Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula, with a population of 5.5 million as of 2024. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of Norway.Bouvet Island, located in the Subantarctic, is a dependency, and not a part of the Kingdom; Norway also claims the Antarctic territories of Peter I Island and Queen Maud Land. The capital and largest city in Norway is Oslo.
Kingdom of Norway Kongeriket Norge (Bokmål) Kongeriket Noreg (Nynorsk) Other official names
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 Flag  Coat of arms | |
| Anthem: Ja, vi elsker dette landet (English: "Yes, we love this country") Royal anthem: Kongesangen (English: "King's Song") | |
   Location of the Kingdom of Norway (green) in Europe (green and dark grey) | |
| Capital and largest city | Oslo 59°56′N 10°41′E / 59.933°N 10.683°E |
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| Demonym(s) | Norwegian |
| Government | Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy |
• Monarch | Harald V |
• Prime Minister | Jonas Gahr Støre |
• President of the Storting | Masud Gharahkhani |
• Chief Justice | Toril Marie Øie |
| Legislature | Storting |
| History | |
• State established prior to unification | 872 |
• Old Kingdom of Norway (Peak extent) | 1263 |
• Kalmar Union | 1397 |
• Denmark–Norway | 1524 |
• Re-established state | 25 February 1814 |
• Constitution | 17 May 1814 |
• Union between Sweden and Norway | 4 November 1814 |
• Dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden | 7 June 1905 |
| Area | |
• Total | 385,207 km2 (148,729 sq mi) (61stb) |
• Water (%) | 5.32 (2015) |
| Population | |
• 2024 estimate |  5,550,203 (116th) |
• Density | 14.4/km2 (37.3/sq mi) (224th) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2024 estimate |
• Total |  $576.236 billion (49th) |
• Per capita | $103,446 (5th) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2024 estimate |
• Total | $503.752 billion (33rd) |
• Per capita | $90,433 (4th) |
| Gini (2020) |  25.3low inequality |
| HDI (2022) | 0.966 very high (2nd) |
| Currency | Norwegian krone (NOK) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Date format | dd.mm.yyyy |
| Drives on | Right |
| Calling code | +47 |
| ISO 3166 code | NO |
| Internet TLD | .nod |
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Norway has a total area of 385,207 square kilometres (148,729 sq mi). The country shares a long eastern border with Sweden, and is bordered by Finland and Russia to the northeast. Norway has an extensive coastline facing the Skagerrak strait, the North Atlantic Ocean, and the Barents Sea.
The unified kingdom of Norway was established in 872 as a merger of petty kingdoms and has existed continuously for 1,152–1,153 years. From 1537 to 1814, Norway was part of Denmark–Norway, and, from 1814 to 1905, it was in a personal union with Sweden. Norway was neutral during the First World War, and in the Second World War until April 1940 when it was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany until the end of the war.
Harald V of the House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway. Jonas Gahr Støre has been Prime Minister of Norway since 2021. As a unitary state with a constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the parliament, the cabinet, and the supreme court, as determined by the 1814 constitution. Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels: counties and municipalities. The Sámi people have a certain amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament and the Finnmark Act. Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States. Norway is a founding member of the United Nations, NATO, the European Free Trade Association, the Council of Europe, the Antarctic Treaty, and the Nordic Council; a member of the European Economic Area, the WTO, and the OECD; and a part of the Schengen Area. The Norwegian dialects share mutual intelligibility with Danish and Swedish.
Norway maintains the Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system, and its values are rooted in egalitarian ideals. The Norwegian state has large ownership positions in key industrial sectors, having extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, and fresh water. The petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). On a per-capita basis, Norway is the world's largest producer of oil and natural gas outside of the Middle East. The country has the fourth- and eighth-highest per-capita income in the world on the World Bank's and IMF's list, respectively. It has the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, with a value of US$1.3 trillion.
Etymology
Norway has two official names: Norge in Bokmål and Noreg in Nynorsk. The English name Norway comes from the Old English word Norþweg mentioned in 880, meaning "northern way" or "way leading to the north", which is how the Anglo-Saxons referred to the coastline of Atlantic Norway. The Anglo-Saxons of Britain also referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land.
There is some disagreement about whether the native name of Norway originally had the same etymology as the English form. According to the traditional dominant view, the first component was originally norðr, a cognate of English north, so the full name was Norðr vegr, "the way northwards", referring to the sailing route along the Norwegian coast, and contrasting with suðrvegar "southern way" (from Old Norse suðr) for (Germany), and austrvegr "eastern way" (from austr) for the Baltic.
History
Prehistory
The earliest traces of human occupation in Norway are found along the coast, where the huge ice shelf of the last ice age first melted between 11,000 and 8000 BC. The oldest finds are stone tools dating from 9500 to 6000 BC, discovered in Finnmark (Komsa culture) in the north and Rogaland (Fosna culture) in the southwest. Theories about the two cultures being separate were deemed obsolete in the 1970s.
Between 3000 and 2500 BC, new settlers (Corded Ware culture) arrived in eastern Norway. They were Indo-European farmers who grew grain and kept livestock, and gradually replaced the hunting-fishing population of the west coast.
Metal Ages
From about 1500 BC, bronze was gradually introduced. Burial cairns built close to the sea as far north as Harstad and also inland in the south are characteristic of this period, with rock carving motifs that differ from those of the Stone Age, depicting ships resembling the Hjortspring boat, while large stone burial monuments known as stone ships were also erected.
There is little archaeological evidence dating to the early Iron Age (the last 500 years BC). The dead were cremated, and their graves contained few goods. During the first four centuries AD, the people of Norway were in contact with Roman-occupied Gaul; about 70 Roman bronze cauldrons, often used as burial urns, have been found. Contact with countries farther south brought a knowledge of runes; the oldest known Norwegian runic inscription dates from the third century.
Viking Age
By the time of the first historical records of Scandinavia, about the 8th century, several small political entities existed in Norway. It has been estimated that there were nine petty realms in Western Norway during the early Viking Age. Archaeologist Bergljot Solberg on this basis estimates that there would have been at least 20 in the whole country.
In the Viking period, Norwegian Viking explorers discovered Iceland by accident in the ninth century when heading for the Faroe Islands, and eventually came across Vinland, known today as Newfoundland, in Canada. The Vikings from Norway were most active in the northern and western British Isles and eastern North America isles.
According to tradition, Harald Fairhair unified them into one in 872 after the Battle of Hafrsfjord in Stavanger, thus becoming the first king of a united Norway. Harald's realm was mainly a South Norwegian coastal state. Fairhair ruled with a strong hand and according to the sagas, many Norwegians left the country to live in Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and parts of Britain and Ireland.
Haakon I the Good was Norway's first Christian king, in the mid-10th century, though his attempt to introduce the religion was rejected. Norse traditions were replaced slowly by Christian ones in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. This is largely attributed to the missionary kings Olaf I Tryggvasson and Olaf II Haraldsson (St. Olaf). Olaf Tryggvasson conducted raids in England, including attacking London. Arriving back in Norway in 995, Olaf landed in Moster where he built a church which became the first Christian church in Norway. From Moster, Olaf sailed north to Trondheim where he was proclaimed King of Norway by the Eyrathing in 995. One of the most important sources for the history of the 11th century Vikings is the treaty between the Icelanders and Olaf II Haraldsson, king of Norway circa 1015 to 1028.
Feudalism never really developed in Norway or Sweden, as it did in the rest of Europe. However, the administration of government took on a very conservative feudal character. The Hanseatic League forced royalty to cede to them greater and greater concessions over foreign trade and the economy, because of the loans the Hansa had made to the royals and the large debt the kings were carrying. The League's monopolistic control over the economy of Norway put pressure on all classes, especially the peasantry, to the degree that no real burgher class existed in Norway.
High Middle Ages
From the 1040s to 1130, the country was at peace. In 1130, the civil war era broke out on the basis of unclear succession laws, which allowed the king's sons to rule jointly. The Archdiocese of Nidaros was created in 1152 and attempted to control the appointment of kings. The church inevitably had to take sides in the conflicts. The wars ended in 1217 with the appointment of Håkon IV Håkonsson, who introduced clear laws of succession.
From 1000 to 1300, the population increased from 150,000 to 400,000, resulting both in more land being cleared and the subdivision of farms. While in the Viking Age farmers owned their own land, by 1300, seventy per cent of the land was owned by the king, the church, or the aristocracy, and about twenty per cent of yields went to these landowners.
The 14th century is described as Norway's golden age, with peace and increase in trade, especially with the British Islands, although Germany became increasingly important towards the end of the century. Throughout the High Middle Ages, the king established Norway as a sovereign state with a central administration and local representatives.
In 1349, the Black Death spread to Norway and within a year killed a third of the population. Later plagues reduced the population to half the starting point by 1400. Many communities were entirely wiped out, resulting in an abundance of land, allowing farmers to switch to more animal husbandry. The reduction in taxes weakened the king's position, and many aristocrats lost the basis for their surplus. High tithes to church made it increasingly powerful and the archbishop became a member of the Council of State.
The Hanseatic League took control over Norwegian trade during the 14th century and established a trading centre in Bergen. In 1380, Olaf Haakonsson inherited both the Norwegian (as Olaf IV) and Danish thrones (as Olaf II), creating a union between the two countries. In 1397, under Margaret I, the Kalmar Union was created between the three Scandinavian countries. She waged war against the Germans, resulting in a trade blockade and higher taxation on Norwegian goods, which led to a rebellion. However, the Norwegian Council of State was too weak to pull out of the union.
Margaret pursued a centralising policy which inevitably favoured Denmark because of its greater population. Margaret also granted trade privileges to the Hanseatic merchants of Lübeck in Bergen in return for recognition of her rule, and these hurt the Norwegian economy. The Hanseatic merchants formed a state within a state in Bergen for generations. The "Victual Brothers" launched three devastating pirate raids on the port (the last in 1427).
Norway slipped ever more to the background under the Oldenburg dynasty (established 1448). There was one revolt under Knut Alvsson in 1502. Norway took no part in the events which led to Swedish independence from Denmark in the 1520s.
Kalmar Union
Upon the death of King Haakon V in 1319, Magnus Eriksson, at just three years old, inherited the throne as King Magnus VII. A simultaneous movement to make Magnus King of Sweden proved successful (he was a grandson of King Magnus Ladulås of Sweden), and both the kings of Sweden and of Denmark were elected to the throne by their respective nobles. Thus Sweden and Norway were united under King Magnus VII.
In 1349, the Black Death killed between 50% and 60% of Norway's population and led to a period of social and economic decline. Although the death rate was comparable with the rest of Europe, economic recovery took much longer because of the small, scattered population. Even before the plague, the population was only about 500,000. After the plague, many farms lay idle while the population slowly increased. However, the few surviving farms' tenants found their bargaining positions with their landlords greatly strengthened.
King Magnus VII ruled Norway until 1350, when his son, Haakon, was placed on the throne as Haakon VI. In 1363, Haakon married Margaret, daughter of King Valdemar IV of Denmark. Upon the death of Haakon in 1379, his 10-year-old son Olaf IV acceded to the throne. As Olaf had already been elected to the throne of Denmark in 1376, Denmark and Norway entered a personal union. Olaf's mother and Haakon's widow, Queen Margaret, managed the foreign affairs of Denmark and Norway during Olaf's minority.
Margaret was on the verge of achieving a union of Sweden with Denmark and Norway when Olaf IV suddenly died. Denmark made Margaret temporary ruler on the death of Olaf. On 2 February 1388, Norway followed suit and crowned Margaret. Queen Margaret knew that her power would be more secure if she were able to find a king to rule in her place. She settled on Eric of Pomerania, grandson of her sister. Thus at an all-Scandinavian meeting held at Kalmar, Erik of Pomerania was crowned king of all three Scandinavian countries, bringing the thrones of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden under the control of Queen Margaret when the country entered into the Kalmar Union.
Early modern period
After Sweden broke out of the Kalmar Union in 1521, Norway tried to follow suit,[citation needed] but the subsequent rebellion was defeated, and Norway remained in a union with Denmark until 1814. This period was by some referred to as the "400-Year Night", since all of the kingdom's intellectual and administrative power was centred in Copenhagen.
With the introduction of Protestantism in 1536, the archbishopric in Trondheim was dissolved; Norway lost its independence and effectually became a colony of Denmark. The Church's income and possessions were instead redirected to the court in Copenhagen. Norway lost the steady stream of pilgrims to the relics of St. Olav at the Nidaros shrine and, with them, much of the contact with cultural and economic life in the rest of Europe.
Eventually restored as a kingdom (albeit in legislative union with Denmark) in 1661, Norway saw its land area decrease in the 17th century with the loss of the provinces Båhuslen, Jemtland, and Herjedalen to Sweden, as the result of a number of disastrous wars. In the north, its territory was increased by the acquisition of the provinces of Troms and Finnmark, at the expense of Sweden and Russia.
The famine of 1695–1696 killed roughly 10% of Norway's population. The harvest failed in Scandinavia at least nine times between 1740 and 1800, with great loss of life.
Later modern period
After Denmark–Norway was attacked by the United Kingdom at the 1807 Battle of Copenhagen, it entered into an alliance with Napoleon, with the war leading to dire conditions and mass starvation in 1812. As the Danish kingdom was on the losing side in 1814, it was forced by the Treaty of Kiel to cede Norway to Sweden, while the old Norwegian provinces of Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands remained with the Danish crown. Norway took this opportunity to declare independence, adopted a constitution based on American and French models, and elected the Crown Prince of Denmark and Norway, Christian Frederick, as king on 17 May 1814 – celebrated as the Syttende mai (Seventeenth of May) holiday.
Norwegian opposition to the decision to link Norway with Sweden caused the Norwegian–Swedish War to break out as Sweden tried to subdue Norway by military means. As Sweden's military was not strong enough to defeat the Norwegian forces outright, and Norway's treasury was not large enough to support a protracted war, and as British and Russian navies blockaded the Norwegian coast, the belligerents were forced to negotiate the Convention of Moss. Christian Frederik abdicated the Norwegian throne and authorised the Parliament of Norway to make the necessary constitutional amendments to allow for the personal union that Norway was forced to accept. On 4 November 1814, the Parliament (Storting) elected Charles XIII of Sweden as king of Norway, thereby establishing the union with Sweden. Under this arrangement, Norway kept its liberal constitution and its own independent institutions, though it shared a monarch and foreign policy with Sweden. Following the recession caused by the Napoleonic Wars, economic development of Norway remained slow until 1830.
This period also saw the rise of Norwegian romantic nationalism, as Norwegians sought to define and express a distinct national character. The movement covered all branches of culture, including literature (Henrik Wergeland, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, Jørgen Moe), painting (Hans Gude, Adolph Tidemand), music (Edvard Grieg), and even language policy, where attempts to define a native written language for Norway led to today's two official written forms for Norwegian: Bokmål and Nynorsk.
King Charles III John came to the throne of Norway and Sweden in 1818 and reigned to 1844. He protected the constitution and liberties of Norway and Sweden during the age of Metternich.[neutrality is disputed] As such, he was regarded as a liberal monarch. However, he was ruthless in his use of paid informers, secret police and restrictions on the freedom of the press to put down public movements for reform—especially the Norwegian national independence movement.
The Romantic Era that followed the reign of Charles III John brought some significant social and political reforms. In 1854, women won the right to inherit property. In 1863, the last trace of keeping unmarried women in the status of minors was removed. Furthermore, women were eligible for different occupations, particularly the common school teacher. By mid-century, Norway's democracy was limited; voting was limited to officials, property owners, leaseholders and burghers of incorporated towns.
Norway remained a conservative society. Life in Norway (especially economic life) was "dominated by the aristocracy of professional men who filled most of the important posts in the central government". There was no strong bourgeois class to demand a breakdown of this aristocratic control. Thus, even while revolution swept over most of the countries of Europe in 1848, Norway was largely unaffected.
Marcus Thrane was a Utopian socialist who in 1848 organised a labour society in Drammen. In just a few months, this society had a membership of 500 and was publishing its own newspaper. Within two years, 300 societies had been organised all over Norway, with a total membership of 20,000 drawn from the lower classes of both urban and rural areas. In the end, the revolt was easily crushed; Thrane was captured and jailed.
In 1898, all men were granted universal suffrage, followed by all women in 1913.
Dissolution of the union and the First World War
Christian Michelsen, Prime Minister of Norway from 1905 to 1907, played a central role in the peaceful separation of Norway from Sweden on 7 June 1905. A national referendum confirmed the people's preference for a monarchy over a republic. However, no Norwegian could legitimately claim the throne, since none of Norway's noble families could claim royal descent.
The government then offered the throne of Norway to Prince Carl of Denmark, a prince of the Dano-German royal house of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and a distant relative of Norway's medieval kings. Following the plebiscite, he was unanimously elected king by the Norwegian Parliament; he took the name Haakon VII.
Throughout the First World War, Norway remained neutral; however, diplomatic pressure from the British government meant that it heavily favoured the Allies. During the war, Norway exported fish to both Germany and Britain, until an ultimatum from the British government and anti-German sentiments as a result of German submarines targeting Norwegian merchantmen led to a termination of trade with Germany. 436 Norwegian merchantmen were sunk by the Kaiserliche Marine, with 1,150 Norwegian sailors killed.[disputed – discuss]
Second World War
Norway once more proclaimed its neutrality during the Second World War, but was invaded by German forces on 9 April 1940. Although Norway was unprepared for the German surprise attack (see: Battle of Drøbak Sound, Norwegian Campaign, and Invasion of Norway), military and naval resistance lasted for two months. Norwegian armed forces in the north launched an offensive against the German forces in the Battles of Narvik, but were forced to surrender on 10 June after losing British support which had been diverted to France during the German invasion of France.
King Haakon and the Norwegian government escaped to Rotherhithe in London. Throughout the war they sent radio speeches and supported clandestine military actions against the Germans. On the day of the invasion, the leader of the small National-Socialist party Nasjonal Samling, Vidkun Quisling, tried to seize power, but was forced by the German occupiers to step aside. Real power was wielded by the leader of the German occupation authority, Josef Terboven. Quisling, as minister president, later formed a collaborationist government under German control. Up to 15,000 Norwegians volunteered to fight in German units, including the Waffen-SS.
Many Norwegians and persons of Norwegian descent joined the Allied forces as well as the Free Norwegian Forces. In June 1940, a small group had left Norway following their king to Britain. This group included 13 ships, five aircraft, and 500 men from the Royal Norwegian Navy. By the end of the war, the force had grown to 58 ships and 7,500 men in service in the Royal Norwegian Navy, 5 squadrons of aircraft in the newly formed Norwegian Air Force, and land forces including the Norwegian Independent Company 1 and 5 Troop as well as No. 10 Commandos.[citation needed]
During German occupation, Norwegians built a resistance movement which incorporated civil disobedience and armed resistance including the destruction of Norsk Hydro's heavy water plant and stockpile of heavy water at Vemork, which crippled the German nuclear programme. More important to the Allied war effort, however, was the role of the Norwegian Merchant Marine, the fourth-largest merchant marine fleet in the world. It was led by the Norwegian shipping company Nortraship under the Allies throughout the war and took part in every war operation from the evacuation of Dunkirk to the Normandy landings. Every December Norway gives a Christmas tree to the United Kingdom as thanks for the British assistance during the war.
Svalbard was not occupied by German troops, but Germany secretly established a meteorological station there in 1944.
Post–World War II history
From 1945 to 1962, the Labour Party held an absolute majority in the parliament. The government, led by prime minister Einar Gerhardsen, embarked on a programme inspired by Keynesian economics, emphasising state financed industrialisation and co-operation between trade unions and employers' organisations. Many measures of state control of the economy imposed during the war were continued, although the rationing of dairy products was lifted in 1949, while price controls and rationing of housing and cars continued until 1960.
The wartime alliance with the United Kingdom and the United States continued in the post-war years. Although pursuing the goal of a socialist economy, the Labour Party distanced itself from the Communists, especially after the Communists' seizure of power in Czechoslovakia in 1948, and strengthened its foreign policy and defence policy ties with the US. Norway received Marshall Plan aid from the United States starting in 1947, joined the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) one year later, and became a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949.
Oil was discovered at the small Balder field in 1967, but production only began in 1999. In 1969, the Phillips Petroleum Company discovered petroleum resources at the Ekofisk field west of Norway. In 1973, the Norwegian government founded the State oil company, Statoil (now Equinor). Oil production did not provide net income until the early 1980s because of the large capital investment required. Around 1975, both the proportion and absolute number of workers in industry peaked. Since then labour-intensive industries and services like factory mass production and shipping have largely been outsourced.
Norway was a founding member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Norway was twice invited to join the European Union, but ultimately declined after referendums that failed by narrow margins in 1972 and 1994.
In 1981, a Conservative Party government led by Kåre Willoch replaced the Labour Party with a policy of stimulating the stagflated economy with tax cuts, economic liberalisation, deregulation of markets, and measures to curb record-high inflation (13.6% in 1981).
Norway's first female prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland of the Labour Party continued many of the reforms, while backing traditional Labour concerns such as social security, high taxes, the industrialisation of nature, and feminism. By the late 1990s, Norway had paid off its foreign debt and had started accumulating a sovereign wealth fund. Since the 1990s, a divisive question in politics has been how much of the income from petroleum production the government should spend, and how much it should save.
In 2011, Norway suffered two terrorist attacks by Anders Behring Breivik which struck the government quarter in Oslo and a summer camp of the Labour party's youth movement at Utøya island, resulting in 77 deaths and 319 wounded.
Jens Stoltenberg led Norway as prime minister for eight years from 2005 to 2013. The 2013 Norwegian parliamentary election brought a more conservative government to power, with the Conservative Party and the Progress Party winning 43% of the electorate's votes. In the Norwegian parliamentary election 2017 the centre-right government of Prime Minister Erna Solberg won re-election. The 2021 Norwegian parliamentary election saw a big win for the left-wing opposition in an election fought on climate change, inequality, and oil; Labour leader Jonas Gahr Støre was sworn in as prime minister.
Geography
Norway's core territory comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula; the remote island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard are also included. The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway also claims a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land. Norwegian possessions in the North Atlantic, Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland, remained Danish when Norway was passed to Sweden at the Treaty of Kiel. Norway also comprised Bohuslän until 1658, Jämtland and Härjedalen until 1645,Shetland and Orkney until 1468, and the Hebrides and Isle of Man until the Treaty of Perth in 1266.
Norway comprises the western and northernmost part of Scandinavia in Northern Europe, between latitudes 57° and 81° N, and longitudes 4° and 32° E. Norway is the northernmost of the Nordic countries and if Svalbard is included also the easternmost. Norway includes the northernmost point on the European mainland. The rugged coastline is broken by huge fjords and thousands of islands. The coastal baseline is 2,532 kilometres (1,573 mi). The coastline of the mainland including fjords stretches 28,953 kilometres (17,991 mi), when islands are included the coastline has been estimated to 100,915 kilometres (62,706 mi). Norway shares a 1,619-kilometre (1,006 mi) land border with Sweden, 727 kilometres (452 mi) with Finland, and 196 kilometres (122 mi) with Russia to the east. To the north, west and south, Norway is bordered by the Barents Sea, the Norwegian Sea, the North Sea, and Skagerrak. The Scandinavian Mountains form much of the border with Sweden.
At 385,207 square kilometres (148,729 sq mi) (including Svalbard and Jan Mayen; 323,808 square kilometres (125,023 sq mi) without), much of the country is dominated by mountainous or high terrain, with a great variety of natural features caused by prehistoric glaciers and varied topography. The most noticeable of these are the fjords. Sognefjorden is the world's second deepest fjord, and the world's longest at 204 kilometres (127 mi). The lake Hornindalsvatnet is the deepest lake in Europe. Norway has about 400,000 lakes and 239,057 registered islands.Permafrost can be found all year in the higher mountain areas and in the interior of Finnmark county. Numerous glaciers are found in Norway. The land is mostly made of hard granite and gneiss rock, but slate, sandstone, and limestone are also common, and the lowest elevations contain marine deposits.
Climate
Because of the Gulf Stream and prevailing westerlies, Norway experiences higher temperatures and more precipitation than expected at such northern latitudes, especially along the coast. The mainland experiences four distinct seasons, with colder winters and less precipitation inland. The northernmost part has a mostly maritime Subarctic climate, while Svalbard has an Arctic tundra climate. The southern and western parts of Norway, fully exposed to Atlantic storm fronts, experience more precipitation and have milder winters than the eastern and far northern parts. Areas to the east of the coastal mountains are in a rain shadow, and have lower rain and snow totals than the west. The lowlands around Oslo have the warmest summers, but also cold weather and snow in wintertime. The sunniest weather is along the south coast, but sometimes even the coast far north can be very sunny – the sunniest month with 430 sun hours was recorded in Tromsø.
Because of Norway's high latitude, there are large seasonal variations in daylight. From late May to late July, the sun never completely descends beneath the horizon in areas north of the Arctic Circle, and the rest of the country experiences up to 20 hours of daylight per day. Conversely, from late November to late January, the sun never rises above the horizon in the north, and daylight hours are very short in the rest of the country.
Temperature anomalies found in coastal locations are exceptional, with southern Lofoten and Bø Municipality having all monthly means above freezing in spite of being north of the Arctic Circle. The very northernmost coast of Norway would be ice-covered in winter if not for the Gulf Stream. The east of the country has a more continental climate, and the mountain ranges have subarctic and tundra climates. There is also higher rainfall in areas exposed to the Atlantic, especially the western slopes of the mountain ranges and areas close, such as Bergen. The valleys east of the mountain ranges are the driest; some of the valleys are sheltered by mountains in most directions. Saltdal Municipality in Nordland is the driest place with 211 millimetres (8.3 inches) precipitation annually (1991–2020). In southern Norway, Skjåk Municipality in Innlandet county gets 295 millimetres (11.6 inches) precipitation. Finnmarksvidda and some interior valleys of Troms county receive around 400 millimetres (16 inches) annually, and the high Arctic Longyearbyen 217 millimetres (8.5 inches).
Parts of southeastern Norway including parts of Mjøsa have a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb), the southern and western coasts and also the coast north to Bodø have an oceanic climate (Cfb), and the outer coast further north almost to North Cape has a subpolar oceanic climate (Cfc). Further inland in the south and at higher altitudes, and also in much of Northern Norway, the subarctic climate (Dfc) dominates. A small strip of land along the coast east of North Cape (including Vardø) earlier had tundra/alpine/polar climate (ET), but this is mostly gone with the updated 1991–2020 climate normals, making this also subarctic. Large parts of Norway are covered by mountains and high altitude plateaus, and about one third of the land is above the treeline and thus exhibit tundra/alpine/polar climate (ET).
Biodiversity
Norway has a larger number of different habitats than almost any other European country. There are approximately 60,000 species in Norway and adjacent waters (excluding bacteria and viruses). The Norwegian Shelf large marine ecosystem is considered highly productive. The total number of species include 16,000 species of insects (probably 4,000 more species yet to be described), 20,000 species of algae, 1,800 species of lichen, 1,050 species of mosses, 2,800 species of vascular plants, up to 7,000 species of fungi, 450 species of birds (250 species nesting in Norway), 90 species of mammals, 45 fresh-water species of fish, 150 salt-water species of fish, 1,000 species of fresh-water invertebrates, and 3,500 species of salt-water invertebrates. About 40,000 of these species have been described by science. The red list of 2010 encompasses 4,599 species. Norway contains five terrestrial ecoregions: Sarmatic mixed forests, Scandinavian coastal conifer forests, Scandinavian and Russian taiga, Kola Peninsula tundra, and Scandinavian montane birch forest and grasslands.
Seventeen species are listed mainly because they are endangered on a global scale, such as the European beaver, even if the population in Norway is not seen as endangered. The number of threatened and near-threatened species equals to 3,682; it includes 418 fungi species, many of which are closely associated with the small remaining old-growth forests, 36 bird species, and 16 species of mammals. In 2010, 2,398 species were listed as endangered or vulnerable; of these 1,250 were listed as vulnerable (VU), 871 as endangered (EN), and 276 species as critically endangered (CR), among which were the grey wolf, the Arctic fox, and the pool frog.
The largest predator in Norwegian waters is the sperm whale, and the largest fish is the basking shark. The largest predator on land is the polar bear, while the brown bear is the largest predator on the Norwegian mainland. The largest land animal on the mainland is the elk (American English: moose).
Environment
Attractive and dramatic scenery and landscape are found throughout Norway. The west coast of southern Norway and the coast of northern Norway present some of the most visually impressive coastal sceneries in the world. National Geographic has listed the Norwegian fjords as the world's top tourist attraction. The country is also home to the natural phenomena of the Midnight sun (during summer), as well as the Aurora borealis known also as the Northern lights.
The 2016 Environmental Performance Index from Yale University, Columbia University and the World Economic Forum put Norway in seventeenth place, immediately below Croatia and Switzerland. The index is based on environmental risks to human health, habitat loss, and changes in CO2 emissions. The index notes over-exploitation of fisheries, but not Norway's whaling or oil exports. Norway had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 6.98/10, ranking it 60th globally out of 172 countries.
Politics and government
(reigning since 17 January 1991)
(since 14 October 2021)
Norway is considered to be one of the most developed democracies and states of justice in the world. Since 2010, Norway has been classified as the world's most democratic country by the Democracy Index.
According to the Constitution of Norway, which was adopted on 17 May 1814 and was inspired by the United States Declaration of Independence and French Revolution, Norway is a unitary constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government, wherein the King of Norway is the head of state and the prime minister is the head of government. Power is separated among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government, as defined by the Constitution, which serves as the country's supreme legal document.
The monarch officially retains executive power. But following the introduction of a parliamentary system of government, the duties of the monarch became strictly representative and ceremonial. The Monarch is commander-in-chief of the Norwegian Armed Forces, and serves as chief diplomatic official abroad and as a symbol of unity. Harald V of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg ascended to the Norwegian throne in 1991, the first since the 14th century who has been born in the country.Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway, is the heir to the throne.
In practice, the Prime Minister exercises the executive powers. Constitutionally, legislative power is vested with both the government and the Parliament of Norway, but the latter is the supreme legislature and a unicameral body. Norway is fundamentally structured as a representative democracy. The Parliament can pass a law by simple majority of the 169 representatives, of which 150 are elected directly from 19 constituencies, and an additional 19 seats ("levelling seats") are allocated on a nationwide basis to make the representation in parliament correspond better with the popular vote for the political parties. A 4% election threshold is required for a party to gain levelling seats in Parliament.
The Parliament of Norway, called the Storting, ratifies national treaties developed by the executive branch. It can impeach members of the government if their acts are declared unconstitutional. If an indicted suspect is impeached, Parliament has the power to remove the person from office.
The position of prime minister is allocated to the member of Parliament who can obtain the confidence of a majority in Parliament, usually the current leader of the largest political party or, more effectively, through a coalition of parties; Norway has often been ruled by minority governments. The prime minister nominates the cabinet, traditionally drawn from members of the same political party or parties in the Storting, making up the government. The PM organises the executive government and exercises its power as vested by the Constitution.
Norway has a state church, the Lutheran Church of Norway, which has gradually been granted more internal autonomy in day-to-day affairs, but which still has a special constitutional status. Formerly, the PM had to have more than half the members of cabinet be members of the Church of Norway; this rule was removed in 2012. The issue of separation of church and state in Norway has been increasingly controversial. A part of this is the evolution of the public school subject Christianity, a required subject since 1739. Even the state's loss in a battle at the European Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg in 2007 did not settle the matter. As of 1 January 2017, the Church of Norway is a separate legal entity, and no longer a branch of the civil service. Through the Council of State, a privy council presided over by the monarch, the prime minister and the cabinet meet at the Royal Palace and formally consult the Monarch. All government bills need formal approval by the monarch before and after introduction to Parliament. The Council approves all of the monarch's actions as head of state.
Members of the Storting are directly elected from party-list proportional representation in nineteen plural-member constituencies in a national multi-party system. Historically, both the Norwegian Labour Party and Conservative Party have played leading political roles. In the early 21st century, the Labour Party has been in power since the 2005 election, in a with the Socialist Left Party and the Centre Party. Since 2005, both the Conservative Party and the Progress Party have won numerous seats in the Parliament.
In national elections in September 2013, two political parties, Høyre and Fremskrittspartiet, were elected on promises of tax cuts, more spending on infrastructure and education, better services and stricter rules on immigration, formed a government. Erna Solberg became prime minister, the second female prime minister after Gro Harlem Brundtland and the first conservative prime minister since Jan P. Syse. Solberg said her win was "a historic election victory for the right-wing parties". Her centre-right government won re-election in the 2017 Norwegian parliamentary election. Norway's new centre-left cabinet under Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, the leader the Labour Party, took office on 14 October 2021.
Administrative divisions
Norway, a unitary state, is divided into fifteen first-level administrative counties (fylke). The counties are administered through directly elected county councils who elect the County Mayor. Additionally, the King and government are represented in every county by a County Governor (Norwegian: statsforvalteren). The counties are then sub-divided into 357 second-level municipalities (Norwegian: kommuner), which in turn are administered by directly elected municipal council, headed by a mayor and a small executive cabinet. The capital of Oslo is considered both a county and a municipality. Norway has two integral overseas territories out of mainland: Jan Mayen and Svalbard, the only developed island in the archipelago of the same name, located far to the north of the Norwegian mainland.
There are 108 settlements that have town/city status in Norway (the Norwegian word by is used to represent these places and that word can be translated as either town or city in English). Cities/towns in Norway were historically designated by the King and used to have special rules and privileges under the law. This was changed in the late 20th century, so now towns/cities have no special rights and a municipality can designate an urban settlement as a city/town. Towns and cities in Norway do not have to be large. Some cities have over a million residents such as Oslo, while others are much smaller such as Honningsvåg with about 2,200 residents. Usually, there is only one town within a municipality, but there are some municipalities that have more than one town within it (such as Larvik Municipality which has the town of Larvik and the town of Stavern.
Dependencies of Norway
There are three Antarctic and Subantarctic dependencies: Bouvet Island, Peter I Island, and Queen Maud Land. On most maps, there was an unclaimed area between Queen Maud Land and the South Pole until 12 June 2015 when Norway formally annexed that area.
Largest populated areas
Largest cities or towns in Norway According to Statistics Dec. 2018 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Name | County | Pop. | Rank | Name | County | Pop. | ||
 Oslo  Bergen | 1 | Oslo | Oslo | 1,000,467 | 11 | Moss | Østfold | 46,618 |  Stavanger/Sandnes  Trondheim |
| 2 | Bergen | Vestland | 255,464 | 12 | Haugesund | Rogaland | 44,830 | ||
| 3 | Stavanger/Sandnes | Rogaland | 222,697 | 13 | Sandefjord | Vestfold | 43,595 | ||
| 4 | Trondheim | Trøndelag | 183,378 | 14 | Arendal | Agder | 43,084 | ||
| 5 | Drammen | Buskerud | 117,510 | 15 | Bodø | Nordland | 40,705 | ||
| 6 | Fredrikstad/Sarpsborg | Østfold | 111,267 | 16 | Tromsø | Troms | 38,980 | ||
| 7 | Porsgrunn/Skien | Telemark | 92,753 | 17 | Hamar | Innlandet | 27,324 | ||
| 8 | Kristiansand | Agder | 61,536 | 18 | Halden | Østfold | 25,300 | ||
| 9 | Ålesund | Møre og Romsdal | 52,163 | 19 | Larvik | Vestfold | 24,208 | ||
| 10 | Tønsberg | Vestfold | 51,571 | 20 | Askøy | Vestland | 23,194 | ||
Judicial system and law enforcement
Norway uses a civil law system where laws are created and amended in Parliament and the system regulated through the Courts of justice of Norway. It consists of the Supreme Court of 20 permanent judges and a Chief Justice, appellate courts, city and district courts, and . The judiciary is independent of executive and legislative branches. While the Prime Minister nominates Supreme Court Justices for office, their nomination must be approved by Parliament and formally confirmed by the Monarch. Usually, judges attached to regular courts are formally appointed by the Monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister.
The Courts' formal mission is to regulate the Norwegian judicial system, interpret the Constitution, and implement the legislation adopted by Parliament. In its judicial reviews, it monitors the legislative and executive branches to ensure that they comply with provisions of enacted legislation.
The law is enforced in Norway by the Norwegian Police Service. It is a Unified National Police Service made up of 27 Police Districts and several specialist agencies, such as Norwegian National Authority for the Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime, known as Økokrim; and the National Criminal Investigation Service, known as Kripos, each headed by a chief of police. The Police Service is headed by the National Police Directorate, which reports to the Ministry of Justice and the Police. The Police Directorate is headed by a National Police Commissioner. The only exception is the Norwegian Police Security Agency, whose head answers directly to the Ministry of Justice and the Police.
Norway abolished the death penalty for regular criminal acts in 1902 and for high treason in war and war-crimes in 1979. Norwegian prisons are humane, rather than tough, with emphasis on rehabilitation. At 20%, Norway's re-conviction rate is among the lowest in the world.
Reporters Without Borders, in its 2023 World Press Freedom Index, ranked Norway in first place out of 180 countries. In general, the legal and institutional framework in Norway is characterised by a high degree of transparency, accountability and integrity, and the perception and the occurrence of corruption are very low.
Human rights
Norway has been considered a progressive country, which has adopted legislation and policies to support women's rights, minority rights, and LGBT rights. As early as 1884, 171 of the leading figures, among them five Prime Ministers, co-founded the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights. They successfully campaigned for women's right to education, women's suffrage, the right to work, and other gender equality policies. From the 1970s, gender equality also came high on the state agenda, with the establishment of a public body to promote gender equality, which evolved into the Gender Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud. Civil society organisations also continue to play an important role; women's rights organisations are today organised in the Norwegian Women's Lobby umbrella organisation.
In 1990, the Norwegian constitution was amended to grant absolute primogeniture to the Norwegian throne, meaning that the eldest child, regardless of gender, takes precedence in the line of succession. As it was not retroactive, the current successor to the throne is the eldest son of the King, rather than his eldest child.
The Sámi people have for centuries been the subject of discrimination and abuse by the dominant cultures in Scandinavia and Russia, those countries claiming possession of Sámi lands. Norway has been greatly criticised by the international community for the politics of Norwegianization of and discrimination against the indigenous population of the country. Nevertheless, Norway was, in 1990, the first country to recognise ILO-convention 169 on indigenous people recommended by the UN.
Norway was the first country in the world to enact an anti-discrimination law protecting the rights of gay men and lesbians. In 1993, Norway became the second country to legalise civil union partnerships for same-sex couples, and on 1 January 2009, Norway became the sixth country to legalise same-sex marriage. As a promoter of human rights, Norway has held the annual Oslo Freedom Forum conference, a gathering described by The Economist as "on its way to becoming a human-rights equivalent of the Davos economic forum".
Foreign relations
Norway maintains embassies in 82 countries. 60 countries maintain an embassy in Norway, all of them in the capital, Oslo.
Norway is a founding member of the United Nations (UN), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Council of Europe and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Norway issued applications for accession to the European Union (EU) and its predecessors in 1962, 1967 and 1992, respectively. While Denmark, Sweden and Finland obtained membership, the Norwegian electorate rejected the treaties of accession in referendums in 1972 and 1994.
After the 1994 referendum, Norway maintained its membership in the European Economic Area (EEA), granting the country access to the internal market of the Union, on the condition that Norway implements the Union's pieces of legislation which are deemed relevant. Successive Norwegian governments have, since 1994, requested participation in parts of the EU's co-operation that go beyond the provisions of the EEA agreement. Non-voting participation by Norway has been granted in, for instance, the Union's Common Security and Defence Policy, the Schengen Agreement, and the European Defence Agency, as well as 19 separate programmes.
Norway participated in the 1990s brokering of the Oslo Accords, an unsuccessful attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
Military
The Norwegian Armed Forces numbers about 25,000 personnel, including civilian employees. According to 2009 mobilisation plans, full mobilisation produces approximately 83,000 combatant personnel. Norway has conscription (including 6–12 months of training); in 2013, the country became the first in Europe and NATO to draft women as well as men. However, due to less need for conscripts after the Cold War, few people have to serve if they are not motivated. The Armed Forces are subordinate to the Norwegian Ministry of Defence. The Commander-in-Chief is King Harald V. The military of Norway is divided into the Norwegian Army, the Royal Norwegian Navy, the Royal Norwegian Air Force, the Norwegian Cyber Defence Force and the Home Guard.
The country was one of the founding nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on 4 April 1949. Norway contributed in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Additionally, Norway has contributed in several missions in contexts of the United Nations, NATO, and the Common Security and Defence Policy of the European Union.
Economy
Norwegians enjoy the second-highest GDP per capita among European countries (after Luxembourg), and the sixth-highest GDP (PPP) per capita in the world. Norway ranks as the second-wealthiest country in monetary value, with the largest capital reserve per capita of any nation. According to the CIA World Factbook, Norway is a net external creditor of debt. Norway reclaimed first place in the world in the UNDP Human Development Index (HDI) in 2009. The standard of living in Norway is among the highest in the world. Foreign Policy magazine ranks Norway last in its Failed States Index for 2009 and 2023, judging Norway to be the world's most well-functioning and stable country. The OECD ranks Norway fourth in the 2013 equalised Better Life Index and third in intergenerational earnings elasticity according to a 2010 study.
The Norwegian economy is an example of a mixed economy; a prosperous capitalist welfare state, it features a combination of free market activity and large state ownership in certain key sectors, influenced by both liberal governments from the late 19th century and later by social democratic governments in the postwar era.[citation needed]Public healthcare in Norway is free (after an annual charge of around 2000 kroner for those over 16), and parents have 46 weeks paid parental leave. The state income derived from natural resources includes a significant contribution from petroleum production. As of 2016[update], Norway has an unemployment rate of 4.8%, with 68% of the population aged 15–74 employed. People in the labour force are either employed or looking for work. As of 2013[update], 9.5% of the population aged 18–66 receive a disability pension and 30% of the labour force are employed by the government, the highest in the OECD. The hourly productivity levels, as well as average hourly wages in Norway, are among the highest in the world.
The egalitarian values of Norwegian society have kept the wage difference between the lowest paid worker and the CEO of most companies as much less than in comparable western economies. This is also evident in Norway's low Gini coefficient.
The state has large ownership positions in key industrial sectors, such as the strategic petroleum sector (Equinor), hydroelectric energy production (Statkraft), aluminium production (Norsk Hydro), the largest Norwegian bank (DNB), and telecommunication provider (Telenor). Through these big companies, the government controls approximately 30% of the stock values at the Oslo Stock Exchange. [citation needed] When non-listed companies are included, the state has even higher share in ownership (mainly from direct oil licence ownership).[citation needed] Norway is a major shipping nation and has the world's sixth largest merchant fleet, with 1,412 Norwegian-owned merchant vessels.[citation needed]
By referendums in 1972 and 1994, Norwegians rejected proposals to join the European Union (EU). However, Norway, together with Iceland and Liechtenstein, participates in the European Union's single market through the European Economic Area (EEA) agreement. The EEA Treaty between the European Union countries and the EFTA countries—transposed into Norwegian law via "EØS-loven"—describes the procedures for implementing European Union rules in Norway and the other EFTA countries. Norway is a highly integrated member of most sectors of the EU internal market. Some sectors, such as agriculture, oil and fish, are not wholly covered by the EEA Treaty. Norway has also acceded to the Schengen Agreement and several other intergovernmental agreements among the EU member states.
The country is richly endowed with natural resources including petroleum, hydropower, fish, forests, and minerals. Large reserves of petroleum and natural gas were discovered in the 1960s, which led to an economic boom.[citation needed] Norway has obtained one of the highest standards of living in the world in part by having a large amount of natural resources compared to the size of the population.[citation needed] In 2011, 28% of state revenues were generated from the petroleum industry.[failed verification]
Norway was the first country to ban deforestation, with a view to preventing its rain forests from vanishing. The country declared its intention at the UN Climate Summit in 2014 alongside Great Britain and Germany.
Resources
Oil industry
Export revenues from oil and gas have risen to over 40% of total exports and constitute almost 20% of the GDP. Norway is the fifth-largest oil exporter and third-largest gas exporter in the world, but it is not a member of OPEC. In 1995, the Norwegian government established the sovereign wealth fund ("Government Pension Fund – Global") to be funded with oil revenues.
The government controls its petroleum resources through a combination of state ownership in major operators in the oil fields (with approximately 62% ownership in Equinor in 2007) and the fully state-owned Petoro, which has a market value of about twice Equinor, and SDFI. Finally, the government controls licensing of exploration and production of fields. The fund invests in developed financial markets outside Norway. Spending from the fund is constrained by the budgetary rule (Handlingsregelen), which limits spending over time to no more than the real value yield of the fund, lowered in 2017 to 3% of the fund's total value.
Between 1966 and 2013, Norwegian companies drilled 5,085 oil wells, mostly in the North Sea. Oil fields not yet in the production phase include: —calculated size in 2013 at 65–156 million barrels of oil and 10 to 40 billion cubic feet (0.28 to 1.13 billion cubic metres), (utvinnbar) of gas. and the (Castberg-feltet)—calculated size at 540 million barrels of oil, and 2 to 7 billion cubic feet (57 to 198 million cubic metres) (utvinnbar) of gas. Both oil fields are located in the Barents Sea.
Norway is also the world's second-largest exporter of fish (in value, after China). Fish from fish farms and catch constitutes the second largest (behind oil/natural gas) export product measured in value. Norway is the world's largest producer of salmon, followed by Chile.
Hydroelectric plants generate roughly 98–99% of Norway's electric power, more than any other country in the world.
Norway contains significant mineral resources, and in 2013, its mineral production was valued at US$1.5 billion (Norwegian Geological Survey data). The most valuable minerals are calcium carbonate (limestone), building stone, nepheline syenite, olivine, iron, titanium, and nickel.
In 2017, the Government Pension Fund controlled assets surpassed a value of US$1 trillion (equal to US$190,000 per capita), about 250% of Norway's 2017 GDP. It is the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world.
Other nations with economies based on natural resources, such as Russia, are trying to learn from Norway by establishing similar funds. The investment choices of the Norwegian fund are directed by ethical guidelines; for example, the fund is not allowed to invest in companies that produce parts for nuclear weapons. Norway's highly transparent investment scheme is lauded by the international community.
Transport
Due to the low population density, narrow shape and long coastlines of Norway, its public transport is less developed than in many European countries, especially outside the major cities. The country has long-standing water transport traditions, but the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications has in recent years implemented rail, road, and air transport through numerous subsidiaries to develop the country's infrastructure. Under discussion is development of a new high-speed rail system between the nation's largest cities.
Norway's main railway network consists of 4,114 kilometres (2,556 mi) of standard gauge lines, of which 242 kilometres (150 mi) is double track and 64 kilometres (40 mi) high-speed rail (210 km/h) while 62% is electrified at 15 kV 16.7 Hz AC. The railways transported 56,827,000 passengers, 2,956 million passenger-kilometres, and 24,783,000 tonnes of cargo for 3,414 million tonne-kilometres. The entire network is owned by Bane NOR. Domestic passenger trains are operated by various companies, including Vy, SJ, Go-Ahead and Flytoget, while freight trains are operated by CargoNet and .
Investment in new infrastructure and maintenance is financed through the state budget, and subsidies are provided for passenger train operations. NSB operates long-haul trains, including night trains, regional services and four commuter train systems, around Oslo, Trondheim, and Stavanger.
Norway has approximately 92,946 kilometres (57,754 mi) of road network, of which 72,033 kilometres (44,759 mi) are paved and 664 kilometres (413 mi) are motorway. The four tiers of road routes are national, county, municipal and private, with national and primary county roads numbered en route. The most important national routes are part of the European route scheme. The two most prominent are the European route E6 going north–south through the entire country, and the E39, which follows the West Coast. National and county roads are managed by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration.
Norway has the world's largest registered stock of plug-in electric vehicles per capita. In March 2014, Norway became the first country where over 1 in every 100 passenger cars on the roads is a plug-in electric. The plug-in electric segment market share of new car sales is also the highest in the world. According to a report by Dagens Næringsliv in June 2016, the country would like to ban sales of gasoline and diesel powered vehicles as early as 2025.
Of the 98 airports in Norway, 52 are public, and 46 are operated by the state-owned Avinor.Seven airports have more than one million passengers annually. A total of 41,089,675 passengers passed through Norwegian airports in 2007, of whom 13,397,458 were international.
The central gateway to Norway by air is Oslo Airport, Gardermoen. Located about 35 kilometres (22 mi) northeast of Oslo, it is hub for the two major Norwegian airlines: Scandinavian Airlines and Norwegian Air Shuttle, and for regional aircraft from Western Norway. There are departures to most European countries and some intercontinental destinations. A direct high-speed train connects to Oslo Central Station every 10 minutes for a 20 min ride.
Research
Norway has a rich history of contributions to science, mathematics, and technology, with several internationally recognized scientists and innovators.
In mathematics, Niels Henrik Abel and Sophus Lie made groundbreaking contributions to analysis and group theory. Caspar Wessel was the first to describe vectors and complex numbers in the complex plane, laying the foundation for modern vector and complex analysis. Thoralf Skolem made revolutionary contributions to mathematical logic, while Øystein Ore and Ludwig Sylow advanced group theory. Atle Selberg, a major figure in 20th-century mathematics, was honored with the Fields Medal, Wolf Prize, and Abel Prize. Ernst S. Selmer's work significantly influenced modern cryptographic algorithms.
In physics, notable figures include Kristian Birkeland, known for his work on the aurora borealis, and Ivar Giaever, a Nobel laureate in physics. Carl Anton Bjerknes and Christopher Hansteen made contributions to hydrodynamics and geomagnetism, respectively. The meteorologists Vilhelm Bjerknes and Ragnar Fjørtoft were instrumental in the development of numerical weather prediction.
Norwegian chemists like Lars Onsager, a Nobel laureate, and Odd Hassel, recognized for his work in stereochemistry, have left a lasting legacy. Peter Waage and Cato Maximilian Guldberg formulated the law of mass action, fundamental to chemical reaction theory.
In technology, Victor Goldschmidt is regarded as a founder of modern geochemistry. Håkon Wium Lie pioneered Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), a cornerstone of web design. Pål Spilling contributed to the development of the Internet Protocol, bringing the Internet to Europe. Computer scientists Ole-Johan Dahl and Kristen Nygaard developed Simula, the first object-oriented programming language, earning them the prestigious Turing Award.
Norwegian academics have also advanced social sciences. Arne Næss founded deep ecology, while Johan Galtung established the field of peace studies. Criminologists Nils Christie and Thomas Mathiesen, sociologists Vilhelm Aubert, Harriet Holter, and Erik Grønseth, and political scientist Stein Rokkan made pioneering contributions to their fields. Economists Ragnar Frisch, Trygve Haavelmo, and Finn E. Kydland were honored with Nobel Prizes for their work in econometrics and macroeconomics.
As of 2024, Norway is ranked 21st in the Global Innovation Index in 2024. The country has produced fourteen Nobel laureates across various disciplines.
Tourism
In 2008, Norway ranked 17th in the World Economic Forum's Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report. Tourism in Norway contributed to 4.2% of the gross domestic product as reported in 2016. Every one in fifteen people throughout the country work in the tourism industry. Tourism is seasonal in Norway, with more than half of total tourists visiting between the months of May and August.
The main attractions of Norway are the varied landscapes that extend across the Arctic Circle. It is famous for its coastline and its mountains, ski resorts, lakes and woods. Popular tourist destinations in Norway include Oslo, Ålesund, Bergen, Stavanger, Trondheim, Kristiansand, Arendal, Tromsø, Fredrikstad, and Tønsberg. Much of the nature of Norway remains unspoiled, and thus attracts numerous hikers and skiers. The fjords, mountains and waterfalls in Western Norway and Northern Norway attract several hundred thousand foreign tourists each year. In the cities, cultural idiosyncrasies such as the Holmenkollen ski jump in Oslo and Saga Oseberg in Tønsberg attract many visitors, as do landmarks such as Bryggen in Bergen, Vigeland installation in Frogner Park in Oslo, Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Fredrikstad Fortress (Gamlebyen) in Fredrikstad, and the ruin park of Tønsberg Fortress in Tønsberg.
Demographics
Population
Norway's population was 5,384,576 people in the third quarter of 2020.Norwegians are an ethnic North Germanic people. The total fertility rate (TFR) in 2018 was estimated at 1.56 children born per woman, below the replacement rate of 2.1, it remains considerably below the high of 4.69 children born per woman in 1877. In 2018 the median age of the Norwegian population was 39.3 years.
The Sámi people are indigenous to the Far North and have traditionally inhabited central and northern parts of Norway and Sweden, as well as areas in northern Finland and in Russia on the Kola Peninsula. Another national minority are the Kven people, descendants of Finnish-speaking people who migrated to northern Norway from the 18th up to the 20th century. From the 19th century up to the 1970s, the Norwegian government tried to assimilate both the Sámi and the Kven, encouraging them to adopt the majority language, culture and religion. Because of this "Norwegianization process", many families of Sámi or Kven ancestry now identify as ethnic Norwegian.
The national minorities of Norway are Kvens, Jews, Forest Finns, and Romani people.
In 2017, the population of Norway ranked first on the World Happiness Report.
Migration
Particularly in the 19th century, when economic conditions were difficult in Norway, tens of thousands of people migrated to the United States and Canada, where they could work and buy land in frontier areas. Many went to the Midwest and Pacific Northwest. In 2006, according to the US Census Bureau, almost 4.7 million persons identified as Norwegian Americans, which was larger than the population of ethnic Norwegians in Norway itself. In the 2011 Canadian census, 452,705 Canadian citizens identified as having Norwegian ancestry.
In 2024, approximately 931,081 individuals (16.8% of the population) of the population of Norway were immigrants. Of these, 386,559 (41.5%) had a Western background (Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand), while 544,521 (58.5%) had a non-Western background (Asia, Africa, South and Central America). 221,459 individuals (4% of the population) were children of immigrants, born in Norway.
The largest groups of immigrants have come from Poland, Lithuania, Sweden and Syria, as well as Ukraine since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Immigrants have settled in all Norwegian municipalities. In 2013, the cities with the highest share of immigrants were Oslo (32%) and Drammen (27%). According to Reuters, Oslo is the "fastest growing city in Europe because of increased immigration". In recent years, immigration has accounted for most of Norway's population growth.
Religion
Church of Norway
Separation of church and state happened significantly later in Norway than in most of Europe, and remains incomplete. In 2012, the Norwegian parliament voted to grant the Church of Norway greater autonomy, a decision which was confirmed in a constitutional amendment on 21 May 2012.
Until 2012 parliamentary officials were required to be members of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Norway, and at least half of all government ministers had to be a member of the state church. As state church, the Church of Norway's clergy were viewed as state employees, and the central and regional church administrations were part of the state administration. Members of the Royal family are required to be members of the Lutheran church. On 1 January 2017, Norway made the church independent of the state, but retained the Church's status as the "people's church".
Most Norwegians are registered at baptism as members of the Church of Norway. Many remain in the church to participate in the community and practices such as baptism, confirmation, marriage, and burial rites. About 70.6% of Norwegians were members of the Church of Norway in 2017. In 2017, about 53.6% of all newborns were baptised and about 57.9% of all 15-year-olds were confirmed in the church.
Religious affiliation
Official religious affiliation in Norway (31 December 2019):
According to the 2010 Eurobarometer Poll, 22% of Norwegian citizens responded that "they believe there is a God", 44% responded that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 29% responded that "they don't believe there is any sort of spirit, God or life force". Five per cent gave no response. In the early 1990s, studies estimated that between 4.7% and 5.3% of Norwegians attended church on a weekly basis. This figure has dropped to about 2%.
In 2010, 10% of the population was religiously unaffiliated, while another 9% were members of religious communities outside the Church of Norway. Other Christian denominations total about 4.9% of the population, the largest of which is the Roman Catholic Church, with 83,000 members, according to 2009 government statistics. The Aftenposten (Evening Post) in October 2012 reported there were about 115,234 registered Roman Catholics in Norway; the reporter estimated that the total number of people with a Roman Catholic background may be 170,000–200,000 or higher.
Others include Pentecostals (39,600), the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church of Norway (19,600), the United Methodist Church in Norway (11,000),Baptists (9,900),Eastern Orthodox (9,900),Brunstad Christian Church (6,800),Seventh-day Adventists (5,100),Assyrians of the ACOE and the Chaldean Catholic Church, and others. The Swedish, Finnish and Icelandic Lutheran congregations in Norway have about 27,500 members in total. Other Christian denominations comprise less than 1% each, including 4,000 members in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and 12,000 Jehovah's Witnesses. Among non-Christian religions, Islam is the largest, with 166,861 registered members (2018), and probably fewer than 200,000 in total.
Other religions comprise less than 1% each, including 819 adherents of Judaism. Indian immigrants introduced Hinduism to Norway, which in 2011 has slightly more than 5,900 adherents, or 1% of non-Lutheran Norwegians.Sikhism has approximately 3,000 adherents, with most living in Oslo, which has two gurdwaras. Drammen also has a sizeable population of Sikhs; the largest gurdwara in north Europe was built in Lier. There are eleven Buddhist organisations, grouped under the Buddhistforbundet organisation, with slightly over 14,000 members, which make up 0.2% of the population. The Baháʼí Faith religion has slightly more than 1,000 adherents. Around 1.7% (84,500) of Norwegians belong to the secular Norwegian Humanist Association.
From 2006 to 2011, the fastest-growing religious communities in Norway were Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Oriental Orthodox Christianity, which grew in membership by 80%; however, their share of the total population remains small, at 0.2%. It is associated with the immigration from Eritrea and Ethiopia, and to a lesser extent from Central and Eastern European and Middle Eastern countries. Other fast-growing religions were Roman Catholicism (78.7%), Hinduism (59.6%), Islam (48.1%), and Buddhism (46.7%).
Indigenous religions
As in other Scandinavian countries, the ancient Norse followed a form of Germanic paganism known as Norse paganism. By the end of the 11th century, when Norway had been Christianised, the indigenous Norse religion and practices were prohibited. Remnants of the native religion and beliefs of Norway survive today in the form of names, referential names of cities and locations, the days of the week, and everyday language. Modern interest in the old ways has led to a revival of pagan religious practices in the form of Åsatru. The Norwegian Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost formed in 1996; in 2011, the fellowship had about 300 members. Foreningen Forn Sed was formed in 1999 and has been recognised by the Norwegian government.
The Sámi minority retained their shamanistic religion well into the 18th century, when most converted to Christianity under the influence of Dano-Norwegian Lutheran missionaries. Today there is a renewed appreciation for the Sámi traditional way of life, which has led to a revival of . Some Norwegian and Sámi celebrities are reported to visit shamans for guidance.
Health
Norway was awarded first place according to the UN's Human Development Index (HDI) for 2013. From the 1900s, improvements in public health occurred as a result of development in several areas such as social and living conditions, changes in disease and medical outbreaks, establishment of the health care system, and emphasis on public health matters. Vaccination and increased treatment opportunities with antibiotics resulted in great improvements within the Norwegian population. Improved hygiene and better nutrition were factors that contributed to improved health.
The disease pattern in Norway changed from communicable diseases to non-communicable diseases and chronic diseases as cardiovascular disease. Inequalities and social differences are still present in public health in Norway.
In 2013 the infant mortality rate was 2.5 per 1,000 live births among children under the age of one. For girls it was 2.7 and for boys 2.3, which is the lowest infant mortality rate for boys ever recorded in Norway.
Education
Higher education in Norway is offered by a range of seven universities, five specialised colleges, 25 university colleges as well as a range of private colleges. Education follows the Bologna Process involving Bachelor (3 years), Master (2 years) and PhD (3 years) degrees. Acceptance is offered after finishing upper secondary school with general study competence.
Public education is virtually free for citizens from EU/EEA and Switzerland, but other nationalities need to pay tuition fees. Higher education has historically been free for everyone regardless of nationality, but tuition fees for all students from outside EU/EEA and Switzerland was implemented in 2023.
The academic year has two semesters, from August to December and from January to June. The ultimate responsibility for the education lies with the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research.
Languages
Norwegian in its two forms, Bokmål and Nynorsk, is the main national official language of all of Norway. Sámi, a group which includes three separate languages, is recognised as a minority language on the national level and is a co-official language alongside Norwegian in the Sámi administrative linguistic area (Forvaltningsområdet for samisk språk) in Northern Norway.Kven is a minority language and is a co-official language alongside Norwegian in one municipality, also in Northern Norway.
Norwegian
Norwegian is a North Germanic language descended from Old Norse. It is the main national language of Norway and is spoken throughout the country. Norwegian is spoken natively by over 5 million people mainly in Norway, but is generally understood throughout Scandinavia and to a lesser degree other Nordic countries. It has two official written forms, Bokmål and Nynorsk. Both are used in public administration, schools, churches, and media. Bokmål is the written language used by a majority of about 85%. Around 95% of the population speak Norwegian as their first or native language, although many speak dialects that may differ significantly from the written languages. Norwegian dialects are mutually intelligible, although listeners with limited exposure to dialects other than their own may struggle with certain phrases and pronunciations.
Norwegian is closely related to and generally mutually intelligible with its neighbour Scandinavian languages; Danish and Swedish, and the three main Scandinavian languages thus form both a dialect continuum and a larger language community with about 25 million speakers. All three languages are commonly employed in communication among inhabitants of the Scandinavian countries. As a result of the co-operation within the Nordic Council, inhabitants of all Nordic countries always have the right to communicate with Norwegian authorities in Danish or Swedish as equal alternatives to Norwegian. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Norwegian language was subject to strong political and cultural controversies. This led to the development of Nynorsk in the 19th century and to the formation of alternative spelling standards in the 20th century.
Sámi and Kven
Several Uralic Sámi languages, which are related but not generally mutually intelligible, are traditionally spoken by the Sámi people primarily in Northern Norway and to much lesser extent in some parts of Central Norway. Around 15,000 people have officially registered as Sámi in the Sámi census (Samemanntallet), but the number of people of recent Sámi heritage is often estimated at 50,000 people. The number of people who have some knowledge of Northern Sámi, including as a second language, is estimated at 25,000 people, but only a minority are native speakers. The other Sámi languages are heavily endangered and spoken by at most a few hundred people. Most people of Sámi heritage are today native speakers of Norwegian as a result of past assimilation policies.
Speakers have a right to be educated and to receive communication from the government in their own language in a special forvaltningsområde (administrative area) for Sámi languages. The Kven minority historically spoke the Uralic Kven language (considered a separate language in Norway, but generally perceived as a Finnish dialect in Finland). Today the majority of ethnic Kven have little or no knowledge of the language. As Norway has ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) the Kven language together with Romani and Scandoromani language has become officially recognised minority languages.
Other languages
Some supporters have also advocated making Norwegian Sign Language an official language.
The primary foreign language taught in Norwegian schools is English, and the majority of the population, especially those born after World War II, is fairly fluent in English. German, French and Spanish are also commonly taught as second or, more often, third languages. Russian, Japanese, Italian, Latin, and rarely Chinese (Mandarin) are offered in some schools, mostly in the cities. Traditionally, English, German and French were considered the main foreign languages in Norway. These languages, for instance, were used on Norwegian passports until the 1990s, and university students have a general right to use these languages when submitting their theses.
90% of Norwegians are fluent in English.
Culture
The Norwegian farm culture continues to play a role in contemporary Norwegian culture. In the 19th century, it inspired a strong romantic nationalistic movement, which is still visible in the Norwegian language and media. Norwegian culture expanded with nationalist efforts to achieve an independent identity in the areas of literature, art and music. This continues today in the performing arts and as a result of government support for exhibitions, cultural projects and artwork.
Cinema
Norwegian cinema has received international recognition. The documentary film Kon-Tiki (1950) won an Academy Award. Another notable film is The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix, an animated feature film directed by Ivo Caprino. The film was released in 1975 and is the most widely seen Norwegian film of all time.[citation needed]Nils Gaup's Pathfinder (1987), the story of the Sámi, was nominated for an Oscar. Berit Nesheim's The Other Side of Sunday was nominated for an Oscar in 1997.
Since the 1990s, the film industry has expanded, producing up to 20 feature films each year. Particular successes were Kristin Lavransdatter, based on a novel by a Nobel Prize winner; The Telegraphist and Gurin with the Foxtail. Knut Erik Jensen was among the more successful new directors, together with Erik Skjoldbjærg, who is remembered for Insomnia.Elling and the 2012 adaption of Kon-Tiki was nominated for an Oscar for the best foreign language film. The TV-series Skam created by Julie Andem received a cult following and international recognition, with many countries making their own adaptations.
Norwegian directors such as Joachim Rønning, Anja Breien, Espen Sandberg, Liv Ullmann and Morten Tyldum have made internationally successful movies such as The Imitation Game, Passengers, Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, as well as the TV series Jack Ryan and Marco Polo. Composers include Thomas Bergersen, who composed for Avatar, The Dark Knight, Harry Potter and Narnia. Egil Monn-Iversen has been one of the most influential modern composers in Norway, having composed scores to over 100 Norwegian movies and TV series.
Norway has been used as filming location for Hollywood and other international productions, including Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back (1980). Among the thousands of movies filmed in Norway include Die Another Day, No Time to Die, The Golden Compass, Spies Like Us, Mission: Impossible – Fallout and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Black Widow, Tenet, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Heroes of Telemark, as well as the TV series Lilyhammer and Vikings.
Music
The classical music of the romantic composers Edvard Grieg, Rikard Nordraak and Johan Svendsen is internationally known, as is the modern music of Arne Nordheim. Norway's classical performers include Leif Ove Andsnes, a pianist; Truls Mørk, an outstanding cellist; and the Wagnerian soprano Kirsten Flagstad.[citation needed]
The Norwegian ballad tradition, known as the "ballad wave" (Norwegian: visebølgen), started as a cultural movement in the 1960s, greatly inspired by the Swedish ballad tradition and its modern representatives such as Olle Adolphson and Cornelis Vreeswijk. Some of its prominent representatives are Ole Paus, Lillebjørn Nilsen and Finn Kalvik.
The jazz scene is thriving. Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal, Mari Boine, Arild Andersen and Bugge Wesseltoft are internationally recognised while Paal Nilssen-Love, Supersilent, Jaga Jazzist and Wibutee are becoming world-class artists.
Norway has a strong folk music tradition which remains popular. Among the most prominent folk musicians are Hardanger fiddlers Andrea Een, Olav Jørgen Hegge and Annbjørg Lien, and the vocalists Agnes Buen Garnås, Kirsten Bråten Berg and Odd Nordstoga.
Norwegian black metal, a form of rock music in Norway, has been an influence in world music since the late 20th century.[citation needed] Since the 1990s, Norway's export of black metal has been developed by such bands as Emperor, Darkthrone, Gorgoroth, Mayhem, Burzum and Immortal. Bands such as Enslaved, Kvelertak, Dimmu Borgir and Satyricon have evolved the genre while still garnering worldwide fans.
Notable female solo artists from Norway include Susanne Sundfør, Sigrid, Astrid S, Adelén, Julie Bergan, Maria Mena, Tone Damli, Margaret Berger, Lene Marlin, Christel Alsos, Maria Arredondo, Marion Raven and Marit Larsen (both former members of the defunct pop-rock band M2M), Lene Nystrøm (vocalist of the Danish Eurodance group Aqua) and Anni-Frid Lyngstad (vocalist of the Swedish pop group ABBA). Norwegian songwriters and producers for international artists include Stargate, Espen Lind, Lene Marlin and Ina Wroldsen.
Norway has been a constant competitor in the Eurovision Song Contest, participating 62 times. Since its first participation in 1960, Norway has won the competition three times: Bobbysocks's win in 1985, Secret Garden's win in 1995 and Alexander Rybak's win in 2009. Alexander Rybak's win in 2009 with his song Fairytale was a major win in Eurovision's history as it scored the biggest margin of victory ever. The song was an international hit, peaking at number one in several countries.
Norway enjoys many music festivals throughout the year, all over the country. Norway is the host of one of the world's biggest extreme sport festivals with music, Ekstremsportveko—a festival held annually in Voss. Oslo is the host of many festivals, such as Øyafestivalen and by:Larm. Oslo used to have a summer parade similar to the German Love Parade. In 1992, the city of Oslo wanted to adopt the French music festival Fête de la Musique. Fredrik Carl Størmer established the festival. From its first year, "Musikkens Dag" gathered thousands of people and artists in the streets of Oslo. "Musikkens Dag" is now renamed Musikkfest Oslo.[citation needed]
Literature
This section does not cite any sources. (February 2022) |
The history of Norwegian literature starts with the pagan Eddaic poems and skaldic verse of the ninth and tenth centuries, with poets such as Bragi Boddason and Eyvindr skáldaspillir. The arrival of Christianity around the year 1000 brought Norway into contact with European medieval learning, hagiography and history writing. Merged with native oral tradition and Icelandic influence, this influenced the literature written in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. Major works of that period include Historia Norwegiæ, Þiðrekssaga and Konungs skuggsjá.
Little Norwegian literature came out of the period of the Scandinavian Union and the subsequent Dano-Norwegian union (1387–1814), with some notable exceptions such as Petter Dass and Ludvig Holberg. During the union with Denmark, the government imposed using only written Danish, which decreased the writing of Norwegian literature.
Two major events precipitated a major resurgence in Norwegian literature: in 1811 a Norwegian university was established in Christiania, and in 1814 the Norwegians created their first Constitution. Authors were inspired and became recognised first in Scandinavia, and then worldwide; among them were Henrik Wergeland, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, Jørgen Moe and Camilla Collett.
By the late 19th century, in the Golden Age of Norwegian literature, the so-called "Great Four" emerged: Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Alexander Kielland, and Jonas Lie. Bjørnson's "peasant novels", such as Ein glad gut (A Happy Boy) and Synnøve Solbakken, are typical of the Norwegian romantic nationalism of their day. Kielland's novels and short stories are mostly naturalistic. Although an important contributor to early romantic nationalism, (especially Peer Gynt), Henrik Ibsen is better known for his pioneering realistic dramas such as The Wild Duck and A Doll's House.
In the 20th century, three Norwegian novelists were awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature: Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson in 1903, Knut Hamsun for the book Markens grøde ("Growth of the Soil") in 1920, and Sigrid Undset (known for Kristin Lavransdatter) in 1928.
Architecture
With expansive forests, Norway has long had a tradition of building in wood. Many of today's most interesting new buildings are made of wood, reflecting the strong appeal that this material continues to hold for Norwegian designers and builders.
With Norway's conversion to Christianity, churches were built. Stonework architecture was introduced from Europe for the most important structures, beginning with the construction of Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim. In the early Middle Ages, wooden stave churches were constructed throughout Norway. Some of them have survived; they represent Norway's most unusual contribution to architectural history. Urnes Stave Church in inner Sognefjord is on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Another notable example of wooden architecture is the buildings at Bryggen Wharf in Bergen, also on the list for World Cultural Heritage sites, consisting of a row of tall, narrow wooden structures along the quayside.
In the 17th century, under the Danish monarchy, cities and villages such as Kongsberg and Røros were established. The city Kongsberg had a church built in the Baroque style. Traditional wooden buildings that were constructed in Røros have survived.
After Norway's union with Denmark was dissolved in 1814, Oslo became the capital. The architect Christian H. Grosch designed the earliest parts of the University of Oslo, the Oslo Stock Exchange, and many other buildings and churches constructed in that early national period.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the city of Ålesund was rebuilt in the Art Nouveau style, influenced by styles of France. The 1930s, when functionalism dominated, became a strong period for Norwegian architecture. It is only since the late 20th century that Norwegian architects have achieved international renown. One of the most striking modern buildings in Norway is the Sámi Parliament in Kárášjohka, designed by and . Its debating chamber, in timber, is an abstract version of a lavvo, the traditional tent used by the nomadic Sámi people.
Art
For an extended period, the Norwegian art scene was dominated by artwork from Germany and Holland as well as by the influence of Copenhagen. It was in the 19th century that a truly Norwegian era began, first with portraits, later with impressive landscapes. Johan Christian Dahl, originally from the Dresden school, eventually returned to paint the landscapes of western Norway, defining Norwegian painting for the first time."
Norway's newly found independence from Denmark encouraged painters to develop their Norwegian identity, especially with landscape painting by artists such as Kitty Kielland, a female painter who studied under Hans Gude, and Harriet Backer, another pioneer among female artists, influenced by impressionism. Frits Thaulow, an impressionist, was influenced by the art scene in Paris as was Christian Krohg, a realist painter, famous for his paintings of prostitutes.
Of particular note is Edvard Munch, a symbolist/expressionist painter who became world-famous for The Scream which is said to represent the anxiety of modern man. Other notable works from Munch includes The Sick Child, Madonna and Puberty.
Other artists of note include Harald Sohlberg, a neo-romantic painter remembered for his paintings of Røros, and Odd Nerdrum, a figurative painter who maintains that his work is not art, but kitsch.
Cuisine
Norway's culinary traditions show the influence of long seafaring and farming traditions, with salmon (fresh and cured), herring (pickled or marinated), trout, codfish, and other seafood, balanced by cheeses (such as brunost, Jarlsberg cheese, and gamalost), dairy products, and breads (predominantly dark/darker).
Lefse is a Norwegian potato flatbread, usually topped with large amounts of butter and sugar, most commonly eaten around Christmas. Traditional Norwegian dishes include lutefisk, smalahove, pinnekjøtt, raspeball, and fårikål. A Norwegian speciality is rakefisk, which is fermented trout, consumed with thin flatbread and sour cream. The most popular pastry is vaffel.
Sports
Sports are a central part of Norwegian culture, and popular sports include cross-country skiing, ski jumping, mountaineering, hiking, association football, handball, biathlon, speed skating, and, to a lesser degree, ice hockey.
Norway is known internationally for its role in the development of modern winter sports, particularly skiing. From the 19th century Norway also became a premier mountaineering destination, with books such as William Cecil Slingsby's Norway, the Northern Playground contributing to the country's popularity among early mountain climbers.
Association football is the most popular sport in Norway in terms of active membership. In 2014–2015 polling, football ranked far behind biathlon and cross-country skiing in terms of popularity as spectator sports.Ice hockey is the biggest indoor sport. The women's handball national team has won several titles, including two Summer Olympics championships (2008, 2012), three World Championships (1999, 2011, 2015), and six European Championship (1998, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2014).
In association football, the women's national team has won the FIFA Women's World Cup in 1995 and the Olympic Football Tournament in 2000. The women's team also has two UEFA European Women's Championship titles (1987, 1993). The men's national football team has participated three times in the FIFA World Cup (1938, 1994, and 1998), and once in the European Championship (2000). The highest FIFA ranking Norway has achieved is second, a position it has held twice, in 1993 and in 1995.
Norwegian players in the National Football League include Halvor Hagen, Bill Irgens, Leif Olve Dolonen Larsen, Mike Mock, and Jan Stenerud.
Bandy is a traditional sport in Norway and the country is one of the four founders of Federation of International Bandy. In terms of licensed athletes, it is the second biggest winter sport in the world. As of January 2018, the men's national team has captured one silver and one bronze, while the women's national team has managed five bronzes at the World Championships.
Norway first participated at the Olympic Games in 1900, and has sent athletes to compete in every Games since then, except for the sparsely attended 1904 Games and the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow when they participated in the American-led boycott. Norway leads the overall medal tables at the Winter Olympic Games by a considerable margin. Norway has hosted the Games on two occasions:
- 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo
- 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer
It also hosted the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics in Lillehammer, making Norway the first country to host both Winter regular and Youth Olympics.
Norway featured a women's national team in beach volleyball that competed at the 2018–2020 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup.
Chess has gained huge popularity in Norway. Magnus Carlsen, a Norwegian, was the world chess champion between 2013 and 2023.
See also
- Outline of Norway
Notes
- Bokmål: Norge, Nynorsk: Noreg
- Names in the official and recognised languages: Bokmål: Norge [ˈnɔ̂rɡə] ; Nynorsk: ; official names in minority languages: Northern Sami: Norga; Lule Sami: Vuodna; Southern Sami: Nöörje; Kven: Norja.
- Written Bokmål and Nynorsk
- Northern, Lule, and Southern
- Including indigenous group Sámi, and minority groups Jewish, Traveller, Forest Finn, Romani, and Kven.
- Until the 2012 constitutional amendment the Evangelical-Lutheran religion was the public religion of the State.
- The Spitsbergen Treaty (also known as the Svalbard Treaty) of 9 February 1920 recognises Norway's full and absolute sovereignty over the arctic archipelago of Spitsbergen (now called Svalbard).
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Norway officially the Kingdom of Norway is a Nordic country in Northern Europe situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula with a population of 5 5 million as of 2024 The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of Norway Bouvet Island located in the Subantarctic is a dependency and not a part of the Kingdom Norway also claims the Antarctic territories of Peter I Island and Queen Maud Land The capital and largest city in Norway is Oslo Kingdom of NorwayKongeriket Norge Bokmal Kongeriket Noreg Nynorsk Other official names Norgga gonagasriika Northern Sami Vuona ganagisrijkka Lule Sami Noorjen gankarijhke Southern Sami Norjan kuninkhaanvaltakunta Kven Flag Coat of armsAnthem Ja vi elsker dette landet English Yes we love this country source source track track track track track track track track track track track Royal anthem Kongesangen English King s Song source source track track track Show globeShow map of EuropeShow overseas territories and dependenciesLocation of the Kingdom of Norway green in Europe green and dark grey Capitaland largest cityOslo 59 56 N 10 41 E 59 933 N 10 683 E 59 933 10 683Official languagesNorwegianSamiRecognised national languagesKvenRomaniScandoromaniNorwegian Sign LanguageEthnic groups 2021 81 5 Norwegian 18 5 non NorwegianReligion 2021 74 9 Christianity 68 Church of Norway 6 9 other Christian21 2 no religion3 1 Islam0 8 otherDemonym s NorwegianGovernmentUnitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy MonarchHarald V Prime MinisterJonas Gahr Store President of the StortingMasud Gharahkhani Chief JusticeToril Marie OieLegislatureStortingHistory State established prior to unification872 Old Kingdom of Norway Peak extent 1263 Kalmar Union1397 Denmark Norway1524 Re established state25 February 1814 Constitution17 May 1814 Union between Sweden and Norway4 November 1814 Dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden7 June 1905Area Total385 207 km2 148 729 sq mi 61stb Water 5 32 2015 Population 2024 estimate5 550 203 116th Density14 4 km2 37 3 sq mi 224th GDP PPP 2024 estimate Total 576 236 billion 49th Per capita 103 446 5th GDP nominal 2024 estimate Total 503 752 billion 33rd Per capita 90 433 4th Gini 2020 25 3 low inequalityHDI 2022 0 966 very high 2nd CurrencyNorwegian krone NOK Time zoneUTC 1 CET Summer DST UTC 2 CEST Date formatdd mm yyyyDrives onRightCalling code 47ISO 3166 codeNOInternet TLD nodThe country has no official motto but the oath from the 1814 Norwegian Constituent Assembly can be regarded as the closest unofficial equivalent Enige og tro inntil Dovre faller Bokmal Einige og tru inntil Dovre fell Nynorsk United and loyal until Dovre falls Includes the mainland Svalbard and Jan Mayen Without the integral territories it is the 67th largest country at 323 802 square kilometres This percentage is for the mainland Svalbard and Jan Mayen This percentage counts glaciers as land It s calculated as 19 940 14 365 246 17 19 940 14 citation needed Two more TLDs have been assigned but are not used sj for Svalbard and Jan Mayen bv for Bouvet Island Norway has a total area of 385 207 square kilometres 148 729 sq mi The country shares a long eastern border with Sweden and is bordered by Finland and Russia to the northeast Norway has an extensive coastline facing the Skagerrak strait the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea The unified kingdom of Norway was established in 872 as a merger of petty kingdoms and has existed continuously for 1 152 1 153 years From 1537 to 1814 Norway was part of Denmark Norway and from 1814 to 1905 it was in a personal union with Sweden Norway was neutral during the First World War and in the Second World War until April 1940 when it was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany until the end of the war Harald V of the House of Glucksburg is the current King of Norway Jonas Gahr Store has been Prime Minister of Norway since 2021 As a unitary state with a constitutional monarchy Norway divides state power between the parliament the cabinet and the supreme court as determined by the 1814 constitution Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels counties and municipalities The Sami people have a certain amount of self determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sami Parliament and the Finnmark Act Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States Norway is a founding member of the United Nations NATO the European Free Trade Association the Council of Europe the Antarctic Treaty and the Nordic Council a member of the European Economic Area the WTO and the OECD and a part of the Schengen Area The Norwegian dialects share mutual intelligibility with Danish and Swedish Norway maintains the Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system and its values are rooted in egalitarian ideals The Norwegian state has large ownership positions in key industrial sectors having extensive reserves of petroleum natural gas minerals lumber seafood and fresh water The petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the country s gross domestic product GDP On a per capita basis Norway is the world s largest producer of oil and natural gas outside of the Middle East The country has the fourth and eighth highest per capita income in the world on the World Bank s and IMF s list respectively It has the world s largest sovereign wealth fund with a value of US 1 3 trillion EtymologyOpening of Ohthere s Old English account translated Ohthere told his lord AElfrede king that he lived northmost of all Norwegians Norway has two official names Norge in Bokmal and Noreg in Nynorsk The English name Norway comes from the Old English word Northweg mentioned in 880 meaning northern way or way leading to the north which is how the Anglo Saxons referred to the coastline of Atlantic Norway The Anglo Saxons of Britain also referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Nordmanna land There is some disagreement about whether the native name of Norway originally had the same etymology as the English form According to the traditional dominant view the first component was originally nordr a cognate of English north so the full name was Nordr vegr the way northwards referring to the sailing route along the Norwegian coast and contrasting with sudrvegar southern way from Old Norse sudr for Germany and austrvegr eastern way from austr for the Baltic HistoryPrehistory The earliest traces of human occupation in Norway are found along the coast where the huge ice shelf of the last ice age first melted between 11 000 and 8000 BC The oldest finds are stone tools dating from 9500 to 6000 BC discovered in Finnmark Komsa culture in the north and Rogaland Fosna culture in the southwest Theories about the two cultures being separate were deemed obsolete in the 1970s Between 3000 and 2500 BC new settlers Corded Ware culture arrived in eastern Norway They were Indo European farmers who grew grain and kept livestock and gradually replaced the hunting fishing population of the west coast Metal Ages Nordic Bronze Age rock carvings at Steinkjer Central Norway From about 1500 BC bronze was gradually introduced Burial cairns built close to the sea as far north as Harstad and also inland in the south are characteristic of this period with rock carving motifs that differ from those of the Stone Age depicting ships resembling the Hjortspring boat while large stone burial monuments known as stone ships were also erected There is little archaeological evidence dating to the early Iron Age the last 500 years BC The dead were cremated and their graves contained few goods During the first four centuries AD the people of Norway were in contact with Roman occupied Gaul about 70 Roman bronze cauldrons often used as burial urns have been found Contact with countries farther south brought a knowledge of runes the oldest known Norwegian runic inscription dates from the third century Viking Age The Oseberg ship at the Viking Ship Museum in OsloViking swords found in Norway preserved at the Bergen Museum By the time of the first historical records of Scandinavia about the 8th century several small political entities existed in Norway It has been estimated that there were nine petty realms in Western Norway during the early Viking Age Archaeologist Bergljot Solberg on this basis estimates that there would have been at least 20 in the whole country In the Viking period Norwegian Viking explorers discovered Iceland by accident in the ninth century when heading for the Faroe Islands and eventually came across Vinland known today as Newfoundland in Canada The Vikings from Norway were most active in the northern and western British Isles and eastern North America isles The Gjermundbu helmet found in Buskerud is the only known reconstructable Viking Age helmet According to tradition Harald Fairhair unified them into one in 872 after the Battle of Hafrsfjord in Stavanger thus becoming the first king of a united Norway Harald s realm was mainly a South Norwegian coastal state Fairhair ruled with a strong hand and according to the sagas many Norwegians left the country to live in Iceland the Faroe Islands Greenland and parts of Britain and Ireland Haakon I the Good was Norway s first Christian king in the mid 10th century though his attempt to introduce the religion was rejected Norse traditions were replaced slowly by Christian ones in the late 10th and early 11th centuries This is largely attributed to the missionary kings Olaf I Tryggvasson and Olaf II Haraldsson St Olaf Olaf Tryggvasson conducted raids in England including attacking London Arriving back in Norway in 995 Olaf landed in Moster where he built a church which became the first Christian church in Norway From Moster Olaf sailed north to Trondheim where he was proclaimed King of Norway by the Eyrathing in 995 One of the most important sources for the history of the 11th century Vikings is the treaty between the Icelanders and Olaf II Haraldsson king of Norway circa 1015 to 1028 Feudalism never really developed in Norway or Sweden as it did in the rest of Europe However the administration of government took on a very conservative feudal character The Hanseatic League forced royalty to cede to them greater and greater concessions over foreign trade and the economy because of the loans the Hansa had made to the royals and the large debt the kings were carrying The League s monopolistic control over the economy of Norway put pressure on all classes especially the peasantry to the degree that no real burgher class existed in Norway High Middle Ages The Norwegian Kingdom at its greatest extent during the 13th century including the Open Border with the Novgorod Republic From the 1040s to 1130 the country was at peace In 1130 the civil war era broke out on the basis of unclear succession laws which allowed the king s sons to rule jointly The Archdiocese of Nidaros was created in 1152 and attempted to control the appointment of kings The church inevitably had to take sides in the conflicts The wars ended in 1217 with the appointment of Hakon IV Hakonsson who introduced clear laws of succession From 1000 to 1300 the population increased from 150 000 to 400 000 resulting both in more land being cleared and the subdivision of farms While in the Viking Age farmers owned their own land by 1300 seventy per cent of the land was owned by the king the church or the aristocracy and about twenty per cent of yields went to these landowners The 14th century is described as Norway s golden age with peace and increase in trade especially with the British Islands although Germany became increasingly important towards the end of the century Throughout the High Middle Ages the king established Norway as a sovereign state with a central administration and local representatives In 1349 the Black Death spread to Norway and within a year killed a third of the population Later plagues reduced the population to half the starting point by 1400 Many communities were entirely wiped out resulting in an abundance of land allowing farmers to switch to more animal husbandry The reduction in taxes weakened the king s position and many aristocrats lost the basis for their surplus High tithes to church made it increasingly powerful and the archbishop became a member of the Council of State Bryggen in Bergen once the centre of trade in Norway under the Hanseatic League trade network now preserved as a World Heritage Site The Hanseatic League took control over Norwegian trade during the 14th century and established a trading centre in Bergen In 1380 Olaf Haakonsson inherited both the Norwegian as Olaf IV and Danish thrones as Olaf II creating a union between the two countries In 1397 under Margaret I the Kalmar Union was created between the three Scandinavian countries She waged war against the Germans resulting in a trade blockade and higher taxation on Norwegian goods which led to a rebellion However the Norwegian Council of State was too weak to pull out of the union Margaret pursued a centralising policy which inevitably favoured Denmark because of its greater population Margaret also granted trade privileges to the Hanseatic merchants of Lubeck in Bergen in return for recognition of her rule and these hurt the Norwegian economy The Hanseatic merchants formed a state within a state in Bergen for generations The Victual Brothers launched three devastating pirate raids on the port the last in 1427 Norway slipped ever more to the background under the Oldenburg dynasty established 1448 There was one revolt under Knut Alvsson in 1502 Norway took no part in the events which led to Swedish independence from Denmark in the 1520s Kalmar Union Upon the death of King Haakon V in 1319 Magnus Eriksson at just three years old inherited the throne as King Magnus VII A simultaneous movement to make Magnus King of Sweden proved successful he was a grandson of King Magnus Ladulas of Sweden and both the kings of Sweden and of Denmark were elected to the throne by their respective nobles Thus Sweden and Norway were united under King Magnus VII In 1349 the Black Death killed between 50 and 60 of Norway s population and led to a period of social and economic decline Although the death rate was comparable with the rest of Europe economic recovery took much longer because of the small scattered population Even before the plague the population was only about 500 000 After the plague many farms lay idle while the population slowly increased However the few surviving farms tenants found their bargaining positions with their landlords greatly strengthened The Kalmar Union c 1500 King Magnus VII ruled Norway until 1350 when his son Haakon was placed on the throne as Haakon VI In 1363 Haakon married Margaret daughter of King Valdemar IV of Denmark Upon the death of Haakon in 1379 his 10 year old son Olaf IV acceded to the throne As Olaf had already been elected to the throne of Denmark in 1376 Denmark and Norway entered a personal union Olaf s mother and Haakon s widow Queen Margaret managed the foreign affairs of Denmark and Norway during Olaf s minority Margaret was on the verge of achieving a union of Sweden with Denmark and Norway when Olaf IV suddenly died Denmark made Margaret temporary ruler on the death of Olaf On 2 February 1388 Norway followed suit and crowned Margaret Queen Margaret knew that her power would be more secure if she were able to find a king to rule in her place She settled on Eric of Pomerania grandson of her sister Thus at an all Scandinavian meeting held at Kalmar Erik of Pomerania was crowned king of all three Scandinavian countries bringing the thrones of Norway Denmark and Sweden under the control of Queen Margaret when the country entered into the Kalmar Union Early modern period After Sweden broke out of the Kalmar Union in 1521 Norway tried to follow suit citation needed but the subsequent rebellion was defeated and Norway remained in a union with Denmark until 1814 This period was by some referred to as the 400 Year Night since all of the kingdom s intellectual and administrative power was centred in Copenhagen The Battle of the Sound between an allied Dano Norwegian Dutch fleet and the Swedish navy 8 November 1658 29 October OS With the introduction of Protestantism in 1536 the archbishopric in Trondheim was dissolved Norway lost its independence and effectually became a colony of Denmark The Church s income and possessions were instead redirected to the court in Copenhagen Norway lost the steady stream of pilgrims to the relics of St Olav at the Nidaros shrine and with them much of the contact with cultural and economic life in the rest of Europe Eventually restored as a kingdom albeit in legislative union with Denmark in 1661 Norway saw its land area decrease in the 17th century with the loss of the provinces Bahuslen Jemtland and Herjedalen to Sweden as the result of a number of disastrous wars In the north its territory was increased by the acquisition of the provinces of Troms and Finnmark at the expense of Sweden and Russia The famine of 1695 1696 killed roughly 10 of Norway s population The harvest failed in Scandinavia at least nine times between 1740 and 1800 with great loss of life Later modern period The 1814 constitutional assembly painted by Oscar Wergeland After Denmark Norway was attacked by the United Kingdom at the 1807 Battle of Copenhagen it entered into an alliance with Napoleon with the war leading to dire conditions and mass starvation in 1812 As the Danish kingdom was on the losing side in 1814 it was forced by the Treaty of Kiel to cede Norway to Sweden while the old Norwegian provinces of Iceland Greenland and the Faroe Islands remained with the Danish crown Norway took this opportunity to declare independence adopted a constitution based on American and French models and elected the Crown Prince of Denmark and Norway Christian Frederick as king on 17 May 1814 celebrated as the Syttende mai Seventeenth of May holiday Norwegian opposition to the decision to link Norway with Sweden caused the Norwegian Swedish War to break out as Sweden tried to subdue Norway by military means As Sweden s military was not strong enough to defeat the Norwegian forces outright and Norway s treasury was not large enough to support a protracted war and as British and Russian navies blockaded the Norwegian coast the belligerents were forced to negotiate the Convention of Moss Christian Frederik abdicated the Norwegian throne and authorised the Parliament of Norway to make the necessary constitutional amendments to allow for the personal union that Norway was forced to accept On 4 November 1814 the Parliament Storting elected Charles XIII of Sweden as king of Norway thereby establishing the union with Sweden Under this arrangement Norway kept its liberal constitution and its own independent institutions though it shared a monarch and foreign policy with Sweden Following the recession caused by the Napoleonic Wars economic development of Norway remained slow until 1830 17 May celebration in Stongfjorden c 1910 This period also saw the rise of Norwegian romantic nationalism as Norwegians sought to define and express a distinct national character The movement covered all branches of culture including literature Henrik Wergeland Bjornstjerne Bjornson Peter Christen Asbjornsen Jorgen Moe painting Hans Gude Adolph Tidemand music Edvard Grieg and even language policy where attempts to define a native written language for Norway led to today s two official written forms for Norwegian Bokmal and Nynorsk King Charles III John came to the throne of Norway and Sweden in 1818 and reigned to 1844 He protected the constitution and liberties of Norway and Sweden during the age of Metternich neutrality is disputed As such he was regarded as a liberal monarch However he was ruthless in his use of paid informers secret police and restrictions on the freedom of the press to put down public movements for reform especially the Norwegian national independence movement The Romantic Era that followed the reign of Charles III John brought some significant social and political reforms In 1854 women won the right to inherit property In 1863 the last trace of keeping unmarried women in the status of minors was removed Furthermore women were eligible for different occupations particularly the common school teacher By mid century Norway s democracy was limited voting was limited to officials property owners leaseholders and burghers of incorporated towns A Sami family in Norway c 1900 Norway remained a conservative society Life in Norway especially economic life was dominated by the aristocracy of professional men who filled most of the important posts in the central government There was no strong bourgeois class to demand a breakdown of this aristocratic control Thus even while revolution swept over most of the countries of Europe in 1848 Norway was largely unaffected Marcus Thrane was a Utopian socialist who in 1848 organised a labour society in Drammen In just a few months this society had a membership of 500 and was publishing its own newspaper Within two years 300 societies had been organised all over Norway with a total membership of 20 000 drawn from the lower classes of both urban and rural areas In the end the revolt was easily crushed Thrane was captured and jailed In 1898 all men were granted universal suffrage followed by all women in 1913 Dissolution of the union and the First World War Christian Michelsen Prime Minister of Norway from 1905 to 1907 played a central role in the peaceful separation of Norway from Sweden on 7 June 1905 A national referendum confirmed the people s preference for a monarchy over a republic However no Norwegian could legitimately claim the throne since none of Norway s noble families could claim royal descent The government then offered the throne of Norway to Prince Carl of Denmark a prince of the Dano German royal house of Schleswig Holstein Sonderburg Glucksburg and a distant relative of Norway s medieval kings Following the plebiscite he was unanimously elected king by the Norwegian Parliament he took the name Haakon VII Throughout the First World War Norway remained neutral however diplomatic pressure from the British government meant that it heavily favoured the Allies During the war Norway exported fish to both Germany and Britain until an ultimatum from the British government and anti German sentiments as a result of German submarines targeting Norwegian merchantmen led to a termination of trade with Germany 436 Norwegian merchantmen were sunk by the Kaiserliche Marine with 1 150 Norwegian sailors killed disputed discuss Second World War Norway once more proclaimed its neutrality during the Second World War but was invaded by German forces on 9 April 1940 Although Norway was unprepared for the German surprise attack see Battle of Drobak Sound Norwegian Campaign and Invasion of Norway military and naval resistance lasted for two months Norwegian armed forces in the north launched an offensive against the German forces in the Battles of Narvik but were forced to surrender on 10 June after losing British support which had been diverted to France during the German invasion of France Bombing of Kristiansund The German invasion resulted in 24 towns being bombed in the spring of 1940 King Haakon and the Norwegian government escaped to Rotherhithe in London Throughout the war they sent radio speeches and supported clandestine military actions against the Germans On the day of the invasion the leader of the small National Socialist party Nasjonal Samling Vidkun Quisling tried to seize power but was forced by the German occupiers to step aside Real power was wielded by the leader of the German occupation authority Josef Terboven Quisling as minister president later formed a collaborationist government under German control Up to 15 000 Norwegians volunteered to fight in German units including the Waffen SS Many Norwegians and persons of Norwegian descent joined the Allied forces as well as the Free Norwegian Forces In June 1940 a small group had left Norway following their king to Britain This group included 13 ships five aircraft and 500 men from the Royal Norwegian Navy By the end of the war the force had grown to 58 ships and 7 500 men in service in the Royal Norwegian Navy 5 squadrons of aircraft in the newly formed Norwegian Air Force and land forces including the Norwegian Independent Company 1 and 5 Troop as well as No 10 Commandos citation needed During German occupation Norwegians built a resistance movement which incorporated civil disobedience and armed resistance including the destruction of Norsk Hydro s heavy water plant and stockpile of heavy water at Vemork which crippled the German nuclear programme More important to the Allied war effort however was the role of the Norwegian Merchant Marine the fourth largest merchant marine fleet in the world It was led by the Norwegian shipping company Nortraship under the Allies throughout the war and took part in every war operation from the evacuation of Dunkirk to the Normandy landings Every December Norway gives a Christmas tree to the United Kingdom as thanks for the British assistance during the war Svalbard was not occupied by German troops but Germany secretly established a meteorological station there in 1944 Post World War II history Since the 1970s oil production has helped to expand the Norwegian economy and finance the Norwegian state Statfjord oil field From 1945 to 1962 the Labour Party held an absolute majority in the parliament The government led by prime minister Einar Gerhardsen embarked on a programme inspired by Keynesian economics emphasising state financed industrialisation and co operation between trade unions and employers organisations Many measures of state control of the economy imposed during the war were continued although the rationing of dairy products was lifted in 1949 while price controls and rationing of housing and cars continued until 1960 The wartime alliance with the United Kingdom and the United States continued in the post war years Although pursuing the goal of a socialist economy the Labour Party distanced itself from the Communists especially after the Communists seizure of power in Czechoslovakia in 1948 and strengthened its foreign policy and defence policy ties with the US Norway received Marshall Plan aid from the United States starting in 1947 joined the Organisation for Economic Co operation and Development OECD one year later and became a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO in 1949 Oil was discovered at the small Balder field in 1967 but production only began in 1999 In 1969 the Phillips Petroleum Company discovered petroleum resources at the Ekofisk field west of Norway In 1973 the Norwegian government founded the State oil company Statoil now Equinor Oil production did not provide net income until the early 1980s because of the large capital investment required Around 1975 both the proportion and absolute number of workers in industry peaked Since then labour intensive industries and services like factory mass production and shipping have largely been outsourced Norway was a founding member of the European Free Trade Association EFTA Norway was twice invited to join the European Union but ultimately declined after referendums that failed by narrow margins in 1972 and 1994 Town Hall Square in Oslo filled with people with roses mourning the victims of the Utoya massacre of 22 July 2011 In 1981 a Conservative Party government led by Kare Willoch replaced the Labour Party with a policy of stimulating the stagflated economy with tax cuts economic liberalisation deregulation of markets and measures to curb record high inflation 13 6 in 1981 Norway s first female prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland of the Labour Party continued many of the reforms while backing traditional Labour concerns such as social security high taxes the industrialisation of nature and feminism By the late 1990s Norway had paid off its foreign debt and had started accumulating a sovereign wealth fund Since the 1990s a divisive question in politics has been how much of the income from petroleum production the government should spend and how much it should save In 2011 Norway suffered two terrorist attacks by Anders Behring Breivik which struck the government quarter in Oslo and a summer camp of the Labour party s youth movement at Utoya island resulting in 77 deaths and 319 wounded Jens Stoltenberg led Norway as prime minister for eight years from 2005 to 2013 The 2013 Norwegian parliamentary election brought a more conservative government to power with the Conservative Party and the Progress Party winning 43 of the electorate s votes In the Norwegian parliamentary election 2017 the centre right government of Prime Minister Erna Solberg won re election The 2021 Norwegian parliamentary election saw a big win for the left wing opposition in an election fought on climate change inequality and oil Labour leader Jonas Gahr Store was sworn in as prime minister GeographyA satellite image of continental Norway and nearby countries in winter Norway s core territory comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula the remote island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard are also included The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom Norway also claims a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land Norwegian possessions in the North Atlantic Faroe Islands Greenland and Iceland remained Danish when Norway was passed to Sweden at the Treaty of Kiel Norway also comprised Bohuslan until 1658 Jamtland and Harjedalen until 1645 Shetland and Orkney until 1468 and the Hebrides and Isle of Man until the Treaty of Perth in 1266 Norway comprises the western and northernmost part of Scandinavia in Northern Europe between latitudes 57 and 81 N and longitudes 4 and 32 E Norway is the northernmost of the Nordic countries and if Svalbard is included also the easternmost Norway includes the northernmost point on the European mainland The rugged coastline is broken by huge fjords and thousands of islands The coastal baseline is 2 532 kilometres 1 573 mi The coastline of the mainland including fjords stretches 28 953 kilometres 17 991 mi when islands are included the coastline has been estimated to 100 915 kilometres 62 706 mi Norway shares a 1 619 kilometre 1 006 mi land border with Sweden 727 kilometres 452 mi with Finland and 196 kilometres 122 mi with Russia to the east To the north west and south Norway is bordered by the Barents Sea the Norwegian Sea the North Sea and Skagerrak The Scandinavian Mountains form much of the border with Sweden At 385 207 square kilometres 148 729 sq mi including Svalbard and Jan Mayen 323 808 square kilometres 125 023 sq mi without much of the country is dominated by mountainous or high terrain with a great variety of natural features caused by prehistoric glaciers and varied topography The most noticeable of these are the fjords Sognefjorden is the world s second deepest fjord and the world s longest at 204 kilometres 127 mi The lake Hornindalsvatnet is the deepest lake in Europe Norway has about 400 000 lakes and 239 057 registered islands Permafrost can be found all year in the higher mountain areas and in the interior of Finnmark county Numerous glaciers are found in Norway The land is mostly made of hard granite and gneiss rock but slate sandstone and limestone are also common and the lowest elevations contain marine deposits Climate Koppen climate classification types of Norway 1991 2020 0C 32F isotherm for coldest month dividing C and D climates Map of Norway showing the normal precipitation annual average Period 1961 1990 Because of the Gulf Stream and prevailing westerlies Norway experiences higher temperatures and more precipitation than expected at such northern latitudes especially along the coast The mainland experiences four distinct seasons with colder winters and less precipitation inland The northernmost part has a mostly maritime Subarctic climate while Svalbard has an Arctic tundra climate The southern and western parts of Norway fully exposed to Atlantic storm fronts experience more precipitation and have milder winters than the eastern and far northern parts Areas to the east of the coastal mountains are in a rain shadow and have lower rain and snow totals than the west The lowlands around Oslo have the warmest summers but also cold weather and snow in wintertime The sunniest weather is along the south coast but sometimes even the coast far north can be very sunny the sunniest month with 430 sun hours was recorded in Tromso Because of Norway s high latitude there are large seasonal variations in daylight From late May to late July the sun never completely descends beneath the horizon in areas north of the Arctic Circle and the rest of the country experiences up to 20 hours of daylight per day Conversely from late November to late January the sun never rises above the horizon in the north and daylight hours are very short in the rest of the country Temperature anomalies found in coastal locations are exceptional with southern Lofoten and Bo Municipality having all monthly means above freezing in spite of being north of the Arctic Circle The very northernmost coast of Norway would be ice covered in winter if not for the Gulf Stream The east of the country has a more continental climate and the mountain ranges have subarctic and tundra climates There is also higher rainfall in areas exposed to the Atlantic especially the western slopes of the mountain ranges and areas close such as Bergen The valleys east of the mountain ranges are the driest some of the valleys are sheltered by mountains in most directions Saltdal Municipality in Nordland is the driest place with 211 millimetres 8 3 inches precipitation annually 1991 2020 In southern Norway Skjak Municipality in Innlandet county gets 295 millimetres 11 6 inches precipitation Finnmarksvidda and some interior valleys of Troms county receive around 400 millimetres 16 inches annually and the high Arctic Longyearbyen 217 millimetres 8 5 inches Parts of southeastern Norway including parts of Mjosa have a humid continental climate Koppen Dfb the southern and western coasts and also the coast north to Bodo have an oceanic climate Cfb and the outer coast further north almost to North Cape has a subpolar oceanic climate Cfc Further inland in the south and at higher altitudes and also in much of Northern Norway the subarctic climate Dfc dominates A small strip of land along the coast east of North Cape including Vardo earlier had tundra alpine polar climate ET but this is mostly gone with the updated 1991 2020 climate normals making this also subarctic Large parts of Norway are covered by mountains and high altitude plateaus and about one third of the land is above the treeline and thus exhibit tundra alpine polar climate ET Biodiversity A Norwegian moose called elg in Norwegian Norway has a larger number of different habitats than almost any other European country There are approximately 60 000 species in Norway and adjacent waters excluding bacteria and viruses The Norwegian Shelf large marine ecosystem is considered highly productive The total number of species include 16 000 species of insects probably 4 000 more species yet to be described 20 000 species of algae 1 800 species of lichen 1 050 species of mosses 2 800 species of vascular plants up to 7 000 species of fungi 450 species of birds 250 species nesting in Norway 90 species of mammals 45 fresh water species of fish 150 salt water species of fish 1 000 species of fresh water invertebrates and 3 500 species of salt water invertebrates About 40 000 of these species have been described by science The red list of 2010 encompasses 4 599 species Norway contains five terrestrial ecoregions Sarmatic mixed forests Scandinavian coastal conifer forests Scandinavian and Russian taiga Kola Peninsula tundra and Scandinavian montane birch forest and grasslands Seventeen species are listed mainly because they are endangered on a global scale such as the European beaver even if the population in Norway is not seen as endangered The number of threatened and near threatened species equals to 3 682 it includes 418 fungi species many of which are closely associated with the small remaining old growth forests 36 bird species and 16 species of mammals In 2010 2 398 species were listed as endangered or vulnerable of these 1 250 were listed as vulnerable VU 871 as endangered EN and 276 species as critically endangered CR among which were the grey wolf the Arctic fox and the pool frog The largest predator in Norwegian waters is the sperm whale and the largest fish is the basking shark The largest predator on land is the polar bear while the brown bear is the largest predator on the Norwegian mainland The largest land animal on the mainland is the elk American English moose Environment Attractive and dramatic scenery and landscape are found throughout Norway The west coast of southern Norway and the coast of northern Norway present some of the most visually impressive coastal sceneries in the world National Geographic has listed the Norwegian fjords as the world s top tourist attraction The country is also home to the natural phenomena of the Midnight sun during summer as well as the Aurora borealis known also as the Northern lights The 2016 Environmental Performance Index from Yale University Columbia University and the World Economic Forum put Norway in seventeenth place immediately below Croatia and Switzerland The index is based on environmental risks to human health habitat loss and changes in CO2 emissions The index notes over exploitation of fisheries but not Norway s whaling or oil exports Norway had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 6 98 10 ranking it 60th globally out of 172 countries Politics and governmentThe Royal Palace in OsloKing of Norway Harald V and his consort Queen Sonja reigning since 17 January 1991 Prime Minister of Norway Jonas Gahr Store since 14 October 2021 The Storting is the Parliament of Norway Norway is considered to be one of the most developed democracies and states of justice in the world Since 2010 Norway has been classified as the world s most democratic country by the Democracy Index According to the Constitution of Norway which was adopted on 17 May 1814 and was inspired by the United States Declaration of Independence and French Revolution Norway is a unitary constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government wherein the King of Norway is the head of state and the prime minister is the head of government Power is separated among the legislative executive and judicial branches of government as defined by the Constitution which serves as the country s supreme legal document The monarch officially retains executive power But following the introduction of a parliamentary system of government the duties of the monarch became strictly representative and ceremonial The Monarch is commander in chief of the Norwegian Armed Forces and serves as chief diplomatic official abroad and as a symbol of unity Harald V of the House of Schleswig Holstein Sonderburg Glucksburg ascended to the Norwegian throne in 1991 the first since the 14th century who has been born in the country Haakon Crown Prince of Norway is the heir to the throne In practice the Prime Minister exercises the executive powers Constitutionally legislative power is vested with both the government and the Parliament of Norway but the latter is the supreme legislature and a unicameral body Norway is fundamentally structured as a representative democracy The Parliament can pass a law by simple majority of the 169 representatives of which 150 are elected directly from 19 constituencies and an additional 19 seats levelling seats are allocated on a nationwide basis to make the representation in parliament correspond better with the popular vote for the political parties A 4 election threshold is required for a party to gain levelling seats in Parliament The Parliament of Norway called the Storting ratifies national treaties developed by the executive branch It can impeach members of the government if their acts are declared unconstitutional If an indicted suspect is impeached Parliament has the power to remove the person from office The position of prime minister is allocated to the member of Parliament who can obtain the confidence of a majority in Parliament usually the current leader of the largest political party or more effectively through a coalition of parties Norway has often been ruled by minority governments The prime minister nominates the cabinet traditionally drawn from members of the same political party or parties in the Storting making up the government The PM organises the executive government and exercises its power as vested by the Constitution Norway has a state church the Lutheran Church of Norway which has gradually been granted more internal autonomy in day to day affairs but which still has a special constitutional status Formerly the PM had to have more than half the members of cabinet be members of the Church of Norway this rule was removed in 2012 The issue of separation of church and state in Norway has been increasingly controversial A part of this is the evolution of the public school subject Christianity a required subject since 1739 Even the state s loss in a battle at the European Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg in 2007 did not settle the matter As of 1 January 2017 the Church of Norway is a separate legal entity and no longer a branch of the civil service Through the Council of State a privy council presided over by the monarch the prime minister and the cabinet meet at the Royal Palace and formally consult the Monarch All government bills need formal approval by the monarch before and after introduction to Parliament The Council approves all of the monarch s actions as head of state Members of the Storting are directly elected from party list proportional representation in nineteen plural member constituencies in a national multi party system Historically both the Norwegian Labour Party and Conservative Party have played leading political roles In the early 21st century the Labour Party has been in power since the 2005 election in a with the Socialist Left Party and the Centre Party Since 2005 both the Conservative Party and the Progress Party have won numerous seats in the Parliament In national elections in September 2013 two political parties Hoyre and Fremskrittspartiet were elected on promises of tax cuts more spending on infrastructure and education better services and stricter rules on immigration formed a government Erna Solberg became prime minister the second female prime minister after Gro Harlem Brundtland and the first conservative prime minister since Jan P Syse Solberg said her win was a historic election victory for the right wing parties Her centre right government won re election in the 2017 Norwegian parliamentary election Norway s new centre left cabinet under Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store the leader the Labour Party took office on 14 October 2021 Administrative divisions A municipal and regional reform From 14 June 2022 the Storting decided the following division of counties Norway a unitary state is divided into fifteen first level administrative counties fylke The counties are administered through directly elected county councils who elect the County Mayor Additionally the King and government are represented in every county by a County Governor Norwegian statsforvalteren The counties are then sub divided into 357 second level municipalities Norwegian kommuner which in turn are administered by directly elected municipal council headed by a mayor and a small executive cabinet The capital of Oslo is considered both a county and a municipality Norway has two integral overseas territories out of mainland Jan Mayen and Svalbard the only developed island in the archipelago of the same name located far to the north of the Norwegian mainland There are 108 settlements that have town city status in Norway the Norwegian word by is used to represent these places and that word can be translated as either town or city in English Cities towns in Norway were historically designated by the King and used to have special rules and privileges under the law This was changed in the late 20th century so now towns cities have no special rights and a municipality can designate an urban settlement as a city town Towns and cities in Norway do not have to be large Some cities have over a million residents such as Oslo while others are much smaller such as Honningsvag with about 2 200 residents Usually there is only one town within a municipality but there are some municipalities that have more than one town within it such as Larvik Municipality which has the town of Larvik and the town of Stavern Dependencies of Norway There are three Antarctic and Subantarctic dependencies Bouvet Island Peter I Island and Queen Maud Land On most maps there was an unclaimed area between Queen Maud Land and the South Pole until 12 June 2015 when Norway formally annexed that area Norway and its overseas administrative divisionsLargest populated areas vte Largest cities or towns in Norway According to Statistics Dec 2018Rank Name County Pop Rank Name County Pop Oslo Bergen 1 Oslo Oslo 1 000 467 11 Moss Ostfold 46 618 Stavanger Sandnes Trondheim2 Bergen Vestland 255 464 12 Haugesund Rogaland 44 8303 Stavanger Sandnes Rogaland 222 697 13 Sandefjord Vestfold 43 5954 Trondheim Trondelag 183 378 14 Arendal Agder 43 0845 Drammen Buskerud 117 510 15 Bodo Nordland 40 7056 Fredrikstad Sarpsborg Ostfold 111 267 16 Tromso Troms 38 9807 Porsgrunn Skien Telemark 92 753 17 Hamar Innlandet 27 3248 Kristiansand Agder 61 536 18 Halden Ostfold 25 3009 Alesund More og Romsdal 52 163 19 Larvik Vestfold 24 20810 Tonsberg Vestfold 51 571 20 Askoy Vestland 23 194 Judicial system and law enforcement Norway uses a civil law system where laws are created and amended in Parliament and the system regulated through the Courts of justice of Norway It consists of the Supreme Court of 20 permanent judges and a Chief Justice appellate courts city and district courts and The judiciary is independent of executive and legislative branches While the Prime Minister nominates Supreme Court Justices for office their nomination must be approved by Parliament and formally confirmed by the Monarch Usually judges attached to regular courts are formally appointed by the Monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister The Courts formal mission is to regulate the Norwegian judicial system interpret the Constitution and implement the legislation adopted by Parliament In its judicial reviews it monitors the legislative and executive branches to ensure that they comply with provisions of enacted legislation The law is enforced in Norway by the Norwegian Police Service It is a Unified National Police Service made up of 27 Police Districts and several specialist agencies such as Norwegian National Authority for the Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime known as Okokrim and the National Criminal Investigation Service known as Kripos each headed by a chief of police The Police Service is headed by the National Police Directorate which reports to the Ministry of Justice and the Police The Police Directorate is headed by a National Police Commissioner The only exception is the Norwegian Police Security Agency whose head answers directly to the Ministry of Justice and the Police Norway abolished the death penalty for regular criminal acts in 1902 and for high treason in war and war crimes in 1979 Norwegian prisons are humane rather than tough with emphasis on rehabilitation At 20 Norway s re conviction rate is among the lowest in the world Reporters Without Borders in its 2023 World Press Freedom Index ranked Norway in first place out of 180 countries In general the legal and institutional framework in Norway is characterised by a high degree of transparency accountability and integrity and the perception and the occurrence of corruption are very low Human rights Norway has been considered a progressive country which has adopted legislation and policies to support women s rights minority rights and LGBT rights As early as 1884 171 of the leading figures among them five Prime Ministers co founded the Norwegian Association for Women s Rights They successfully campaigned for women s right to education women s suffrage the right to work and other gender equality policies From the 1970s gender equality also came high on the state agenda with the establishment of a public body to promote gender equality which evolved into the Gender Equality and Anti Discrimination Ombud Civil society organisations also continue to play an important role women s rights organisations are today organised in the Norwegian Women s Lobby umbrella organisation In 1990 the Norwegian constitution was amended to grant absolute primogeniture to the Norwegian throne meaning that the eldest child regardless of gender takes precedence in the line of succession As it was not retroactive the current successor to the throne is the eldest son of the King rather than his eldest child International Women s Day march in Oslo The Sami people have for centuries been the subject of discrimination and abuse by the dominant cultures in Scandinavia and Russia those countries claiming possession of Sami lands Norway has been greatly criticised by the international community for the politics of Norwegianization of and discrimination against the indigenous population of the country Nevertheless Norway was in 1990 the first country to recognise ILO convention 169 on indigenous people recommended by the UN Norway was the first country in the world to enact an anti discrimination law protecting the rights of gay men and lesbians In 1993 Norway became the second country to legalise civil union partnerships for same sex couples and on 1 January 2009 Norway became the sixth country to legalise same sex marriage As a promoter of human rights Norway has held the annual Oslo Freedom Forum conference a gathering described by The Economist as on its way to becoming a human rights equivalent of the Davos economic forum Foreign relations Royal Norwegian Navy Fridtjof Nansen class frigate Norway maintains embassies in 82 countries 60 countries maintain an embassy in Norway all of them in the capital Oslo Norway is a founding member of the United Nations UN the North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO the Council of Europe and the European Free Trade Association EFTA Norway issued applications for accession to the European Union EU and its predecessors in 1962 1967 and 1992 respectively While Denmark Sweden and Finland obtained membership the Norwegian electorate rejected the treaties of accession in referendums in 1972 and 1994 After the 1994 referendum Norway maintained its membership in the European Economic Area EEA granting the country access to the internal market of the Union on the condition that Norway implements the Union s pieces of legislation which are deemed relevant Successive Norwegian governments have since 1994 requested participation in parts of the EU s co operation that go beyond the provisions of the EEA agreement Non voting participation by Norway has been granted in for instance the Union s Common Security and Defence Policy the Schengen Agreement and the European Defence Agency as well as 19 separate programmes Norway participated in the 1990s brokering of the Oslo Accords an unsuccessful attempt to resolve the Israeli Palestinian conflict Military The first Norwegian F 35 Lightning II lands at Luke Air Force Base The Norwegian Armed Forces numbers about 25 000 personnel including civilian employees According to 2009 mobilisation plans full mobilisation produces approximately 83 000 combatant personnel Norway has conscription including 6 12 months of training in 2013 the country became the first in Europe and NATO to draft women as well as men However due to less need for conscripts after the Cold War few people have to serve if they are not motivated The Armed Forces are subordinate to the Norwegian Ministry of Defence The Commander in Chief is King Harald V The military of Norway is divided into the Norwegian Army the Royal Norwegian Navy the Royal Norwegian Air Force the Norwegian Cyber Defence Force and the Home Guard The country was one of the founding nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO on 4 April 1949 Norway contributed in the International Security Assistance Force ISAF in Afghanistan Additionally Norway has contributed in several missions in contexts of the United Nations NATO and the Common Security and Defence Policy of the European Union EconomyNorway s claimed economic zonesMembers of the European Free Trade Association green participate in the European Single Market and are part of the Schengen Area Norwegians enjoy the second highest GDP per capita among European countries after Luxembourg and the sixth highest GDP PPP per capita in the world Norway ranks as the second wealthiest country in monetary value with the largest capital reserve per capita of any nation According to the CIA World Factbook Norway is a net external creditor of debt Norway reclaimed first place in the world in the UNDP Human Development Index HDI in 2009 The standard of living in Norway is among the highest in the world Foreign Policy magazine ranks Norway last in its Failed States Index for 2009 and 2023 judging Norway to be the world s most well functioning and stable country The OECD ranks Norway fourth in the 2013 equalised Better Life Index and third in intergenerational earnings elasticity according to a 2010 study The Norwegian economy is an example of a mixed economy a prosperous capitalist welfare state it features a combination of free market activity and large state ownership in certain key sectors influenced by both liberal governments from the late 19th century and later by social democratic governments in the postwar era citation needed Public healthcare in Norway is free after an annual charge of around 2000 kroner for those over 16 and parents have 46 weeks paid parental leave The state income derived from natural resources includes a significant contribution from petroleum production As of 2016 update Norway has an unemployment rate of 4 8 with 68 of the population aged 15 74 employed People in the labour force are either employed or looking for work As of 2013 update 9 5 of the population aged 18 66 receive a disability pension and 30 of the labour force are employed by the government the highest in the OECD The hourly productivity levels as well as average hourly wages in Norway are among the highest in the world The egalitarian values of Norwegian society have kept the wage difference between the lowest paid worker and the CEO of most companies as much less than in comparable western economies This is also evident in Norway s low Gini coefficient The state has large ownership positions in key industrial sectors such as the strategic petroleum sector Equinor hydroelectric energy production Statkraft aluminium production Norsk Hydro the largest Norwegian bank DNB and telecommunication provider Telenor Through these big companies the government controls approximately 30 of the stock values at the Oslo Stock Exchange citation needed When non listed companies are included the state has even higher share in ownership mainly from direct oil licence ownership citation needed Norway is a major shipping nation and has the world s sixth largest merchant fleet with 1 412 Norwegian owned merchant vessels citation needed By referendums in 1972 and 1994 Norwegians rejected proposals to join the European Union EU However Norway together with Iceland and Liechtenstein participates in the European Union s single market through the European Economic Area EEA agreement The EEA Treaty between the European Union countries and the EFTA countries transposed into Norwegian law via EOS loven describes the procedures for implementing European Union rules in Norway and the other EFTA countries Norway is a highly integrated member of most sectors of the EU internal market Some sectors such as agriculture oil and fish are not wholly covered by the EEA Treaty Norway has also acceded to the Schengen Agreement and several other intergovernmental agreements among the EU member states The country is richly endowed with natural resources including petroleum hydropower fish forests and minerals Large reserves of petroleum and natural gas were discovered in the 1960s which led to an economic boom citation needed Norway has obtained one of the highest standards of living in the world in part by having a large amount of natural resources compared to the size of the population citation needed In 2011 28 of state revenues were generated from the petroleum industry failed verification Norway was the first country to ban deforestation with a view to preventing its rain forests from vanishing The country declared its intention at the UN Climate Summit in 2014 alongside Great Britain and Germany Resources Agriculture is a significant sector in spite of the mountainous landscape Oysand Stockfish has been exported from Lofoten in Norway for at least 1 000 years Oil industry Oil production has been central to the Norwegian economy since the 1970s with a dominating state ownership Heidrun oil field Export revenues from oil and gas have risen to over 40 of total exports and constitute almost 20 of the GDP Norway is the fifth largest oil exporter and third largest gas exporter in the world but it is not a member of OPEC In 1995 the Norwegian government established the sovereign wealth fund Government Pension Fund Global to be funded with oil revenues The government controls its petroleum resources through a combination of state ownership in major operators in the oil fields with approximately 62 ownership in Equinor in 2007 and the fully state owned Petoro which has a market value of about twice Equinor and SDFI Finally the government controls licensing of exploration and production of fields The fund invests in developed financial markets outside Norway Spending from the fund is constrained by the budgetary rule Handlingsregelen which limits spending over time to no more than the real value yield of the fund lowered in 2017 to 3 of the fund s total value Between 1966 and 2013 Norwegian companies drilled 5 085 oil wells mostly in the North Sea Oil fields not yet in the production phase include calculated size in 2013 at 65 156 million barrels of oil and 10 to 40 billion cubic feet 0 28 to 1 13 billion cubic metres utvinnbar of gas and the Castberg feltet calculated size at 540 million barrels of oil and 2 to 7 billion cubic feet 57 to 198 million cubic metres utvinnbar of gas Both oil fields are located in the Barents Sea Norway is also the world s second largest exporter of fish in value after China Fish from fish farms and catch constitutes the second largest behind oil natural gas export product measured in value Norway is the world s largest producer of salmon followed by Chile Hydroelectric plants generate roughly 98 99 of Norway s electric power more than any other country in the world Norway contains significant mineral resources and in 2013 its mineral production was valued at US 1 5 billion Norwegian Geological Survey data The most valuable minerals are calcium carbonate limestone building stone nepheline syenite olivine iron titanium and nickel In 2017 the Government Pension Fund controlled assets surpassed a value of US 1 trillion equal to US 190 000 per capita about 250 of Norway s 2017 GDP It is the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world Other nations with economies based on natural resources such as Russia are trying to learn from Norway by establishing similar funds The investment choices of the Norwegian fund are directed by ethical guidelines for example the fund is not allowed to invest in companies that produce parts for nuclear weapons Norway s highly transparent investment scheme is lauded by the international community Transport Due to the low population density narrow shape and long coastlines of Norway its public transport is less developed than in many European countries especially outside the major cities The country has long standing water transport traditions but the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications has in recent years implemented rail road and air transport through numerous subsidiaries to develop the country s infrastructure Under discussion is development of a new high speed rail system between the nation s largest cities Norway s main railway network consists of 4 114 kilometres 2 556 mi of standard gauge lines of which 242 kilometres 150 mi is double track and 64 kilometres 40 mi high speed rail 210 km h while 62 is electrified at 15 kV 16 7 Hz AC The railways transported 56 827 000 passengers 2 956 million passenger kilometres and 24 783 000 tonnes of cargo for 3 414 million tonne kilometres The entire network is owned by Bane NOR Domestic passenger trains are operated by various companies including Vy SJ Go Ahead and Flytoget while freight trains are operated by CargoNet and Investment in new infrastructure and maintenance is financed through the state budget and subsidies are provided for passenger train operations NSB operates long haul trains including night trains regional services and four commuter train systems around Oslo Trondheim and Stavanger Oslo Airport Gardermoen Norway has approximately 92 946 kilometres 57 754 mi of road network of which 72 033 kilometres 44 759 mi are paved and 664 kilometres 413 mi are motorway The four tiers of road routes are national county municipal and private with national and primary county roads numbered en route The most important national routes are part of the European route scheme The two most prominent are the European route E6 going north south through the entire country and the E39 which follows the West Coast National and county roads are managed by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration Norway has the world s largest registered stock of plug in electric vehicles per capita In March 2014 Norway became the first country where over 1 in every 100 passenger cars on the roads is a plug in electric The plug in electric segment market share of new car sales is also the highest in the world According to a report by Dagens Naeringsliv in June 2016 the country would like to ban sales of gasoline and diesel powered vehicles as early as 2025 Of the 98 airports in Norway 52 are public and 46 are operated by the state owned Avinor Seven airports have more than one million passengers annually A total of 41 089 675 passengers passed through Norwegian airports in 2007 of whom 13 397 458 were international The central gateway to Norway by air is Oslo Airport Gardermoen Located about 35 kilometres 22 mi northeast of Oslo it is hub for the two major Norwegian airlines Scandinavian Airlines and Norwegian Air Shuttle and for regional aircraft from Western Norway There are departures to most European countries and some intercontinental destinations A direct high speed train connects to Oslo Central Station every 10 minutes for a 20 min ride Research Niels Henrik Abel made pioneering contributions in a variety of fields The Abel Prize in mathematics originally proposed in 1899 to complement the Nobel Prizes is named in his honour Norway has a rich history of contributions to science mathematics and technology with several internationally recognized scientists and innovators In mathematics Niels Henrik Abel and Sophus Lie made groundbreaking contributions to analysis and group theory Caspar Wessel was the first to describe vectors and complex numbers in the complex plane laying the foundation for modern vector and complex analysis Thoralf Skolem made revolutionary contributions to mathematical logic while Oystein Ore and Ludwig Sylow advanced group theory Atle Selberg a major figure in 20th century mathematics was honored with the Fields Medal Wolf Prize and Abel Prize Ernst S Selmer s work significantly influenced modern cryptographic algorithms In physics notable figures include Kristian Birkeland known for his work on the aurora borealis and Ivar Giaever a Nobel laureate in physics Carl Anton Bjerknes and Christopher Hansteen made contributions to hydrodynamics and geomagnetism respectively The meteorologists Vilhelm Bjerknes and Ragnar Fjortoft were instrumental in the development of numerical weather prediction Norwegian chemists like Lars Onsager a Nobel laureate and Odd Hassel recognized for his work in stereochemistry have left a lasting legacy Peter Waage and Cato Maximilian Guldberg formulated the law of mass action fundamental to chemical reaction theory In technology Victor Goldschmidt is regarded as a founder of modern geochemistry Hakon Wium Lie pioneered Cascading Style Sheets CSS a cornerstone of web design Pal Spilling contributed to the development of the Internet Protocol bringing the Internet to Europe Computer scientists Ole Johan Dahl and Kristen Nygaard developed Simula the first object oriented programming language earning them the prestigious Turing Award Norwegian academics have also advanced social sciences Arne Naess founded deep ecology while Johan Galtung established the field of peace studies Criminologists Nils Christie and Thomas Mathiesen sociologists Vilhelm Aubert Harriet Holter and Erik Gronseth and political scientist Stein Rokkan made pioneering contributions to their fields Economists Ragnar Frisch Trygve Haavelmo and Finn E Kydland were honored with Nobel Prizes for their work in econometrics and macroeconomics As of 2024 Norway is ranked 21st in the Global Innovation Index in 2024 The country has produced fourteen Nobel laureates across various disciplines Tourism In 2008 Norway ranked 17th in the World Economic Forum s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report Tourism in Norway contributed to 4 2 of the gross domestic product as reported in 2016 Every one in fifteen people throughout the country work in the tourism industry Tourism is seasonal in Norway with more than half of total tourists visiting between the months of May and August The ruin park of Tonsberg Fortress in Tonsberg The tower in the background was built in 1888 during the city s 1000th anniversary The ruin park and the tower are today popular tourist attractions The main attractions of Norway are the varied landscapes that extend across the Arctic Circle It is famous for its coastline and its mountains ski resorts lakes and woods Popular tourist destinations in Norway include Oslo Alesund Bergen Stavanger Trondheim Kristiansand Arendal Tromso Fredrikstad and Tonsberg Much of the nature of Norway remains unspoiled and thus attracts numerous hikers and skiers The fjords mountains and waterfalls in Western Norway and Northern Norway attract several hundred thousand foreign tourists each year In the cities cultural idiosyncrasies such as the Holmenkollen ski jump in Oslo and Saga Oseberg in Tonsberg attract many visitors as do landmarks such as Bryggen in Bergen Vigeland installation in Frogner Park in Oslo Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim Fredrikstad Fortress Gamlebyen in Fredrikstad and the ruin park of Tonsberg Fortress in Tonsberg DemographicsPopulation Annual population growth in Norway 1951 2016 in thousands Norway s population was 5 384 576 people in the third quarter of 2020 Norwegians are an ethnic North Germanic people The total fertility rate TFR in 2018 was estimated at 1 56 children born per woman below the replacement rate of 2 1 it remains considerably below the high of 4 69 children born per woman in 1877 In 2018 the median age of the Norwegian population was 39 3 years The Sami people are indigenous to the Far North and have traditionally inhabited central and northern parts of Norway and Sweden as well as areas in northern Finland and in Russia on the Kola Peninsula Another national minority are the Kven people descendants of Finnish speaking people who migrated to northern Norway from the 18th up to the 20th century From the 19th century up to the 1970s the Norwegian government tried to assimilate both the Sami and the Kven encouraging them to adopt the majority language culture and religion Because of this Norwegianization process many families of Sami or Kven ancestry now identify as ethnic Norwegian The national minorities of Norway are Kvens Jews Forest Finns and Romani people In 2017 the population of Norway ranked first on the World Happiness Report Migration Norwegians of two Norwegian parents either born abroad or in Norway as a percentage proportionally and nationally in Norway as of 2021 Particularly in the 19th century when economic conditions were difficult in Norway tens of thousands of people migrated to the United States and Canada where they could work and buy land in frontier areas Many went to the Midwest and Pacific Northwest In 2006 according to the US Census Bureau almost 4 7 million persons identified as Norwegian Americans which was larger than the population of ethnic Norwegians in Norway itself In the 2011 Canadian census 452 705 Canadian citizens identified as having Norwegian ancestry In 2024 approximately 931 081 individuals 16 8 of the population of the population of Norway were immigrants Of these 386 559 41 5 had a Western background Europe USA Canada Australia and New Zealand while 544 521 58 5 had a non Western background Asia Africa South and Central America 221 459 individuals 4 of the population were children of immigrants born in Norway The largest groups of immigrants have come from Poland Lithuania Sweden and Syria as well as Ukraine since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 Immigrants have settled in all Norwegian municipalities In 2013 the cities with the highest share of immigrants were Oslo 32 and Drammen 27 According to Reuters Oslo is the fastest growing city in Europe because of increased immigration In recent years immigration has accounted for most of Norway s population growth Religion Church of Norway Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim Separation of church and state happened significantly later in Norway than in most of Europe and remains incomplete In 2012 the Norwegian parliament voted to grant the Church of Norway greater autonomy a decision which was confirmed in a constitutional amendment on 21 May 2012 Until 2012 parliamentary officials were required to be members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway and at least half of all government ministers had to be a member of the state church As state church the Church of Norway s clergy were viewed as state employees and the central and regional church administrations were part of the state administration Members of the Royal family are required to be members of the Lutheran church On 1 January 2017 Norway made the church independent of the state but retained the Church s status as the people s church Most Norwegians are registered at baptism as members of the Church of Norway Many remain in the church to participate in the community and practices such as baptism confirmation marriage and burial rites About 70 6 of Norwegians were members of the Church of Norway in 2017 In 2017 about 53 6 of all newborns were baptised and about 57 9 of all 15 year olds were confirmed in the church Religious affiliation The template Pie chart is being considered for merging Official religious affiliation in Norway 31 December 2019 Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway 68 68 Catholic Church 3 08 Pentecostal congregations 0 76 Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox 0 53 Evangelical Lutheran Free Church 0 36 Other Christian denominations 2 21 Islam 3 41 Buddhism 0 40 Hinduism 0 21 Secular Humanism 1 85 Unaffiliated 18 32 Other Religion 0 09 According to the 2010 Eurobarometer Poll 22 of Norwegian citizens responded that they believe there is a God 44 responded that they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force and 29 responded that they don t believe there is any sort of spirit God or life force Five per cent gave no response In the early 1990s studies estimated that between 4 7 and 5 3 of Norwegians attended church on a weekly basis This figure has dropped to about 2 In 2010 10 of the population was religiously unaffiliated while another 9 were members of religious communities outside the Church of Norway Other Christian denominations total about 4 9 of the population the largest of which is the Roman Catholic Church with 83 000 members according to 2009 government statistics The Aftenposten Evening Post in October 2012 reported there were about 115 234 registered Roman Catholics in Norway the reporter estimated that the total number of people with a Roman Catholic background may be 170 000 200 000 or higher Others include Pentecostals 39 600 the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church of Norway 19 600 the United Methodist Church in Norway 11 000 Baptists 9 900 Eastern Orthodox 9 900 Brunstad Christian Church 6 800 Seventh day Adventists 5 100 Assyrians of the ACOE and the Chaldean Catholic Church and others The Swedish Finnish and Icelandic Lutheran congregations in Norway have about 27 500 members in total Other Christian denominations comprise less than 1 each including 4 000 members in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints and 12 000 Jehovah s Witnesses Among non Christian religions Islam is the largest with 166 861 registered members 2018 and probably fewer than 200 000 in total Other religions comprise less than 1 each including 819 adherents of Judaism Indian immigrants introduced Hinduism to Norway which in 2011 has slightly more than 5 900 adherents or 1 of non Lutheran Norwegians Sikhism has approximately 3 000 adherents with most living in Oslo which has two gurdwaras Drammen also has a sizeable population of Sikhs the largest gurdwara in north Europe was built in Lier There are eleven Buddhist organisations grouped under the Buddhistforbundet organisation with slightly over 14 000 members which make up 0 2 of the population The Bahaʼi Faith religion has slightly more than 1 000 adherents Around 1 7 84 500 of Norwegians belong to the secular Norwegian Humanist Association From 2006 to 2011 the fastest growing religious communities in Norway were Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Oriental Orthodox Christianity which grew in membership by 80 however their share of the total population remains small at 0 2 It is associated with the immigration from Eritrea and Ethiopia and to a lesser extent from Central and Eastern European and Middle Eastern countries Other fast growing religions were Roman Catholicism 78 7 Hinduism 59 6 Islam 48 1 and Buddhism 46 7 Indigenous religions As in other Scandinavian countries the ancient Norse followed a form of Germanic paganism known as Norse paganism By the end of the 11th century when Norway had been Christianised the indigenous Norse religion and practices were prohibited Remnants of the native religion and beliefs of Norway survive today in the form of names referential names of cities and locations the days of the week and everyday language Modern interest in the old ways has led to a revival of pagan religious practices in the form of Asatru The Norwegian Asatrufellesskapet Bifrost formed in 1996 in 2011 the fellowship had about 300 members Foreningen Forn Sed was formed in 1999 and has been recognised by the Norwegian government The Sami minority retained their shamanistic religion well into the 18th century when most converted to Christianity under the influence of Dano Norwegian Lutheran missionaries Today there is a renewed appreciation for the Sami traditional way of life which has led to a revival of Some Norwegian and Sami celebrities are reported to visit shamans for guidance Health Development of life expectancy in Norway Norway was awarded first place according to the UN s Human Development Index HDI for 2013 From the 1900s improvements in public health occurred as a result of development in several areas such as social and living conditions changes in disease and medical outbreaks establishment of the health care system and emphasis on public health matters Vaccination and increased treatment opportunities with antibiotics resulted in great improvements within the Norwegian population Improved hygiene and better nutrition were factors that contributed to improved health The disease pattern in Norway changed from communicable diseases to non communicable diseases and chronic diseases as cardiovascular disease Inequalities and social differences are still present in public health in Norway In 2013 the infant mortality rate was 2 5 per 1 000 live births among children under the age of one For girls it was 2 7 and for boys 2 3 which is the lowest infant mortality rate for boys ever recorded in Norway Education The main building of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim Higher education in Norway is offered by a range of seven universities five specialised colleges 25 university colleges as well as a range of private colleges Education follows the Bologna Process involving Bachelor 3 years Master 2 years and PhD 3 years degrees Acceptance is offered after finishing upper secondary school with general study competence Public education is virtually free for citizens from EU EEA and Switzerland but other nationalities need to pay tuition fees Higher education has historically been free for everyone regardless of nationality but tuition fees for all students from outside EU EEA and Switzerland was implemented in 2023 The academic year has two semesters from August to December and from January to June The ultimate responsibility for the education lies with the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research Languages The map shows the division of the Norwegian dialects within the main groups Norwegian in its two forms Bokmal and Nynorsk is the main national official language of all of Norway Sami a group which includes three separate languages is recognised as a minority language on the national level and is a co official language alongside Norwegian in the Sami administrative linguistic area Forvaltningsomradet for samisk sprak in Northern Norway Kven is a minority language and is a co official language alongside Norwegian in one municipality also in Northern Norway Norwegian Norwegian is a North Germanic language descended from Old Norse It is the main national language of Norway and is spoken throughout the country Norwegian is spoken natively by over 5 million people mainly in Norway but is generally understood throughout Scandinavia and to a lesser degree other Nordic countries It has two official written forms Bokmal and Nynorsk Both are used in public administration schools churches and media Bokmal is the written language used by a majority of about 85 Around 95 of the population speak Norwegian as their first or native language although many speak dialects that may differ significantly from the written languages Norwegian dialects are mutually intelligible although listeners with limited exposure to dialects other than their own may struggle with certain phrases and pronunciations Norwegian is closely related to and generally mutually intelligible with its neighbour Scandinavian languages Danish and Swedish and the three main Scandinavian languages thus form both a dialect continuum and a larger language community with about 25 million speakers All three languages are commonly employed in communication among inhabitants of the Scandinavian countries As a result of the co operation within the Nordic Council inhabitants of all Nordic countries always have the right to communicate with Norwegian authorities in Danish or Swedish as equal alternatives to Norwegian In the 19th and 20th centuries the Norwegian language was subject to strong political and cultural controversies This led to the development of Nynorsk in the 19th century and to the formation of alternative spelling standards in the 20th century Sami and Kven Several Uralic Sami languages which are related but not generally mutually intelligible are traditionally spoken by the Sami people primarily in Northern Norway and to much lesser extent in some parts of Central Norway Around 15 000 people have officially registered as Sami in the Sami census Samemanntallet but the number of people of recent Sami heritage is often estimated at 50 000 people The number of people who have some knowledge of Northern Sami including as a second language is estimated at 25 000 people but only a minority are native speakers The other Sami languages are heavily endangered and spoken by at most a few hundred people Most people of Sami heritage are today native speakers of Norwegian as a result of past assimilation policies Speakers have a right to be educated and to receive communication from the government in their own language in a special forvaltningsomrade administrative area for Sami languages The Kven minority historically spoke the Uralic Kven language considered a separate language in Norway but generally perceived as a Finnish dialect in Finland Today the majority of ethnic Kven have little or no knowledge of the language As Norway has ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages ECRML the Kven language together with Romani and Scandoromani language has become officially recognised minority languages Other languages Some supporters have also advocated making Norwegian Sign Language an official language The primary foreign language taught in Norwegian schools is English and the majority of the population especially those born after World War II is fairly fluent in English German French and Spanish are also commonly taught as second or more often third languages Russian Japanese Italian Latin and rarely Chinese Mandarin are offered in some schools mostly in the cities Traditionally English German and French were considered the main foreign languages in Norway These languages for instance were used on Norwegian passports until the 1990s and university students have a general right to use these languages when submitting their theses 90 of Norwegians are fluent in English CultureTraditional Norwegian farmer s costumes known as folkedrakt and modern costumes inspired by those costumes known as bunad are widely used on special occasions The Norwegian farm culture continues to play a role in contemporary Norwegian culture In the 19th century it inspired a strong romantic nationalistic movement which is still visible in the Norwegian language and media Norwegian culture expanded with nationalist efforts to achieve an independent identity in the areas of literature art and music This continues today in the performing arts and as a result of government support for exhibitions cultural projects and artwork Cinema Norwegian cinema has received international recognition The documentary film Kon Tiki 1950 won an Academy Award Another notable film is The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix an animated feature film directed by Ivo Caprino The film was released in 1975 and is the most widely seen Norwegian film of all time citation needed Nils Gaup s Pathfinder 1987 the story of the Sami was nominated for an Oscar Berit Nesheim s The Other Side of Sunday was nominated for an Oscar in 1997 Egil Ragnar Monn Iversen had so much influence in Norwegian culture that he received the nickname the Godfather Since the 1990s the film industry has expanded producing up to 20 feature films each year Particular successes were Kristin Lavransdatter based on a novel by a Nobel Prize winner The Telegraphist and Gurin with the Foxtail Knut Erik Jensen was among the more successful new directors together with Erik Skjoldbjaerg who is remembered for Insomnia Elling and the 2012 adaption of Kon Tiki was nominated for an Oscar for the best foreign language film The TV series Skam created by Julie Andem received a cult following and international recognition with many countries making their own adaptations Norwegian directors such as Joachim Ronning Anja Breien Espen Sandberg Liv Ullmann and Morten Tyldum have made internationally successful movies such as The Imitation Game Passengers Pirates of the Caribbean Salazar s Revenge and Maleficent Mistress of Evil as well as the TV series Jack Ryan and Marco Polo Composers include Thomas Bergersen who composed for Avatar The Dark Knight Harry Potter and Narnia Egil Monn Iversen has been one of the most influential modern composers in Norway having composed scores to over 100 Norwegian movies and TV series Norway has been used as filming location for Hollywood and other international productions including Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back 1980 Among the thousands of movies filmed in Norway include Die Another Day No Time to Die The Golden Compass Spies Like Us Mission Impossible Fallout and Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One Black Widow Tenet Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and Heroes of Telemark as well as the TV series Lilyhammer and Vikings Music Edvard Grieg composer and pianist The classical music of the romantic composers Edvard Grieg Rikard Nordraak and Johan Svendsen is internationally known as is the modern music of Arne Nordheim Norway s classical performers include Leif Ove Andsnes a pianist Truls Mork an outstanding cellist and the Wagnerian soprano Kirsten Flagstad citation needed The Norwegian ballad tradition known as the ballad wave Norwegian visebolgen started as a cultural movement in the 1960s greatly inspired by the Swedish ballad tradition and its modern representatives such as Olle Adolphson and Cornelis Vreeswijk Some of its prominent representatives are Ole Paus Lillebjorn Nilsen and Finn Kalvik The jazz scene is thriving Jan Garbarek Terje Rypdal Mari Boine Arild Andersen and Bugge Wesseltoft are internationally recognised while Paal Nilssen Love Supersilent Jaga Jazzist and Wibutee are becoming world class artists Norway has a strong folk music tradition which remains popular Among the most prominent folk musicians are Hardanger fiddlers Andrea Een Olav Jorgen Hegge and Annbjorg Lien and the vocalists Agnes Buen Garnas Kirsten Braten Berg and Odd Nordstoga Norwegian black metal a form of rock music in Norway has been an influence in world music since the late 20th century citation needed Since the 1990s Norway s export of black metal has been developed by such bands as Emperor Darkthrone Gorgoroth Mayhem Burzum and Immortal Bands such as Enslaved Kvelertak Dimmu Borgir and Satyricon have evolved the genre while still garnering worldwide fans Notable female solo artists from Norway include Susanne Sundfor Sigrid Astrid S Adelen Julie Bergan Maria Mena Tone Damli Margaret Berger Lene Marlin Christel Alsos Maria Arredondo Marion Raven and Marit Larsen both former members of the defunct pop rock band M2M Lene Nystrom vocalist of the Danish Eurodance group Aqua and Anni Frid Lyngstad vocalist of the Swedish pop group ABBA Norwegian songwriters and producers for international artists include Stargate Espen Lind Lene Marlin and Ina Wroldsen Norway has been a constant competitor in the Eurovision Song Contest participating 62 times Since its first participation in 1960 Norway has won the competition three times Bobbysocks s win in 1985 Secret Garden s win in 1995 and Alexander Rybak s win in 2009 Alexander Rybak s win in 2009 with his song Fairytale was a major win in Eurovision s history as it scored the biggest margin of victory ever The song was an international hit peaking at number one in several countries Norway enjoys many music festivals throughout the year all over the country Norway is the host of one of the world s biggest extreme sport festivals with music Ekstremsportveko a festival held annually in Voss Oslo is the host of many festivals such as Oyafestivalen and by Larm Oslo used to have a summer parade similar to the German Love Parade In 1992 the city of Oslo wanted to adopt the French music festival Fete de la Musique Fredrik Carl Stormer established the festival From its first year Musikkens Dag gathered thousands of people and artists in the streets of Oslo Musikkens Dag is now renamed Musikkfest Oslo citation needed Literature This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed February 2022 Learn how and when to remove this message Henrik Ibsen the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare The history of Norwegian literature starts with the pagan Eddaic poems and skaldic verse of the ninth and tenth centuries with poets such as Bragi Boddason and Eyvindr skaldaspillir The arrival of Christianity around the year 1000 brought Norway into contact with European medieval learning hagiography and history writing Merged with native oral tradition and Icelandic influence this influenced the literature written in the late 12th and early 13th centuries Major works of that period include Historia Norwegiae THidrekssaga and Konungs skuggsja Little Norwegian literature came out of the period of the Scandinavian Union and the subsequent Dano Norwegian union 1387 1814 with some notable exceptions such as Petter Dass and Ludvig Holberg During the union with Denmark the government imposed using only written Danish which decreased the writing of Norwegian literature Two major events precipitated a major resurgence in Norwegian literature in 1811 a Norwegian university was established in Christiania and in 1814 the Norwegians created their first Constitution Authors were inspired and became recognised first in Scandinavia and then worldwide among them were Henrik Wergeland Peter Christen Asbjornsen Jorgen Moe and Camilla Collett By the late 19th century in the Golden Age of Norwegian literature the so called Great Four emerged Henrik Ibsen Bjornstjerne Bjornson Alexander Kielland and Jonas Lie Bjornson s peasant novels such as Ein glad gut A Happy Boy and Synnove Solbakken are typical of the Norwegian romantic nationalism of their day Kielland s novels and short stories are mostly naturalistic Although an important contributor to early romantic nationalism especially Peer Gynt Henrik Ibsen is better known for his pioneering realistic dramas such as The Wild Duck and A Doll s House In the 20th century three Norwegian novelists were awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature Bjornstjerne Bjornson in 1903 Knut Hamsun for the book Markens grode Growth of the Soil in 1920 and Sigrid Undset known for Kristin Lavransdatter in 1928 Architecture The Urnes Stave Church has been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site Dalen Hotel in Telemark built in Dragon Style a style of design architecture that originated during the Norwegian romantic nationalism With expansive forests Norway has long had a tradition of building in wood Many of today s most interesting new buildings are made of wood reflecting the strong appeal that this material continues to hold for Norwegian designers and builders With Norway s conversion to Christianity churches were built Stonework architecture was introduced from Europe for the most important structures beginning with the construction of Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim In the early Middle Ages wooden stave churches were constructed throughout Norway Some of them have survived they represent Norway s most unusual contribution to architectural history Urnes Stave Church in inner Sognefjord is on UNESCO s World Heritage List Another notable example of wooden architecture is the buildings at Bryggen Wharf in Bergen also on the list for World Cultural Heritage sites consisting of a row of tall narrow wooden structures along the quayside In the 17th century under the Danish monarchy cities and villages such as Kongsberg and Roros were established The city Kongsberg had a church built in the Baroque style Traditional wooden buildings that were constructed in Roros have survived After Norway s union with Denmark was dissolved in 1814 Oslo became the capital The architect Christian H Grosch designed the earliest parts of the University of Oslo the Oslo Stock Exchange and many other buildings and churches constructed in that early national period At the beginning of the 20th century the city of Alesund was rebuilt in the Art Nouveau style influenced by styles of France The 1930s when functionalism dominated became a strong period for Norwegian architecture It is only since the late 20th century that Norwegian architects have achieved international renown One of the most striking modern buildings in Norway is the Sami Parliament in Karasjohka designed by and Its debating chamber in timber is an abstract version of a lavvo the traditional tent used by the nomadic Sami people Art The Scream by Edvard Munch 1893 For an extended period the Norwegian art scene was dominated by artwork from Germany and Holland as well as by the influence of Copenhagen It was in the 19th century that a truly Norwegian era began first with portraits later with impressive landscapes Johan Christian Dahl originally from the Dresden school eventually returned to paint the landscapes of western Norway defining Norwegian painting for the first time Norway s newly found independence from Denmark encouraged painters to develop their Norwegian identity especially with landscape painting by artists such as Kitty Kielland a female painter who studied under Hans Gude and Harriet Backer another pioneer among female artists influenced by impressionism Frits Thaulow an impressionist was influenced by the art scene in Paris as was Christian Krohg a realist painter famous for his paintings of prostitutes Of particular note is Edvard Munch a symbolist expressionist painter who became world famous for The Scream which is said to represent the anxiety of modern man Other notable works from Munch includes The Sick Child Madonna and Puberty Other artists of note include Harald Sohlberg a neo romantic painter remembered for his paintings of Roros and Odd Nerdrum a figurative painter who maintains that his work is not art but kitsch Cuisine Norway s culinary traditions show the influence of long seafaring and farming traditions with salmon fresh and cured herring pickled or marinated trout codfish and other seafood balanced by cheeses such as brunost Jarlsberg cheese and gamalost dairy products and breads predominantly dark darker Lefse is a Norwegian potato flatbread usually topped with large amounts of butter and sugar most commonly eaten around Christmas Traditional Norwegian dishes include lutefisk smalahove pinnekjott raspeball and farikal A Norwegian speciality is rakefisk which is fermented trout consumed with thin flatbread and sour cream The most popular pastry is vaffel Sports Skier Marit Bjorgen from Norway is the most successful Winter Olympian of all time with 15 medals Sports are a central part of Norwegian culture and popular sports include cross country skiing ski jumping mountaineering hiking association football handball biathlon speed skating and to a lesser degree ice hockey Norway is known internationally for its role in the development of modern winter sports particularly skiing From the 19th century Norway also became a premier mountaineering destination with books such as William Cecil Slingsby s Norway the Northern Playground contributing to the country s popularity among early mountain climbers Association football is the most popular sport in Norway in terms of active membership In 2014 2015 polling football ranked far behind biathlon and cross country skiing in terms of popularity as spectator sports Ice hockey is the biggest indoor sport The women s handball national team has won several titles including two Summer Olympics championships 2008 2012 three World Championships 1999 2011 2015 and six European Championship 1998 2004 2006 2008 2010 2014 In association football the women s national team has won the FIFA Women s World Cup in 1995 and the Olympic Football Tournament in 2000 The women s team also has two UEFA European Women s Championship titles 1987 1993 The men s national football team has participated three times in the FIFA World Cup 1938 1994 and 1998 and once in the European Championship 2000 The highest FIFA ranking Norway has achieved is second a position it has held twice in 1993 and in 1995 Norwegian players in the National Football League include Halvor Hagen Bill Irgens Leif Olve Dolonen Larsen Mike Mock and Jan Stenerud Bandy is a traditional sport in Norway and the country is one of the four founders of Federation of International Bandy In terms of licensed athletes it is the second biggest winter sport in the world As of January 2018 the men s national team has captured one silver and one bronze while the women s national team has managed five bronzes at the World Championships Norway first participated at the Olympic Games in 1900 and has sent athletes to compete in every Games since then except for the sparsely attended 1904 Games and the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow when they participated in the American led boycott Norway leads the overall medal tables at the Winter Olympic Games by a considerable margin Norway has hosted the Games on two occasions 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer It also hosted the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics in Lillehammer making Norway the first country to host both Winter regular and Youth Olympics Norway featured a women s national team in beach volleyball that competed at the 2018 2020 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup Chess has gained huge popularity in Norway Magnus Carlsen a Norwegian was the world chess champion between 2013 and 2023 See alsoNorway portalOutline of NorwayNotesBokmal Norge Nynorsk Noreg Names in the official and recognised languages Bokmal Norge ˈnɔ rɡe Nynorsk official names in minority languages Northern Sami Norga Lule Sami Vuodna Southern Sami Noorje Kven Norja Written Bokmal and Nynorsk Northern Lule and Southern Including indigenous group Sami and minority groups Jewish Traveller Forest Finn Romani and Kven Until the 2012 constitutional amendment the Evangelical Lutheran religion was the public religion of the State The Spitsbergen Treaty also known as the Svalbard Treaty of 9 February 1920 recognises Norway s full and absolute sovereignty over the arctic 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