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Half of the growth in four largest cities
statistikk
2004-05-28T10:00:00.000Z
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
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Population and land area in urban settlements, 1 January 2004

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Half of the growth in four largest cities

In the country as a whole, the number of inhabitants in urban settlements increased by about 22 000 during 2003. The number of inhabitants increased by 11 000 in the 4 largest cities during the same period of time comprising almost half of the national growth.

All in all 3 536 454 inhabitants lived in altogether 911 urban settlements in Norway as of January 1. 2004. 77.6 per cent of the population thus lives in urban settlements. The population in urban settlements increased by slightly above 22 000 during 2003, while the urban settlement area decreased by approximately 7 km2. The decrease in urban settlement area is thought to arise from the decrease in number of small urban settlements.

Inhabitant growth in large cities dominate

Only 4 urban settlements in Norway have more than 100 000 inhabitants. Close to 1 330 000 inhabitants live in these urban settlements altogether, which make up 29 per cent of the Norwegian population. During 2003, the number of inhabitants increased by 10 000 in these four urban settlements, or almost half of the total growth.

Urban settlements with more than 20 000 inhabitants. 1. January 2004
Urban settlement Population Area in all, km2 Change 2000-2004. Per cent
In all Residents per km2 Population Area
Oslo  801 028 2 897  276.53 3.6 2.8
Bergen  212 626 2 411 88.20 3.3 2.5
Stavanger/Sandnes  171 342 2 364 72.48 5.7 3.8
Trondheim  145 691 2 452 59.42 3.6 2.1
Fredrikstad/Sarpsborg 96 595 1 527 63.28 3.6 1.3
Drammen 89 976 1 886 47.71 3.7 2.5
Porsgrunn/Skien 84 882 1 542 55.03 1.8 3.1
Kristiansand 63 368 2 109 30.05 3.2 2.6
Tromsø 52 116 2 374 21.95 5.6 3.3
Tønsberg 44 746 1 504 29.75 3.2 1.3
ålesund1 43 972 1 513 29.07 22.7 37.0
Haugesund 40 271 1 787 22.53 3.0 3.5
Sandefjord 39 387 1 497 26.31 5.8 7.0
Moss 34 329 1 964 17.48 3.8 6.9
Bodø 33 473 2 433 13.76 3.5 3.7
Arendal 30 806 1 238 24.88 2.2 3.6
Hamar 28 564 1 644 17.37 3.8 4.9
Larvik 23 040 1 684 13.68 3.8 4.5
Halden 21 916 1 615 13.57 2.9 8.6
1  Langevåg has merged with ålesund during this period.

Denser population

All in all 2 217.28 km2 of the land area in Norway was urban settlement as of 1 January 2004. The urban settlement area decreased by 7.08 km2, or 0.3 per cent during 2003. The number of inhabitants increased in the same period of time by 22 037 or 0.6 per cent of the urban settlement population. There are, however, differences between small and large urban settlements. There has been a decrease in both population and area for the smallest size classes, while the opposite is true for the larger size classes (table 2). The population density in urban settlements was 1 595 per km2 in 2004, compared with 1 580 in 2003. The increase may be observed in all size classes. The changes are small and the observation period short so the figures must be used with care.

Residents in and areas of urban settlements, by population size
  2004 Change from 2003 to 2004
  Residents Area Number Residents Area Number
In all 3 536 454    2 217.28   911   22 037   -7.08   -21
200-499 residents  115 421  159.67  335 -7 656 -13.42 -26
500-999 residents  151 093  182.80  219 -2 373 -1.36 -2
1 000-1 999 residents  205 907  205.33  148 6 780 4.41 6
2 000-99 999 residents 1 733 346 1 172.85  205 14 170 2.93 1
100 000 or more residents 1 330 687  496.64 4 11 116 0.37 0

Improved quality of the statistics

Since 1999 the urban settlement statistics are 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 the location data in the registers.

For 2004, it was possible to connect 99.6 per cent of the Norwegian population to location (geocoded addresses with coordinates), while the equivalent figure for 2000 was 98.1 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 both 2004 and estimations of population growth of statistics from previous periods.

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