Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Norway Almanac
Official Name:
Kongeriket Norge—“The Kingdom of Norway”—or
simply Norge (Norway).
Population:
Norway's 4.7 million people (about 39 per square mile) are
mainly of Nordic and Germanic heritage, with a small population of
indigenous Sami people in the north. The rapidly growing immigrant
population is primarily from Pakistan, Sweden, Denmark, Iraq, Viet-
nam, and Somalia. Most Norwegians speak one of two official forms
of Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk), and the majority speak English
as a second language. While church attendance is way down, the vast
majority of Norwegian Christians consider themselves Lutheran.
Latitude and Longitude:
62°N and 10°E, similar latitude to Canada's
Northwest Territories.
Area:
148,900 square miles, slightly larger than Montana.
Geography:
Sharing the Scandinavian Peninsula with Sweden, Norway
also has short northern borders with Finland and Russia. Its
51,575-mile coastline extends from the Barents Sea in the Arctic
Ocean to the Norwegian Sea and North Sea in the North Atlantic.
Shaped by glaciers, Norway has a rugged landscape of mountains,
plateaus, and deep fjords. In the part of Norway that extends north of
the Arctic Circle, the sun never sets at the height of summer, and never
comes up in the deep of winter.
Biggest Cities:
Norway's capital city, Oslo, has a population of 575,000;
more than a million live in its metropolitan area.
Economy:
The Norwegian economy grows around 4 percent each year,
contributing to a healthy $269 billion Gross Domestic Product and a
per capita GDP of $54,200. Its primary export is oil—Norway ranks
behind only Saudi Arabia and Russia in the amount of oil expor-
ted, making it one of the world's richest countries. Thanks to this oil
