Aust-Agder County Aust-Agder fylke
Former County
The lake Vegår in 2001
Flag Coat of arms
Aust-Agder within Norway
Aust-Agder County Show map of Aust-Agder Aust-Agder County Show map of Norway
Coordinates: 58°34′00″N 08°34′00″E / 58.56667°N 8.56667°E / 58.56667; 8.56667
Country	Norway
County	Aust-Agder
District	Southern Norway
Established	1685
• Preceded by	Agdesiden
Disestablished	1 Jan 2020
• Succeeded by	Agder county
Administrative centre	Arendal
Government
• Body	Aust-Agder County Municipality
• Governor (2016-2019)	Svein Ytterdahl (Ap)
• County mayor    (2017-2019)	Gro Bråten (Ap)
Area  (upon dissolution)
• Total	9,158 km2 (3,536 sq mi)
• Land	8,353 km2 (3,225 sq mi)
• Water	805 km2 (311 sq mi)
Population  (30 September 2019)
• Total	118,127
• Density	13/km2 (33/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	+4.3%
Demonym	Austegde[1]
Official language [2]
• Norwegian form	Neutral
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-09[3]
Income (per capita)	135,700 kr (2001)
GDP (per capita)	208,275 kr (2001)
GDP national rank	#18 in Norway (1.4% of country)
Data from Statistics Norway

Aust-Agder (Norwegian: [ˈæ̂ʉstˌɑɡdər] ^ⓘ, English: "East Agder") was a county (fylke) in Norway until 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Vest-Agder to form Agder county. In 2002, there were 102,945 inhabitants, which was 2.2% of Norway's population. Its area was 9,212 square kilometres (3,557 sq mi). The county's administrative center was the town of Arendal.

The county, located along the Skagerrak coast, extended from Gjernestangen at Risør to the Kvåsefjorden in Lillesand. The inner parts of the area included Setesdalsheiene and Austheiene. Most of the population lives near the coast; about 78% of the county's inhabitants live in the five coastal municipalities of Arendal, Grimstad, Lillesand, Tvedestrand, and Risør. The rest of the county is sparsely populated. Tourism is important, as Arendal and the other coastal towns are popular attractions.

The county includes the larger islands of Tromøya, Hisøya, Justøya, and Sandøya. The interior of the county encompasses the traditional district of Setesdal, through which the river Otra flows to the coast.

In 2017, the Parliament of Norway voted to merge Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder counties into one large region, Agder, effective 1 January 2020.^[4]

The county was part of the Aust-Agder District Court and the Church of Norway Diocese of Agder og Telemark.

Name

The meaning of the name is "(the) eastern (part of) Agder", since the word aust is the Nynorsk form of "east".

Until 1919, the name of the county was Nedenes amt. The amt was named after the old Nedenes farm (Norse Niðarnes), since this was the seat of the amtmann (County Governor). The first element is the genitive case of the river name Nið (now called Nidelva) and the last element is nes which means "headland". The meaning of the river name is unknown.^[5]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 12 December 1958. It shows two horizontal golden bars on a red background. They symbolize the lumber trade and the recovery of iron ore that was important for Aust-Agder's growth. There are two bars to represent the two areas of the county: inland and coastal.^[6][7]

Municipalities

The system of municipalities, or kommuner, was established in Norway in 1837, based on previously existing parishes (see formannskapsdistrikt). Norway had been ceded to Sweden by Denmark in 1814, at which it promptly rebelled and won the right of self-rule, though nominally part of Sweden. In 1905, Norway declared total independence. Meanwhile, as the years progressed, the municipalities did not remain the same, but new ones were formed, old ones broken up, and land was transferred. Since the 1990s, Aust-Agder has been divided into 15 municipalities:

No.	Name	Adm. Center	Population	Area (km2)
0901	Risør	Risør	6,936	193
0904	Grimstad	Grimstad	22,692	304
0906	Arendal	Arendal	44,576	270
0911	Gjerstad	Gjerstad	2,511	322
0912	Vegårshei	Myra	2,104	356
0914	Tvedestrand	Tvedestrand	6,051	215
0919	Froland	Blakstad	5,713	645
0926	Lillesand	Lillesand	10,702	190
0928	Birkenes	Birkeland	5,178	674
0929	Åmli	Åmli	1,856	1,131
0935	Iveland	Birketveit	1,342	262
0937	Evje og Hornnes	Evje	3,614	550
0938	Bygland	Bygland	1,200	1,312
0940	Valle	Valle	1,246	1,265
0941	Bykle	Bykle	952	1,467
Total	Aust-Agder	Arendal	116,673	9,158

Cities

Parishes

Villages

Former Municipalities

Population

Since the census of 1769, Aust-Agder has experienced a steady population growth: from 29,633 to 79,927 in 1900, and to 102,848 in 2001. There was significant emigration to the United States in the 19th century and early 20th century.