Norway

Norway, formally known as the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic nation located in Northern Europe on the Scandinavian Peninsula, with a population of 5,576,660 as of 2024. Part of the Kingdom of Norway are also the isolated Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard. Not a part of the Kingdom, Bouvet Island, in the Subantarctic is a dependency; Norway also claims the Antarctic territory of Peter I Island and Queen Maud Land. Oslo is both the capital and biggest city in Norway.

Norway covers 385,207 square kilometers (148,729 square miles overall). Finland and Russia border the nation to the northeast; its long eastern border is that of Sweden. Norway boasts a long coastline running across the Barents Sea, the North Atlantic Ocean, and the Skagerrak strait. Currently King of Norway is Harald V of the House of Glücksburg. Since 2021 Jonas Gahr Støre has served Norway as prime minister.

Norway allocates governmental authority among the parliament, the cabinet, and the supreme court, as decided by the 1814 constitution, as a unitary state with a constitutional monarchy. Established in 872 as a confluence of small kingdoms, Norway’s united kingdom has endured continuously for 1,151–1,152 years. Norway was a personal union with Sweden from 1814 to 1905; it was part of Denmark-Norway from 1537 to 1814. Norway remained neutral in the First World War and until April 1940, when it was invaded and taken over by Nazi Germany until the end of the war.

On two levels—administrative and political— Norway boasts counties and municipalities as divisions. Through the Sámi Parliament and the Finnmark Act, the Sámi people enjoy some degree of self-determination and power over ancestral areas. Norway keeps strong relationships with the United States and the European Union. A founding member of the United Nations, NATO, the European Free Trade Association, the Council of Europe, the Antarctic Treaty, the Nordic Council, Norway is also a part of the European Economic Area, the WTO, and the OECD; and a part of the Schengen Area. Danish and Swedish as well as the Norwegian dialects are mutually intelligible.

Norway upholds the Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a thorough social security system; its principles are anchored on egalitarian ideas. Having great quantities of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, and fresh water, the Norwegian state owns significant interests in important industrial sectors. About 1⁄4 of the GDP of the nation comes from the petroleum sector. Apart from the Middle East, Norway ranks as the top producer of oil and natural gas per capita worldwide. On the World Bank’s and IMF’s rankings, the nation boasts fourth- and eighth-highest per-capita income worldwide. Comprising US$1.3 trillion, it has the biggest sovereign wealth fund in the world.

With a present growth rate of 0.84% as of 2024, Norway’s population has been progressively rising over the years. Both net migration and natural increase help to explain this development. With 15 persons per square kilometer, the nation has a rather low population density that reflects its huge and varied terrain. With 85.5% of its inhabitants living in cities, Norway is somewhat highly urban. Oslo, the capital and largest city, is home to about 580,000 inhabitants within its city borders, with the metropolitan area hosting over a million individuals.

The rather high median age of 39.7 years of Norway’s demographic profile reflects an aging population typical of many developed nations. At 1.41 children per woman, the fertility rate falls below the replacement threshold but is rather normal for many European countries. For Norway’s social and economic policy in the next years, this demographic shift offers possibilities as well as difficulties.

Though most Norwegians live in the southern region of the nation, the population is not evenly dispersed. Other big cities that have important influence on Norway’s economy and cultural scene are Bergen, Trondheim, and Stavanger. Although less inhabited, the northern areas are vital for businesses including fishing and house indigenous Sámi people.