Key figures for the population

Last updated: 20 August 2014

Information about population size, composition and development is an important basis for policy, planning and decision-making in various areas of society. The age distribution, for example, has an impact on the demand for education and study places, the share of the working population and the need for health and social services. The regional distribution of the population also provides an important framework for counties and municipalities.

Population size and composition change in two ways: when people are born and die, and when they move to and out of the country. When the number of births is higher than the number of deaths, there is an excess of births, and when more people move to the country than leave, we have what is known as net immigration (Net immigration = immigration minus emigration). These factors combined determine the population growth.

Population
	Number	Previous year	5 years before	10 years before	Period
¹End of quarter
²1. January
Population	5 137 679	5 077 798	4 825 552	4 589 608	2nd quarter 2014¹
Children under 18 living at home	1 108 848	1 105 279	1 088 716	.	2013²
Private households	2 258 794	2 226 046	2 104 530	.	2013²
Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents	759 185	710 465	508 199	348 940	2014²
Immigrants	633 110	593 321	422 595	289 104	2014²
Norwegian-born to immigrant parents	126 075	117 144	85 604	59 836	2014²

Population changes
	Number	Change in % previous year	Period
Births	15 769	0.6	2nd quarter 2014
Deaths	9 832	0.3	2nd quarter 2014
Immigration	13 805	-14.4	2nd quarter 2014
Emigration	6 446	-18.5	2nd quarter 2014
Marriages	23 410	-3.8	2013
Divorces	9 736	-1.9	2013
Norwegian naturalisation	13 223	6.8	2013
Adoptions	382	-16.4	2013

Demographic measures and estimates
	Unit	Value	Previous year	Five years ago	Ten years ago	Period
Total fertility rate, women	Number of children	1.78	1.85	1.96	1.80	2013
Total fertility rate, men	Number of children	1.61	1.68	1.74	1.64	2013
Life expectancy, both sexes	Year	81.7	81.5	80.7	79.5	2013
Life expectancy, men	Year	79.7	79.4	78.3	77.0	2013
Life expectancy, women	Year	83.6	83.4	83.0	81.9	2013
Infant mortality rate, deaths under age 1	Per 1 000 living births	2.5	2.5	2.7	3.5	2013
Share aged 67 and over, as percentage of population	Per cent	13.7	13.3	12.8	13.2	2014
Share aged 18 and under, as percentage of population	Per cent	22.0	22.2	23.2	23.6	2014
Population growth, as percentage of population at start of year	Per cent	1.1	1.3	1.2	0.6	2013

Low fertility rate...
The post-war baby boom lasted until the mid-1960s, and was followed by a decline that bottomed out at the start of the 1980s. Fertility subsequently increased again, stabilising at around 1.9 children per woman. This has now fallen to 1.8 children per woman. Excluding migration, the total fertility rate in any country needs to be around 2.1 in order to prevent the population from declining in the long term.
… and falling mortality rate
The mortality rate saw a general decline throughout the last century, with the exception of the period from 1950 to 1970. During this period, the mortality rate for men increased in most age groups, mainly due to a large number of deaths related to cardiovascular disease. The falling mortality rate is reflected in the increase in life expectancy: a boy born today can expect to live 79.7 years, and a girl 83.6 years. The gender gap in life expectancy continued to increase until the 1980s, when the difference was almost seven years, but more recently this fallen to four years.
More are living alone…
Following World War II, nuclear families were the dominant form of living. The marriage rate was high and the share of one-person households fell slightly. The marriage rate then started to fall at start of the 1970s, while the number of divorces increased. The share of one-person households has now doubled: 40 per cent of households consist of people living alone, and this makes up 18 per cent of the entire population. In the population as a whole, approximately equal shares of men and women live alone. However, while single women are in the majority in the elderly population, men are in the majority among the younger age groups. One-person households are most common in city centres and rural areas.
… and more have live-in partners
The decline in the number of marriages in recent years is not only due to the increase in divorces and the number of people living alone; couples are also choosing to live together without getting married. Unmarried cohabitants were introduced to the statistics at the end of the 1970s, but it is only in the last few decades that this form of living has become more popular. Cohabiting couples made up 25 per cent of all couples in 2013, up from 10 per cent in 1990. While cohabiting couples were previously unlikely to have children, the majority of them do have children nowadays. Young people under the age of 30 are now more likely to cohabit than get married.

High population growth…
The population of Norway passed the 5 million mark in 2012, which is an increase of over 1.7 million since 1950. Immediately following World War II, the annual population growth was almost 1 per cent, mainly as a result of the high number of births. This growth sank to a third of a per cent in the 1980s, but has since risen to over 1 per cent. Today, the net immigration has a greater bearing on the population growth than the excess of births.
...also in the coming years
The result of the population projections depends on which assumptions are used. The medium alternative, which is a prognosis based on medium fertility, life expectancy and net migration, shows continued growth for the remainder of this century. The population will surpass 6 million in around 2031, and 7 million by around 2065 according to the medium alternative. A significant part of future growth is likely to be due to net immigration. If immigration, fertility and life expectancy are all low, the population will not pass the 6 million mark, and from 2050 the population of Norway will steadily fall. In the scenario with high fertility, life expectancy and immigration, the population could exceed 8 million by 2050.
More immigrants
Immigrants (defined as a person born outside Norway to foreign-born parents, and registered as resident in Norway in the National Population Register. Only the group of immigrants resident in Norway is included in our figures unless otherwise specified. The group of Norwegian-born with immigrant parents is not classified as immigrants.) and Norwegian-born with immigrant parents (persons born in Norway to two foreign-born parents and four foreign-born grandparents) made up 14.9 per cent of the population in Norway as of 1 January 2014, with a total of 759 185 persons. These two groups consist of persons with backgrounds from 221 different countries and autonomous regions. The number of immigrants and Norwegian-born with immigrant parents increased by 48 700 in 2013, which is the highest growth ever recorded. At the start of 2014, there were 633 100 immigrants and 126 075 Norwegian-born with immigrant parents in Norway.
Aging population on the way
Today, just over one in ten people in Norway are aged 70 years or over. This percentage is set to increase. In the medium alternative, roughly every fifth person in Norway will be aged 70 or over by 2060. The share of elderly will see a particular increase when the post-war baby boomers are elderly. Although Norway is aging, the aging population in Norway will be far smaller than in many other countries. This is because Norway has had a less negative fertility development and relatively high immigration compared with other countries in Europe and the west in general.

Population pyramid:
The population pyramid shows the composition of the Norwegian population during the period 1846-2014.

See the Norwegian population pyramid visualisation .