The land of midnight sun, a place where every corner is picture perfect, Norway.
The country is not only picturesque but also
is one of the richest countries in the world.
Norway is one of the two countries with GDP per capita above US$70,000.
United Nations Development Programme ranked Norway 1 out of 188 countries.
The country is one of the best and happiest places to live in.
Norway has come a long way from being Europe‘s most impoverished
country in 1905 to the country with the highest GDP.
Norway is rich, prosperous and happy country.
Its GDP saw a dramatic rise of 177 percent between 1971 to 2001.
The country enjoys a mixed as well as a developed economy.
Every sector is developing parallelly in the nation.
The country has a very high standard of living
when compared to other European nations.
The economy in Norway pre-industrialization
Norway had an agriculture-based economy before industrialization.
A major part of its population was involved in the primary sector.
Since the resources were scarce, the standard of living was low.
The survival was based on the cultivation of
hardy grains such as rye, oats, and barley.
Another source of income was livestock to goats, cattle, sheep, pigs, and poultry.
In few parts of the country, fishing was also practiced as a supplement to farming.
Post industrialization
The economy in Norway saw a robust growth
post-industrialization, in between the nineteenth century.
With the establishment of industries, a large chunk of the population got jobs.
Banks were set up by the government to provide
financial assistance to entrepreneurs.
Wages offered in the country were way too high as compared to neighbor nations.
This led to a significant shift from agriculture sector to industrial sector.
It was only during industrialization that Norway
asserted sovereign rights over the oil and
petroleum in the North Sea that helped in the
further blooming of the economy of the country.
Taxation
No doubt Norway is country of rich.
Norway is known to levy hefty taxes on its citizen.
The personal tax rate is 47.8 percent and the corporate tax is 25 percent.
Another kind of taxes is environmental and value-added taxes.
The corporate profit tax ranges from 28 percent to whopping 78 percent.
How rich is the Living standards of people in Norway
Norway has a life expectancy of 81.6 years;
its per capita income is $64,992.
The country has consequently earned top position
for twelve years in human development index.
Health: Every citizen of the country is registered in Norske Folketrygden;
it is responsible for providing affordable health care to all.
It is state funded.
Under this programme you just have to pay the visiting
fees to the doctor, stays at the hospitals are free.
A huge number of private hospitals have also been
established in addition to the public hospitals.
Accommodations: The price of houses and apartment is only increasing in Norway.
The cost of living in the cities like Oslo, Bergen and Stavanger is quite high.
The accommodation cost is lower outside the central area.
The transportation can also make a big hole in your pocket.
Transportation shares 18 percent of a person's total income in Norway.
Low unemployment rate: The country has many employment opportunities.
The wages are very high and working hours are less.
Moreover, the free services by government help people in the country to save more.
Low population: The population is really scarce
in the country; it is around 5 million only.
With less number of people to share wealth the
living standards automatically increases.
High purchasing power: A citizen of Norway spends more than Americans.
Since the wages are high the purchasing power also increases simultaneously.
The citizen of Norway is affluent and well educated and the government
is working tirelessly to provide good living conditions to its people.
Economy of Norway
Although the economy in Norway is considered to be a liberal one,
the government is the major stakeholder in most of the industries.
Norway enjoys balanced growth in all the sectors.
But the champion of country's economy is oil production.
It won't be wrong to say that Norway has emerged
as the oil-producing capital on the world map.
The primary sector contributes 2.4 percent to
the economy, the industrial or secondary sector
contributes 31.1 percent and the service or tertiary
sector contributes 66.5 percent to the economy.
The major contributors to the economy of the country are
- petroleum
- hydropower
- fish
- mineral
- trade
Petroleum: Since claiming independent rights in the North Sea in
1969, oil production has become a major source of income in Norway.
Today Norway is standing eighth in the list of oil exporting nations.
The petroleum production share of 9 percent in jobs, 13
percent in states revenue and 30 percent of its exports.
Norway is eight largest exporters of crude oil and
ninth largest exporter of refined oil in the world.
In 2005 Norway started to extract oil from the Barents Sea.
'Statoil' dons the badge of the largest oil company in the region.
Hydropower: The hydropower generation in Norway started in 1862.
The country produces 4.3 percent of world’s hydropower.
The 98 percent of energy is produced in the country through renewable energy resources.
The energy production has enabled the country
to both export and import the energy.
Fish: Even before industrialization fishery was a major part of Norway's economy.
Norway has a 21000 km long coast.
Fisheries make up to 31 percent of total export in Norway.
Minerals: Norway is very affluent when it comes to natural resources.
It is endowed with forest and minerals and has successfully exploited it.
The country is a major producer of alloys, particularly aluminum.
Trade: When it comes to trade, Norway is EU's 7th most important partner.
Internationally, Norway is 30 the largest economy based on export.
Looking at the data Norway exported a total sum of $89.4 billion
and imported a total sum of $72.3 billion in the year 2016.
The major exports in the list are petroleum,
crude petroleum, petroleum gas, cars, computers.