Sunnmøre (, ) is the southernmost traditional district of the western Norwegian county of

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in the northernmost part of Western Norway, Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the Molde (town), town of M ...

. Its main city is

Ålesund Ålesund () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of Ålesund Municipality. The centre of the town of Ålesund lies on the islands of Hessa, Aspøya, Ålesund, Asp� ...

. The region comprises the

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

() of

Fjord In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...

Giske Giske may refer to: Places *Giske Municipality, a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway *Giske (island), a island within Giske Municpiality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway *Giske (village), a village within Giske Municpiality in Møre ...

Hareid Hareid may refer to: Places *Hareid Municipality, a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway *Hareid (village), a village within Hareid Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway *Hareid Church, a church in Hareid Municipality in Møre ...

, Herøy, Sande,

Haram ''Haram'' (; ) is an Arabic term meaning 'taboo'. This may refer to either something sacred to which access is not allowed to the people who are not in a state of purity or who are not initiated into the sacred knowledge; or, in direct cont ...

Stranda Municipality Stranda is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Stranda, ...

, Sula,

Sykkylven Sykkylven may refer to: Places * Sykkylven Municipality, a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway * Aure, or ''Sykkylven'', a village within Sykkylven Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway * Sykkylven Church, a church in Sykkylve ...

Ulstein Ulstein may refer to: Business *Ulstein Group, a group of various marine-related industries, mainly known for shipbuilding and design *Ulstein Verft, a Norwegian shipyard Places *Ulstein Municipality, a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Nor ...

Vanylven Vanylven is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre is the village of Fiskå, Møre og Romsdal, Fi ...

Volda Volda may refer to: Places *Volda Municipality Volda is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre i ...

Ørsta Ørsta may refer to: Places * Ørsta (village), an urban village area within Ørsta Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway *Ørsta Municipality is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, ...

, and

. Though it is one of the three traditional districts in Møre og Romsdal, Sunnmøre is home to more than half the population of the county—with 141,755 residents, or about 54% of the population of the county. The district is made up of mainland as well as several large islands such as Gurskøy and

Hareidlandet Hareidlandet is an island in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The island is divided between Hareid Municipality and Ulstein Municipality. The island has a population of 13,683 (as of 2022). The island is home to one town, Ulsteinvik, and severa ...

, plus many small islands. While Sunnmøre has no formal administration, many national organizations chose to have separate divisions for Sunnmøre. For example, the

Football Association of Norway The Norwegian Football Federation (, ; NFF) is the governing body of football (soccer), football in Norway. It was formed in 1902 and organises the Norway national football team, men's and Norway women's national football team, women's national te ...

has a separate Regional Association for Sunnmøre, separate from

Nordmøre Nordmøre () is a Districts of Norway, traditional district in the Norway, Norwegian county of Møre og Romsdal. The area comprises the northern third of the county including the List of municipalities of Norway, municipalities of Kristiansund Mu ...

and

Romsdal Romsdal is a Districts of Norway, traditional district in the Norwegian county Møre og Romsdal, located between Nordmøre and Sunnmøre. The district of Romsdal traditional comprises the areas that are part of Aukra Municipality, Molde Municipal ...

. This is also true for the national police. All municipalities in Sunnmøre have adopted

Nynorsk Nynorsk (; ) is one of the two official written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language (''Landsmål''), parallel to the Da ...

as their form of the Norwegian language, with the exception of

Ålesund Municipality Ålesund (, sometimes spelled Aalesund in English) is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal County, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sunnmøre and the centre of the Ålesund Region. The town of Ålesund is the administrative ce ...

, which has declared itself to be "neutral", though almost all of the education in Ålesund is conducted using

Bokmål Bokmål () (, ; ) is one of the official written standards for the Norwegian language, alongside Nynorsk. Bokmål is by far the most used written form of Norwegian today, as it is adopted by 85% to 90% of the population in Norway. There is no cou ...

. There are many local newspapers throughout Sunnmøre, as well as one that aims to cover the entire region, published from Ålesund, called ''

Sunnmørsposten ''Sunnmørsposten'' () is a newspaper published by Polaris Media in Ålesund, Norway. History and profile In its early days, ''Sunnmørsposten'' competed with several other local newspapers, including '' Aalesunds Avis'' (1917–1957), '' Aales ...

''.

Urban areas

The major urban centres (by urban population) of Sunnmøre are:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sunnmore Districts of Møre og Romsdal Petty kingdoms of Norway

Urban areas

See also

References