The act of merging two or more
municipalities into a single new municipality may be done for a variety of reasons, including urban growth, reducing the cost of local government and improving the efficiency of municipal service delivery.
Belgium In 1977, the 2,359
municipalities of Belgium were merged to 596 new municipalities.
Brazil In 1975, the
state of Guanabara and the
state of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil were merged. The former consisted of only the territorial limits of the city of Rio de Janeiro, formerly the
Federal District as
Brazilian capital until 1960 when it was moved to newly built
Brasília. When merged, Guanabara became the
municipality of Rio de Janeiro within the new state. In geographical terms, it would seem the state of Rio would have incorporated Guanabara; but, as the administrative and financial resources of the former capital were significant and even larger than the rest of the state, the change was more correctly referred to as a merger (
fusão).
Canada In
Canada, the 1990s saw the forced amalgamation of several municipal entities in the provinces of
Nova Scotia,
Ontario and
Quebec into larger new municipalities. Even in cases where a central city merged with its suburbs, the amalgamated city was legally a new municipality, even if it was given the central city's name and was in effect a defacto annexation by the central city. The process created what was labeled a
megacity by the media, although none of the created municipalities fit in the definition of a megacity in the international sense and some of them have fewer than a million inhabitants.
New Brunswick •
Municipal amalgamations in New Brunswick Nova Scotia •
Municipal amalgamations in Nova Scotia Ontario In the early 1970s, the various towns, villages, and townships surrounding
Metropolitan Toronto that were undergoing suburbanization were amalgamated into various new suburban municipalities; among them
Mississauga and
Vaughan. Later, the provincial government of
Mike Harris undertook an extensive province-wide program of municipal mergers between 1996 and 2002. The province had 815 municipalities in 1996; by 2002, this had been reduced to just 447. The
list of municipalities in Ontario is updated regularly. •
Toronto – In 1967, the towns of
Leaside,
Long Branch,
Mimico,
New Toronto, and
Weston amalgamated into the various suburban townships within
Metropolitan Toronto, which were then promoted to
boroughs (with the central
City of Toronto annexingnot amalgamating with the Villages of
Forest Hill,
North Toronto, and
Swansea at the same time). In 1998, the city and former boroughs within Metropolitan Toronto were themselves merged into a new City of Toronto. •
Cambridge – In 1973, the provincial government created the new City of Cambridge by amalgamating the City of Galt, the towns of
Preston and
Hespeler. •
Thunder Bay – On 1 January 1970, the twin cities of
Fort William, and
Port Arthur, merged into one city. •
Ottawa – In 2001, the municipalities of Ottawa,
Cumberland,
Osgoode,
Rideau,
Goulbourn,
West Carleton,
Nepean,
Kanata,
Gloucester,
Vanier and
Rockcliffe Park amalgamated into a new City of Ottawa. •
Greater Sudbury – resulted from the merger of the former
Regional Municipality of Sudbury in 2001; the regional municipality itself was created by a series of municipal amalgamations in 1973. •
Hamilton – In 2001, the former City of
Stoney Creek and the former towns of
Ancaster,
Dundas,
Flamborough and
Glanbrook merged to create the new City of Hamilton. •
Temiskaming Shores – In 2004, the towns of New Liskeard and Haileybury, along with the township of Dymond, merged to create the new town of Temiskaming Shores.
Quebec •
Gatineau – five municipalities in southwestern Quebec (Gatineau,
Hull,
Aylmer,
Buckingham and
Masson-Angers) were merged into a new city of Gatineau in 2002. •
Longueuil •
Montreal – In the
Montreal Merger on 1 January 2002, the
Parti Québécois provincial government merged all municipalities on the
Island of Montreal into a new City of Montreal. On 1 January 2006, a partial demerger occurred. •
Quebec City •
Rouyn-Noranda •
Saguenay – The cities of
Chicoutimi,
Jonquière,
La Baie and
Laterrière, along with the municipalities of Lac-Kénogami and Shipshaw and part of the township of Tremblay, were amalgamated into the City of Saguenay in 2002. •
Sherbrooke •
Trois-Rivières •
Val-d'Or Manitoba •
Winnipeg: in 1971, the municipalities of
Transcona,
St. Boniface,
St. Vital,
West Kildonan,
East Kildonan,
Tuxedo,
Old Kildonan,
North Kildonan,
Fort Garry,
Charleswood, and
St. James were amalgamated via the
City of Winnipeg Act. The word
unicity is used more commonly than megacity to describe that particular amalgamation.
Mainland China The two previously independent cities
Hankou and
Wuchang, as well as the county of
Hanyang, were merged into one city by the name
Wuhan in 1927. Wuhan was named China's first
direct-controlled municipality, and briefly served as a capital of China twice,
first by left-wing
Nationalists, later during the
Sino-Japanese War.
Denmark In 1970, mergers brought the number of
municipalities of Denmark from 1,098 to 277. In 2007, the (by then) 270 municipalities were consolidated into 98 municipalities, most of them the result of mergers.
Finland in
Pirkanmaa, Finland. A series of mergers has reduced the number of
municipalities of Finland from 452 in 2000 to 311 in 2017. By 2025, the number of municipalities has reduced further to 308.
Germany Several
states of
West Germany carried out municipal merger programmes in the 1960s and 1970s. In
Baden-Württemberg, the number of municipalities dropped from 3,379 to 1,110 between 1968 and 1975; in
Bavaria, from roughly 7,000 to roughly 2,000 between 1972 and 1978; in
Hesse, from 2,642 to 421 between 1972 and 1977; in
North Rhine-Westphalia, from 2,365 to 396 between 1967 and 1975; and in
Saarland, from 345 to 50 in 1974. In the Bavarian town of
Ermershausen, citizens occupied the town hall to resist the merger with
Maroldsweisach – unsuccessfully, although Ermershausen was reconstituted as an independent municipality in 1994 – and
Horgau, also in Bavaria, successfully appealed its merger with
Zusmarshausen to the Constitutional Court of Bavaria (
Bayerischer Verfassungsgerichtshof). Mergers have also taken place in the former
East Germany after 1990, for example in
Brandenburg in 2003.
Greece The
Kallikratis Plan replaced the 1033
municipalities and communities of Greece with 325 new municipalities in 2011.
Hungary Budapest, the capital and largest city in Hungary, was formed from the merger of the cities of Buda and Pest across the river Danube in 1873.
Indonesia There had been mergers of administrative divisions in Indonesia, but these examples are much rarer than the creation of new administrative entities. Merger of the
Special Region of Surakarta into
Central Java in 1946, is the only instance of provincial merger in the country. On 18 October 1951, was merged into
Kulon Progo Regency in the
Special Region of Yogyakarta. In 2003, several administrative cities () in Indonesia were merged back to the parent regencies, due to the Government Regulation no. 33 of 2003 which removed their status. All other administrative cities had become autonomous before 2003. •
Baturaja into
Ogan Komering Ulu Regency,
South Sumatra • Cilacap into
Cilacap Regency, Central Java • Jember into
Jember Regency,
East Java •
Kisaran into
Asahan Regency,
North Sumatra • Klaten into
Klaten Regency, Central Java •
Purwokerto into
Banyumas Regency, Central Java •
Rantau Prapat into
Labuhanbatu Regency, North Sumatra •
Watampone into
Bone Regency,
South Sulawesi Since 2006, several villages in Porong district,
Sidoarjo, East Java have been become abandoned due to being submerged by the
Sidoarjo mud flow. Proposed in July 2020, this regional regulation would merge numerous villages with nearby ones. The villages of Siring and Jatirejo would be merged with Gedang, Mindi with Porong, Renokenongo with Glagaharum, Kedungbendo with Gempolsari and Ketapang, Pejarakan with Kedungcangkring, and Besuki with Keboguyang. On 13 June 2024, the district of in
Konawe Regency,
Southeast Sulawesi was legally merged back into after being created as its own district in 2017, due to issues relating to the deficient number of villages in Anggotoa.
Israel In 2003 the cities of
Baqa al-Gharbiyye and
Jatt joined to form the city of
Baqa-Jatt, but the merger was dissolved in 2010.
Japan Malaysia On 21 April 2018, The Negeri Sembilan state government declared of
Seremban Municipal Council (MPS) and
Nilai Municipal Council (MPN) were to become Seremban City Council (MBS) effective in January 2019.
New Zealand In November 2010, the Seven Councils of Auckland City: Auckland City Council, Manukau City Council, Waitakere City Council, North Shore City Council, Papakura District Council, Rodney District Council and most of Franklin District Council has seen amalgamated to form Auckland City Council.
Philippines In the Philippines,
Iloilo City is a consolidation of former towns, which are now the geographical or
administrative districts consisting of:
Villa de Arevalo,
Iloilo City Proper,
Jaro (an independent city before),
La Paz,
Mandurriao, and
Molo. The district of
Lapuz, a former part of La Paz, was declared a separate district in 2008.
Portugal Portugal was one of the first countries in the world to make an enlarged modern administrative reform, particularly during the 19th century. In the early 19th century, the country was divided into more than 800 municipalities. In 1832, during
Portuguese Civil War, a law from
Mouzinho da Silveira, minister from the liberal
government-in-exile (which then ruled only in the
Azores) simplified the public administration, and reduced the number of municipalities to 796. In 1836, after the liberal victory,
Passos Manuel, minister from the government of the
Marquess of Sá da Bandeira made a profound administrative reform which reduced significantly the number of municipalities, fixing it to 351. Passos Manuel's reform followed a trend very decentralist, creating an elected municipal administration. In 1855, another series of mergers reduced the number of municipalities to 254. In the rest of the 19th century, some series of mergers occurred (particularly during the 1890s), meanwhile other municipalities were restored. Thereafter, the changes to the municipal map focused mainly on the restoration and creation of new municipalities, particularly in the 20th century. Nowadays, there are 308
municipalities in Portugal. The last alteration to the municipal map, occurred in 1998, with the creation of the municipalities of
Odivelas (in
Lisbon district),
Trofa (in
Porto district) and
Vizela (in
Braga district). In 2013, more than 1,000
parishes/
freguesias were merged.
Sweden Many rural
municipalities of Sweden were merged in 1952; the number of them decreasing from 2,281 to 816. Another series of mergers, this time also including cities and market towns, reduced the total number of municipalities from roughly 1,000 in the early 1960s to 278 in 1974. As of 2013, Sweden has 290 municipalities.
Taiwan United States In United States politics, such a merged entity may be called a
consolidated city–county. •
City of Greater New York – The amalgamation of the five boroughs (
Manhattan,
The Bronx,
Brooklyn,
Queens, and
Staten Island) of New York. •
Unigov – The local government amalgamation of
Indianapolis,
Indiana. • In
New Jersey,
Princeton Borough and
Princeton Township became one municipality (
Princeton, New Jersey), in January 2013, after voters passed a referendum in early November 2011, supported by residents of both municipalities.
Vietnam ==See also==