What do you know about Norway?

Norway is one of the world's richest countries. It has an important stake in promoting a liberal environment for foreign trade. Metals, pulp and paper products, chemicals, shipbuilding, and fishing are its most significant industries, but it was Norway's emergence as a major oil and gas producer in the mid-1970s that transformed its economy. Large sums of investment capital poured into the offshore oil sector, leading to greater increases in Norwegian production costs and wages than in the rest of Western Europe up until the mid-1980s. The influx of oil revenue also allowed Norway to expand its already extensive social welfare system.

5 million people live in Norway, or about 14 inhabitants per square kilometer,making it one of the most scantily populated areas in the world. Oslo, Norway's capital is in the southern part of the country and has a population of 750,000. Almost everyone in thecountry is of Norwegian descent; the Lapps, or Sami, are a small minority of some 20,000 people residing exclusively in the north.

Norway is one of the few countries in the world that actually has four seasons. Outdoor activities are never restricted by the seasons though, you can go skiing, diving, fishing, climbing, glacier walking, rafting or bicycling almost all year round. The transition from winter to summer offers exciting combinations. You can enjoy life by the sea and go skiing on one of Norway’s glaciers at the same place. Or you can simply take a deep breath of the fresh air and enjoy the quietness of the Norwegian nature. As long as the weather is right for it, of course.

The country has a massive coastline indended with fjords and a mountainous interior with some of Europe’s biggest glaciers. Norwegian weather has few extremes, but many local variations. The Gulf Stream current along the coast elevates the country’s temperature well above the global averages for the regions at equal latitudes.The North has midnight-sun days - when the sun never drops below the horizon - occurs from14 May to 30 July. The opposite happends in winter when the sun does not rise from the end of November to the end of January. The South has daylight from 4am to 11pm in midsummer and from 8am to 4 pm during winter.