Higher-density living

The development of the dwelling population over the last ten years shows that more and more people are experiencing higher-density living. Four in five dwellings are in urban areas. If we have a look at municipalities by population size, we see that the larger cities stand for a greater share of the densification of dwellings. In the ten largest municipalities, more than 90 per cent of the dwellings are in urban areas, and for the top five municipalities, over 98 per cent of the dwellings are in urban areas.

Statistics on grids may be downloaded from the geodata webpage (in Norwegian).

High dwelling density – also in minor municipalities

Even though the dwelling density in general is higher in the most populated municipalities, there are also some smaller municipalities where few dwellings are in scattered areas. After Oslo and Stavanger, Lørenskog municipality is next on the list of municipalities with the highest dwelling density, measured by share of dwellings within urban settlements. These three municipalities all have more than 99 per cent of their dwellings in urban areas.

More people living in flats

Even though half of the dwellings are detached houses, the increase in dwellings is highest among flats. Over the last ten years, the dwelling population has increased by 273 000, whereof 44 per cent are flats. The share of dwellings in multi-dwelling buildings has been increasing steadily over the last ten years and is now 24 per cent of the total.

The shift from detached houses to flats is also reflected in the increasing number of dwellings with an entrance at first floor level or higher. Over the last five years, 45 per cent of the net growth has been in dwellings with the entrance above ground floor level.

• More tables and numbers about Dwellings