Norway – key data
Area: 323,802 km² (of which land: 304,282 km², water: 19,520 km²)
Population: 4.7 million (July 2011 estimate, CIA). Composition: Norwegians 94.4% (including about 60,000 seeds), others Europeans 3.6%, other 2% (2007 estimate).
Population density: 14 people per km²
Population growth: 0.329% per year (2011, CIA)
Capital: Oslo (575,475 residents, 2009)
Highest point: Galdhopiggen, 2,469 m
Lowest point: Norwegian Sea, 0 m
Form of government: Norway has been a parliamentary monarchy since 1905. The constitution dates from 1814. The Norwegian unicameral parliament (Stortinget) consists of 169MPs who are elected every four years. The parliament is divided into two parts, Odelsting and Lagting, only in the course of legislation.
Administrative division: 19 administrative provinces (Fylker), which are combined into five statistical regions (landsdel – part of the country):
Nord-Norge (German Northern Norway): Finnmark, Troms, Nordland
Trøndelag: Nord-Trøndelag, Sør-Trøndelag
Vestlandet (German Westland): Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Rogaland
Sørlandet (German Südland): Vest- Agder, Aust-Agder
Østlandet (Ger. Ostland): Telemark, Buskerud, Hedmark, Oppland, Akershus, Oslo, Vestfold, Østfold
Head of State: King Harald V, since January 17, 1991
Head of Government: Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, since October 17, 2005
Language: the official language in Norway is Norwegian. The Norwegian written language is divided into two variants: 85 – 90% of Norwegians write Bokmål (literally: “book language”), a variant of Danish influenced by Eastern Norway. 10-15% of Norwegians write Nynorsk (“New Norwegian”). This language has been recognized as the second official written language in Norway since 1885. The minority languages, Sami and Finnish, are also spoken in the north of the country. Norwegians learn English at school and German or French as an elective.
Religion: Evangelical Lutheran State Church 85.7%, Pentecostal 1%, Roman Catholic 1%, other Christians 2.4%, Muslims 1.8%, others 8.1% (2004)
Local time: CET. Between the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October there is summer time in Norway (CET + 1 hour).
The time difference to Central Europe in both winter and summer 0 h.
International phone code: +47
Internet identifier:.no
Mains voltage: 220 V, 50 Hz
The Kingdom of Norway is a country in Northern Europe and is located in the west of the Scandinavian Peninsula. Norway borders in the south on the North Sea with the Skagerrak, in the west on the European Arctic Ocean and in the north on the Barents Sea. Land borders exist in the east with Sweden and in the north-east with Russia and Finland. The total area of Norway amounts to 385,199 square kilometers, in which the Bear Island (Bouvetoy), Svalbat (Spitzbergen), Jan Mayen as well as the outer possessions Bouvet Island and Peter I Island and that in the Antarctic located Queen Maud Land are included. Visit shoe-wiki for Brief Information About Norway.
Norway is mainly from rock and shaped by the water, as the countless rock islands that rise from the sea off the coast confirm impressively. The coastline of the mainland alone with its fjords is about as long as half the globe. The rocky nature of the country means that only about 3% of the total area of Norway can be used for agriculture. Much of the land is bare and rarely covered with thin moraine layers. Mountain massifs rise behind the coast, which climatically act like rain catchers, which is why the coastal region has the most rainfall. In the higher altitudes there is a lot of snow that does not melt even in summer and there are large firn snow and ice fields at over 1,000 meters above sea level forms. The approximately 1,700 glaciers in Norway are relatively young and did not form until 500 BC. As a result of a deterioration in the climate.
Nordwegen can be divided into five main regions: Sörlandet in the extreme south of Norway, Vestlandet in western Norway, Östlandet in the east, Trondelag, as the area around the Trondheimsfjord is called, and Nord-Norge in Northern Norway. Southern Norway includes the areas from Svinesund to the Oslofjord and the coastal area between Oslo and Stavanger, which are densely populated by Norwegian standards. The Westland, also known as the Fiordland, comprises the landscape between Stavanger and Kristiansund. The round hump landscape characteristic of this area merges into a high mountain range, which has the highest elevation in the country with the 2,469 meter high Jotunheimen. About a third of the Norwegian state area is taken up by Östlandet, where almost half of the population lives. Forests and agriculture determine the landscape, which merges into alpine vegetation at a height of over 1,000 meters. The Tröndelag region consists mainly of low mountain ranges and is partly used for agriculture with meadows and fields. In accordance with its location, Northern Norway is rather rugged and inhospitable; arable farming is only possible here in isolated cases.
The coast of Norway is dominated by the deeply cut fjords, for which the country is particularly famous in the “fjord country” between Stavanger and Molde. The fjords carved out by the ice reach a considerable depth and are hardly economically viable because of their over 1,000 meters high and very steep valley walls. The Sognefjord is the most impressive fjord in Norway with a length of 183 kilometers and a depth of 1,308 meters.
Also characteristic of the Norwegian landscape is the Fjell, which can be translated as “rock”. The barren plateau of the Fjell is a landscape created in the Ice Age above the tree line with numerous lakes, ridges and mostly flat plateaus. Well-known is the fell in Hadangervidda, which is particularly striking with its flat, undulating relief. The uninhabited fell is becoming increasingly popular for tourism despite or because of its inhospitable environment.
Norway climate
Even though Norway is located at the same latitude as Alaska, most of the country has a surprisingly temperate climate. The reason for this is the Gulf Stream, which flows north along the coast. The average maximum temperatures in July can move around 16 ° C in the south and around 13 ° C in the north. In January, the average maximum temperature is 1 ° C in the south and -3 ° C in the north. The wettest city in Norway is Bergen, on the southwest coast with 2,250 mm of annual precipitation. Rondane and Gudbrandsdal, on the other hand, receive only 500 mm of precipitation per year, these places are shielded from the prevailing southwest wind by mountains.
