 |
NorwayNorge, Noreg |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Norway The CountryPopulation Economy Energy Belarus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland Germany Latvia Lithuania Norway Poland Russia Slovakia Sweden Ukraine |
This article covers only mainland Norway; the territories of Svalbard, Jan Mayen in the north Atlantic and Bouvet Island, Peter I Island and Dronning Maud Land in Antarctica are not covered. The major part of Norway are mountains and high plateaus, about 25% of the land area is forested and only 3% is arable land. Norway is geographically divided into 5 parts: Sørlandet, Vestlandet and Østlandet, the southern, western and eastern part of southern Norway. Trøndelag in central and Nordnorge in northern Norway. The mountain change is a part of the Caledonian system. The highest peak is Galdhøpiggen, 2,489 m. The bedrock is old and has been glaciated several times. The fjords have been carved out by inland ice, the longest one is Sognefjord, 204 km. There are still many glaciers in the mountains, the largest one is Jostedalsbreen 487 km2. Most of the many lakes are relatively small, the by far largest one is lake MjØsa 362 km2 which is traversed by the longest river, the Glomma, 600 km. The climate is maritime with mild winters and cool summers. Due to the influence of the Gulf stream the coast is usually free of ice during winters even in the far north. In Oslo, in southern Norway, is the average temperature for January -4.3 °C and for July 16.4 °C, whereas for Vardø in northern Norway the average temperature in January is -5.1 °C and in July 9.2 °C. Precipitation is high at the coast, especially in the southwest where the city of Bergen on average receives 2,250 mm per year. The precipitation decreases eastward and in the province of Hedmark is about 750 mm annually. Deciduous forests with oak, ash, elm and beech are found at lower altitudes in the southern part of the country. At higher altitudes and further north comes a zone of spruce and pine and further north or upward follows willows and, dwarf birches. Wolfs are endangered wildlife while there are more of moose, reindeer, brown bear and wolverines. Foxes and many other small animals are abundant.
Norway is sparsely populated, the highest population density is found in the Oslo area and along the coasts of Sørlandet and Vestlandet The population is rather homogeneous, the largest minority is the Sami in the north numbering about 30,000. Another minority group, also in the far north, is the about 15,000 Finns (Kven) in the province of Finnmarka. The largest groups of immigrants are Danish, Swedish and Pakistani.
The economy is b, the country has no external debts, the national budget is balanced, both inflation and unemployment figures are low. The standard of living is also among the highest in the world, the GNP per capita is USD 26,200 (1996). All this is, at least partly, explained by the findings of oil and natural gas in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea and North Atlantic. In 1996 was Norway the worlds second largest oil exporting country, after Saudi Arabia. The industry is nowadays dominated by the oil industry. However, Norway is also a major producer of aluminum made from imported bauxit. Other important sectors of the industry includes computer services, manufacture of furniture, paper and electro technical products Shipping has declined in importance, many ship building and shipping companies now deal with oil field equipment, but still the merchant navy counts more than 700 ships Agriculture employs only about 5% of the work force and is concentrated to valleys around lakes and fjords in the southern part of the country. Fishing is important and large quantities of cod, herring, blue whiting and capelin are landed. Recently an increasing number of salmon farming has developed. The main export commodities are petroleum and natural gas but also machinery and transport equipment, metals and metal products including aluminum. Major import goods include
Oil and natural gas was found in Norwegian sector of the North Sea in 1969. It was soon clear that these finding belonged to an oil field that was among the largest at sea in the world. Production began during the 1970s and Norway became self sufficient with oil in 1975 Norway is also rich in electrical energy generated from hydroelectric power stations. A large part of this energy is used for the production of aluminum and nitrogen fertilizers. Read more: |
|
