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NORWEGIAN HABITS

Five useful things to know before you move to Norway

Moving to a new country comes with plenty of unexpected lessons and surprises. Norway is no different, and here are six things you'll need to know before the move. 

Published: 7 May 2024 16:43 CEST
Pictured is a view of Ålesund from above.
There are a number of things that are useful to know when moving to Norway. Pictured is a view of Ålesund from above. Photo by Anna Storsul on Unsplash

Patience 

While you may presume Norway is an efficient society, and it can be once you get the ball rolling, plenty of patience will be required. 

This is because fixing the essentials can take quite a while. In recent years, long waiting times for residence permits have become common. 

Furthermore, once you are granted residence and given an identity number, setting up things like a bank account could take weeks or months rather than days. 

When it comes to getting a job, interview stages can take a while to get going, especially if periods like the summer holidays or Easter slow things down. 

A shortage of GPs and long patient lists make doctor appointments difficult. Meanwhile, if you decide to make a home in the country, you will likely need to live there for five to eight years before becoming eligible for citizenship. 

READ ALSO: What paperwork do you need to open a bank account in Norway

Norwegian flags 

Norwegians take great pride in their country, and as a result, their flag also features quite prominently. 

If you live in an apartment block, you can normally tell when it’s a neighbour’s birthday, as they will have the Norwegian flag on display. 

Norway’s flag is also featured prominently in other celebrations and festivities. The most famous of these is May 17th or Constitution Day. However, most stores will have year-round sections where it is possible to buy Norwegian flag decorations.

Week numbers 

This one can be frustrating to come to terms with, and for many, it won’t make much sense even after living in the country for a while. 

Norwegians use week numbers to refer to points in time, either in the past of the future. It’s common for you to hear phrases like “We will be closed in week 32, but reopen in week 33“ or “The project needs to be finished by week 42“. 

It’ll be typical for a local to rattle of week numbers and expect you to know exactly where in the calendar they are talking about. 

READ ALSO: Why Norwegians use week numbers instead of dates

Reserved locals can make it hard to make friends

One of the toughest aspects of moving somewhere new is establishing a new network of friends. 

Small talk isn’t really huge in Norway, and the locals are known for their reserved and private nature. 

It‘s unlikely that you’ll be striking up conversations on the bus or that you’ll progress beyond more than a polite greeting with most of your neighbours. 

This is done to respect privacy rather than to be rude or cold. 

However, this can make making friends difficult as plenty of locals don’t make too many more friends in adult life and are content with their circle.

Still, it’s entirely possible to form lifelong friendships with the locals, especially if you just give it time and have something like a shared sport or hobby to break the ice. 

READ ALSO: Settling in Norway: Five places to meet new people and make friends

Festival celebrations 

Norwegians love to celebrate, and that’s why you’ll soon be marking your calendar with events like sankthansaften or syttende mai. 

The best thing about these festivals or days is that they come with a whole host of specific traditions or foods. 

Sankthansaften see’s people gather round bonfires to celebrate the summer solstice, it’s also typical for children to collect wild flowers to put underneath their pillows so they can dream about their future partner. 

Santa Lucia is marked every year on December 13th, and some people make special buns and see children visit old people’s homes for light processions. 

Then they are the more individual family traditions that surround New Year’s, Easter, Christmas and May 17th. 

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MONEY

EXPLAINED: How wealthy is the ‘average’ Norwegian? 

Norway is known for its high wages and stable economy. New figures have revealed the wealth of the average resident in the Nordic country. 

Published: 23 April 2024 15:50 CEST
Updated: 16 May 2024 15:36 CEST
EXPLAINED: How wealthy is the 'average' Norwegian? 

High salaries go hand in hand with the high cost of living in conversations about Norway.

However, other factors, such as high homeownership rates, indicate that there is plenty of disposable income for locals to save and invest in their futures. 

Previous studies have also suggested that Norwegians are the seventh wealthiest nationals in the world. 

Norway’s national data agency, Statistics Norway, has compiled its own set of figures indicating that the average Norwegian household has a net wealth of around 3.8 million kroner. 

Net wealth accounts for everything a person owns, including property, stocks, or cash, minus any debts or liabilities. 

The vast majority of this wealth was derived from the estimated value of property. This alone gives the average Norwegian an estimated wealth of 3.74 million kroner. 

READ ALSO: How much does an apartment in Norway cost?

The value of second homes was included, which skewed things as only around 10 percent of households owned a secondary residence. 

The average price of a home in Norway was 4.5 million kroner in March of this year, and house prices have increased substantially in recent years. 

Savings, cash, stocks and other capital accounted for 1.72 million kroner, giving Norwegians an average wealth of 5.46 million kroner. Average debts of 1.68 million kroner gave Norwegians an average net wealth of 3.8 million kroner.  

The figures from Statistics Norway were obtained using figures from tax returns for 2022, which were submitted in 2023.  

Those aged between 67 and 79 years old were the wealthiest generation in Norway on average. This is partly because they have more capital than most other groups and more expensive property. 

However, the most significant factor is the lower levels of debt. They had half the debt of the next richest group, those aged between 55 and 69. 

Younger age groups weren’t as wealthier as they had much higher debts and lower capital. 

Still, Norway’s wealthiest individuals significantly boosted the average. When using the median, the average Norwegian household had a net wealth of just under 2 million kroner. 

When the median was applied to capital, the figure was 339,300 kroner compared to the average of 1.76 million kroner. 

The large difference in capital was attributed to Norway’s wealthiest individuals significantly pulling up the average. 

“This is mainly due to large fortunes in shares and securities, where a few own very much. Shares and other securities and share savings accounts are assets with a median value equal to zero, which indicates that these are not important asset items for most households,” the report said. 

Money kept in the bank was still important for most residents of Norway, though. The median value of bank deposits in Norway was 215,000 kroner, compared to the average of 600,000. 

The gulf between the average value of property owned and the median was roughly 500,000, with the median being 3.25 million kroner. 

Furthermore, Norway’s median debt level was around 860,000 kroner compared to the average of 1.67 million kroner. Around 85 percent of Norwegian households were in some form of debt. 

Significant differences also exist between Norway’s wealthiest and poorest residents. Residents belonging to the country’s poorest ten percent had an average net wealth of almost minus 1 million kroner. 

Meanwhile, Norway’s wealthiest ten percent had a net wealth of 19 million kroner. The top 50 percent also owned considerably more than the bottom 50 percent. 

“Despite the former comprising 1.27 million households, while the latter comprises approximately 25,000 households, the bottom 50 percent own only 4 percent of the total net worth, while the top 1 percent owned as much as 22.3 percent in 2022,” the report read. 

There was also significant variation in wealth depending on household type. For example, a single mother or father with a child aged between 6 and 17 had a net wealth of 2.24 million kroner, compared to a couple with children of the same age with an average net wealth of 5.12 million kroner. 

Typically, households with more than one person had more money as more than one wage earner likely lived at the address. 

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