Statistikk innhold
Statistics on
Shares and dividend payments
The statistics give an overview of ownership of Norwegian limited and public limited companies, how much the companies pay in dividends and who receives the dividends.
Selected figures from the statistics
- Received dividends, by holding sectorDownload table as ...Received dividends, by holding sector
20231 2022 - 2023 NOK million Share Per cent Total 1 094 957 100 51 Non-financial corporations 630 712 58 93 Financial corporations 52 220 5 17 General government 123 675 11 62 Non-profit institutions serving households 7 076 1 12 Households 84 567 8 7 Rest of the world 195 969 18 3 Unspecified sector 739 0 -37 1Preliminary figures. Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Limited companies, nominal share capital and dividend payments, by main industryDownload table as ...Limited companies, nominal share capital and dividend payments, by main industry
2022 20231 Number of limited companies Nominal share capital. NOK million Dividend payments. NOK million Number of limited companies Nominal share capital. NOK million Dividend payments. NOK million Total 378 342 960 833 724 274 386 531 962 042 1 094 957 Agriculture, forestry and fishing 6 123 18 797 20 079 6 257 19 244 30 846 Mining and quarrying 1 328 106 066 148 894 1 298 100 965 519 049 Manufacturing 13 898 105 643 104 595 13 723 99 842 97 136 Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply 1 800 100 366 45 113 1 841 99 588 56 577 Water supply, sewerage, waste 934 3 146 1 413 924 3 234 2 187 Construction 50 529 38 635 38 359 50 525 37 420 33 516 Wholesale and retail trade: repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles 47 113 52 063 68 067 46 739 53 918 47 074 Transportation and storage 10 659 77 079 43 526 10 631 79 189 51 586 Accommodation and food service activities 12 091 6 946 4 058 12 106 6 793 3 831 Information and communication 19 579 49 659 29 235 20 035 49 163 42 559 Financial and insurance activities 18 238 182 640 77 157 17 689 186 694 77 112 Real estate activities 74 126 134 840 75 563 74 367 134 183 66 939 Professional, scientific and technical activities 45 002 38 485 35 266 45 797 38 495 32 982 Administrative and support service activities 15 127 16 700 12 546 15 113 16 314 9 049 Education 4 888 900 534 4 972 942 463 Human health and social work activities 11 542 3 233 4 680 12 083 3 419 3 427 Arts, entertainment and recreation 6 396 4 104 1 255 6 429 4 310 1 671 Other service activities 5 882 1 806 1 298 5 966 1 845 1 373 Missing 33 087 19 726 12 635 40 036 26 484 17 581 1Preliminary figures. Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Nominal share capital and received dividends, by owner sector. NOK millionDownload table as ...Nominal share capital and received dividends, by owner sector. NOK million
2022 20231 Nominal share capital Received dividends Nominal share capital Received dividends Sum all holding sectors 960 833 724 273 962 041 1 094 957 Non-financial corporations 527 283 326 643 521 148 630 712 Financial corporations 112 760 44 545 114 495 52 220 General government 62 994 76 115 64 431 123 675 Non-profit institutions serving households 21 426 6 297 21 249 7 076 Households 68 446 78 819 67 928 84 567 Rest of the world 166 792 190 685 169 913 195 969 Unspecified sector 1 133 1 169 2 876 739 1Preliminary figures. Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Individuals who owned shares, nominal share capital, received dividends and received previously paid-up share capital and share premium, by sex and ageDownload table as ...Individuals who owned shares, nominal share capital, received dividends and received previously paid-up share capital and share premium, by sex and age
2022 20231 Number of individuals who owned shares 31 December Nominal share capital. NOK million Received dividends. NOK million Received share capital. NOK million2 Received share premium. NOK million2 Number of individuals who owned shares 31 December Nominal share capital. NOK million Received dividends. NOK million Received share capital. NOK million2 Received share premium. NOK million2 Both sexes Total 892 089 68 237 78 483 1 146 8 302 913 143 67 648 84 164 1 333 5 257 0-19 years 15 347 492 1 195 1 353 14 949 399 232 91 8 20-29 years 105 545 2 333 1 418 111 345 106 606 1 974 2 739 61 94 30-39 years 160 603 6 419 6 492 86 456 167 151 6 716 6 847 106 586 40-49 years 163 612 12 336 15 594 171 1 061 166 934 11 794 16 553 299 785 50-59 years 178 125 18 182 24 543 293 1 903 181 830 17 669 24 797 290 1 204 60-69 years 135 922 16 062 18 824 273 2 820 138 955 16 343 20 572 325 1 453 70-79 years 93 595 9 865 8 600 190 781 94 942 9 851 9 759 143 847 80 years or older 39 340 2 548 1 818 23 583 41 776 2 903 2 665 18 282 Men Total 612 717 52 558 62 890 909 6 175 624 905 52 303 65 305 910 4 222 0-19 years 11 089 206 571 : : 10 930 186 83 : 2 20-29 years 76 428 1 737 779 : 200 77 295 1 347 1 046 59 59 30-39 years 111 725 4 561 4 620 58 289 115 110 4 914 4 703 43 506 40-49 years 113 738 8 988 12 254 115 662 115 418 8 685 12 465 209 472 50-59 years 121 512 13 962 20 032 253 1 393 123 815 13 553 19 588 147 894 60-69 years 93 072 13 137 16 014 226 2 438 94 624 13 406 17 316 285 1 287 70-79 years 62 430 8 172 7 225 178 642 63 337 8 087 8 042 118 759 80 years or older 22 723 1 796 1 394 20 : 24 376 2 125 2 062 : 244 Women Total 279 372 15 679 15 593 237 2 127 288 238 15 346 18 859 423 1 035 0-19 years 4 258 286 624 : : 4 019 213 149 : 6 20-29 years 29 117 596 639 : 145 29 311 628 1 693 3 35 30-39 years 48 878 1 858 1 872 28 167 52 041 1 802 2 144 62 79 40-49 years 49 874 3 348 3 340 56 399 51 516 3 109 4 088 90 314 50-59 years 56 613 4 220 4 511 40 510 58 015 4 116 5 208 143 310 60-69 years 42 850 2 925 2 810 47 382 44 331 2 937 3 256 40 166 70-79 years 31 165 1 693 1 374 11 139 31 605 1 764 1 717 25 88 80 years or older 16 617 752 424 3 : 17 400 778 603 : 38 1Preliminary figures. 2Does not include capital paid back in connection with liquidation or partial liquidation of limited companies. Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Nominal share capital and received dividend payments for foreign shareholders, by selected countries. NOK millionDownload table as ...Nominal share capital and received dividend payments for foreign shareholders, by selected countries. NOK million
2022 20231 Nominal share capital Received dividends Nominal share capital Received dividends Total 166 792 190 685 169 913 195 969 Sweden 19 586 34 452 19 289 17 876 United Kingdom 23 554 39 008 22 456 24 992 United States 13 137 29 031 13 378 25 010 Denmark 6 228 6 991 5 698 5 685 France 6 768 14 098 6 623 23 490 Netherlands 12 422 12 000 11 994 23 839 Luxembourg 13 864 5 383 15 396 9 394 Germany 6 674 7 342 7 660 10 597 Cyprus 2 998 1 341 3 058 2 502 Spain : 4 973 : 7 108 Switzerland 3 954 6 233 6 204 5 866 Belgium 2 484 1 409 2 630 2 070 1Preliminary figures. Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Individuals who owned shares, nominal share capital and received dividends, by county, sex and ageDownload table as ...Individuals who owned shares, nominal share capital and received dividends, by county, sex and age
20231 Number of individuals who owned shares 31 December Nominal share capital (NOK million) Percentage share of residents who owned shares 31 December Number of individuals who received dividends Received dividends (NOK million ) Percentage share of residents who received dividends Total 913 143 67 648 16.5 531 952 84 164 9.6 County Oslo 141 128 13 124 19.7 80 857 19 859 11.3 Rogaland 87 111 6 914 17.4 57 064 8 098 11.4 Møre og Romsdal 43 584 3 963 16.1 25 640 3 318 9.5 Nordland - Nordlánnda 37 508 2 271 15.4 21 773 2 328 9.0 Viken (2020-2023) 209 867 14 638 16.0 120 976 21 207 9.2 Innlandet 53 673 3 499 14.3 31 268 3 385 8.3 Vestfold og Telemark (2020-2023) 68 146 4 509 15.7 39 088 5 419 9.0 Agder 45 634 3 424 14.3 22 739 3 572 7.1 Vestland 115 101 7 534 17.7 69 035 9 147 10.6 Trøndelag - Trööndelage 77 309 5 176 16.0 45 741 5 919 9.5 Troms og Finnmark - Romsa ja Finnmárku (2020-2023) 34 082 2 595 13.9 17 771 1 913 7.3 Males Total 624 905 52 303 22.4 361 192 65 305 12.9 0-19 years 10 930 186 1.7 7 188 83 1.1 20-29 years 77 295 1 347 21.4 44 524 1 046 12.3 30-39 years 115 110 4 914 29.0 59 581 4 703 15.0 40-49 years 115 418 8 685 31.4 60 540 12 465 16.5 50-59 years 123 815 13 553 32.6 68 752 19 588 18.1 60-69 years 94 624 13 406 30.7 57 770 17 316 18.8 70-79 years 63 337 8 087 26.8 43 778 8 042 18.5 80 years or older 24 376 2 125 23.0 19 059 2 062 18.0 Females Total 288 238 15 346 10.5 170 760 18 859 6.2 0-19 years 4 019 213 0.7 2 519 149 0.4 20-29 years 29 311 628 8.5 17 315 1 693 5.0 30-39 years 52 041 1 802 13.6 27 677 2 144 7.2 40-49 years 51 516 3 109 14.6 26 448 4 088 7.5 50-59 years 58 015 4 116 15.9 32 420 5 208 8.9 60-69 years 44 331 2 937 14.5 28 211 3 256 9.2 70-79 years 31 605 1 764 12.6 22 517 1 717 9.0 80 years or older 17 400 778 11.6 13 653 603 9.1 1Preliminary figures. Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ...
About the statistics
The information under «About the statistics» was last updated 22 March 2021.
A limited (liability) company is an enterprise where the owners' personal responsibilities for the firm's obligations are limited to the amount the owners have invested. The firm is considered an independent juridical entity. The company must have a deed of incorporation, obtain share capital and the company must be registered with the Brønnøysund Register Centre. A company is a Public limited company if it claims to be so in the ordinance and it is registered as such in the Brønnøysund Register Centre. All or a large part of the shares must be publicly traded and these must be registered with Norwegian Central Securities Depository. More information about the requirements can be found in the Limited Company Act and the Public limited Company Act.
A share is a unit of ownership in a limited company.
A primary capital certificate (PCC) is issued by a savings bank and is very similar to a share. The main differences is that the holders of the PCCs only own a limited part of the bank and has limited influence over the governance of the bank. The dividends are also limited.
Class of shares. The Board of directors can choose to divide the shares into different categories. Each category can have different dividend and voting rights or other characteristics specified at the date of issue.
A shareholder is a natural person or juridical person or other entity that owns shares in a limited company or public limited company.
Share capital. At the formation of a limited company the shareholders must invest a certain amount of capital. The minimum requirement of capital is NOK 100 000 for a limited company and NOK 1 million for a public limited company. The share capital may be increased at a later time by increasing the nominal value, or by issuing new shares. If a shareholder pays more than nominal value, a share premium has been paid. Limited companies can later reduce and repay both share capital and share premium to the shareholders. The share capital statistics include companies that were in existence 31 December in the fiscal year.
Nominal value is the value of the share when issued. The nominal value times the number of shares issued should be equal to the share capital. Nominal value can change due to stock split or a reverse stock split.
Paid dividend is the actual amount of dividend paid out to shareholders during the fiscal year. The paid dividend statistics include all dividends distributed to shareholders by limited companies during the fiscal year whether or not the limited companies were in existence at the year-end or liquidated during the year.
Received dividend is the dividend received by shareholder during the fiscal year.
Received share capital is that part of share capital by which the limited company has reduced its share capital and repayed to its shareholders. It is a non-taxable transfer.
Received share premium is that part of share premium by which the limited company has reduced its share premium and repayed to its shareholders. It is a non-taxable transfer.
Received other paid-in capital is that part of other paid-in capital by which the limited company has reduced its other paid-in capital and repayed to its shareholders. It is a non-taxable transfer.
Capital gains on sale of shares. If a shareholder sells shares and the selling price exceeds the cost price, a capital gain arise.
Risk-free return. With the introduction of the shareholder model as from 1 January 2006, dividends and capital gains on sale of shares for personal shareholders are taxed if they are above the calculated opportunity rate of return, named the risk-free return. As a rule, the risk-free return is computed by multiplying the cost price of the share by an opportunity rate of interest. It is the shareholder who owns the share at the time the risk-free return is calculated (31 December every year) who are entitled to the allowance. The risk-free return can also be used to reduce profit when the share is sold. If the risk-free return or part of it is not used in a given year, it can be carried forward and used later.
Taxable dividend is that part of the received dividend that exceeds the risk-free return.
Taxable capital gains on sale of shares is the part of the capital gains on sale of shares that exceeds the risk-free return.
Listed/non-listed. Listed shares are shares listed and traded at the Oslo Stock Exchange per 31.12 in the fiscal year. Non-listed shares are not listed at the Oslo Stock Exchange per 31.12 in the fiscal year. As of the statistics covering 2007, shares listed on Oslo Axess is also included.
Classification of industry is in accordance with the revised Norwegian Standard Industrial Classification (SN94), which is based on the EU industrial standard NACE Rev. 1 and the UN industrial standard ISIC Rev. 3. As of 2004, the revised standard SN2002 is used. This standard is based on the EU industrial standard NACE Rev. 1.1. As of 2007, the revised standard SN2007, which is based on the EU industrial standard NACE Rev. 2, is used. For companies that engage in several industries, the entire business will be placed under the business that contributes the most to the overall added value. Further information can be found on the Statistics Norway web page.
Institutional sector is a statistical categorizing of the shareholders based mainly on the economic function, but also organization structure and ownership. Institutional sector categories are based on United Nations standards "System of National Accounts" (SNA) from 1993. As of fiscal year 2012, the statistics use a new institutional sector classification which is based on the UN's "System of National Accounts" (SNA) from 2008 and the EU's "European System of National Accounts' (ESA) from 2010.
The country and region classification is based on ISO standard 3166 and the UNs Standard Country and Area Codes Classifications (M49). The statistics are classified by the country where the shareholder is registered. If a company, for instance an American company, owns a holding company in the Netherlands, and this holding company owns shares in a Norwegian limited company, the shareholder in the Norwegian company will be classified as Dutch in the statistisics, eventhough the ultimate owner is American.
Name: Shares and dividend payments
Topic: Establishments, enterprises and accounts
Division for Accounting Statistics and Business Register
National level
Frequency: Annual, preliminary and final figures.
Timeliness: Preliminary figures are published 26 weeks after the year-end.
Not relevant.
Final statistics files are documented and stored.
The purpose of the stock statistics is to present the value of shares and dividends of Norwegian limited companies and public limited companies by ownership.
Statistics Norway has published annual stock statistics since 1984 with the exception of the period between 1991-1993 and 2000-2003.
The stock statistics is used by the Ministry of Finance, internal and external research institutes, the Bank of Norway (Norges Bank) and they are used in the National Accounts.
The statistics can be used to analyse the structure of a group of companies, the ownership structure of limited companies, the distribution of dividends from the companies to the shareholders etc.
No external users have access to the statistics and analyses before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on ssb.no at 8 am. Prior to this, a minimum of three months' advance notice is given in the Statistics Release Calendar. This is one of Statistics Norway’s key principles for ensuring that all users are treated equally.
The stock statistics cover nearly the same population as Accounting statistics for non-financial limited companies. The register-based accounting statistics include the profit and loss account and the balance sheet, thus providing more detailed figures broken down by industry and other variables.
Tax statistics for companies include both limited companies and public limited companies. The tax statistics are based on the Directorate of Taxes' register of non-personal taxation entities, and gives inter alia overall ordinary income.
The tax statistics for personal taxpayers comprise all taxable individuals. The tax statistics contains data about received dividend and it includes dividend from both Norwegian and foreign companies.
The Statistics Act section 3-2.
Not relevant.
Starting in the fiscal year 2004 the statistics incorporate all limited companies and public limited companies. As of 2006, the statistics also cover primary capital certificates (PCC). The statistics on taxable capital gains on sale of shares also include sale of equity fund shares.
Previously the statistics included all Norwegian limited companies registered on the Directory of Taxes' Register of Shares. Between 1997-1998 the statistics for non-listed companies did not included firms that were subject to tax regulation for electric power stations.
Starting in 2004 the statistics are based on data from the Directorate of Taxes' Register of Shareholders. In the statistics on taxable dividend, data on dividend reported electronically to the Directorate of Taxes are also used.
Between 1984 and 1999 the statistics were based on the Directory of Taxes' Register of Shares and annual statistics of listed companies from Oslo Stock Exchange (Oslo Børs).
For each company additional data regarding industry and institutional sector is obtained from the Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises.
Starting with the fiscal year 2004 Statistics Norway collected data from the Directorate of Taxes' Register of Shareholders. The registers consist of all Norwegian limited companies, specifying the number of shares issued, the share capital, the share premium, and proposed and paid dividend. In addition the register gives information about the shareholders and received dividends. Statistics Norway also collect information about received dividends that the tax payers report electronically to the Directorate of Taxes.
Between 1984 and 1999 Statistics Norway gathered data from the Register of Shares, which is a part of the Directories of Taxes' Register for Non-Personal Taxpayers. The Register of Shares contains information about the nominal value and the number of shares for Norwegian limited companies, as well as the tax value and proposed dividend for non-listed companies. Information about the listed companies was obtained from the Oslo Stock Exchange, partly through their published statistics and partly as an electronic data request.
The Tax Authorities control that the necessary and correct data is registered. In addition Statistics Norway carry out quality controls to ensure coherence and consistency within and with other available statistics.
The analysis unit is the limited company and the shareholder. The statistics are estimated by counting all units with a certain characteristic, e.g. the number of limited companies by main industry, and by aggregating a certain characteristic for all units in the statistics, e.g. received dividend.
Not relevant
As a main rule a figure is not published if it is based on less than three units, if one single company amounts for 90 per cent or more of the value, or if two companies amount for 95 per cent or more of the value.
A change of source means that starting in 2004 the stock statistics are not directly comparable to earlier statistics. Some of the variables are redefined, e.g. previously the statistics included proposed dividends and as of 2004 the statistics include paid dividends.
The statistics are comparable for the period 1994 to 1999.
Prior to 1991 the stock statistics showed the estimated market value of non-listed companies. An estimate of the market value was obtained by simply using the tax value of the firm unless the tax value was zero, in which case the face value was used.
Prior to 1990 the amount published as paid dividend was the proposed dividend in the previous year. Starting in 1994 the dividend figure published included the proposed dividend to be paid out in the following year.
Adjustments to the tax system and to the accounting regulation over the years are reflected in the data and influence the continuity of the timeseries.
Adjustment of industry categorisation or structural changes within the industries might have an impact on the figure and impede the comparison over the years.
The introduction of a new institutional sector classification in 2012 means that the sector classified statistics are not fully comparable with previous years. This particularly affects the demarcation between financial and non-financial corporations.
The dataset is based on information given by the companies in the Shareholder Registration form, and errors arise if the information given is erroneous or inaccurate. If mistakes are not corrected during the quality controls the information of the Shareholder Registration form might be incorrect. Mistakes can also occur during the processing, the correction or the registration of the data. The quality control is mainly concerned with mistakes that can have a significant impact on the statistics. As a result, less significant errors, which have no impact on the total amounts, may not be corrected.
Some errors made during the collecting and processing of the data are unavoidable and include coding, editing and data processing errors etc. Extensive efforts have been made to minimize these errors, and we regard these types of errors to be relatively insignificant.
The statistics are based on an administration register of the population. Still there could be that some companies are not included in the register. The non-response rate is between 3 and 7 per cent of the total population of limited companies. Non-response can typically be caused by limited companies that are establish during the year or are no longer in business. When the owner is a foreign company or the general government, we also see a larger non-response rate. This is most likely caused by the fact that these shareholders are not taxed by the shareholder model, and thus the incentive to report is smaller.
The quality of the register and the linked data from administrative registers also have an impact on the quality of the finished result. Both the administrative and statistics registers are regularly updated, and will therefore change during the production process.
The stock statistics present figures for both limited companies and shareholders. Comparing these figures on might find that for items such as share capital and dividend paid there will be some differences.
Revisions are planned adjustments made to previously published figures (for instance when preliminary figures are revised and replaced with final figures). In Shares and capital returns, preliminary figures covering the recent income year are publised together with final figures covering the previous income year. To get more information about revisions, please see Principles for revisions in Statistics Norway.