Settlement patterns
Østlandet contains more than half of Norway’s population, most of whom live in the metropolitan area of the national capital, Oslo, and in the many industrial cities and urban agglomerations on both sides of Oslo Fjord. With the lion’s share of the national wealth in mining and manufacturing and the concentration of economic activity around Oslo Fjord, Østlandet has the highest average income per household of Norway’s traditional regions.
Harbour and castle in Oslo.© Digital Vision/Getty Images
Norway has never had the agricultural villages that are common elsewhere in Europe. The more densely populated areas of the country have grown up around crossroads of transportation, from which people have moved to the cities and suburbs. Thus, there is actually little borderline between the rural and urban populations. For many years Oslo has attracted settlers from throughout the country, becoming a national melting pot surrounded by the most important agricultural and industrial districts of Norway. The coastline facing Denmark across the Skagerrak passage, stretching from Oslo Fjord to the southern tip of Norway, is densely populated and contains many small towns, coastal villages, and small farms. Centred on the city of Kristiansand, this area is sometimes set apart as a fifth region: southern Norway, or Sørlandet. In Vestlandet the industrial city of Stavanger has attracted large numbers of settlers and has continued to expand as Norway’s oil capital. Bergen, the capital of Vestlandet and Norway’s largest city from the Hanseatic period to the mid-19th century, is a centre for fish exports. Trondheim, the third largest city in Norway and for long periods the national capital, dominates Trøndelag. Tromsø is the capital of Nord-Norge and is a hub for various Arctic activities, including fishing, sealing, and petroleum exploration.
Bergen, Nor., at twilight.© Digital Vision/Getty Images
Demographic trends
Largely as a result of a significant increase in the proportion of the population over age 80, the population of Norway continued to grow slowly but steadily at the end of the 20th century. The birth rate fell slightly during the 1990s—to about half the world’s average—but so did the death rate, as life expectancy (about 75 years for men and about 81 years for women) was among the highest in Europe.
Norway: Age breakdownEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Migration from rural to urban areas slowed in the 1980s. The movement away from Nord-Norge, however, increased. At the beginning of the 21st century, about four-fifths of the population lived in towns and urban areas.
Norway: Urban-ruralEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
In the 2010s Norway’s small but varied population of foreign nationals (most of whom lived in urban areas) increased significantly, primarily as a result of the influx of migrants seeking to escape turmoil in Africa and the Middle East (especially the Syrian Civil War). In the late 20th century, more than half of foreign nationals in Norway had come from other European countries—primarily Denmark, Sweden, and the United Kingdom—and people from those countries, especially Sweden, continued to immigrate to Norway in the 21st century. The strict policy concerning immigrants and refugees that Norway had practiced since the 1960s became even more stringent in the 2010s, in response to the spike in arrivals of those seeking refugee status. Emigration—of such great importance in Norway in the 19th and early 20th centuries—ceased to be of any significance, although in most years there is a small net out-migration of Norwegian nationals. Economy
The Norwegian economy is dependent largely on the fortunes of its important petroleum industry. Thus, it experienced a decline in the late 1980s as oil prices fell, but by the late 1990s it had rebounded strongly, benefiting from increased production and higher prices. In an effort to reduce economic downturns caused by drops in oil prices, the government in 1990 established the Government Petroleum Fund (renamed the Government Pension Fund Global in 2006), into which budget surpluses were deposited for investment overseas. Norway reversed its negative balance of payments, and the growth of its gross national product (GNP)—which had slowed during the 1980s—accelerated. By the late 1990s Norway’s per capita GNP was the highest in Scandinavia and among the highest in the world. The Norwegian economy remained robust into the early 21st century, and Norway fared much better than many other industrialized countries during the international financial and economic crisis that began in 2008. Nevertheless, foreign demand for non-petroleum-related Norwegian products weakened during that period, and, though not a participant in the single European currency, Norway was not immune to the pressures of the euro-zone debt crisis.
About one-fourth of Norway’s commodity imports are food and consumer goods (including motor vehicles); the rest consists of raw materials, fuels, and capital goods. The rate of reinvestment has been high in Norway for a number of years. This is reflected in the relatively steady employment in the building and construction industry. Rapid growth, however, has been registered in commercial and service occupations, as is the case in most countries with a high standard of living.
Fewer than 1 percent of the private businesses and industrial companies in Norway have more than 100 employees. Nonetheless, they account for more than two-fifths of the private industrial labour force. The smaller companies are usually family-owned, whereas most of the larger ones are joint-stock companies. Only a few larger concerns are state-owned, most notably Statoil, the state-owned petroleum industry, as well as the railways and the postal service. The state also has large ownership stakes in hydropower stations and electricity plants. Agriculture, forestry, and fishing
By the beginning of the 21st century, the number of farms of at least 1.25 acres (0.5 hectare) had decreased by more than half of the 1950 total of more than 200,000. Much of the abandoned acreage was absorbed into the remaining farms. Nevertheless, many farms remain small; more than half have more than 25 acres (10 hectares) of farmland, while less than one-tenth have more than 125 acres (50 hectares). Labour for hire is scarce, and most of the work must be done by farmer-owners themselves. Extensive mechanization and fertilization, however, have kept total farm output on the increase. Livestock is the major agricultural product, and, although the country is more than self-sufficient in animal products, it remains dependent on imports for cereal crops.
The agricultural core of the Østlandet region lies in the lowlands extending eastward and southward to the Swedish border. With suitable precipitation during the growing season, the highest July temperatures in Norway, a soil consisting of relatively rich marine deposits, and large nearby markets, the land is intensively cultivated. There are even a number of large, heavily mechanized farms producing cereal grains, which generally do not grow well in such latitudes. Most of the farms, however, are small. To supplement their income from domestic animals, vegetables, and fruits, a number of farmers pursue forestry as a secondary occupation; most of the forests are part of farm acreages.
In western Norway, Karm Island comprises a notably rich agricultural area. The inland fjord areas of Hardanger are more sheltered, with rich fruit districts specializing in apples and cherries. Trøndelag is Norway’s most typical agricultural region, with flat, fertile land around the wide Trondheim Fjord (Trondheimsfjorden) and the city of Trondheim.