6215_not-searchable
/en/befolkning/statistikker/beftett/arkiv
6215
Three out of four live in urban settlements
statistikk
2001-12-06T10:00:00.000Z
Population;Nature and the environment
en
beftett, Population and land area in urban settlements, densely populated areas, sparsely populated areas, residents, population, population density, population size, centre zones, geo-referenced addressArea , Population count, Population, Nature and the environment
false

Population and land area in urban settlements, 1 January 2000

Content

Published:

This is an archived release.

Go to latest release

Three out of four live in urban settlements

77.3 per cent of Norway's population lived in a total of 925 urban settlements as of 1. January 2000. Norway's population increase from 1999 till 2000 was 0.8 per cent, while the estimated increase in urban settlements was approximately 2.8 per cent. Total land area covered by urban settlements rose for the same period by 2.6 per cent.

Only the urban settlements Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger/Sandnes and Trondheim have more than 100 000 residents. They constitute 28.6 per cent of the country's population, with an estimated 1 281 971 residents. This estimate has risen by 33 156 persons since 1999, which is a rise of 2.7 per cent.

Population increase in urban settlements

The greatest population increase has been in the 179 urban settlements holding populations between 2 000 and 20 000, with an increase of 4.5 per cent, or approximately 40 000 persons.

The tendency that relatively more people live in urban settlements is clear. There is however some uncertainty as to the figures on population growth from 1999 till 2000, as the period has also seen a change in the quality of the registers applied in the estimations.

Urban settlements. Population, population density and area. 1 January 2000*
Size class. Population Number of urban settlements Population Population density per km² Total urban settlement area. km² Per cent of urban settlement area Per cent change 1999-20001
Covered by buildings Covered by roads Population in urban settlements Urban settlement area
The whole country 925 3 396 382 1 588 2 138,7 7,6 15,4 2,8 2,6
200 - 499 364 122 467 721 169,9 5,2 14,5 1,3 2,3
500 - 999 219 151 524 842 180,0 5,5 15,2 0,9 0,6
1 000 - 1 999 144 204 438 999 204,7 6,0 15,3 -0,1 0,6
2 000 - 19 999 179 939 699 1 352 695,3 7,3 15,7 4,5 4,5
20 000 - 99 999 15 696 283 1 716 405,6 8,2 16,0 2,2 1,4
100 000 - 4 1 281 971 2 653 483,1 10,0 15,1 2,7 2,7
1  Area changes is due to both real changes and changes in register quality.

As many as 727 urban settlements had less than 2000 residents as of 1. January 2000. They constitute only 14 per cent of the total population in urban settlements, but as much as 26 per cent of total land area covered by urban settlements.

Increase in land area covered by urban settlements

The land area covered by urban settlements was 2 139 km2 as of 1. January 2000, or 0.7 per cent of Norway's total land area. This is an increase of 2.6 per cent from 1999 till 2000.

The average land area (for all urban settlements) covered by buildings is 7.6 per cent, and 15.4 per cent for roads. The proportion covered by buildings shows a tendency to rise with rising urban settlements size, while the proportion covered by roads does not on average vary between the different urban settlement size groups. Land area covered by roads does however vary locally within the different size groups.

The population density for urban settlements is averaged to 1 588 persons per km2 for 1. January 2000. There is here again a tendency of increased density with increased urban settlement size, but there are large local variations.

Stavanger/Sandnes urban settlement. 1. January 2000

26 new urban settlements

There are 26 new urban settlements as of 1. January 2000, while 12 urban settlements have been omitted since 1999. Only 7 of the new settlements have not at some point been defined as urban settlements before, while 9 of the omitted settlements have melted together with other settlements. An example of an urban settlement melting with another is Sola, which now is a part of the urban settlement of Stavanger/Sandnes

An overview of new/omitted urban settlements follows in table 5 and 6.

Improved quality

The urban settlement statistics are since 1999 based on results of linkages between the National Population Register (DSF) and The Official Register for Buildings, Addresses and Ground-properties (GAB). With the use of numerical addresses, address/building coordinates and a geographic information system (GIS), buildings and associated population are grouped into urban settlements. The quality of the statistics will depend at any given time on the completeness and accuracy of location data in the registers.

For 2000, it was possible to connect 98 per cent of the Norwegian population to location (geocoded addresses with coordinates), while the equivalent figure for 1999 was 97 per cent. This deviation, as well as varying percentages of geocoded population within and between municipalities, affects the validity of both estimated population figures for 2000 and estimations on population growth since 1999. Each municipality's percentages of geocoded population for 1999 and 2000 is showed in table 7.

An alteration in how the variable building-type is registered in the GAB-register has lead to an extra increase in estimated urban settlement land area from 1999 till 2000.

Urban settlements with more than 20 000 inhabitants. 1 January 1999 and 2000*
Urban settlement Population in urban settlements Population density per km² Total urban settlement area. km² Per cent of urban settlement area Per cent change 1999-20001
Covered by buildings Covered by roads Population in urban settlements Urban settlement area
All urban settlements in the country 3 396 382 1 588 2 138,7 7,6 15,4 2,8 2,6
Oslo 773 498 2 874 269,1 10,2 14,7 1,2 1,2
Bergen 205 759 2 390 86,1 10,4 17,7 1,2 1,6
Stavanger/Sandnes 162 083 2 322 69,8 11,0 15,9 13,4 12,2
Trondheim 140 631 2 418 58,2 7,1 12,1 1,5 0,6
Fredrikstad/Sarpsborg 93 273 1 493 62,5 8,7 14,8 1,7 0,9
Drammen 86 732 1 864 46,5 8,2 16,4 4,6 1,4
Porsgrunn/Skien 83 409 1 563 53,4 6,9 16,2 1,0 1,4
Kristiansand 61 400 2 096 29,3 9,0 16,0 1,7 1,4
Tromsø 49 372 2 324 21,2 8,5 17,0 2,5 1,6
Tønsberg 43 346 1 475 29,4 7,9 15,1 1,5 0,6
Haugesund 39 112 1 796 21,8 9,1 18,8 2,3 1,7
Sandefjord 37 229 1 514 24,6 6,8 15,2 1,9 1,2
ålesund/Spjelkavik 35 832 1 688 21,2 8,7 15,6 2,3 1,5
Moss 33 081 2 023 16,4 7,8 14,5 2,3 3,5
Bodø 32 343 2 437 13,3 9,1 17,8 6,2 2,1
Arendal 30 153 1 256 24,0 6,6 14,1 1,2 0,9
Hamar 27 514 1 661 16,6 10,7 17,8 1,0 1,6
Larvik 22 193 1 696 13,1 9,9 16,9 1,2 0,7
Halden 21 294 1 704 12,5 8,0 16,4 1,0 -0,0
1  Changes in area is due to both real changes and changes in register quality. The former urban settlement of Sola is now included in Stavanger/Sandnes.

Tables: