Norway

Article Outline

Introduction; Land and Resources; People and Society; Economy; Government; History

III

People and Society

The population of Norway is 4,627,926 (2007 estimate). The Norwegians are a remarkably homogenous people of Germanic origin. Apart from several thousand Saami and people of Finnish origin in the northern part of Norway, the country has no large minority groups. Norway is home to small numbers of Americans, Britons, Chileans, Danes, Iranians, Pakistanis, Swedes, and Vietnamese, among other groups.

Norway has the lowest population density in continental Europe, with 15 persons per sq km (39 per sq mi). Moreover, the distribution of the population is extremely uneven. About half of the country’s population lives in the southeast, and more than three-quarters of all Norwegians live within about 16 km (about 10 mi) of the sea. Some 80 percent of Norway’s population lives in urban areas. Almost all important settlements are situated on, or within easy reach of, the coastline, which offers good transportation links and a moderate climate. The high-lying interior regions are largely uninhabited, apart from seasonal occupation by hunters and herders. In recent decades the construction of new and improved road, rail, and air transport facilities has opened some mountain areas to permanent habitation.

Norway’s population is growing very slowly, with an annual rate of increase of only 0.36 percent in 2007. The birth rate has remained low and fairly steady since 1945, and death rates have declined due to improved health measures and rising living standards. Today, life expectancy in Norway is among the highest in the world: 83 years for women and 77 years for men.

Principal Cities

Oslo is the nation’s capital and the principal port and industrial center. It is also the largest city, with an estimated population of 536,209 in 2005 estimate. About one-fourth of the total population of Norway lives in the vicinity of Oslo. Modern architecture dominates the sprawling city, which covers hundreds of square kilometers and is one of the world’s largest cities in area. Oslo is home to the Storting, the national parliament; many cultural institutions, including the University of Oslo; the Munch Museum, with paintings by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch; and the Kon-Tiki Museum, with exhibits showcasing the voyages of the Norwegian anthropologist and explorer Thor Heyerdahl.

Language

Despite Norway’s ethnic homogeneity, two distinct forms of the Norwegian language are spoken in the country. Both forms of the language are officially recognized as equal, and both must be offered in schools. The majority language, Bokmål (“book language”), is spoken by more than 80 percent of the population and taught to about 83 percent of all children in schools. Bokmål is a Norwegian form of the Danish language, which was used by the administrative and educated elite while Norway was under Danish rule (1397-1814). Nynorsk (New Norse) is taught to about 17 percent of children in schools, mainly in rural western areas. It was developed in the 19th century, as part of a Norwegian nationalist revival, from a synthesis of rural dialects and medieval Old Norse. Efforts to merge Bokmål and Nynorsk into a common tongue called Samnorsk (Common Norwegian) have made little progress to date. Finno-Ugric Saami languages are spoken by the Saami people, many of whom still inhabit their traditional lands in the far north.

Religion

The Evangelical Lutheran Church (see Lutheranism) is the national church of Norway. About 94 percent of the population belongs to the church, although many are nonpracticing members. The church is supported by the state, and the clergy is nominated by the king. Salaries and pensions of the clergy are set by law and paid by the government. Complete religious freedom is guaranteed by law, however. Other churches, mostly Pentecostal and other Protestant congregations and Roman Catholic, represent most of the non-Lutheran population. Norway is also home to a small Muslim population (see Islam).

Education

Compulsory education was established in Norway in the late 19th century. Educational reforms implemented in the 1960s and 1970s have reduced regional disparities and improved the quality of rural schools by providing more hours of instruction and a broader selection of courses. Norway has virtually no illiteracy.

Education is compulsory for children between the ages of 6 and 16 and is provided by the state free of cost. For their elementary education, children attend a six-year lower school, which prescribes the same curriculum for all students. Students then attend a three-year secondary school, which offers many elective courses. At age 16, pupils who are qualified may attend a videregående skole (high school), where a three-year course of study prepares them for a difficult matriculation examination for the universities or for a vocational or technical occupation. Norway also has a system of folk high schools, or rural boarding schools, which provide courses in a wide variety of subjects for young adults who have completed their compulsory studies.

Norway has four public universities and ten colleges of university standing. The principal university is the University of Oslo (founded 1811), which also hosts the Nobel peace prize ceremony in the presence of the king of Norway (Nobel Prizes); the other universities are the University of Bergen (1948), the University of Tromsø (1968), and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim (1968). All colleges and universities are state supported.

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People and Society

Principal Cities

Language

Religion

Education