Regions

Constituencies

Until 2003, the constituencies for the parliament elections were the same as the regions, but by an amendment to the constitution, they were changed to the current six constituencies:

• Reykjavik North
• Reykjavik South
• Southwest (three suburb areas around Reykjavik)
• Northwest
• Northeast
• South (south half of Iceland, excluding Reykjavik and suburbs)

The re-districting change was made in order to balance the weight of different districts of the country, since a vote cast in the sparsely populated areas around the country would count much more than a vote cast in the Reykjavik city area. The imbalance between districts has been reduced by the new system, but still exists.

Counties

Iceland's twenty-three counties are for the most part historical divisions. Currently, Iceland is split up among twenty-six magistrates that represent government in various capacities. Among their duties are running the local police (except in Reykjavik, where there is a special office of police commissioner), tax collection, administering bankruptcy declarations and performing civil marriages.

The traditional counties are:

• Árnessysla
• Austur-Bardastrandarsysla
• Austur-Hunavatnssysla
• Austur-Skaftafellssysla
• Borgarfjardarsysla
• Dalasysla
• Eyjafjardarsysla
• Gullbringusysla
• Kjosarsysla
• Myrasysla
• Nordur-Isafjardarsysla
• Nordur-Mulasysla
• Nordur-Thingeyjarsysla
• Rangarvallasysla
• Skagafjardarsysla
• Snaefellsnes-og Hnappadalssysla
• Strandasysla
• Sudur-Mulasysla
• Sudur-Thingeyjarsysla
• Vestur-Bardastrandarsysla
• Vestur-Hunavatnssysla
• Vestur-Isafjardarsysla
• Vestur-Skaftafellssysla

Municipalities

There are seventy-nine municipalities in Iceland which govern most local matters such as schools, transportation and zoning. The municipalities and their populations are shown in the following table.