diff --git a/Doc/library/collections.rst b/Doc/library/collections.rst
index 4045d2e..816d814 100644
--- a/Doc/library/collections.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/collections.rst
@@ -140,6 +140,140 @@
 (For more about ABCs, see the :mod:`abc` module and :pep:`3119`.)
 
 
+.. _counter-objects:
+
+:class:`Counter` objects
+------------------------
+
+A counter tool is provided to support convenient and rapid tallies.
+For example::
+
+    # Tally repeated words in a list
+    >>> words = ['red', 'blue', 'red', 'green', 'blue', 'blue']
+    >>> cnt = Counter()
+    >>> for word in words:
+    ...     cnt[word] += 1
+    >>> cnt
+    Counter({'blue': 3, 'red': 2, 'green': 1})
+
+    # Find the ten most common words in Hamlet
+    >>> import re
+    >>> words = re.findall('\w+', open('hamlet.txt').read().lower())
+    >>> Counter(hamlet_words).most_common(10)
+    [('the', 1143), ('and', 966), ('to', 762), ('of', 669), ('i', 631),
+     ('you', 554),  ('a', 546), ('my', 514), ('hamlet', 471), ('in', 451)]
+
+.. class:: Counter([iterable-or-mapping])
+
+   A :class:`Counter` is a :class:`dict` subclass for counting hashable items.
+   It is an unordered collection where elements are stored as dictionary keys
+   and their counts are stored as dictionary values.  Counts are allowed to be
+   any integer value including zero or negative counts.  The :class:`Counter`
+   class is similar to bags or multisets in other languages.
+
+   Elements are counted from an *iterable* or initialized from another
+   *mapping* (or counter)::
+
+       >>> c = Counter()                            # a new, empty counter
+       >>> c = Counter('gallahad')                  # a new counter from an iterable
+       >>> c = Counter({'red': 4, 'blue': 2})       # a new counter from a mapping
+
+   The returned object has a dictionary style interface except that it returns
+   a zero count for missing items (instead of raising a :exc:`KeyError` like a
+   dictionary would)::
+
+        >>> c = Counter(['egg', 'ham'])
+        >>> c['bacon']                              # count of a missing element is zero
+        0
+
+   Assigning a count of zero or reducing the count to zero leaves the
+   element in the dictionary.  Use ``del`` to remove the entry entirely:
+
+        >>> c = Counter(['arthur', 'gwain'])
+        >>> c['arthur'] = 0                         # set the count of 'arthur' to zero
+        >>> 'arthur' in c                           # but 'arthur' is still in the counter
+        True
+        >>> del c['arthur']                         # del will completely remove the entry
+
+   .. versionadded:: 2.7
+
+
+   Counter objects support two methods beyond those available for all
+   dictionaries:
+
+   .. method:: elements()
+
+      Return an iterator over elements repeating each as many times as its count.
+      Elements are returned in arbitrary order.  If an element's count has been
+      set to zero or a negative number, :meth:`elements` will ignore it.
+
+            >>> c = Counter({'a': 4, 'b': 2, 'd': 0, 'e': -2})
+            >>> list(c.elements())
+            ['a', 'a', 'a', 'a', 'b', 'b']
+
+   .. method:: most_common([n])
+
+      Return a list of the *n* most common elements and their counts from
+      the most common to the least.  If *n* is not specified or is ``None``,
+      return a list of all element counts in decreasing order of frequency.
+      Elements with equal counts are ordered arbitrarily::
+
+            >>> Counter('abracadabra').most_common(3)
+            [('a', 5), ('r', 2), ('b', 2)]
+
+   The usual dictionary methods are available for :class:`Counter` objects.
+   All of those work the same as they do for dictionaries except for two
+   which work differently for counters.
+
+   .. method:: fromkeys(iterable)
+
+       There is no equivalent class method for :class:`Counter` objects.
+       Raises a :exc:`NotImplementedError` when called.
+
+   .. method:: update([iterable-or-mapping])
+
+       Like :meth:`dict.update` but adds-in counts instead of replacing them.
+
+       Elements are counted from an *iterable* or added-in from another
+       *mapping* (or counter)::
+
+            >>> c = Counter('which')
+            >>> c.update('witch')           # add elements from another iterable
+            >>> d = Counter('watch')
+            >>> c.update(d)                 # add elements from another counter
+            >>> c['h']                      # four 'h' in which, witch, and watch
+            4
+
+Common patterns for working with :class:`Counter` objects::
+
+    sum(c.values())               # total of all counts
+    c.clear()                     # reset all counts
+    list(c)                       # list unique elements
+    set(c)                        # convert to a set
+    dict(c)                       # convert to a regular dictionary
+    c.items()                     # convert to a list of (elem, cnt) pairs
+    Counter(dict(list_of_pairs))  # convert from a list of (elem, cnt) pairs
+    c.most_common()[:-n:-1]       # n least common elements
+
+**References**:
+
+* Wikipedia entry for `Multisets <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiset>`_
+
+* `Bag class <http://www.gnu.org/software/smalltalk/manual-base/html_node/Bag.html>`_
+  in Smalltalk
+* `C++ multisets <http://www.demo2s.com/Tutorial/Cpp/0380__set-multiset/Catalog0380__set-multiset.htm>`_
+  tutorial with standalone examples
+
+* An early Python `Bag <http://code.activestate.com/recipes/259174/>`_ recipe
+  for Python 2.4 and a `Counter <http://code.activestate.com/recipes/576611/>`_
+  comformant recipe for Python 2.5 and later
+
+* Use cases for multisets and mathematical operations on multisets.
+   Knuth, Donald. The Art of Computer Programming Volume II,
+   Section 4.6.3, Exercise 19
+
+
+
 .. _deque-objects:
 
 :class:`deque` objects
diff --git a/Lib/collections.py b/Lib/collections.py
index c3faa9a..6c1abce 100644
--- a/Lib/collections.py
+++ b/Lib/collections.py
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@
 from operator import itemgetter as _itemgetter
 from keyword import iskeyword as _iskeyword
 import sys as _sys
+import heapq as _heapq
+from itertools import repeat as _repeat, chain as _chain, starmap as _starmap
+
 
 ################################################################################
 ### namedtuple
@@ -113,6 +116,162 @@
     return result
 
 
+########################################################################
+###  Counter
+########################################################################
+
+class Counter(dict):
+    '''Dict subclass for counting hashable items.  Sometimes called a bag
+    or multiset.  Elements are stored as dictionary keys and their counts
+    are stored as dictionary values.
+
+    >>> c = Counter('abracadabra')      # count elements from a string
+
+    >>> c.most_common(3)                # three most common elements
+    [('a', 5), ('r', 2), ('b', 2)]
+    >>> sorted(c)                       # list all unique elements
+    ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'r']
+    >>> ''.join(sorted(c.elements()))   # list elements with repetitions
+    'aaaaabbcdrr'
+    >>> sum(c.values())                 # total of all counts
+    11
+
+    >>> c['a']                          # count of letter 'a'
+    5
+    >>> for elem in 'shazam':           # update counts from an iterable
+    ...     c[elem] += 1                # by adding 1 to each element's count
+    >>> c['a']                          # now there are seven 'a'
+    7
+    >>> del c['r']                      # remove all 'r'
+    >>> c['r']                          # now there are zero 'r'
+    0
+
+    >>> d = Counter('simsalabim')       # make another counter
+    >>> c.update(d)                     # add in the second counter
+    >>> c['a']                          # now there are nine 'a'
+    9
+
+    >>> c.clear()                       # empty the counter
+    >>> c
+    Counter()
+
+    Note:  If a count is set to zero or reduced to zero, it will remain
+    in the counter until the entry is deleted or the counter is cleared:
+
+    >>> c = Counter('aaabbc')
+    >>> c['b'] -= 2                     # reduce the count of 'b' by two
+    >>> c.most_common()                 # 'b' is still in, but its count is zero
+    [('a', 3), ('c', 1), ('b', 0)]
+
+    '''
+    # References:
+    #   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiset
+    #   http://www.gnu.org/software/smalltalk/manual-base/html_node/Bag.html
+    #   http://www.demo2s.com/Tutorial/Cpp/0380__set-multiset/Catalog0380__set-multiset.htm
+    #   http://code.activestate.com/recipes/259174/
+    #   Knuth, TAOCP Vol. II section 4.6.3
+
+    def __init__(self, iterable=None):
+        '''Create a new, empty Counter object.  And if given, count elements
+        from an input iterable.  Or, initialize the count from another mapping
+        of elements to their counts.
+
+        >>> c = Counter()                           # a new, empty counter
+        >>> c = Counter('gallahad')                 # a new counter from an iterable
+        >>> c = Counter({'a': 4, 'b': 2})           # a new counter from a mapping
+
+        '''
+        self.update(iterable)
+
+    def __missing__(self, key):
+        'The count of elements not in the Counter is zero.'
+        # Needed so that self[missing_item] does not raise KeyError
+        return 0
+
+    def most_common(self, n=None):
+        '''List the n most common elements and their counts from the most
+        common to the least.  If n is None, then list all element counts.
+
+        >>> Counter('abracadabra').most_common(3)
+        [('a', 5), ('r', 2), ('b', 2)]
+
+        '''
+        # Emulate Bag.sortedByCount from Smalltalk
+        if n is None:
+            return sorted(self.items(), key=_itemgetter(1), reverse=True)
+        return _heapq.nlargest(n, self.items(), key=_itemgetter(1))
+
+    def elements(self):
+        '''Iterator over elements repeating each as many times as its count.
+
+        >>> c = Counter('ABCABC')
+        >>> sorted(c.elements())
+        ['A', 'A', 'B', 'B', 'C', 'C']
+
+        # Knuth's example for prime factors of 1836:  2**2 * 3**3 * 17**1
+        >>> prime_factors = Counter({2: 2, 3: 3, 17: 1})
+        >>> product = 1
+        >>> for factor in prime_factors.elements():     # loop over factors
+        ...     product *= factor                       # and multiply them
+        >>> product
+        1836
+
+        Note, if an element's count has been set to zero or is a negative
+        number, elements() will ignore it.
+
+        '''
+        # Emulate Bag.do from Smalltalk and Multiset.begin from C++.
+        return _chain.from_iterable(_starmap(_repeat, self.items()))
+
+    # Override dict methods where necessary
+
+    @classmethod
+    def fromkeys(cls, iterable, v=None):
+        # There is no equivalent method for counters because setting v=1
+        # means that no element can have a count greater than one.
+        raise NotImplementedError(
+            'Counter.fromkeys() is undefined.  Use Counter(iterable) instead.')
+
+    def update(self, iterable=None):
+        '''Like dict.update() but add counts instead of replacing them.
+
+        Source can be an iterable, a dictionary, or another Counter instance.
+
+        >>> c = Counter('which')
+        >>> c.update('witch')           # add elements from another iterable
+        >>> d = Counter('watch')
+        >>> c.update(d)                 # add elements from another counter
+        >>> c['h']                      # four 'h' in which, witch, and watch
+        4
+
+        '''
+        # The regular dict.update() operation makes no sense here because the
+        # replace behavior results in the some of original untouched counts
+        # being mixed-in with all of the other counts for a mismash that
+        # doesn't have a straight-forward interpretation in most counting
+        # contexts.  Instead, we look to Knuth for suggested operations on
+        # multisets and implement the union-add operation discussed in
+        # TAOCP Volume II section 4.6.3 exercise 19.  The Wikipedia entry for
+        # multisets calls that operation a sum or join.
+
+        if iterable is not None:
+            if isinstance(iterable, Mapping):
+                for elem, count in iterable.items():
+                    self[elem] += count
+            else:
+                for elem in iterable:
+                    self[elem] += 1
+
+    def copy(self):
+        'Like dict.copy() but returns a Counter instance instead of a dict.'
+        return Counter(self)
+
+    def __repr__(self):
+        if not self:
+            return '%s()' % self.__class__.__name__
+        items = ', '.join(map('%r: %r'.__mod__, self.most_common()))
+        return '%s({%s})' % (self.__class__.__name__, items)
+
 
 ################################################################################
 ### UserDict
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_collections.py b/Lib/test/test_collections.py
index 60072cc..153059a 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_collections.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_collections.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 import unittest, doctest
 from test import support
-from collections import namedtuple
+from collections import namedtuple, Counter, Mapping
 import pickle, copy
 from collections import Hashable, Iterable, Iterator
 from collections import Sized, Container, Callable
@@ -357,11 +357,104 @@
             self.failUnless(issubclass(sample, MutableSequence))
         self.failIf(issubclass(str, MutableSequence))
 
+class TestCounter(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def test_basics(self):
+        c = Counter('abcaba')
+        self.assert_(isinstance(c, dict))
+        self.assert_(isinstance(c, Mapping))
+        self.assert_(issubclass(Counter, dict))
+        self.assert_(issubclass(Counter, Mapping))
+        self.assertEqual(len(c), 3)
+        self.assertEqual(sum(c.values()), 6)
+        self.assertEqual(sorted(c.values()), [1, 2, 3])
+        self.assertEqual(sorted(c.keys()), ['a', 'b', 'c'])
+        self.assertEqual(sorted(c), ['a', 'b', 'c'])
+        self.assertEqual(sorted(c.items()),
+                         [('a', 3), ('b', 2), ('c', 1)])
+        self.assertEqual(c['b'], 2)
+        self.assertEqual(c['z'], 0)
+        self.assertEqual(c.__contains__('c'), True)
+        self.assertEqual(c.__contains__('z'), False)
+        self.assertEqual(c.get('b', 10), 2)
+        self.assertEqual(c.get('z', 10), 10)
+        self.assertEqual(c, dict(a=3, b=2, c=1))
+        self.assertEqual(repr(c), "Counter({'a': 3, 'b': 2, 'c': 1})")
+        self.assertEqual(c.most_common(), [('a', 3), ('b', 2), ('c', 1)])
+        for i in range(5):
+            self.assertEqual(c.most_common(i),
+                             [('a', 3), ('b', 2), ('c', 1)][:i])
+        self.assertEqual(''.join(sorted(c.elements())), 'aaabbc')
+        c['a'] += 1         # increment an existing value
+        c['b'] -= 2         # sub existing value to zero
+        del c['c']          # remove an entry
+        c['d'] -= 2         # sub from a missing value
+        c['e'] = -5         # directly assign a missing value
+        c['f'] += 4         # add to a missing value
+        self.assertEqual(c, dict(a=4, b=0, d=-2, e=-5, f=4))
+        self.assertEqual(''.join(sorted(c.elements())), 'aaaaffff')
+        self.assertEqual(c.pop('f'), 4)
+        self.assertEqual('f' in c, False)
+        for i in range(3):
+            elem, cnt = c.popitem()
+            self.assertEqual(elem in c, False)
+        c.clear()
+        self.assertEqual(c, {})
+        self.assertEqual(repr(c), 'Counter()')
+        self.assertRaises(NotImplementedError, Counter.fromkeys, 'abc')
+        self.assertRaises(TypeError, hash, c)
+        c.update(dict(a=5, b=3, c=1))
+        c.update(Counter('a' * 50 + 'b' * 30))
+        c.update()          # test case with no args
+        c.__init__('a' * 500 + 'b' * 300)
+        c.__init__('cdc')
+        c.__init__()
+        self.assertEqual(c, dict(a=555, b=333, c=3, d=1))
+        self.assertEqual(c.setdefault('d', 5), 1)
+        self.assertEqual(c['d'], 1)
+        self.assertEqual(c.setdefault('e', 5), 5)
+        self.assertEqual(c['e'], 5)
+
+    def test_copying(self):
+        # Check that counters are copyable, deepcopyable, picklable, and
+        #have a repr/eval round-trip
+        words = Counter('which witch had which witches wrist watch'.split())
+        update_test = Counter()
+        update_test.update(words)
+        for i, dup in enumerate([
+                    words.copy(),
+                    copy.copy(words),
+                    copy.deepcopy(words),
+                    pickle.loads(pickle.dumps(words, 0)),
+                    pickle.loads(pickle.dumps(words, 1)),
+                    pickle.loads(pickle.dumps(words, 2)),
+                    pickle.loads(pickle.dumps(words, -1)),
+                    eval(repr(words)),
+                    update_test,
+                    Counter(words),
+                    ]):
+            msg = (i, dup, words)
+            self.assert_(dup is not words)
+            self.assertEquals(dup, words)
+            self.assertEquals(len(dup), len(words))
+            self.assertEquals(type(dup), type(words))
+
+    def test_conversions(self):
+        # Convert to: set, list, dict
+        s = 'she sells sea shells by the sea shore'
+        self.assertEqual(sorted(Counter(s).elements()), sorted(s))
+        self.assertEqual(sorted(Counter(s)), sorted(set(s)))
+        self.assertEqual(dict(Counter(s)), dict(Counter(s).items()))
+        self.assertEqual(set(Counter(s)), set(s))
+
+
+
 import doctest, collections
 
 def test_main(verbose=None):
     NamedTupleDocs = doctest.DocTestSuite(module=collections)
-    test_classes = [TestNamedTuple, NamedTupleDocs, TestOneTrickPonyABCs, TestCollectionABCs]
+    test_classes = [TestNamedTuple, NamedTupleDocs, TestOneTrickPonyABCs,
+                    TestCollectionABCs, TestCounter]
     support.run_unittest(*test_classes)
     support.run_doctest(collections, verbose)
 
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index ac30897..e5369a3 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -130,6 +130,9 @@
   appropriately when it is being used via socket.makefile() objects
   rather than delaying the close by waiting for garbage collection to do it.
 
+- Issue #1696199:  Add collections.Counter() for rapid and convenient
+  counting.
+
 - Issue #3860: GzipFile and BZ2File now support the context manager protocol.
 
 - Issue #4867: Fixed a crash in ctypes when passing a string to a