Norway is in the western part of the Scandinavian Peninsula.
It extends about 1,100 mi (1,770 km) from the North Sea along the Norwegian Sea
to more than 300 mi (483 km) above the Arctic Circle, the farthest north of any
European country. It is slightly larger than New Mexico. Nearly 70% of Norway
is uninhabitable and covered by mountains, glaciers, moors, and rivers. The
hundreds of deep fjords that cut into the coastline give Norway an overall
oceanfront of more than 12,000 mi (19,312 km). Galdhø Peak, at 8,100 ft. (2,469
m), is Norway's highest point and the Glåma (Glomma) is the principal river, at
372 mi (598 km) long.
Norway is a politically stable, modern and highly
developed country with a small population and a very strong economy. The
Norwegian economy is characterized by being open and mixed, with a combination
of private and public ownership. Norway is a safe and easy country in which to
do business. There are about 5,500 foreign-owned limited companies in Norway,
with several thousands additional branch offices. Norway had a strong growth of
foreign investments during the last decade, compared to many other countries.
All this makes it a developed country since it has a strong economy and it also
exports some of its industries.
Economic:
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Norway was worth 512.58
billion US dollars in 2013. The GDP value of Norway represents 0.83 percent of
the world economy. GDP in Norway averaged 135.58 USD Billion from 1960 until
2013, reaching an all time high of 512.58 USD Billion in 2013 and a record low
of 5.20 USD Billion in 1960. The World Bank Group reports GDP in Norway.
The economy of Norway is mixed and ever growing since the
start of industrial era. Major resources in Norway are the sea,
waterpower, and petroleum and natural gas, and the exports made by the
nation. As a consequence of the discovery and exploitation of North Sea
oil in the 1970s, Norway has become the world's second largest exporter of oil
and natural gas. Norway exports goods to its main trading partners: the
European Union, Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom, Netherlands, France, and
the United States. Exports include petroleum and natural gas, hydroelectric
power, metals, chemicals, paper pulp, and fish. Manufactured goods, machinery,
and chemicals are imported from the trading partners.
Many Norwegians gain their livelihood from the water as
fishermen or sailors. As for industries, the major industries and companies are
oil and gas industry as well as fishing and ship building. However the ICT
sector is the one with the biggest growth rate.
Social:
Starting with some social background about life in Norway,
However Norway is considered as a developed country it still faces some social
problems, for example ageing population, it faces an increasingly large elderly
population while the percentage of young people continues to decrease. Children
from ages 0-14 now only make up about 20 percent of the population as compared
to 35 percent in 1900. This decreased share of the population has a negative
implication for children.
As for the social part in Norway, the population was 5,
073, 364 on 1 January 2015, in line with the large population growth in
recent years; the number of foreign citizens has more than doubled since 2007.
A total of 238, 30 foreign citizens were living in Norway in 2007, which is
5.1% of the total population.
Life expectancy is increasing in Norway. In 2012, life
expectancy at birth for women is 83.4 years and for men is 79.4
years. Since 1900, life expectancy has increased by 30 years. Moreover, Norway
has extremely high standards of living compared to other European countries.
5 073 364
|
Current population
|
2 540 469
|
Current male population (50.1%)
|
2 532 895
|
Current female population (49.9%)
|
The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite statistic
used to rank countries according to their development levels from “very high”
to “low.” Countries are placed based on life expectancy, education, standard of
living, child welfare, health care, economic welfare, and population happiness. Norway
is the World’s most developed country with an HDI of 0.944. The HDI
of 0.944, which has gone up by 0.001 from 2013, gives it the number 1 position
on this list of Top 15 most developed countries in the world.
Political system:
Norway has no former political system it has been always a
constitutional monarchy (a system of government in which a monarch is guided by
a constitution whereby his/her rights, duties, and responsibilities are spelled
out in written law or by custom.) with a parliamentary democratic system
of governance. The king is the head of state, while the Prime Minister is the
head of government. According to the Constitution, the government structure
consists of three branches, which are:
(a) The Executive Branch
The reigning monarch of Norway is Harald V, belonging to the
royal Glucksburg dfamily. The king plays the ceremonial role and the Council Of
State mainly practices the executive authority. The executive branch is further
categorized into various Ministries. A few of them are listed below:
Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs
Office of the Prime Minister
Ministry of Defense
Ministry of Finance
Ministry of Agriculture and Food
(b) The Legislative Branch
Norway’s parliament is unicameral that comes into power
through the system of proportional representation that exist in multi seat constituencies.
It remains in power for a four-year period. Presently, it comprises of 165
members from the 19 administrative districts.
(c) The Judicial Branch.
The Judiciary of Norway functions independently without the
interference from the executive and the legislature. The Supreme Court handles
all the civil and customary laws. Sometimes, even the legislature takes
suggestions from the Supreme Court and works under its ICJ administration.
Along with the Supreme Court, there are city courts, appeal courts and
conciliation councils handling civil cases. Since the constitution amendment of
2008, the top Supreme Court Judges now manage all the impeachment cases that
were earlier under the administration of the High Court.
Norway has a multi party system that results in coalition
governments or a single party coming to power. Some of the major parliamentary
parties include Norwegian Labour Party, Christian Democratic Party, Progressive
Party, Liberal Party and Socialist Left Party. The existence of so many parties
helps in better functioning due to the competition and oppositions that arise
among the various parties.
Enviroment:
One of the most serious environmental problems facing Norway
is acid rain, a form of air pollution caused by industrial activity. Norway’s
acid rain stems from sulfur dioxide emissions originating mainly in the United
Kingdom.
Acid rain has damaged many of Norway’s forests and waterways
and now many Norwegian lakes can no longer support fish.
High levels of sulfur dioxide from abroad continue
to adversely affect Norway’s environment. Nitrogen oxide, the majority of which
originates in other countries, has also become a cause of significant air
pollution. Norway itself contributes relatively little air pollution to the
atmosphere because it relies heavily on hydroelectric power, an environmentally
clean energy source.
Norway is party to international agreements concerning air
pollution, biodiversity, climate change, endangered species, marine dumping,
ship pollution, and wetlands.
However Norway is still considered to have low pollution in
comparison with other countries, since air pollution is 21.43% and water
pollution is 15%.
Media system:
Media of Norway outlines the current state of the
press, television, radio, film and cinema, and social media in Norway.
The press in Norway, reporters without boarders ranks Norway
2nd in its Worldwide Press Freedom Index. Freedom of press goes back to
constitutions of 1814, most of the Norwegian press is privately owned and
self-regulated; however, the state provides press support.
Norway has 82 daily newspapers with a total circulation 2,578,000
and circulation per 1,000 is 720. On the other hand it have 74 nondaily
newspapers with a total circulation 365,000 and the circulation per 1,000 is
102.
Television in Norway has two companies dominating the
Norwegian terrestrial broadcast televisions are the governmental owned NRK and
TV2. Compared to the rest of Europe, the Norwegians spent the fewest hours
in front of the TV. Figures for 2002 show that the average Norwegian spends two
and a half hours in front of the television set every day. The audience share
of the two public service channels of NRK together is 42,2 % (NRK1: 39.2 %,
NRK2: 3 %), while the main competitor, TV2 had an audience share of 32.2 % and
TV Norge had 9.6 %. The public-service company NRK, which is funded from
the television license free, dominates national radio. NRK provides programming
on three radio channels. Additionally, there are a number of commercial radio
stations as well as local radio stations run by various non-profit
organizations.
Norway have around 656 radio station, and number of radio
receivers 4,030,000.
As for social media in Norway it was shown that in 2010, 92%
of Norwegians had access to Internet as the number of individuals with Internet
access 2,200,0002. 78% of the Internet users were online on a daily basis and
28% visited a social network daily. The following graph shows the weekly
activities on social networks in Norway compared to the European countries in
general:
Norwegian companies have also taken part in the social
networks. 50.4% of the 500 largest companies have activity on Facebook,
Twitter, YouTube or LinkedIn. As of 2012, 47.3% of these are present on
Facebook (compared to only 25% in 2011) and 29.2% on Twitter.
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