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Norway's Ethnic Groups and Religion
Home » Norway » Norway The People and Culture » Norway's Ethnic Groups and ReligionThough generally regarded as a consistent country with a small, scattered population who speaks the same language and belongs to the same culture, Norway has always consisted of an ethnic and cultural mix of peoples.
The Sami and Finnish- speaking groups in the north are Norway's best-known ethnic minorities, but the gypsies and the so-called taters, a group related to the gypsies have been a permanent element of Norwegian society for hundreds of years.
Since the 1980s, important demographic change has taken place in Norway. The country, in particular the larger metropolitan centers, is becoming increasingly multicultural. Cultural policy makers have been working to incorporate ethnic minority art forms into the mainstream.
The majority of Norway's people are of Nordic descent. The largest native minority is the Sami, a distinct ethnic group of European origin who live mainly in the north. There are about 40,000 Sami in Norway. The territory they inhabit is called Lapland.
Norway has a large immigrant population, many of whom are foreign citizens. Among the largest communities are people from Iraq, Pakistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the United Kingdom, and the United States; there are also sizable groups of Swedes and Danes. The majority of Norwegians belong to the Church of Norway as Evangelical Lutheranism is the official religion. There are a number of other religious denominations, including small groups of Roman Catholics, Buddhists, and Muslims.
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