Transport and communication in municipalities and county authorities

Name: Transport and communication in municipalities and county authorities
Topic: Transport and tourism

Division for Energy, Environmental and Transport Statistics

The figures are published on both national and regional (municipal and county) levels. In addition, municipalities are grouped in economically comparable groups (see chapter 4.2).

Unrevised figures are published on the 15 of March, while revised figures are published on the 15 of June.

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Data are stored at Statistics Norway.

KOSTRA started up as a project in 1995 with the intention to provide relevant and up-to-date information about allocation of resources, priorities and meeting targets in municipalities and counties. The goal is to collect data in a co-ordinated way, and make the information flow a one time delivery per year for all steering-information needed by municipality. The number of municipalities and counties was gradually increased until the reporting year of 2001, and then all municipalities were included in the KOSTRA.

KOSTRA provides steering information about municipalities and counties to the different interest groups, inhabitants, media, the municipality itself, different state organs and controlling authorities etc.

No external users have access to the statistics and analyses before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on ssb.no at 8 am. Prior to this, a minimum of three months' advance notice is given inthe Statistics Release Calendar.

https://www.ssb.no/kolltrans

The Statistics Act of June 21, 2019 number 32

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The statistics is based on data from all counties and municipalities in Norway.

County and municipal accounts adapted to the chart of accounts used in KOSTRA, questionnaires and registers at Statistics Norway (population), the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (the National Road Database) and the Norwegian EV Association (the charging station database) form the basis for the statistics.

The population consists of all municipalities and county authorities. However, KOSTRA transport and communications does not include the districts in Oslo and Bergen. Nor are data collected at institutional or individual level for this area.

Data is reported electronically to Statistics Norway. The deadline for reporting is on the 15 of February.

The electronic forms contain built-in consistency checks and logical tests. After arrival, data are checked automatically and manually.

Unrevised data will be published on the 15 of Mars. There is a second deadline on the 15 of April for municipalities to correct possible errors in the figures just published. The data reported after the first deadline is also revised by Statistics Norway.

Register data from the Norwegian Public Roads Administration and the Norwegian EV Association are delivered to Statistics Norway as external data deliveries. The data providers are responsible for extracting data from the National Road Database (NVDB) and the charging station database (NOBIL), respectively, and submit the data basis to Statistics Norway for further processing, control and use in the production of statistics.

Data from NVDB include various information on the public road network, including road lengths, road types, road owner, road status, road objects and other relevant characteristics of the road network. These data are used, among other things, as a basis for describing the scope and composition of road and transport infrastructure, and for calculating and checking indicators that include information on the road network.

Data from NOBIL include information on publicly available charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, including charging stations, charging points, geographical location and technical characteristics of the charging points. The data are used as a basis for describing access to charging infrastructure and developments in this service over time.

Statistics Norway carries out checks on the external data deliveries before the data are used in the production of statistics. The checks include assessments of format, completeness, consistency and changes from previous deliveries. However, the register owners themselves are responsible for the quality of the data delivered, including content, definitions and any changes to the data basis.

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Data from the accounts has been unaltered over time, but some smaller adjustments in the questionnaires have been done. Still, most of the variables can be compared over time.

Before 2010, the Government was administratively responsible for all main roads. These roads were classified as “trunk roads´´ and “remaining main roads´´. As from 1 January 2010, most of the “remaining main roads´´ (about 17.000 km) were reclassified as provincial roads and thereby became an extended liability for the counties. Also the “remaining ferry route connections´´ were transferred to the counties which were economically compensated for the additional administrative burden received through extended yearly block grants. As a consequence of this, some indicators are more or less not directly comparable with earlier years.

The road data model in the National Road Data Base (NVDB) was changed from 7 November 2019 due to the National reform of counties and municipalities. The new road system reference is built in a completely new way, which has led to major changes in the NVDB. In consequence, the figures for road infrastructure in KOSTRA are not directly comparable for the years before and after 2020. More information about the change in NVDB is available here (in Norwegian): https://www.vegvesen.no/fag/teknologi/nasjonal+vegdatabanks/vegreferansesystem.

Statistics Norway has recently revised its KOSTRA classification of municipalities. As before, the dimensions along which municipalities are classified are population size, economic workload, and economic capacity. Nevertheless, an update has been carried out as a result of the municipality reform, effective since 2020. The revision updates the composition and numbering of KOSTRA groups. The revision is discussed here (in Norwegian): https://www.ssb.no/offentlig-sektor/artikler-og-publikasjoner/gruppering-av-kommuner-etter-folkemengde-og-okonomiske-rammebetingelser-2020.

Several variables in the 2025 statistics are affected by changes and updates to the data basis from the Norwegian Public Roads Administration’s National Road Database (NVDB). As a result, figures for bridges on county roads, county roads with four lanes, county roads with enhanced centre-line markings, and two- and three-lane roads with a central barrier or central divider are not directly comparable with previous years.

The changes in 2025 largely reflect improvements and corrections in the underlying data, and do not necessarily represent actual changes in the infrastructure.

At the publication on 15 March, data have only been checked by means of electronic controls. These checks do not detect all types of errors. Partial non-response occurs, which results in errors in the published figures. Other types of errors may also occur in the municipalities’ reporting.

At the publication on 15 June, the figures have been checked by both the municipalities themselves and Statistics Norway. The data basis is based on a full census of the entire population, and the response rate for both accounts and forms is close to 100 per cent.

Breaks in time series based on external data deliveries may occur if changes are made to the data basis, extraction methods, definitions, classifications or register structure by the data provider. Such changes may affect comparability over time, even if they do not necessarily reflect actual changes in the phenomenon described by the statistics.

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