_____ _____ Norway

Global Sourcebook for International Data Management

                                         by Graham Rhind

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Norway

Global Sourcebook | Index | Properties

NORWAY
NORWAY

For supplementary information, see links to post office home pages here External, to postal code pages here External and to other personal name and addressing issues pages here External.

Table of Contents

Norway - Country information

image

Local short name form

Official name

Area

Population

5 488 984 (2023 estimate) [1]

Capital

Currency

International telephone access code

47

ISO 3166 country codes

Car nationality plate code

N

Internet country code

NO

GRC Country Code

NOR

Norway - Number format

   1 234,45

(where , indicates the decimal separator and a space the thousands separator)

Norway - Date and time formats

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   dd.mm.yyyy
   dd/mm/yyyy                                   

In written Norwegian, the 24-hour clock notation is usually used.

   14:32

Norway - Languages

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Norwegian External, the official language, has two forms: Bokmål or Riksmål and Nynorsk or Landsmål. All children in Norway learn both forms at school. The former is that spoken in Oslo and most other urban areas. The two forms together are spoken by 99% of the population. Saami External (in 5 different forms) is spoken by the 22 500 Saami living in the far north of the country. There are small numbers of Romani External-speakers.

Norway - For the attention of

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This is written ved or v/.

Norway - Personal names

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Women often retain their maiden names upon marriage. Others may choose to take their husband’s names and some double-barrel both names.

   Tables of names can be acquired: given names External, surnames/family names External, family name prefixes External, forms of address External, job titles External

Norway - Company legal forms

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The following company types may be found in Norwegian address databases:

   AL (Andelslag - co-operative society)
   ANS (Ansvarlig Selskap - general partnership)
   AS (Aksjeselskaper – private limited company)
   ASA (Allmennaksjeselskaper – public limited company)
   BA (Selskap med begrenset ansvar - cooperatives and companies created by legislatation)
   BL (Borettslag - housing share company)
   DA (Selskap med delt ansar – limited partnership)
   Enkeltpersonforetak - sole proprietorship
   Etat - state, county or municipal agency
   FKF (Fylkeskommunalt foretak -  county enterprise)
   Gruppen
   HF (helseforetak - subsidiary health enterprise)
   IKS (Interkommunalt selskap - inter-municipal enterprise (owners’ liability))
   KF (Kommunalt foretak - municipal enterprise (owner’s liability))
   KS (Komandittselskap – limited partnership)
   NUF (Norskregistrert utenlandsk foretak - foreign enterprise registered in Norway)
   RHF (regionalt helseforetak - regional health enterprise)
   SF (Statsforetak - state enterprise)
   Stiftelse - foundation
   Comprehensive tables of these strings can be acquired – see http:www.grcdi.nl/addresses.htm External

Norway - Addresses

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   Note: This section last updated 29th April 2015

Addresses are written in this format:

   Recipient name
   Thoroughfare[ ]number
   postal code[ ]SETTLEMENT

For example:

image

Two spaces between the postal code and the settlement name are no longer required.

Post office box numbers may be followed by the post office name:

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The numeric sorting code previously found after the postal town name is not longer required, but some Norwegians continue to add it to their addresses.

Some large companies and institutions have their own postal codes, and their addresses may be written without a street line in this way:

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A bolignummer (residence number) may be assigned to residences within buildings where more than one residence has the same street address. The bolignummer is a letter and 4 digits. For example:

      Hans Hansen
      Bolignummer H0302
      Storgata 15
      0161 OSLO

The numbers indicate the floor and the position on that floor.

The letter is usually H but may also be L, K or U:

   image

This number is sometimes found written after the building number in this way:

   Storgata 15 H0302

The thoroughfare type is usually suffixed to the street name without a space. There are exceptions, for example when the street is named after a person with more than one name:

   Folke Bernadottes Vei 6

As with other Scandinavian languages, the definite article does not appear as a separate word but as -en or -et at the end of a word (see language rules below). Thus ‘way’ is vei, ‘the way’ is veien.

   A table containing information about the relevant position of elements within address blocks can be acquired External

(Sub)-building and Thoroughfare types

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The most commonly occurring (sub-)building and thoroughfare types, with their abbreviations, are listed below:

Thoroughfare Type Abbreviation
Allè  
Allèen  
Bakken  
Bukt  
Byen  
Dalen  
Etasje  
Flate  
Gård / gården  
Gata (dialect) G, Gt
Gate, Gaten G, Gt
Kontoret  
Lia  
Park  
Plassen Pl
Stortorget  
Stredet  
Svingen  
Target  
Vegen (dialect) V.
Vei, Veinen V.
   Comprehensive tables of these strings can be acquired – see http:www.grcdi.nl/addresses.htm External

Other elements commonly found in address databases

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NB: This list is for Bokmål. The ending of the adjectives changes according to the gender of the noun to which it refers and whether it is singular or plural. The plural in Norwegian is made by adding -(e)r to the end of a word, or -(e)ne when the word is preceded by the definite article.

Bokmål English
den, det, de, dei the (but only when followed by an adjective preceding a noun. Otherwise -en (gendered) or -et (neuter) is added to the end of the noun. So, for example, vei = road, den store vei = the big road, but ...veien)
en, et, e, ei, ein, eit a, an
og and
til, inntil till, until, up to
for, til for
fra of
av, fra from
til to, towards
ved, nær near, by
on
i in
overfor opposite
ved siden av, nærmest, nest next to
bak, bakerst behind
foran in front of
mellom, imellom between
over over
under under
med with
ny new
gammel old
kort short
lang long
stor big
liten, lita, lite, lille, små (plural) small
nord north
øst east
syd south
vest west
Industriebygget Industrial estate

(NB: When used with nouns, the words for north, south, east and west are prefixed without a space to the noun to which they refer. For example, Sydgate = South Street).

Norway - Post office box

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   Note: This section last updated 29th March 2014

This is written as Postboks, abbreviated to PB or POB.

Serviceboks may still be found in address databases. This was a mailing address system whereby “postboks” mail was delivered to a large company’s physical location rather than a post office box within a post office. It is no longer in use.

Norway - Postal codes

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Norwegian postal codes (Postnummer) consist of a block of 4 digits, beginning with a number from 0 to 9. The postal code is placed on the last line of the address and precedes the town name.

   Metadata containing postal code formatting rules, exceptions and regular expressions can be acquired External

Norway - Postal code format graphic

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Norway - Postal code format

Norway - Postal code specifics

n/a.

Norway - Postal code regular expression

\A\d{4,4}\Z

Norway - Postal code level of coverage

3

Norway - Postal code map

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Norway postal code map Click on image for larger version

Place names in Norway

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   Note: This section last updated 22nd February 2017

Refer to Exonyms in Norway for full lists of place names in Norway in other languages.

   Alternate place name forms/postal code tables can be acquired at http://www.grcdi.nl/settlements.htm External
   Other language place name data can be acquired at http://www.grcdi.nl/otherlanguageplace.htm External

image The village of Å (Source: Wikipedia)

Norway - Administrative districts

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   Note: This section last updated 21st January 2024

On 1st January 2024 Norway reversed previous (2020) mergers of counties External (Fylker, singular Fylke), so that the number of counties has now gone up from 11 to 15. They do not appear in addresses. They are listed below:

County Postal codes
Agder External 45-49
Akerhus External 19-21
Buskerud External/ 30, 33-35
Finnmark External (Finnmárku) 95-99
Innlandet External 22-26, 28-29
Møre og Romsdal External 61-66
Nordland External (Nordlánnda/Nordlaante/Nordlánda) 8
Oslo External 0, 10-12
Østfold External 15-18
Rogaland External 40-43, 55
Telemark External 37-39
Troms External (Romsa) 90-94
Trøndelag External (Trööndelage) 7
Vestfold External 32
Vestland External 50-54, 57-59, 67-69

Postal code areas not listed above are shared between two counties. The names between brackets are Saami-language versions.

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   This regions/postal code data can be acquired as a data file External

Administrative districts graphic

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Telephone numbers in Norway

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Norwegian telephone numbers have no area codes. Each subscriber’s number has 8 digits, and is normally written in the format:

   99[ ]99[ ]99[ ]99

All numbers are dialled when calling from abroad. The first digit cannot be a 0. 1 is currently not used. Numbers commencing 2-3 and 5-7 are standard landlines, those commencing 8 are special numbers (e.g. free numbers) and 4 or 9 are mobile numbers. Special service numbers or mobile numbers may also be written in the format:

   999[ ]99[ ]999
   Tables of telephone number information/formats can be acquired – see http://www.grcdi.nl/telephone.htm External 

References

  1. ^ citypopulation.de/en/norway/admin/ External 20230324

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All information copyright Graham Rhind 2024. Any information used should be acknowledged and referenced.