Latest from Local Norway
Local Norway
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Local Norway
'Vision Zero': Why are Norwegian roads so safe?
These 89 break down to just 16 deaths per million inhabitants, and represent a 14 percent reduction on the rate Norway reported in 2023. It is only one-fifth the death rate of Serbia, the country rated by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) as having the most dangerous roads. Sweden ranks second with 20 deaths per million inhabitants, and Denmark ranks fourth with 24. Finland with 31 is the worst performer in the Nordics. Germany, with 33, has double Norway's traffic death rate while Italy on 51, has triple Norway's rate. EXPLAINED: The dos and don'ts of driving in Norway Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Slovakia, and Ireland also had the lowest death rates per billion vehicle-km travelled. Norway has led the ETSC's Annual Road Safety Performance Index for ten years in a row, something the council puts down to its continual efforts to improve road safety, with 179 action measures in 15 priority areas in its current three-year road safety strategy, winning it the 2025 PIN Traffic Safety Award. Advertisement EXPLAINED: The ways you can lose your driving licence in Norway In a page in the index, Norway's transport minister Jon-Ivar Nygård put the country's success down to its "systematic, evidence-based and long-term efforts", and particularly to its Vision Zero methodology. Norwegian cars increasingly, he said, travel within the speed limit thanks to hard-hitting publicity campaigns by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, automatic speed cameras, and traffic police with unmarked vehicles. Norway is aiming to reduce the number of road deaths still further to under 50 by 2030 and to reduce the number of serious injuries to under 350. To achieve this, Norway's government plans "increased control and enforcement", "targeted campaigns", and new cameras at known danger spots. The next few years will also see an increased focus on motorcycles and e-scooters.
Local Norway
2 days ago
- Business
- Local Norway
IN DATA: How Oslo still leads the way for monthly salaries in Norway
According to new data for July from Statistics Norway , the average Oslo worker earns a princely 64,000 kroner a month, a full 5,000 kroner more than the next best paid county, Rogaland, home to Stavanger, the centre of the country's offshore oil industry. Vestland, home to Bergen, Norway's second city, trailed in fourth place, with the Oslo commuter county of Akerhus bagging the third position. Workers in Innlandet had the lowest average salaries, pulling in an average of 51,000 kroner a month, 14,000 less than the average Oslo resident. READ ALSO: What's considered a good salary for foreign workers in Oslo? How foreign workers can be exploited in the Norwegian labour market While Oslo might have the highest average monthly salaries, this isn't the amount that most people get paid as the average is skewed by the capital being home to many of the country's highest overall wage earners, such as CEOs of large firms. Oslo also tends to have higher living costs than other cities in Norway, with property, in particular, significantly more expensive. Advertisement
Local Norway
3 days ago
- General
- Local Norway
How hard is the new Norwegian spoken exam actually?
At The Local, we've been covering the new test of spoken Norwegian for permanent residency for a few weeks now and it has made me ask a personal question: Is my Norwegian good enough for the new A2 test? If I took the exam today, would I pass? The test, part of Norway's move to increase the language requirement for permanent residency from A1 to A2 under the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, will be launched officially in September. In essence, the small shift in letter-number combinations means that those who pass now need to demonstrate a slightly better understanding and facility with the language. This should help them integrate better—whether at work, at a parent-teacher meeting, or even while keeping up with the conversation at a dinner party. Advertisement I took the 'older' language exam back in 2021 when I applied for Norwegian citizenship (I passed— uff meg , what a relief). The format then was very similar to a Cambridge or TOEFL test, with reading, writing, listening, and speaking sections. It took two days and several hours in front of a computer screen. The final part, the speaking exam, involved both an individual task and a paired conversation—with a partner you only met minutes before in the waiting room. When I first heard about the new A2 test, it sounded like it would be easier. After all, spelling mistakes wouldn't count, and there would be no more long reading comprehension texts. But the most recent change (announced in late June) was not just about simplifying the test, it was about making it mandatory and removing the option to validate study hours instead. So, the only way to find out for sure was to take it. We booked a mock test with Lingu , a language school which has been going for 17 years and is also the official provider of language education for several municipalities in Norway. Advertisement What does the new spoken exam look like? The format is very similar to that of the exam I took back in 2021. You're paired with another candidate and go through three different tasks. You've never met your partner before, but if you're not the first pair called in, you might get a chance to chat briefly in the lobby and build a small connection before entering the exam room. Once you're called, you're given an overview by the so called censor (there's also an examiner present). The first two tasks are done individually; the third is a conversation between the two of you. Task 1: Short self-introduction Task 2: Two open-ended questions for each candidate Task 3: Conversation with your partner on a familiar topic Timing matters The entire exam lasts 20–25 minutes, with the individual section taking around 10 minutes and the dialogue 10–15 minutes. It's recommended to follow a simple format—introduction, explanation, and conclusion—to show a range of sentence structures, sprinkle in varied vocabulary, and focus on clear pronunciation. Advertisement What kind of questions come up? Start with a confident introduction—it's the one part you know is coming. For the open-ended questions at A2 level, you're expected to give descriptions or examples (what and how). At B1 level, you'd be expected to add arguments and reasoning (why). In my mock test, the questions included: Which trip have you taken that you enjoyed, and why? Do you believe education is necessary for everyone? What do you do to take care of your health? What are you planning to spend money on lately? My flow definitely got better around the second question as at first it is natural to forget a specific word or freeze. The examiner will quickly see that and will try to rephrase the question or make you feel comfortable and help get you back on track. On the other hand, if your performance clearly exceeds your registered level, the examiner may ask one extra question (they call it a 'stretch' question) from the next level up to see if you truly master it. The dialogue turns out to be easier if you keep a collaborative approach (a bit like ping-pong) instead of trying to show off and steal all the time for yourself. Remember to react to what the other examinee with short agreeing/disagreeing sentences and arguments. You could say nettopp or akkurat ("exactly"). Also, make sure to react to what they say with appropriate facial expressions and gestures. It may feel awkward, but it will help to show you are following the conversation. Advertisement How is it scored? The censor, together with the examinator, will use a detailed rubric to assign your final level scoring and feedback. Within the rubric you will see separate marks for each criterion (fluency, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar). After the exam, you may request to see your completed rubric. It will remain on file for one year—just contact the test center if you wish to review it. Final verdict In the end, I scored enough to apply for permanent residency. Was it harder than the previous format? Not necessarily, but it was no piece of cake. You do need to study. Was it a smarter change? I'd say so. To feel confident at A2, you probably need to aim for B1. That means studying real-life conversation, not just theory. If you've already completed 200 hours of Norwegian lessons and are now frustrated that these hours no longer count officially, don't worry. If you truly learned, those hours weren't wasted. In fact, they've probably better prepared you for the new test. The Norwegian government's decision to focus solely on the spoken exam aligns with the country's broader push for digitalization. It's expected to speed up the application process, reduce paperwork, and eliminate delays. 'Before, you didn't know how long it would take to get the whole process done—your life was on hold. It could take months and months of extensions. Now, the new rule is supposed to be quicker, and that's a big advantage,' says Agnes Skjerve, Head of Marketing at Lingu. As many as 350 people joined a recent webinar — UDI's New Requirements for PR & Citizenship Explained in Plain English — hosted on July 16th. In the Q&A section, Lingu's Business Developer, Saira Khursheed, emphasized the company's goal of keep the audience positive and motivated about the A2 requirement, describing the reform as an improvement rather than a burden. 'With A1, your Norwegian won't get you very far. With A2, you can integrate better—at work, in family activities, and even start preparing for the next step, like applying for citizenship.' Advertisement Here is a checklist of what the censor is listening for: Relevance & clarity : Are you answering the question? Do your answers make sense? Fluency: Do you speak smoothly, or do you hesitate a lot? Pronunciation: Is your Norwegian clear and understandable? Vocabulary: Do you use enough appropriate words for this level? Grammar: Are your sentences well-formed, with correct tense, articles, and word order? Final tips Speak clearly and at a comfortable pace—don't rush. If you don't understand a question, ask for it to be repeated or rephrased. You could say: Kan du gjenta spørsmålet? Treat the dialogue task like a real conversation—respond naturally to your partner's ideas. Relax and remember: you're being assessed on spoken Norwegian, not expert knowledge. Good luck!
Local Norway
3 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Local Norway
Gloomy office workers who love hiking: How Norwegians really live
The neighbouring Swedes think of Norwegians a little like Americans think of Canadians: cheerful to an unnerving degree, resolutely outdoorsy, but perhaps a bit on the simple side. They also see them, of course, as irritatingly and unjustly rich because of all that oil money. But while there are elements of truth to all this, the reality of the average Norwegian is a little different. Meet Anne and Jan Statistically, the average Norwegian woman is called Anne, although she also might be called Inger, Ingrid, Kari or Marit. The average Norwegian man is called Jan, although he also might be called Björn, Per, Ole or Lars. They are avid hikers Anne and Jan do indeed love to spend time outdoors. Fully 96.5 percent of Norwegians told a survey for Statistics Norway that they had participated in "outdoor activities" in 2024. The outdoor activity you are most likely to encounter Anne and Jan doing is hiking. Nearly 75 percent of Norwegians said they'd been hiking in the mountains or forests in 2024. Next up in their list of wholesome pastimes is swimming outdoors (69 percent), going berry picking or mushroom picking (47 percent), going on a boat trip (47 percent), country skiing (34 percent) and alpine skiing (21 percent). Anne and Jan are quite likely to be found tying up a bivouac out in the forest: an alarming 26 percent of Norwegians said they had actually slept outside in nature on at least one night over the preceding year. Advertisement The motivation for all this exertion isn't primarily fitness, with 68.6 percent of Norwegians saying their motivation for getting out into nature was "nature experiences", although 56.9 percent said fitness was part of the goal. Only 13 percent of Norwegians say they "never train", with 60 percent saying they exercise several times a week. As you might expect, all of that exercise doesn't leave that much time for culture, so neither Anne nor Jan are particularly enthusiastic about opera, ballet, or fine art. Only seven percent of Norwegians said they had seen an opera in the last year, in the most recent cultural barometer in 2023, and only 13 percent had seen a ballet or dance performance. The two of them are, however, willing to dip their toes into less highbrow culture: 65 percent of Norwegians said they had been to the cinema, 58 percent had been to a concert, and 38 percent had been to the theatre. They are not the cheeriest of the bunch While Swedes and Danes may see the average Norwegian as annoyingly chirpy, this is largely due to the sing-song rhythm of their language. Anna and Jan are in fact likely to be rather gloomy, at least compared to the rest of the Nordics. According to the annual ranking of self-reported happiness put together by Gallup World Poll, the average Norwegian ranks themself only 7.26 on a ladder of 0-10. While this may seem pretty happy, it only ranks them seventh in life satisfaction worldwide, with their neighbours in Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden bagging first to fourth place respectively The Finns, while perhaps less overtly positive, rated their life satisfaction at a giddy 7.74. Advertisement An office worker While you might think the average Norwegian spends their days out on an oil rig, a fishing trawler, or wrestling with sheep on the steep slopes of a fjord, you are most likely to encounter Jan or Anne in a shop, office, hospital or school. The most common job in Norway if you include part-time work is a sales assistant in a shop, followed by health worker. If you only include full-time roles, the most common job is "a higher-level case worker in public and private organisations". This is basically any desk job that doesn't involve managing other people. Anne is most likely to work as a primary school teacher. Not as rich as you might think... With an average monthly salary of 62,680 kroner for men and 55,280 for women, Anne and Jan are likely to be pretty wealthy, but their envious Danish friends across the Skagerak are actually a bit richer (and Denmark barely had any oil at all). Anne and Jan also, according to UNECE, earn less on average than the Swiss, the Luxembourgers, the Icelanders and the Americans (although you can bet none of these countries get quite as much from their governments). ...and maybe less educated Surprisingly Anne and Jan never went to university. Under 35 percent of Norwegians over the age of 16 have a university level education, meaning they are still slightly outnumbered by the 37 percent whose highest qualification is a school leaving certificate. Advertisement But a Tesla driver nonetheless Elsewhere in the world, driving a Tesla is a sign of wealth, but in Norway even average Joes like Jan and Anne are customers of the increasingly controversial Elon Musk. The Tesla Model Y is the most common car on Norway's roads. Getting older Jan and Anna are 40 (That's if you look at the median. If you look at the mean, they're 41.6). And although they're graying a bit, they still have fully half of their lives to go. The average man in Norway can expect to live to 82, and the average woman to 85, up from 80 and 84 just ten years ago. About three quarters of that time will be spent working, with the average age to start withdrawing old-age pension just under 66. Incidentally, this means it would be time for Norway's finance minister Jens Stoltenberg (66) to hang up his boots if he was an average Norwegian (which he obviously isn't). Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and opposing leader Erna Solberg, though, still theoretically have a year to go. Advertisement Shrinking families Jan and Anne are married and they have two children. Anne was 30 when she had her first child and Jan was 32, meaning Emma (the most common girl's name in 2015) is now ten and Jakob (the most common boy's name of 2017) is now 8. Most Norwegian families still follow what's called the "two child family norm", but fertility is starting to fall from over two children per woman in the 1970s to 1.44 in 2025. Just under 40 percent of men in Norway are married and just over 37 percent of women, meaning they just outnumber those who have never been married (37 and 35 percent). 53 percent of men and 50 percent of women have previously been married. Just over 51 percent of children live with married parents, 25 percent live with cohabiting parents, 22 percent live with only one parent. About 59 percent of Norwegians lived in families or shared households, and 41 percent of people lived alone. Cheese-eating hiking families When it comes to diet, Norwegians aren't generally seen as being that healthy, but in fact Anne and Jan's consumption of fruit and vegetables, at 85.4kg each a year, is slightly above average for the EU. Their consumption of bread (50kg), meat (45kg), and fish (11kg) are all about average for the EU. Their consumption of cheese, however, at 17.5kg, is quite high. When it comes to restaurant habits there is not much data, although statistics from the food delivery service Foodora back in 2020 found the meal Norwegians were most likely to order was a burger, followed by pizza, followed by sushi. They are also surprisingly abstemious. Only 40 percent of men drink alcohol weekly, and 28 percent of women, which is very slightly above the EU average. Advertisement Not as skinny as you might think Perhaps it's all that cheese, but despite the hiking, Jan and Anna aren't as skinny as you might expect. Just under 19 percent of Norwegians are classed as obese, which might look good next to the podgy Brits (27 percent), but cuts a bulkier profile next to the Swedes (15 percent), Danes (13 percent) and French (9.7 percent). The average Norwegian In short, the average Norwegian (Anne or Jan) is a nature-loving, moderately wealthy, somewhat under-educated office worker who hikes often, eats plenty of cheese, and drives a Tesla. They may not be quite as happy, cultured or rich as their neighbours assume, but they live long, quiet lives, raise small families, and spend a surprising number of nights sleeping in the woods.
Local Norway
3 days ago
- Climate
- Local Norway
Western Norway braced for 35mm of rain in a single hour
The rainy weather began at midday on Thursday and is expected to continue right up until midnight, with the heaviest rain already likely to have fallen on Thursday afternoon. Birgitte Lindtvedt told NRK that traffic was nearly brought to a standstill on the E18 motorway when the rain hit on Thursday afternoon. "The sky was completely blue before suddenly 'boom!' and it started to rain," she told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK . "You could hardly see, and we had to drive slowly even though it was a 90 km/h zone. [Traffic was moving] slowly, and that was good." The orange warning, indicating "a severe situation needing contingency preparedness", was issued for the entire west coast of Norway from Kristiansand all the way up to Oppdal, with much of inland Norway also affected. Areas affected include South-Trøndelag, Vestlandet, Agder, and western parts of Telemark, Buskerud and Innlandet. Advertisement The showers started in the south at midday and have been moving north throughout the day. The institute is warning drivers to avoid all unnecessary travel in affected areas, to listen to traffic radio and watch social media and websites for advice from the authorities. It is also warning against hiking in exposed areas such as in the mountains, on the water or in open landscapes, due to the risk of lightning. The showers could cause flooding in buildings and surface water in affected areas, which it warned risked damaging electrical devices.
