General information about Norway
The official name is the Kingdom of Norway (Kongeriket Norge, Kingdom of Norway). It is located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in the northwestern part of Europe. The area is 323.8 thousand km2, together with possessions – 385.2 thousand km2. The expansion of the economic zone in 1977 to 200 miles led to the fact that the area of the maritime regions—the economic and fishing zones (2.24 million km2)—is three times the size of the mainland.
The population is 4.5 million people. (2002). The official language is Norwegian. The capital is Oslo (508 thousand people, 2002). Public holiday – Constitution Day on May 17 (since 1814). The monetary unit is the Norwegian krone (100 eryo).
Possessions: in the Arctic Ocean, the Spitsbergen archipelago (Svalbard), consisting of more than 1 thousand islands, with a total area of 62 thousand km2, and Bear Island (the status is determined by the Treaty of 1920 on Svalbard); in the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean, Jan Mayen Island (sovereignty has been exercised since 1929); and in the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean, Bouvet Island.
Member of the UN (since 1945), NATO (since 1949), the Northern Council (since 1952), EFTA (since 1960), etc.
Geography of Norway
According to allcitycodes.com, Norway is located between 59°57′ north latitude and 10°43′ east longitude. The territory of the country is stretched in the form of a narrow strip from the southwest to the northeast for 1750 km. The largest width of the country is 430 km, the smallest (in the Narvik region) is approx. 7 km. OK. 1/3 of the territory is located north of the Arctic Circle. It is washed by the seas: in the north – the Barents Sea, in the west – the Norwegian and North Seas, in the south – the Skagerrak Strait. The warm Gulf Stream runs along the entire coast. The coast, especially the western one, is indented by fjords, mostly with steep, high, rocky shores – Sognefjord, Hardangerfjord, etc. Near the coast there are a large number of large islands (Lofoten, Vesterolen, Senya, Mageryo, Sörö), numerous small islands and skerries – St. 150 thousand The protected sea route in skerries from south to north (from Stavanger to Narvik) was named Hurtigruta. Ancient navigators called these places Nord verg (The way to the north), from which the name Norway subsequently came.
It borders on land mainly with Sweden (1619 km), and in the far north with Finland (716 km) and the Russian Federation (196 km).
Norway is a mountainous country, almost 2/3 of its territory lies at an altitude of more than 500 m above sea level; The lowlands occupy a narrow (40-50 km) seaside strip (the so-called stran flat) and are found in small areas in the south and east of the country. Almost the entire territory of the country is occupied by the Scandinavian Mountains, which are a vast upland, wider and higher in the south (the highest peak of Galdhøpiggen is 2470 m) and narrow, strongly dissected in the north (800 m on average).
The climate of the country is temperate, maritime, subarctic in the Far North. Due to the warm North Atlantic current (Gulf Stream), the climate of the coastal regions is much milder than in the northern latitudes (the average January temperature in the north is -2-4°C, in the south +2°C). For the same reason, the coast almost always remains free of ice. Summer is cool (average July temperature in the north of the coast is +10°C, and in the south +15°C) with frequent rains and strong winds. Climatic differences between north and south are much less pronounced than between west and east.
The river network is very dense, mountain rivers (large – Glomma, Logen, Tava and Alta) are full of water, although they are short. They have rich hydropower resources (120 billion kWh per year). There are 200 thousand lakes (the largest is Mjosa with an area of 369 km2), their total area is almost 5%. Over 1/4 of the territory is occupied by forests; in the north, spruce and pine forests predominate in the mountains.
The animal world is diverse (fox, elk, ermine, squirrel, hare, arctic fox, reindeer), the world of birds is exceptionally rich. Numerous bird colonies are located on the cliffs that break off to the sea. The seas washing the shores are exceptionally productive (cod, mackerel, perch), salmon, trout and salmon are found in rivers and lakes.
Large deposits of various ores, non-ferrous metals, granite, feldspar, marble, etc. World producer of ferromanganese (approx. 10% of world production), copper, zinc, titanium, molybdenum, tin, aluminum (approx. 6%), magnesium (20%), vanadium (2%), cobalt (4%), mica, ilmenite (25%). Proved oil reserves are 1.3 billion tons, which exceeds half of all European reserves. The proven gas reserves are 1.25 trillion m3, which exceeds a quarter of all European reserves.
Population of Norway
Norway is one of the sparsely populated countries in Europe (14 people per 1 km2). The most populated is its southeastern part – Estland, where half of the population lives. The plateaus of the southern part are almost deserted. The northern part is extremely sparsely populated (only 10% of the population). The population is increasing at an average of 0.5% per year (over the past decade), mainly due to natural increase. Child mortality is low – 3.98 people. per 1000 newborns (2002). Life expectancy for men is 75.73 years, for women – 81.77 years.
Large cities: Oslo, Bergen (230 thousand people), Trondheim (150 thousand), Stavanger (120 thousand), Narvik (80 thousand), Kristiansand (72 thousand), Fredrikstad (70 thousand), Drammen (55 thousand), Tromsø (60 thousand).
Approximately 97% of the population is Norwegian. National minorities are the Sami (about 20 thousand people), Kvens (Norwegian Finns), Danes and Swedes.
The official language is Norwegian, belonging to the Scandinavian group of Germanic languages. There are two literary norms officially recognized as equal in rights – Bokmål and Landsmål. Bokmål publishes 90% of all printed materials and teaches in more than 80% of schools.
The official religion is Lutheranism (over 90% of the population).
