National name: Kongeriket Norge

Current government officials

Languages : Bokmål Norwegian, Nynorsk Norwegian (both official); small Sami- and Finnish-speaking minorities (Sami is official in six municipalities)

Ethnicity/race : Norwegian, Sami 20,000

Religions : Evangelical Lutheran 86% (state church), Pentecostal 1%, Roman Catholic 1%, other Christian 2% (2004)

National Holiday : Constitution Day, May 17

Literacy rate : 100% (2003 est.)

Economic summary : GDP/PPP (2007 est.): $247.4 billion; per capita $53,000. Real growth rate : 3.5%. Inflation : 0.8%. Unemployment : 2.5%.Arable land: 3%. Agriculture : barley, wheat, potatoes; pork, beef, veal, milk; fish. Labor force : 2.5 million; services 74%, industry 22%, agriculture, forestry, and fishing 4% (1995). Industries : petroleum and gas, food processing, shipbuilding, pulp and paper products, metals, chemicals, timber, mining, textiles, fishing. Natural resource : petroleum, copper, natural gas, pyrites, nickel, iron ore, zinc, lead, fish, timber, hydropower. Exports : $136.1 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.): petroleum and petroleum products, machinery and equipment, metals, chemicals, ships, fish. Imports : $75.98 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.): machinery and equipment, chemicals, metals, foodstuffs. Major trading partners : UK, Germany, Netherlands, France, U.S., Sweden, Denmark, China (2006).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 2.055 million (2006); mobile cellular: 5.041 million (2006) Radio broadcast stations : AM 5, FM at least 650, shortwave 1 (1998).. Radios : 4.03 million (1997).Television broadcast stations: 360 (plus 2,729 repeaters) (1995). Television : 2.03 million (1997).Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 2.084 million (2007). Internet users: 4.074 million (2006).

Transportation: Railways: total: 4,043 km (2006).Highways: total: 92,513 km; paved: 71,832 km (includes 664 km of expressways); unpaved: 20,681 km (2005).Waterways : 1,577 km (2007). Ports and harbors: Bergen, Drammen, Floro, Hammerfest, Harstad, Haugesund, Kristiansand, Larvik, Narvik, Oslo, Porsgrunn, Stavanger, Tromso, Trondheim. Airports: 98 (2007).

International disputes: Norway asserts a territorial claim in Antarctica (Queen Maud Land and its continental shelf); despite recent discussions, Russia and Norway continue to dispute their maritime limits in the Barents Sea and Russia's fishing rights beyond Svalbard's territorial limits within the Svalbard Treaty zone.