How well prepared are Norwegian households for an unexpected bill?

As many as one in five have said they couldn’t deal with an unexpected expense of 20,000 kroner without taking out additional loans, selling their possessions or asking for help from others, figures from Statistics Norway show.

“One in five answered that they could only manage an unexpected expense of 20,000 kroner within a month if they had to take out additional loans, sell assets or receive help from others. This amounts to approximately 900,000 Norwegians,” Håvard Bergesen Dalen, an advisor from Statistics Norway, said.

Additionally, some seven percent said they had trouble making ends meet last year. Unsurprisingly, the less a family made usually correlated with a harder time paying for bills. Some 20 percent of low-income households with children said they had at least one case of being unable to pay a bill or cover their rent in the past year.

More than a third of low-income families said they also had a credit card or consumer debt that burdened the household’s finances.

Despite inflation rising sharply in Norway over the past year, the proportion of those struggling to make ends meet has remained stable. Furthermore, the number of children growing up below the poverty line, relative to average wages in Norway, has fallen since 2021.

Figures from Statistics Norway also show that households in Norway have steadily been increasing their savings. In 2020 it found that 39 percent of all households had bank deposits amounting to more than half a year’s income. Although this figure includes people who are saving for a house, so naturally, they would have a large amount of money in their account for the deposit.

However, the figures showed that households with a main income earner from an immigrant background were more likely to lack a financial buffer.

Norway’s largest bank DNB advises that people in Norway should have between 10,000 and 30,000 kroner as a financial buffer. Young people with a full-time job are recommended to have between 10,000 to 15,000 kroner, while couples with children, a house and a car are recommended to have 30,000 kroner and more in savings.