Schei Committee

{{Short description|Norwegian government body (fl. 1946–1962)}}

The Schei Committee ({{langx|no|Schei-komitéen}}) was a committee named by the Government of Norway to look into the organization of municipalities in Norway post-World War II.

It convened in 1946, and its formal name was {{lang|no|Kommuneinndelingskomiteen av 1946}} (The 1946 Committee on Municipal Division). Its more commonly used name derives from the committee leader, Nikolai Schei, who was County Governor of Sogn og Fjordane at the time.{{cite encyclopedia|title=Nikolai Schei|encyclopedia=Norsk biografisk leksikon|first=Rolf Normann|last=Torgersen|author-link=Rolf Normann Torgersen|editor=Helle, Knut|publisher=Kunnskapsforlaget|location=Oslo|url=http://www.snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Nikolai_Schei/utdypning|language=no|access-date=1 July 2009}}

The committee concluded its work in 1962. By that time, it had published an eighteen-volume work called Kommuneinndelingskomitéens endelige tilråding om kommunedelingen.

The findings of the committee were highly influential; it spurred a series of mergers of municipalities, especially during the 1960s, reducing the number of municipalities in Norway from 747 to 454.{{Citation |last=Grepstad |first=Jon |title=Nikolai Schei |date=2024-11-25 |work=Store norske leksikon |url=https://snl.no/Nikolai_Schei |access-date=2025-02-21 |language=no |last2=Allkunne}} The number has since been reduced further, but not as rapidly as before.