
Maritime and marine industries, process manufacturing and furniture production are important county industries. Ship design, yards and suppliers build on long coastal experience, while exports connect local jobs to markets far beyond Norway. Industrial-transition work links skills, power and cooperation. Industries have different local weight: Ulstein, Sykkylven and Sunndal provide perspectives distinct from the largest cities.
FRAM provides public-transport information in Møre og Romsdal. Buses, ferries and express boats link cities, islands and fjord communities, while the Rauma Line provides a rail connection from Åndalsnes. Crossing a fjord may matter as much as road distance for school, work or services. The county plan prioritises safe land and sea transport. Check connections and current disruptions for journeys involving several transport modes.
NTNU in Ålesund connects higher education with a regional technology community. The town’s Art Nouveau architecture makes its reconstruction after 1904 visible in the streets, while Geirangerfjord shows the international significance of natural heritage. Culture and skills also thrive beyond urban centres, in manufacturing communities and voluntary groups. Combining campuses, local museums and municipality profiles helps explain connections between work, landscape and history.
Volda University College has strong teacher education, humanities and media disciplines, providing a different educational focus from Ålesund’s technology community. Language, teaching and media production connect the region with public services, culture and knowledge work. Volda shows how higher education can also play an important role in a smaller community.
Sunnmøre, Romsdal and Nordmøre remain useful names for navigating the county. Industries, dialects, transport and distance to regional centres shape everyday life differently. Small municipalities may host strong export businesses without being large population centres. Municipality profiles let you compare population, housing and education, while the map places these figures in the geography of fjords and islands.
The 2025–2028 county plan prioritises power and grid access, energy efficiency and safer land and sea transport. These are development goals, not approvals for specific power plants or road projects.
Landscapes, heritage sites and buildings offer a concrete view of the county’s history. Continue to the guides to these places and their municipalities.
Jugendstilsenteret presents Art Nouveau through a building that was designed to be used, rather than only admired. In central Ålesund, the former Swan Pharmacy combines original interiors with objects and exhibitions that make the city's architectural identity easier to read.
Norsk Klippfiskmuseum explains the industry that helped shape Kristiansund through the building and shore where it happened. At Milnbrygga, an eighteenth-century waterfront warehouse, the production of salted, dried cod becomes a story of trade, weather and demanding manual work.
Romsdalsmuseet brings the building traditions of Romsdal together in Molde. Its open-air village collection allows visitors to compare homes, stores and farm buildings in a green park, with the region's changing everyday life expressed through timber, roofs and working spaces.
Møre og Romsdal · 27 municipalities
Find local figures, history, education, housing and public services. Each municipality’s population figure refers to the stated period.
Residents · Q2 2026 · SSB
Norway has three elected levels of government: the state, county authorities and municipalities. A county is both a geographical area and the territory of an elected regional authority.
Responsibilities include upper secondary education, county roads, public transport, public dental services and regional development. These tasks connect municipalities.
Local responsibilities include primary and lower secondary schools, kindergartens, health and care services and land-use planning. Kommuneportal explains these at municipal level.
The County Governor represents the state regionally. This is a separate institution from the elected county authority. Oslo has both municipal and county responsibilities.
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Registry date: · Content updated:
A county total is shown only when every municipality has comparable figures from the same source and period. Land area excludes freshwater and sea. Density uses population and land area from the same year.
The same municipality membership is used; changes across a documented geographical break are withheld.
An artistic interpretation, not a photograph or an exact record of the place.
Creation and publication dates are not documented.
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