Protected areas

A protected area is an area protected by the Nature Conservation Act, or the Svalbard Environmental Protection Act and the Jan Mayen Act.

Since 2006 areas protected according to the Wildlife act and the Act relating to Salmonids and Fresh-water Fish are also included.

The variables are number and area of protected areas according to delineations in protected area maps and administrative boundaries.

For 2008 areas protected under the Cultural Heritage Act are also included.

Since 2014: areas protected according to the Cultural Heritage Act are not included in the statistics.

From 2018: Statistics expanded to include protected sea areas, protected through the Nature Conservation Act, the Svalbard Environmental Protection Act and the Jan Mayen Act. Sea area is defined as all "salt water" (not land or freshwater) within Norway's territotorial waters

Standard classification of protected areas:

• National parks, protected by the Nature Conservation Act.
• Landscape protection areas, protected by the Nature Conservation Act.
• Nature reserves, protected by the Nature Conservation Act.
• Other protected areas, consists of flora and fauna protection areas (biotop protections) by the Nature Conservation Act. Since 2006 nature relics with an area protection and biotops protected by the Act relating to Salmonids and Fresh-water Fish and the Wildlife Act have also been included.

Since 2008, areas protected under the Cultural Heritage Act are also included, and are made up of: Archaeological monuments and sites Security zones Cultural environments Listed buildings.

Since 2014: areas protected according to the Cultural Heritage Act are not included

Protected areas

Classification of municipalities

Classification of county municipality

Division for Housing, Property, Spatial and Agricultural Statistics

Municipalities, counties, Mainland Norway and Svalbard/Jan Mayen

Annual

The statistics are reported to the Europeiske miljøbyrået (EEA) by the Norwegian Environment Agency after the indikator "Nationally designated protected areas".

Collected and revised data are stored securely by Statistics Norway in compliance with applicable legislation on data processing.

Statistics Norway can grant access to the source data (de-identified or anonymised microdata) on which the statistics are based, for researchers and public authorities for the purposes of preparing statistical results and analyses. Access can be granted upon application and subject to conditions. Refer to the details about this at Access to data from Statistics Norway.

The statistics are related to the Nature Conservation Act, the Svalbard Environmental Protection Act and the Jan Mayen Act. The objective of the statistics is to monitor the status and changes of protected natural areas.

Since 2008 the statistics are also related to the Cultural Heritage Act

Since 2014: areas protected according to the Cultural Heritage Act are not included in the statistics.

From 2018: Statistics expanded to include protected sea areas, protected through the Nature Conservation Act, the Svalbard Environmental Protection Act and the Jan Mayen Act.

The statistics are mainly used by the public sector as well as for research purposes

No external users have access to statistics before they are released at 8 a.m. on ssb.no after at least three months’ advance notice in the release calendar. This is one of the most important principles in Statistics Norway for ensuring the equal treatment of users.

The statistics are developed, produced and disseminated pursuant to Act no. 32 of 21 June 2019 relating to official statistics and Statistics Norway (the Statistics Act).

The statistics comprise all protected areas pursuant to the Nature Conservation Act, the Svalbard Environmental Protection Act and the Jan Mayen Act.

Since 2006 areas protected according to the Wildlife act and the Act relating to Salmonids and Fresh-water Fish are included.

From 2008 : areas protected according to the Cultural Heritage Act are included.

From 2014: areas protected according to the Cultural Heritage Act are no longer included in the statistics.

From 2018: Statistics expanded to include protected sea areas.

Map database for protected natural areas from the Directorate for Nature Management (DN) . Map database from the National Mapping Authority.

For 2007 a map database from DN on areas without major infrastructure development, 2003, was also used.

Map database for protected natural areas from the Directorate for Cultural Heritage

Since 2014: areas protected according to the Cultural Heritage Act are not included in the statistics.

From 2018: Statistics expanded to include protected sea areas.

Full count

Full count based on maps

Editing is defined here as checking, examining and amending data.

Control and revision routines related to management and maintenance carried out by The Norwegian Mapping and Cadastre Authority , The Directorate for Nature Management and The Directorate for Cultural Heritage

Based on GIS (Geographical Information System)

Overlay between geo maps of protected areas, Norway's coast line and municipalities. The resulting geo map was used to calculate sum protected area of different types in different municipalities, counties and in total.

Some protected areas belong to several of the five possible protection categories. Total protected area (6th category "All Protection purposes") is therefore smaller than sum protected area for the five categories

The statistics from 2002 onwards are based on digital maps and methods. The statistics prior to 2002 are based on manual methods and registers and may therefore be less accurate. The statistics are, however, comparable over time and space.

Numbers for the counties can be found in the StatBank. Summation of the area numbers may cause some discrepancies due to rounding off. Some areas are located in more than one county. Thus the sum of the number in the counties is higher than the total number.

Errors and inaccuracies may occur during the maintenance of map data, or be a result of differences in the accuracy of map data.

A revision is a planned change to figures that have already been published, for example when releasing final figures as a follow-up to published preliminary figures. See also Statistics Norway’s principles for revisions.

Revisions in previously published seasonally adjusted figures can take place when new observations (or revised previous observations) are included in the basis of calculation. The scope of the revision is usually greatest in the most relevant part (last 1–2 years) of seasonally adjusted time series. A corresponding revision in trends is also typical, particularly at the end of the time series. The extent of the revision of trends and seasonally adjusted figures is partly determined by the revision policy, see Section 4 of the European Statistical System (ESS) Guidelines on Seasonal Adjustment on the Eurostat website. For more information on the revision of seasonally adjusted figures, see the ‘About seasonal adjustment’ section in the relevant statistics.