The origin of the municipalities can be traced back to the commonwealth period in the 10th century when rural communities were organized into communes (hreppar[r̥ɛhpar̥]) with the main purpose of providing help for the poorest individuals in society. When urbanization began in Iceland during the 18th and 19th centuries, several independent townships (kaupstaðir[ˈkʰœypˌstaːðɪr̥]) were created. The role of municipalities was further formalized during the 20th century and by the end of the century there was no longer any official distinction between urban and rural municipalities.
The trend in recent years has been to transfer more functions and power from the state to the municipalities. This has called for larger municipalities. The government encourages municipalities to merge but has taken a different approach to the issue than governments in other Nordic countries where forced amalgamation is regularly carried out (such as the municipal reform in Denmark that took effect in 2007). Instead, the process is voluntary. Municipalities negotiate possible mergers among themselves, and any merger must first receive approval from the relevant municipality's constituent voting electorate in a referendum. A similar approach is used by the Faroese government. However, municipalities having a population of below 50 may be forced to merge.
The number of municipalities peaked in the mid-20th century. There were 229 of them in 1950.[1] By 1995, their number had been reduced to 170. In the year 2000, only 124 municipalities remained in Iceland, and since 2022 there are 64.
Government
The municipalities are governed by municipal councils which are directly elected every four years. Municipal elections were last held on 14 May 2022. The sizes of these councils vary from five members in the smallest municipalities to fifteen in the largest one. Most municipalities except for the very small ones hire an executive manager who may or may not be a member of the municipal council. These managers are usually referred to as mayors (bæjarstjóri[ˈpaiːjarˌstjouːrɪ] or borgarstjóri[ˈpɔrkarˌstjouːrɪ]) in the mostly urban municipalities but "municipal manager" (sveitarstjóri[ˈsveiːtarˌstjouːrɪ]) in the rural or mixed municipalities. It is common for these executive managers to be professionally hired and politically independent.
Austur-Eyjafjallahreppur, Vestur-Eyjafjallahreppur, Austur-Landeyjahreppur, Vestur-Landeyjahreppur, Fljótshlíðarhreppur, and Hvolhreppur merged to form Rangárþing eystra.
15 November 2001 (reduced to 118)
Hálshreppur, Ljósavatnshreppur, Bárðdælahreppur, and Reykdælahreppur merged to form Þingeyjarsveit.
Staðarhreppur, Fremri Torfustaðahreppur, Ytri Torfustaðahreppur, Hvammstangahreppur, Kirkjuhvammshreppur, Þverárhreppur, and Þorkelshólshreppur merged to form Húnaþing vestra.
Selfosskaupstaður, Stokkseyrarhreppur, Eyrarbakkahreppur, and Sandvíkurhreppur merged to form Árborg.
Lundarreykjardalshreppur, Reykholtsdalshreppur, Hálsahreppur, and Andakílshreppur merged to form Borgarfjarðarsveit.
6 June 1998 (reduced to 145)
Sauðárkrókskaupstaður, Skefilsstaðahreppur, Skarðshreppur, Staðarhreppur, Seyluhreppur, Lýtingsstaðahreppur, Rípurhreppur, Viðvíkurhreppur, Hólahreppur, Hofshreppur, and Fljótahreppur merged to form Skagafjörður.
Bæjarhreppur, Borgarhafnarhreppur, Hofshreppur, and Hornafjarðarbær merged to form Hornafjörður.
Iceland
