Cultural facilities

See Definitions in About the statistics for Municipal cccounts.

The municipalities are broken down into 17 groups according to population and economical structure. These groups are based on a report from Marit Kringlebotten and Audun Langørgen: ”Gruppering av kommuner etter folkemengde og økonomiske rammebetingelser 2020 (Reports 2020/48, Statistics Norway).

In calculating the average for counties, the municipalities are divided into 11 counties in accordance with the standard for municipality classification. Counties are divided into six groups where Oslo is a group of its own.

Name: Cultural facilities

Topic: Culture and recreation

Division for Education and Culture Statistics

Municipalities: Data is published for all municipalities including average figures for municipality groups, counties and Norway with and without Oslo.

Counties: Data is published for all counties, including average figures for the regions and Norway with and without Oslo.

Oslo districts: Data is published for all districts including their average figures.

Municipal-State-Reporting (KOSTRA) key figures are published annually on March 15 (unrevised figures) and June 15 (audited figures).

Not relevant.

Not relevant.

KOSTRA (Municipal-State-Reporting) was started up in 1995 as a project aimed at providing relevant and up-to-date information on the allocation of resources, priorities and meeting targets in the local and county authorities. The goal is to coordinate and streamline the collection of data, and to provide relevant management information about local authority and county authority services. The number of local authorities and county authorities was gradually increased until the reporting year of 2001, when all local authorities were included in KOSTRA.



KOSTRA is based on the electronic reporting of data from the local and county authorities and data from other sources collected from within and outside Statistics Norway. The data published in KOSTRA is based on different types of consolidated data, e.g. financial data, public service data, personnel data and population data.



Cultural facilities have been included in KOSTRA since 1996. Statistics Norway collects and publishes data on public libraries, cinemas, children and youth activities and subsidies to associations and clubs in all municipalities.

The data about culture are used by the authorities, county authorities and local authorities, as well as the press. The data are used for analysis and comparison.

No external users have access to the statistics and analyses before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on ssb.no at 08 am. Prior to this, a minimum of three months' advance notice is given inthe Statistics Release Calendar. This is one of Statistics Norway’s key principles for ensuring that all users are treated equally.

Not relevant

Children and youth activities and grants to voluntary associations working for children (KOSTRA, scheme 17): Act of 21 June 2019 No. 32 relating to official statistics and Statistics Norway § 10.

Not relevant.

The population consists of all local authorities, county authorities, inter-municipal companies and local and county authority companies. Oslo reports on each district, as well as on cultural facilities not covered by the districts.

Data is collected from all local and county authorities.

Data from the local and county authorities is reported electronically. The deadline for submitting reports on cultural facilities is February 15.

The data reported through the web portal are subject to controls in order to ensure that there are no discrepancies in the files.



Local authorities have to submit corrected reports by April 15, after the first publishing on March 15. Further editing of data is done in collaboration with the local authorities.

Not relevant.

Not relevant.

The publishing consists of figures on some areas of cultural facilities from 1999, or later when the local authority was included in KOSTRA. Some disruptions in the time series might occur, such as the lack of figures for library services in 2000. Information about children and youth activities and support for associations and clubs was included from 2001.

The preliminary figures published on March 15 are only controlled electronically. These controls do not identify all errors. Errors may, therefore, appear in the published preliminary figures on March 15. When publishing edited figures on June 15, both Statistics Norway and the local authorities carry out controls.

The revised figures published on June 15 may include errors, but considerably fewer than in the preliminary figures.



A partial reduction in reported forms is taking place in various areas of KOSTRA. National figures published on March 15 are mostly based on estimated data for the local authorities that have not reported.

General principles for revisions.