Delområde
A delområde (sub-district) is the middle level in the geographic breakdown used by Statistisk sentralbyrå (SSB): a group of grunnkretser (basic statistical units) within a single municipality. Norway has around 1,900 delområder against around 14,500 grunnkretser, so a delområde covers seven or eight units on average.
The code has eight digits and is built in the same way as the grunnkrets code: a four-digit municipality number, a two-digit delområde and two zeros at the end. 03010100 is delområde 01 in Oslo, and the units 03010101, 03010102 and onwards sit inside it. Those two zeros are the only difference between a delområde code and a grunnkrets code, and that is worth noting when you sort or filter on the code in a spreadsheet: both are eight characters, and a code ending in 00 is always the delområde, never a unit.
The delområde is a purely statistical grouping with no administrative authority. No decisions are made at this level, and it has no role in the Planning and Building Act. The purpose is practical: the grunnkrets is often too small to give robust figures, particularly when SSB suppresses values for privacy reasons, while the municipality is too large to say anything about a neighbourhood. The delområde sits in between and gives figures that are both publishable and geographically meaningful.
The level is easily confused with a bydel (city district), but they are not the same thing. A bydel is a political level that only Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim and Stavanger have, with its own district council and its own budget. Delområder exist in every municipality, including the small ones, and follow no political boundary. In Oslo the two breakdowns partly coincide without being identical, so an analysis that switches between them halfway through produces figures that cannot be compared.
For property work, the delområde is useful when the grunnkrets is too fine-grained. A retail analysis for a shopping centre with a catchment of a few thousand households often fits the delområde better than the unit, because unit figures swing a lot from year to year on small populations. Going the other way, from municipality to delområde, brings out differences between district-like parts of a municipality that has no formal bydeler.
In Placepoint, clicking a delområde on the map opens the area panel with the totals for the area, and the demography layers can be drawn at both delområde level and grunnkrets level.
How the dataset appears on the map
The dataset is part of the map layer Demographics as Age distribution:
From Placepoint's dictionary: Delområde
More information: SSB: Standard for delområde- og grunnkretsinndeling, SSB: Klassifikasjoner og kodelister
English: Sub-district (Norwegian-specific, SSB geography between kommune and grunnkrets).
Frequently asked questions
What is a delområde?
A group of grunnkretser within a single municipality, defined by SSB as the middle level between the municipality and the grunnkrets. Norway has around 1,900 of them.
How does the delområde code differ from the grunnkrets code?
Both have eight digits, but the delområde code always ends in two zeros. 03010100 is the delområde, 03010101 is a grunnkrets inside it.
Is a delområde the same as a bydel?
No. A bydel is a political level with its own council, and only four municipalities have one. Delområder exist in every municipality and have no administrative authority. In Oslo they partly overlap, but they are not identical.
When should I use the delområde rather than the grunnkrets?
When the grunnkrets figures are too small to be stable, or when SSB has suppressed values for privacy reasons. The delområde gives more robust figures and is often the right level for a retail catchment.