Ecclesiastical divisions

Diocese
A diocese is the area ruled by a bishop. The diocese is the largest ecclesiastical unit and consists of an entire number of deaneries. Diocese can be derived from the municipality map. The diocesan code is a two-digit numerical code.

Deanery
The deanery is the largest ecclesiastical administrative unit within a diocese and consists of clerical districts. The deanery is led by a dean. The dean is the link between the church board and the priests. The deanery code is a numerical code that shows hierarchical affiliation, where the diocese has the first two positions in the code, while the deanery has 4.

Clerical district
A clerical district was a service district for one or more priests. A parish consisted of one or more parishes. Clerical districts was gradually phased out from 2004. Clerical districts code is a numerical code that shows hierarchical affiliation, where the diocese has the first two positions in the code, the deanery has 4, and the clerical district had 6.

Parish
A parish is the lowest administrative level in church divisions, where people should be able to belong to the same church (parish church), and where there should be a separate parish council according to the Church Ordinance for the Norwegian Church. Parish code is a numerical code that shows hierarchical affiliation, where the diocese has the first two positions in the code, the deanery has 4, the clerical district had 6, and the parish has 8.

Classification of dioceses

Classification of deanery

Classification of Clerical districts (work in progress)

Classification of Church Parish (work in progress)

Ecclesiastical divisions

Population statistics

Statistics are presented at the national level, per diocese and deanery (per clerical district and parish, respectively).

Statistics are published annually, as soon as church divisions are determined.

not relevant

Statistics Norway stores collected and revised data in a secure manner, in accordance with applicable data processing legislation.

The data base is available in the classification system KLASS. Each geographical level has its own standard. For links, see "Standard classifications" above.

The number and delimitation of church divisions is fundamental in many parts of planning and analysis of social characteristics and phenomena. This has a long tradition going back to the earliest censuses, church registers and tax registers. In Statistics Norway this has particularly taken the form of publications linked to the historical censuses and in special editions of the publication series Norwegian Official Statistics (NOS).

Main users are planners, researchers in geography and history, programmers who use geodata or data with a georeferenced component.

No external users have access to statistics before the statistics are published at 08:00 on ssb.no after notification at least three months in advance in the statistical calendar. This is one of the most important principles at Statistics Norway to ensure equal treatment of users.

The Church of Norway
The parishes in the Church of Norway submit Annual Statistics for the Church of Norway, which are the basis for statistics on the Church of Norway. Furthermore, dioceses are used as a regional division in some of the statistics.

The statistics are developed, compiled and disseminated in accordance with the Act of 21 June 2019 No. 32 on Official Statistics and Statistics Norway (Statistics Act, lovdata.no)

The population is dioceses, deaneries, clerical districs and parishes in Norway.

Population censuses, Norwegian official statistical series, Statistical Yearbook, parish catalogue and Statbank for tables. Paper maps, digital maps and algorithms using geographic information systems for geodata. Both tables and maps cover all of mainland Norway.

Data is collected from Statistics Norway's API for classifications and code lists. The main data collection is GeoNorge for map data. Collection is done once a year. The calculation is made based on the number of unique regional code IDs.

By editing we mean checking, examining and changing data.

The statistics are comparable over time and space. The accuracy of geographical boundaries varies over time, however. The oldest boundaries have lower geographical accuracy.

Full coverage.

In general, the newer versions of regional divisions have a very high degree of measurement quality and few processing errors.

In very rare cases, there may be discrepancies in the classification of individual regional units.