Dividends are still rising

Preliminary figures from Norway's tax return statistics for 1995 show a 27 per cent rise from 1994 in dividends paid out, i.e. the average for shareholders who received dividends increased from NOK 29,300 in 1994 to NOK 37,500 in 1995.

The value of dividends paid out was about the same as the value of interest income in 1995, which totalled NOK 10.7 billion. While dividends were divided among 285,000 people, over three million people had interest income. Interest income was reduced from NOK 16.3 billion in 1993 to NOK 10.7 billion in 1995, a 35 per cent drop. Despite the low average rate of interest paid on deposits during the period, 4 to 4.5 per cent, bank deposits and the number of persons with bank deposits have increased.

New Statistics

Tax return statistics, 1995. Preliminary figures.
Statistics are published annually in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics and Official Statistics of Norway (NOS) Regional Statistics. More information: Ingrid Melby, tel. +47 62 88 51 91, e-mail: ime@ssb.no or Grethe Sparby, tel. +47 62 88 52 41, e-mail: gsp@ssb.no. More detailed tax return statistics will be published together with the final figures in the course of 1st quarter 1997.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 50, 1996