New criteria for measuring settlement patterns in the Norwegian general purpose grants scheme

The aim of the Norwegian general purpose grants scheme is to even out disparities in public expenses between municipalities due among other factors to dispersed population. The purpose of this project has been to develop new indicators of settlement patterns. It is developed indicators based on dividing up the municipalities into zones and measuring the dispersion of the population within these zones. Each zone should have at least 2 000 inhabitants. Three indicators are recommended; average distance for all persons to the zone centre, average distance from each census tract to the nearest neighbouring census tract within the zones, and average size of settled area per settled person within the zones. By using the recommended indicators the municipalities constitute a different ranking than under the present criteria.