Norway's Standard-Setting Sovereign Fund Stumbles
The public acknowledgement of poor performance reflects Norway’s leadership in transparency.
Norway GDP and Economic Data
Includes Norway real Gross Domestic Product growth rate, with latest forecasts and historical data, GDP per capita, GDP composition and breakdown by sector.
Browse additional economic indicators and data sets, selected by Global Finance editors, to learn more about Norway economic outlook, debt to GDP ratio, international trade performance and population trends. Rankings of Norway best banks and safest banks are also available.
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International Reserves
USD 75.26 billion (2020)
World Bank, last updated 12/16/2021
Gross Domestic Product - GDP
USD 445.51 billion (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021
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GDP (Purchasing Power Parity)
USD 378.42 billion (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021
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Real GDP growth
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020* | 2021* |
| 2.3% | 1.1% | 0.9% | –0.8% | 3% |
*Estimate
Source
GDP per capita - current prices
USD 82,244.23 (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021
Source
GDP per capita - PPP
USD 69,858.90 (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021
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GDP - composition by sector
- agriculture: 1.9%
- industry: 25.9%
- services: 60.4%
(2021 estimate)
Gross domestic expenditure on R&D; (% of GDP)
2.2% (2019)
Inflation
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020* | 2021* |
| 1.9% | 2.8% | 2.2% | 1.3% | 2.6% |
*Estimate
Source
Unemployment rate
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020* | 2021* |
| 4.2% | 3.9% | 3.7% | 4.6% | 4.3% |
*Estimate
Source
Public debt (General government gross debt as a % of GDP)
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020* | 2021* |
| 38.6% | 39.7% | 40.9% | 41.4% | 42.7% |
*Estimate
Source
Public deficit (General government net lending/borrowing as a % of GDP)
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020* | 2021* |
| 2.6% | 5.7% | 4.3% | –8.1% | –8% |
*Estimate
Source
Government bond ratings
Standard & Poor's: AAA
Moody's: Aaa
Standard & Poor's / Moody's (January 2022)
Source
Market value of publicly traded shares
USD 295.5 billion (2019)
Largest companies
DNB, Equinor, Telenor, Yara International, Norsk Hydro, Storebrand, Sparebanken Nord-Norge, Gjensidige Forsikring
Forbes Global 2000 (2021)
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Current account balance
USD 32 billion (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021
Source
Current account balance by percentage of GDP
7.2% (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021
Source
Exports as percent of GDP (Exports of goods and services)
32.2% (2020)
World Bank - World Development Indicators (updated Feb 2022)
Shares in world total merchandising export
0.48% (2020)
Shares in world total commercial services export
0.7% (2020)
Export commodities
Crude petroleum, natural gas, fish, refined petroleum, aluminum (2019)
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Import commodities
Cars, refined petroleum, broadcasting equipment, natural gas, crude petroleum (2019)
Exports - major partners
United Kingdom 18%, Germany 14%, Netherlands 10%, Sweden 9%, France 6%, United States 5% (2019)
Imports - major partners
Sweden 17%, Germany 12%, China 8%, Denmark 7%, United States 6%, United Kingdom 5%, Netherlands 5% (2019)
FDI inflows
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
| USD 226 million | USD 16.3 billion | USD –2.4 billion |
FDI outflows
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
| USD 11.4 million | USD 5.6 million | USD 1.1 billion |
Value of cross-border M&A, by country of purchaser
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
| USD 1.2 billion | USD 119 million | USD 5.8 billion | USD 4.1 billion |
Cross-border M&A deals worth over $3 billion completed in 2014
N/A
Cross-border M&A deals worth over $3 billion completed in 2015
N/A
Best countries for doing business
Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business. A high ease of doing business ranking means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the starting and operation of a local firm.
Overall ranking:
9 out of 190 countries
Subcategories:
Starting a Business: 25 out of 190 countries
Dealing with Construction Permits: 22 out of 190 countries
Getting Electricity: 44 out of 190 countries
Registering Property: 15 out of 190 countries
Getting Credit: 94 out of 190 countries
Protecting Minority Investors: 21 out of 190 countries
Paying Taxes: 34 out of 190 countries
Trading across Borders: 22 out of 190 countries
Enforcing Contracts: 3 out of 190 countries
Resolving Insolvency: 5 out of 190 countries
World Bank - Doing Business 2020
Source
Global competitiveness ranking
53 out of 141 countries
(2019)
Index of Economic Freedom
Ranking: 14 / Score: 76.9 (Mostly Free)
The Heritage Foundation - 2022 Index of Economic Freedom
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Languages
Bokmal Norwegian (official), Nynorsk Norwegian (official), small Sami- and Finnish-speaking minorities
Religions
Church of Norway (Evangelical Lutheran - official) 70.6%, Muslim 3.2%, Roman Catholic 3%, other Christian 3.7%, other 2.5%, unspecified 17% (2016 est.)
Total population
| 1990 | 2000 | 2010 | 2015 | 2020* |
| 4.25 million | 4.5 million | 4.91 million | 5.21 million | 5.39 million |
*Estimate
Source
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Urban population as % of total population
| 1960 | 1980 | 2000 | 2018 |
| 49.9% | 70.5% | 76% | 82.2% |
% of population living on less than $3.10 a day
0.2% (last available estimate, 2015)
Inequality of wealth distribution (Gini index)
27.5 (last available estimate, 2015)
(0=perfect equality, 100=absolute inequality)
Source
Freedom House rating
Free
Political Rights: 1
Civil Liberties: 1 (2019)
(1 represents the most free, 7 the least free rating)
Source
Total telephone subscribers as % of population
Fixed: 10.6% Mobile: 107.2% (2018)
(fixed-telephone subscribers and mobile-cellular subscribers)