Demography of Norway

Ethnicity

Ethnically, the residents of Norway are predominantly ethnic Norwegians who are of North Germanic / Nordic descent, although there are communities of the Scandanivian native people Sami who settled the area around 8,000 years ago, probably from continental Europe through the Norwegian coast and through Finland along the inland glaciers. The national minorities of Norway include Scandinavian Romani, Roma (“Gypsy”), Jews, and Kvener, as well as a small Finnish community. In recent years, Norway has become home to increasing numbers of immigrants, foreign workers, and asylum-seekers from various parts of the world (mostly from Europe and Asia). Norway had a steady influx of immigrants from Pakistan,Eastern Europe (i.e. Russians from Russia), Southern Europe (i.e. Greeks, Albanians or Kosovars, and former Yugoslavians), and Middle East countries (Arabs, especially Iraqis and Palestinians), as well as Turks. After ten Eastern European countries joined the EU in 2004, there has also been an influx of workers from Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Norway

The Lutheran Church of Norway is the state church and the vast majority remain at least nominal members. Other religions do, however, enjoy religious freedom and have prospered with immigration in recent years, particularly Islam and Roman Catholicism. Saint Olaf is the patron saint of Norway. He is regarded by some as the eternal king and has a reputation and place in history unchallenged by any other Norwegian King for the last 1000 years. Official statistics (2003): Lutheran 86% (state church), other Christian 4.5% (mainly Protestant [3.5%] and Roman Catholic) [1%]), Islam 2%, other religions (Buddhism, Sikhism, Hinduism and Judaism) 1%, Human Ethical 1.5%, none and unknown 5%. The Eurometer poll on religious belief in Norway finds 9-10% of Norwegians in the poll survey are atheist or have no religion.

Age and sex distribution

Age structure: (2005 est.)
0-14 years: 19.7% (male 466, 243; female 443,075)
15-64 years: 65.6% (male 1,234,384; female 1,486,887)
65 years and over: 14.7% (male 285,389; female 392,331) Sex ratio: (2004 est.)
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.72 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female

Population growth

Demographics of Norway, 1900-2000: Total population, fertility, mortality, and migration. Source: Norwegian Bureau of Statistics

Population: 4,681,100 (January 1st 2007)
Population growth rate: 0.88% (in 2006)

Births and deaths

Total fertility rate: 1.90 children born/woman (2006)
TFR for Norwegian residents by country of birth in 2004: Norway (1.8), Somalia (4.4), Iraq (4.3), Morocco (3.6), Pakistan (3.2), Turkey (2.3), Iran (1.6) Vietnam (2.0, Sri Lanka (2.7), India (1.8) and Bosnia (1.7) [1] Infant mortality rate: (2005)
total: 3.1 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 3.3 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 2.9 deaths/1,000 live births Life expectancy at birth: (2005)
total population: 79.25 years
male: 77.7 years
female: 82.5 years

Migration

Net migration rate: 1.74 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Language

Main article: Norwegian language Official languages: Norwegian (the written standards Bokmål and Nynorsk).
Five Finno-Ugric languages - Finnish, South Sami, Lule Sami, North Sami and the Kven language, are additional official languages of some municipalities. Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 100%
male: NA%
female: NA%

See also

• Norway
• Norsk Wikipedia (Nynorsk)
• Norsk Wikipedia (Bokmål)
• Demographics of Svalbard