Borgarsyssel

Østfold fylke
County
Rødenes in late-June 2006
Coat of arms
Østfold within Norway
Country	Norway
County	Østfold
Region	Østlandet
County ID	NO-01
Administrative centre	Sarpsborg
Government
• Governor	Anne Enger   Senterpartiet   (2003–present)
• County mayor	Ole Haabeth   Arbeiderpartiet   (2007–present)
Area
• Total	4,180.7 km2 (1,614.2 sq mi)
• Land	3,887 km2 (1,501 sq mi)
Area rank	#17 in Norway, 1.28% of Norway's land area
Population (2014)
• Total	284,962
• Rank	6 (5.61% of country)
• Density	68/km2 (180/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	7.5 %
Demonym(s)	Østfolding
Time zone	CET (UTC+01)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+02)
Official language form	Bokmål
Income (per capita)	138,600 NOK
GDP (per capita)	200,084 NOK (2001)
GDP national rank	8 (3.30% of country)
Website	www.ostfold-f.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Østfold [²østfɔl]  (listen) is a county in southeastern Norway, bordering Akershus and southwestern Sweden (Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other side of Oslofjord. The county's administrative seat is Sarpsborg.

Many manufacturing facilities are situated here, such as the world's most advanced biorefinery, Borregaard in Sarpsborg. Fredrikstad has shipyards. There are granite mines in Østfold and stone from these were used by Gustav Vigeland.

The county slogan is "The heartland of Scandinavia". The local dialect is characterized by its geographical proximity to Sweden.

The old name of the Oslofjord was Fold; Østfold means 'the region east of the Fold' (see also Vestfold). The name was first recorded in 1543; in the Middle Ages the name of the county was Borgarsysla 'the county/sýsla of the city Borg (now Sarpsborg)'. Later, when Norway was under Danish rule, the Danish king divided the area into many baronies. These were merged into one county (amt) in 1662 - and it was then named Smaalenenes Amt 'the amt consisting of small len'. The name was changed back to Østfold in 1919.