Population.—The resident population of Norway in 1900 was 2,221,477. The Table shows the area and population of each of the administrative divisions (amt, commonly translated “county”). Norway is, as a whole, the most thinly populated of the political divisions of Europe. It may be noted for the sake of comparison that the density of population in the most sparsely populated English county, Westmorland, is about equalled by that in Smaalenene amt (85 per sq. m.), and considerably exceeded in Jarlsberg and Laurvik amt (112·7 per sq. m.), but is not nearly approached in any other Norwegian county. The two counties named are small and lie almost wholly within the coastal strip along the Skagerrack, which, with the coast-lands about Stavanger, Haugesund, Bergen and Trondhjem, the outer Lofoten Islands and the land about Lake Mjösen, are the most thickly populated portions of the country, the density exceeding 50 persons per sq. m. A vast area practically uninhabited, save in the N. by nomadic Lapps, reaches from the northmost point of the Norwegian frontier as far S. as the middle of Hedemarken, excepting a markedly more populous belt across the Trondhjem depression. Thus of the counties, Finmarken is the least thickly populated (1·8 per sq. m.). In such highland regions as Jotunheim and Hardanger Vidda habitations are hardly less scanty than in the N. About two-thirds of the population, then, dwell by the coast and fjords, and about one-quarter in the inland lowlands, leaving a very small upland population. The rural and urban populations form respectively about 76 and 24% of the whole. Of the chief towns of Norway, Christiania, the capital, had a population in 1900 of 229,101, Bergen of 72,179, Trondhjem of 38,156, Stavanger of 30,541, Drammen of 23,093. The towns with populations between 15,000 and 10,000 are Christiansand, Fredrikstad, Christiansund, Fredrikshald, Aalesund, Skien, Arendal and Laurvik. All these are ports.
| Amter. | Population 1900. |
Area in sq. m. |
| Southern— | ||
| Smaalenene | 136,167 | 1,600 |
| Akershus | 116,896 | 2,054 |
| Christiania (city) | 229,101 | 6·5 |
| Buskerud | 112,743 | 5,789 |
| Jarlsberg and Laurvik | 101,003 | 896 |
| Bratsberg | 98,298 | 5,863 |
| Nedenes | 75,925 | 3,608·5 |
| Lister and Mandal | 78,259 | 2,804 |
| South-eastern (inland)— | ||
| Hedemarken | 126,703 | 10,618 |
| Christians | 116,280 | 9,790 |
| Western— | ||
| Stavanger | 125,658 | 3,530·5 |
| South Bergenhus | 132,687 | 6,024·5 |
| Bergen (city) | 72,179 | 5·5 |
| North Bergenhus | 88,214 | 7,130 |
| Romsdal | 136,519 | 5,786 |
| South Trondhjem | 134,718 | 7,182 |
| Northern— | ||
| North Trondhjem | 83,449 | 8,788·5 |
| Nordland | 150,637 | 14,513 |
| Tromsö | 72,966 | 10,131 |
| Finmarken | 33,387 | 18,291 |
The population of Norway in 1801 was returned as 883,038. A rapid increase obtained from 1815 to 1835, a lesser increase thereafter till 1865, and a very slight increase till 1890. The second half of the 19th century, down to 1890, was the period of heaviest emigration from Norway. The vast majority of Norwegian emigrants go to the United States of America. But emigration slackened in the last decade of the 19th century, during which period the movement from rural districts to towns, which had decreased from about the middle of the century, revived. The number of Norwegians abroad may be taken at 350,000. The Lapps, commonly called Finns by the Norwegians, and confined especially to Finmarken (which is named from them), are estimated at 1% of the population. There are also a few Finns (about half the number of Lapps), whom the Norwegians call Kvæner, a name of early origin. The excess of births over deaths, about as 1·4 to 1, is much above the European average; the death-rate is also unusually low. The number of marriages is rather low, and the average age of marriage is high. The percentage of illegitimacy has shown some increase, but is not so high as in Sweden or Denmark. The percentage of longevity is high. The preponderance of females over males (about 1073 to 1000) is partly accounted for by the number of males who emigrate. The higher mortality of males is traced in part to the dangers of a seafaring life.
Down to the middle of the 19th century drunkenness was a strongly-marked characteristic of Norwegians. A strict licensing system was then introduced with success. Local boards were given a wide control over the issue of licences, and in 1871 companies (samlag) were introduced to monopolize and control the retail trade in spirits. Their profits do not, as in the Gothenburg system, go to the municipal funds, but are applied directly to objects of public utility. In 1894 a general referendum resulted in the entire prohibition of the sale of spirits in some towns for five years. The control of retail trade in beer and wine by the samlag has been introduced to some extent.
In Norway a strongly individual national character is to be expected, combined with conservatism of ancient customs and practices. The one finds no better illustration than the individuality of modern Norwegian music and painting. The other is still strong. Such customs as the lighting of the midsummer fires and the attendant celebrations still survive. Peculiar local costumes are still met with, such as those associated with weddings. In the coastwise shipping trade and the fisheries of the north, high-prowed square-sailed boats are frequently employed which are the direct descendants of the vessels of the early Vikings. Some examples of the ancient farmstead, composed of a group of wooden buildings each of a single chamber, are preserved, and medieval ornamental woodwork is met with. Wood is the principal building material except in some larger towns where brick and stone have superseded it. Where this is not the case, fires have left few, if any, ancient domestic buildings, but the preservation of ancient models in wooden houses makes Norwegian towns peculiarly picturesque. Norway retains a few highly interesting examples of ecclesiastical architecture. There are the peculiar small wooden churches (stavekirke) dating from the 11th to the 14th century, with high-pitched roofs rising in tiers so as to give the building something of the form of a pyramid. The roofs are beautifully shingled in wood. The wall timbers are vertical. To protect them from the weather, the roofs overhang deeply, and the lowest sometimes covers a species of external colonnade. The carving is often very rich. The most famous of these churches is that of Borgund near Laerdalsören; another fine example is at Hitterdal on the Kongsberg-Telemark road. On the other hand there are a few Romanesque and Gothic stone churches. In some of these the influence of English architecture is clear, as in the metropolitan cathedral of Trondhjem and the nave of Stavanger cathedral. St Mary’s Church at Bergen, however, tends towards the French models. A good example of the smaller stone church is at Vossevangen, and there are several of Late Romanesque character in the Trondhjem district. There are ruins of a cathedral at Hamar, and a few monastic remains, as at Utstein, north of Stavanger, and on the island of Selje off Statland. Remains of pure Early English work are occasionally found, as at Ogne in Jæderen, but the later Gothic styles were not developed in Norway.
Tourist Traffic and Communications.—During the later decades of the 19th century Norway was rapidly opened up to British, American and German visitors. Passenger communications from Great Britain are maintained chiefly between Hull and Stavanger, Bergen, Aalesund, Christiansund and Trondhjem; Hull, Christiansand and Christiania; Newcastle and Stavanger, Bergen Routes. and the North; London and Christiania, &c, and there are also passenger services from Grimsby, Grangemouth and other ports. Yachting cruises to the great fjords and the North Cape are also provided. A daily service of mail steamers works between Christiania and all ports to Bergen; thence the summer service is hardly less frequent to Trondhjem. From each large port small steamers serve the fjords and inner waters in the vicinity, and there are also
