Presenting North-Norway
North-Norway consists of the three counties Nordland, Troms
and Finnmark, and has 465.000 inhabitants on 107.300 square kilometres. In
other words: the population equals cities like Oslo or Tallinn, but live
on an area 2,5 times the size of Denmark.
North-Norway is a region of possibilities and problems.
Here are great possibilities for economic growth and opportunities for
further development of trades and industry. North-Norway is a region rich
on natural resources; fish, minerals, oil and gas. In addition
North-Norway represents good qualities of life with its great and
unpolluted nature. The educational system on primary and secondary (lower
and higher) level is well developed and decentralized. Talented youth are
also offered further educational opportunities at university colleges and
at the University of Tromsø. Other infrastructure like communications and
health services has also been continually developed.
At the same time North-Norway may be characterized as the
region of problems. The number of inhabitants is declining rapidly. Trade
and industry are relatively small units, which make them vulnerable for
changes in the market or economical situation. Fishing resources are
failing and areas depending heavily on one industry or trade go through
great difficulties. North-Norway stands out as an exporter of raw
materials and human capital. This is reflected in statistics on living
conditions in Norway. The region has the lowest level of education and
lowest life expectancy, the highest level of unemployment and the highest
level of people living on various forms of social security and pensions.
The problems of the region are well documented, last in the
Nordregio report
(2002:2) on regional development. Here the region is characterized as an
out-migration area and Finnmark, the northernmost part of the
region, lost 12,3% of its inhabitants between 1995-2000; the highest
depopulation rate within all Nordic countries. Due to an increasing
importance of “knowledge based” economy and globalisation we see a
concentration of population transforming the regional urban system.
