NORWAY
Population
Total population in Norway is 5,258,317 by 1st January 2017. 15.21% of the population is foreign born (Eurostat). The median age of Norwegians is 38.88 which is less than the European average of 40.36 (UN Data).
Political Parties
The most recent parliamentary election was held in September 2017. The prominent parties, vote shares in this election and their orientations are as follows (Parlgov):
Party Name |
Vote Share |
Ideological Orientation |
Norwegian Labour Party |
27.4 |
Social democracy |
Conservative Party |
25 |
Conservative |
Progress Party |
15.2 |
Right-wing |
Centre Party |
10.3 |
Agrarian |
Socialist Left Party |
6 |
Communist/Socialist |
Christian Democratic Party |
4.2 |
Christian democracy |
Liberal Party of Norway |
4.4 |
Liberal |
Green Party |
3.2 |
Green/Ecologist |
Red Electoral Alliance |
2.4 |
Communist/Socialist |
Electoral System
The system used in Norway is Open List PR based on modified Sainte-Laguë method. Parties make lists of candidates to be elected, and seats get distributed to each party in proportion to the number of votes the party receives (idea.int). The voter turnout in 2017 election was 78.22% (idea.int)
Quality of Democracy
Norway is a parliamentary democracy. Quality of democracy score by Freedom House is 1 out of 7 where 1 is most free and 7 is least free. According to Transparency International, Norway is ranked 3rd least corrupted among 180 countries with a score of 85 out of 100.
Gender Equality
41% of the parliamentarians are women currently although there is no legislated quota for women candidates. (idea.int)