Kingdom of Norway

National name: Kongeriket Norge

Sovereign: King Harald V (1991)

Prime Minister: Jens Stoltenberg (2005)

Land area: 118,865 sq mi (307,860 sq km); total area: 125,182 sq mi (324,220 sq km)

Population (2006 est.): 4,610,820 (growth rate: 0.4%); birth rate: 11.5/1000; infant mortality rate: 3.7/1000; life expectancy: 79.5; density per sq mi: 39

Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Oslo, 791,500

Other large cities: Bergen, 211,200; Stavanger, 168,600; Trondheim, 144,000

Monetary unit: Norwegian krone

Languages: Bokmål Norwegian, Nynorsk Norwegian (both official); small Sami- and Finnish-speaking minorities (Sami is official in six municipalities)

Ethnicity/race: Norwegian, Sami 20,000

Religions: Evangelical Lutheran 86% (state church), Pentecostal 1%, Roman Catholic 1%, other Christian 2% (2004)

Literacy rate: 100% (2003 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005 est.): $194.7 billion; per capita $42,400. Real growth rate: 3.7%. Inflation: 2.1%. Unemployment: 4.2%. Arable land: 3%. Agriculture: barley, wheat, potatoes; pork, beef, veal, milk; fish. Labor force: 2.4 million; services 74%, industry 22%, agriculture, forestry, and fishing 4% (1995). Industries: petroleum and gas, food processing, shipbuilding, pulp and paper products, metals, chemicals, timber, mining, textiles, fishing. Natural resources: petroleum, copper, natural gas, pyrites, nickel, iron ore, zinc, lead, fish, timber, hydropower. Exports: $111.2 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): petroleum and petroleum products, machinery and equipment, metals, chemicals, ships, fish. Imports: $58.12 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery and equipment, chemicals, metals, foodstuffs. Major trading partners: UK, Germany, Netherlands, France, U.S., Sweden, Denmark, China, Finland (2004).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 2.735 million (1998); mobile cellular: 2,080,408 (1998). Radio broadcast stations: AM 5, FM at least 650, shortwave 1 (1998). Radios: 4.03 million (1997). Television broadcast stations: 360 (plus 2,729 repeaters) (1995). Televisions: 2.03 million (1997). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 13 (2000). Internet users: 2.68 million (2002).

Transportation: Railways: total: 4,178 km (2002). Highways: total: 91,454 km; paved: 69,505 km (including 143 km of expressways); unpaved: 21,949 km (2000). Waterways: 1,577 km along west coast; navigable by 2.4 m draft vessels maximum. Ports and harbors: Bergen, Drammen, Floro, Hammerfest, Harstad, Haugesund, Kristiansand, Larvik, Narvik, Oslo, Porsgrunn, Stavanger, Tromso, Trondheim. Airports: 102 (2002).

International disputes: Norway asserts a territorial claim in Antarctica (Queen Maud Land and its continental shelf); despite recent discussions, Russia and Norway continue to dispute their maritime limits in the Barents Sea and Russia's fishing rights beyond Svalbard's territorial limits within the Svalbard Treaty zone.


 

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