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4 million inhabitants in urban settlements
statistikk
2012-09-06T10:00:00.000Z
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
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Population and land area in urban settlements, 1 January 2012

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4 million inhabitants in urban settlements

Almost four million of the total population of 5 million inhabitants in Norway lived in urban settlements as of 1 January 2012. Ninety per cent of the growth in the population of Norway took place in the urban settlements.

Urban settlements with 5 000 or more residents. 1 January 2012

The number of inhabitants in urban settlements increased by 60 000, or 1.5 per cent in 2011. The area covered by urban settlements increased by 20 square kilometres, or 1 per cent.

The highest growth in the urban population occurred in the central part of eastern Norway (counties of Oslo and Akershus). The lowest rate of increase in the population in urban settlements in 2011 was recorded in North Norway.

Continued high growth in the largest cities

The population of Oslo increased by 18 500 in 2011, or 32 per cent of the total increase in the urban settlements of Norway. A total of 925 000 inhabitants lived in the urban settlement of Oslo, which constitutes 23 per cent of the total population in urban settlements in Norway as of 1 January 2012.

In addition to Oslo, the urban settlements Bergen, Stavanger/Sandnes, Trondheim, Fredrikstad/Sarpsborg and Drammen all have more than 100 000 inhabitants. The population of these five urban settlements increased by 12 000, or 20 per cent of the total increase in urban settlements. In total, 815 000 inhabitants lived in these five urban settlements as of 1 January 2012.

Residents in and areas of urban settlements, by population size
 
 2012Change from 2011 to 2012
 ResidentsArea. km 2Residents
per km 2		Number of urban
settlements		ResidentsArea. km 2Residents
per km 2		Number of urban
settlements
 
Total3 958 0382 422.871 634 94258 92319.63126
200-499 residents 114 419 167.12 685 3371 7281.6334
500-999 residents 163 058 201.59 809 234-1 165-1.07-1-2
1 000-1 999 residents 202 890 207.74 977 144-1 3310.26-80
2 000-19 999 residents1 101 586 827.811 331 2061 9692.35-13
20 000-99 999 residents 1 636 254 368.631 7261527 10813.63101
100 000 or more residents1 739 831 649.982 677630 6142.73360
 
1  Molde is now included in the sizegroup 20 000-99 999 residents.

The largest urban settlements in minority

As few as 21of the 942 urban settlements in Norway had 20 000 or more residents as of 1 January 2012. These constitute as much as 60 per cent of the total population in urban settlements, but only 42 per cent of the total area covered by urban settlements.

Continued growth in population density

In total, 2 423 square kilometres of the total area of Norway were urban settlements as of 1 January 2012.

In recent years, the increase in the number of residents in urban settlements has been slightly stronger than the increase of the total area in urban settlements.

The average population density for urban settlements in Norway was 1 634 on 1 January 2012, compared to 1 593 on 1 January 2007.

Urban settlement

A hub of buildings is registered as an urban settlement if it is inhabited by at least 200 persons. The distance between the buildings must not exceed 50 metres. Exceptions are allowed for areas that cannot/are not to be occupied, for example parks, sport facilities, industrial areas or natural barriers such as rivers or arable land. Agglomerations that naturally belong to the urban settlement with up to a distance of 400 metres from the centre of the urban settlement are also included.

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