Official Name: Kongeriket Norge (Kingdom of Norway)

Area: Europe

Size: 385,155 km²

Coastline: 25,148 km

Independence: from union with Sweden 7 June, 1905 

Form of Govt.: Constitutional monarchy

Head of Govt.: Prime Minister

Capital: Oslo

Largest City: Oslo

Demographics (2005): 4,681,134.      12 /km²

North Germanic / Nordic descent

GDP per Capita (2005): $47,800

Languages: Norwegian. Finnish, Sami and the Kven languages are additional official languages of some municipalities

Geography: The territory also includes many island groups such as the Lofoten and Vesteralen groups as well as individual islands including Senja, Soroya, Ringvassoy and Hitra. Norway is a mountainous country with the Kjolen Mountains in the north, the Dovrefjell Range in the central area and the Jotunheim group in south central Norway. Extensive plateau regions called Fjells or Vidde dominate the southwest and central regions, and are characterized by incised troughs that form narrow gorges in the interior with fjords towards the coast.

Climate: Norway has a temperate climate with mild winters and cool summers along the coast while in the interior the winters are cold and summers are hot. Strong winds with snow or severe frost are experienced in the Arctic winters of the interior highlands. Rainfall is heavy and frequent on the west coast with an average annual precipitation in Bergen of 1,958 mm. Average temperature ranges in Oslo are from -7 to -2 degrees in January to 13 to 22 degrees in July.