Norway

Kingdom of Norway

Flag Coat of arms


Motto: Royal: Alt for Norge
("All for Norway")
1814 Eidsvoll oath: Enig og tro til Dovre faller
("United and loyal until the mountains of Dovre crumble")
Anthem: Ja, vi elsker dette landet
("Yes, we love this country")
Royal anthem: Kongesangen
("Song of the King")

Capital
(and largest city) Oslo
59°56′N 10°41′E / 59.933°N 10.683°E / 59.933; 10.683
Official language(s) Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk)¹
Ethnic groups  88.6% Norwegian and Sami ²
11.4% other (2010)
Demonym Norwegian
Government Constitutional monarchy
 -  King Harald V
 -  Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg (AP)
 -  President of the Storting Dag Terje Andersen (AP)
 -  Chief Justice Tore Schei
 -  Current coalition Red-Green Coalition
Legislature The Storting
Establishment
 -  Unification 872 
 -  Constitution 17 May 1814 
 -  Dissolution of union with Sweden declared 7 June 1905 
 -  Start and end of Nazi German occupation 9 April 1940
8 May 1945 
Area
 -  Total 385,252 km² (61st³)
148,746 sq mi 
 -  Water (%) 7.0
Population
 -  2010 estimate 4,901,000 (115th)
 -  2000 census 4,478,497 
 -  Density 12.5/km² (211th)
31/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2010 estimate
 -  Total $259.054 billion 
 -  Per capita $52,964.280 
GDP (nominal) 2010 estimate
 -  Total $433.304 billion 
 -  Per capita $88,590.167 
Gini (2000) 25.8 (low) (5th)
HDI (2007) ▲ 0.971 (very high) (1st)
Currency Norwegian krone (NOK)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 -  Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Date formats dd.mm.yyyy
Drives on the right
Internet TLD .no⁴
Calling code 47
¹ Northern Sami is used in the municipal administration of six municipalities, Lule Sami in one, Finnish/Kven in one, and Southern Sami in one.
² Sami population is not clearly defined, but is believed to amount from 60,000 to 100,000 persons, or 1.2% to 2% of the population of Norway.
³ Includes Svalbard and Jan Mayen.
⁴ Two more TLDs have been assigned, but to date not used: .sj for Svalbard and Jan Mayen; .bv for Bouvet Island.
⁵ This percentage is for the mainland and also includes glaciers
⁶ Statistics Norway estimation (5 September 2006) using variant MMMM from Table 10

Norway (English pronunciation: ⁱ /ˈnɔrweɪ/; Norwegian: Norge (Bokmål) or Noreg (Nynorsk)), officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres (148,747 sq mi) and a population of about 4.8 million. It is one of the most sparsely populated countries in Europe. The majority of the country shares a border to the east with Sweden; its northernmost region is bordered by Finland to the south and Russia to the east; and Denmark lies south of its southern tip across the Skagerrak Strait. The capital city of Norway is Oslo. Norway's extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea, is home to its famous fjords.

After World War II, Norway experienced rapid economic growth, with the first two decades due to the Norwegian shipping and merchant marine and domestic industrialization, and from the early 1970s, a result of exploiting large oil and natural gas deposits that had been discovered in the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea. Today, Norway ranks as the third wealthiest country in the world in monetary value, with the largest capital reserve per capita of any nation. Norway is the world’s fifth largest oil exporter, and the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of its Gross domestic product. Following the ongoing financial crisis of 2007–2010, bankers have deemed the Norwegian krone to be one of the most solid currencies in the world.

Norway has rich resources of oil, natural gas, hydroelectric power, forests, and minerals, and was the second largest exporter of seafood (in value, after the People's Republic of China) in 2006. Other major industries include shipping, food processing, shipbuilding, the metal industry, chemicals, mining, fishing, and the pulp and paper products from forests. Norway maintains a Scandinavian welfare model with universal health-care, subsidized higher education, and a comprehensive social security system. Norway was ranked highest of all countries in human development from 2001 to 2007, and then again in 2009. It was also rated the most peaceful country in the world in a 2007 survey by Global Peace Index.

Norway is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with King Harald V as its head of state and Jens Stoltenberg as its prime minister. It is a unitary state with administrative subdivisions on two levels known as counties (fylker) and municipalities (kommuner). The Sámi people have a certain amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament and the Finnmark Act. Although having rejected European Union membership in two referendums, Norway maintains close ties with the union and its member countries, as well as with the United States. Norway remains one of the biggest financial contributors to the United Nations, and participates with UN forces in international missions, notably in Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Sudan. Norway is a founding member of the United Nations, NATO, the Council of Europe, and the Nordic Council, and is a member of the European Economic Area, the WTO, and the OECD.

Etymology

Norway is officially called Kongeriket Norge (The Kingdom of Norway) in the Bokmål written norm, and Kongeriket Noreg in the Nynorsk written norm.

The usual Old Norse form of Norway is Noregr, and the usual mediæval Latin form Nor(th)vegia, though the earliest known written occurrence of the name is English (in the late-ninth-century account of the travels of Ohthere of Hålogaland), in the form norðweg. Although some mediæval texts attribute the name to a mythical King Nórr, it is conventionally derived today from Old Norse *norðvegr, meaning "the northern route" (the way northwards). Norse also had the terms austrvegr "the lands in the east" (Russia and Asia), vestrvegr "the lands in the west" (the British Isles) and suðrvegr "the lands in the south" (the Mediterranean). There is, however, some possibility that mediæval forms in norð-, north- are folk-etymologizations and that the name has other origins.

History

Prehistory