Barents Sea

Norway #1 - General information about Norway

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• published: 27 May 2017
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The Kingdom of Norway (Kongeriket Norge – Norwegian Bokmål language, Kongeriket Noreg – Norwegian Nynorsk language, Norgga gonagasriika – Northern Sami language) is a sovereign and unitary monarchy. Geography Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres. The territory of Norway comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula plus the island Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard. Norway has some 50,000 islands off the extremely indented coastline. Norway is surrounded by North Sea in the south-west, Nordic Sea in the west and Barents Sea in the north-east. The total length of Norway’s land borders is 2542 km. Norway shares borders with Sweden (1619 km), Finland (727 km) and Russia (196 km). The highest point in Norway is Galdhøpiggen – 2469 m. It is situated near the town of Lom in Jotunheimen National Park. The longest river is Glomma. The 604-kilometre-long river has a drainage basin that covers a full 13% of Norway's area, all in the southern part of the country The largest lake is Mjøsa. It’s surface area is 362 km2. The capital of Norway is Oslo. It is the most populous city in Norway. It is also the governmental centre of Norway. Norway is divided into 19 counties (fylke): Østfold, Akershus, Oslo, Hedmark, Oppland, Buskerud, Vestfold, Telemark, Aust-Agder, Vest-Agder, Rogaland, Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane, Møre og Romsdal, Sør-Trøndelag, Nord-Trøndelag, Nordland, Troms, Finnmark Political system Norway is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democratic system of governance. The King is the country’s head of state and can select his council. Since 17 January 1991 it is Harald V. The King has little real political power, but fills an important symbolic function as official representative of Norwegian society and industry. State power is formally distributed between three institutions: the Storting (the parliament - the legislative power), the Government (the executive power) and the courts (the judicial power). The Prime Minister of Norway (statsminister) is the political leader of Norway and the Head of the Government of Norway. Since 16 October 2013 it is Erna Solberg. Demography The total population of Norway is 5,265,158 (July 2016 est.). The average density of Norway is 15 inhabitants per square kilometer. At the beginning of 2015, the immigrant population in Norway had risen to 815,000 people (15.6% of the total population). In 2014 the most populous groups of foreign nationals were: 1. Poland 91,179 2. Sweden 38,414 3. Somalia 35,912 4. Lithuania 35,546 5. Pakistan 34,447 6. Iraq 30,144 7 Germany 26,683 8. Vietnam 21,721 9. Denmark 20,897 10. Philippines 19,886 11. Iran 19,793 12. Russia 18,770 13. Turkey 18,770 14. Bosnia-Herzegovina 16,845 15. Thailand 16,559 16. Other 369,434 Religion According to the data from 2014 the main religions in Norway are: Christianity 83.6% Islam 2.1% Buddhism 0.2% Hinduism 0.1% Sikhism 0.06% Bahá'í Faith 0.02% Judaism 0.01% Other religions 0.02% Non-religious and unknown 12,19% Humanism 1.7% Language The official language in Norway is Norwegian. Norwegian is spoken by about 5 milion speakers. As established by law and governmental policy, the two official forms of written Norwegian are Bokmål (literally "book tongue") and Nynorsk (literally "new Norwegian"). Two other written forms without official status also exist: Riksmål ("state language") and Høgnorsk ("High Norwegian"). There are also additional official languages of some municipalities: Finnish, South Sami, Lule Sami, North Sami and Kven. Currency unit The Norwegian Krone (krone) (NOK), is the currency of Norway and its dependent territories. It is subdivided into 100 ore, which exist only electronically since 2012. The name translates into English as crown. Coins: 1 krone, 5 krone, 10 krone, 20 krone, 50 ore Notes: 50 krone, 100 krone, 200 krone, 500 krone, 1000 krone. Other info Countrycode top level domain is .no Country code +47 Licence plate N Emergency numbers in Norway Fire, accidents and serious pollution: Tel 110 Police - immediate assistance: Tel 112 Ambulance and Medical assistance: Tel 113 Information on road conditions, 24-hour service: When in Norway dial 175 Norway does not have an official national anthem, but over the last 200 years, a number of anthems have been commonly regarded as de facto national anthems. At times, multiple anthems have enjoyed this status simultaneously. Today, the anthem Ja, vi elsker dette landet ("Yes, we love this country") is the most recognised national anthem. The lyrics were written by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson between 1859 and 1868, and the melody was written by his cousin Rikard Nordraak sometime during the winter of 1863-1864.