Norway Yearbook - 2003

Settlement
The map shows populated areas and the number of
inhabitans in major urban areas as of 1 January 2000.
Urban areas with 5 000 or more inhabitants are shown
with circles on the map. Oslo, the largest urban area,
has 783 829 inhabitants as of 1 January 2002.
An urban area is an agglomeration of houses
having at least 200 residents and where the
distance between the houses does not as
a rule exceed 50 metres, and is limited
independent of administrative bounds.
Around three fourths of the population
of Norway live along the coast.
Other fairly densely populated
areas are the plain regions of
Eastern Norway and the valleys.
Norway is one of the most sparsely
populated countries in Europe,
with 15 persons per km2.
The smallest map shows the
percentage of county inhabitants
living in urban areas.
In 1865, around 20 % of Norways
population lived in urban
areas. By 2000, the figure
had reached 77.3 %.
.
Urban areas
500 000 inhabitants
200 000
50000
5000
Populated areas
b
0 50 100 150 200 km
Distribution of
county populations
in urban areas 2000:
54- 65%
66- 72%
__73- 77%
-
78- 83%
84- 100%
Entire country: 77.3 %
Data source: Statistics Norway
Map data: Norwegian Mapping Authority
24 Statistical Yearbook of Norway 2003