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Norway's Sami People
Home » Norway » Norway The People and Culture » Norway's Sami PeopleThe Sami people are indigenous people of Sapmi, which encompasses parts of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia Their ancestral lands span an area the size of Sweden in the Nordic countries. The Sami are one of the largest indigenous groups in Europe. Their languages are the Sami Languages, which are classified as Finno-Ugric.
Traditional Sami occupations are hunting, fishing, reindeer herding and farming, though only a minority of today's Sami make a living from these activities alone, and virtually none live in a natural economy nor do they have a nomadic livestyle. The population is estimated to about 85,000, although it is difficult to establish exactly how many there are. The Norwegian state recognizes any Norwegian as Sami who has one great-grandparent whose home language was Sami. Roughly half of all Sami live in Norway.
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