by fertile valleys; small, scattered plains; coastline deeply indented
by fjords; arctic tundra in north

Natural resources: petroleum, copper, natural gas, pyrites, nickel,
iron ore, zinc, lead, fish, timber, hydropower

Land use:
arable land: 3%
permanent crops: 0%
meadows and pastures: 0%
forest and woodland: 27%
other: 70%

Irrigated land: 950 sq km (1989)

Environment:
current issues: water pollution; acid rain damaging forests and
adversely affecting lakes, threatening fish stocks; air pollution from
vehicle emissions
natural hazards: NA
international agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Air
Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air
Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental
Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered
Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping,
Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical
Timber 83, Wetlands, Whaling; signed, but not ratified - Air
Pollution-Sulphur 94, Desertification, Law of the Sea, Tropical Timber
94

Note: about two-thirds mountains; some 50,000 islands off its much
indented coastline; strategic location adjacent to sea lanes and air
routes in North Atlantic; one of most rugged and longest coastlines in
world; Norway and Turkey only NATO members having a land boundary with
Russia

@Norway:People

Population: 4,330,951 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 19% (female 390,344; male 444,570)
15-64 years: 65% (female 1,375,493; male 1,424,027)
65 years and over: 16% (female 408,675; male 287,842) (July 1995 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.37% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 12.86 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 10.35 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: 1.15 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 6.1 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 77.61 years
male: 74.26 years
female: 81.15 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.76 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Norwegian(s)
adjective: Norwegian

Ethnic divisions: Germanic (Nordic, Alpine, Baltic), Lapps (Sami)
20,000

Religions: Evangelical Lutheran 87.8% (state church), other Protestant
and Roman Catholic 3.8%, none 3.2%, unknown 5.2% (1980)

Languages: Norwegian (official)
note: small Lapp- and Finnish-speaking