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largest pension fund (expected to reach US$1 trillion by 2019). Few countries have pre-
pared better for the day when the oil runs out.
Even so, there are growing concerns that Norway's oil boom could be coming to an end
decades earlier than expected. New oil discoveries are increasingly rare, unemployment
has been creeping up in recent years and analysts are beginning to warn that Norway's eco-
nomy is in urgent need of diversification - oil and natural gas accounts for a third of gov-
ernment revenues and more than half of export revenues. If the oil and natural gas were to
dry up tomorrow - which is, of course, unlikely - Norway would have a seriously lopsided
economy with some of the highest wages and shortest working hours (less than 33 hours a
week on average) in the world.
While most countries in the world would give anything to have to confront such prob-
lems, and Norway continues to face the future from a position of formidable strength, the
fact that Norwegians are having this conversation at all suggests that the country's eco-
nomic miracle may have finally peaked.
