Living in Norway: A Practical Guide

Patricia Bjaaland's classic "Living in Norway" (ISBN 82-990990-0-5), last published in the second edition of 1988, has been out of print since 1990. With more than 800 topics in 32 chapters, this completely new third edition by Michael Brady and Belinda Drabble is the essential A-Z sourcebook for moving to, settling and living in Norway, the small, northern country that now is one of the most dynamic and wealthiest in Europe.

As elsewhere in Europe, the popularity of American culture - principally films, TV shows and pop music - is viewed with mixed feelings. Skeptics fear that it may erode the native culture. Yet many imitate it: country and western music has been popular since the days of Hank Williams and Jim Reeves, there is a national Elvis impersonator contest and Norwegian-made serial "soap operas" are among the most popular of prime-time TV shows. In a mid 1990s survey that ranked young people in Europe in terms of an "Americanization index", Norway was on top, followed by Switzerland and Sweden, and far above Italy and France.

Nonetheless, other social aspects outweigh the culture of the young in reflecting the extent of Americanization of the country. The overall urban living pattern is perhaps the most obvious. Throughout Europe, the status of the inner cities is increasing. Paris is the best example: fully 95% of the population with the highest incomes live in the central parts of the city. The trend is similar elsewhere - Berlin, London, Rome - a wealthy city surrounded by less well-off areas. But in Norway the trend is more toward the suburbs, as in the USA. Baerum, the adjoining municipality southwest of Oslo, has a higher average per-capita income than the city. Likewise, better roads are being built to serve the suburbs, as in the USA. The underlying causes may lie in the histories of cities. In 1800, London was a city of more than a million, and other cities in Europe were populous well before 20th century technologies changed cities. In Norway, as in the USA, urban concentrations of population are more recent, and nostalgia for country life correspondingly stronger than elsewhere in Europe.

Roots may underlie all the trends. The population of Norway now is about 4.3 million, including all residents of foreign extraction. The Norwegian-American population of the USA now is some 3.9 million. In short, there are almost as many persons of Norwegian heritage in the USA as there are in Norway.