Norway

Geography

Location: Northern Europe, bordering the North Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, west of Sweden. Area: 324,220 sq. km. Principal cities: Oslo, Arendal, Bergen and Drammen. Tourist attractions: Akershus Slott & Festning, Emanuel Vigeland Museum, Heddal stave church, jotunheimen National Park and Norsk Folkemuseum. Time zone: GMT+ I hours.

People

Population: 4,627,926 Qu\y 2007 est.). Population growth rate:
0.363% (2007 est.). Sex ratio: 0.984 male(s)/female (2007 est.). Religions: Evangelical Lutheran (state church), other Protestant and Roman Catholic. Languages: Bokmal Norwegian (offi­cial), Nynorsk Norwegian (official), Sami, Finnish. Literacy rate: 100%. Infant mortality rate: 3.6 deaths/ 1,000 live births (2007 est.). Life ex­pectancy: Total 79.67 years, Male 77.04 years, Female 82.46 years (2007 est.).

Government

Capital: Oslo. National anthem: ja.vielsker dette landet. Government type: Constitutional monarchy. Independence: 7 June 1905 (date on which Norway declared the dissolution of its union with Sweden). Legal system: Mixture of customary law, civil law system, and common, law traditions. Executive branch: Chief of state: King Harald V (since 17 January 1991); Heir Apparent Crown Prince Haakon Magnus, son of the monarch (born 20 July 1973). Head of government: Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik (since 19 October 2001). Elections and election results: None. The monarchy is hereditary. After parliamentary elections are held, the monarch usually appoints the leader of the majority party or the leader of the majority coalition as prime minister. Legislative branch: Norway has a modified unicameral parliament or Storting with 165 seats. Members are elected by popular vote by propor­tional representation to serve four-year terms. Judicial branch: Supreme court or Hoyesterett.

Economy

Currency: Norwegian krone. Currency conversion: Norwegian krone per Indian rupee—0.1441 (June 2007 est.). GDP: Purchasing power parity— $213.6 billion (2006 est.). GDP—real growth rate: 4.6% (2006 est.). GDP—per capita: Purchasing power parity—$46,300 (2006 est.). Inflation rate: 2.3% (2006 est.). Exports: $122.6 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.). Imports: $59.9 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.J. External debt: $350.3 billion; note -Norway is a net external creditor (2006).

Transport and Communications

Railways: 4,077 km. Roads: 92,51: km. Airports: Oslo and Kjeller Airports. Telephones: 2.129 million (2005). Mobile cellular: 4.755 million (2005). Internet users: 3.14 million (2005). Internet country code: .no. ISD code: 47.