on 1 january 1875, part of borgund municipality (population: 902) was transferred to the town of ålesund. in 1922, another part of borgund municipality (population: 1,148) was transferred to the town of ålesund. during the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across norway due to the work of the schei committee. on 1 january 1968, most of the neighbouring municipality of borgund (population: 20,132) was merged with the town of ålesund. this merger vastly increased the land area of the municipality and more than doubled the population of ålesund, for a new total population of 38,589. on 1 january 1977, the island of sula and some small surrounding islets (population: 6,302) were separated from ålesund to form the new sula municipality.