Population and land area in urban settlements, 1 January 2003

The number of residents in urban settlements increased by 1.15 per cent, and as much as 77.6 per cent of Norway's population lived in a total of 932 urban settlements by 1rst of January 2003. Finnmark is the only county where the number of residents in urban settlements has gone down.

The largest and smallest have greatest increase

It is only the urban settlements Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger/Sandnes and Trondheim which have more than 100 000 residents. Numbers show that in these urban settlements there where about 1 320 000 people, which together sums up to 29 per cent of Norway´s population. From 2002 to 2003, the number of residents in these four urban settlements increased by about 17 000, with a variation from 0.9 to 1.3 per cent, or almost half of the population growth for the total population. The increase in the total population was 0.6 per cent, while the growth in area of urban settlements was 1.4 per cent.

However, it is the smallest urban settlements, with a population of 200 to 499 inhabitants that grew the most, with an increase in population of 3.3 per cent.

Only 208 of Norway´s 932 urban settlements have 2 000 residents or more per 1.rst of January 2003. These urban settlements had 86 per cent of the urban settlements population and 75 per cent of the total urban settlements area.

From 2000 to 2003, it has become 11 new urban settlements, and five urban settlements have gone. In addition, it has come one new urban settlement that has existed before and four previous urban settlements have merged together with neighboring urban settlements.

We demand more space

The area of urban settlements as of 1.rst of January 2003 amounted to a total of 2 225 km2. The area increased with 32 km2 or 1.4 per cent for the whole country from 2002 to 2003. The increase in number of residents in urban settlements has, in the period from 2002 to 2003, all together been slightly weaker than the increase in urban settlements area, which may indicate a decreasing efficiency in land use. The population concentration in urban settlements in the period from 2002 to 2003 changed from 1 584 to 1 580 residents per km2. The changes are however so small and the time period relatively short that the numbers must be used with caution.

Finnmark county lost population in urban settlements

Finnmark is the only county where there are registered a decrease in urban settlements population in 2002. This decrease was however only 0.2 per cent, which is less than in the period 2000-2002.

The municipality map (see figure) shows that most of the municipalities had small changes in share of population within urban settlements. It may seem like municipalities neighbouring the largest population concentrations had the largest increase in number of residents within urban settlements, while more periphere municipalities have had a decrease. With the exception of four municipalities all the municipalities a change in share of population within urban settlements in the range +/- 10 per cent. The four municipalities with greater changes are all small measured in population. Here new, expanded or gone urban settlements, and change in accuracy of georeferencing of population, has made great changes. Such changes are natural, and for smaller urban settlements one has to watch changes over a longer period of time.

Improved quality of the statistics

The urban settlement statistics are since 1999 based on results of linkages between the National population Register (DSF) and the Official Register for Buildings, Addresses and Ground-properties (GAB). With the use of numerical addresses, address/building coordinates and a geographic information system (GIS), buildings and associated population are grouped into urban settlements. The quality of the statistics will depend at any given time on the completeness and accuracy of the location data in the registers.

For 2003, it was possible to connect 99.5 per cent of the Norwegian population to location (geocoded addresses with coordinates), while the equivalent figure for 2000 was 98.1 per cent. This deviation, as well as varying percentages of geocoded population within and between municipalities, affects the validity of both estimated population figures for both 2003 and estimations of population growth of statistics from 1999 and 2000 periods.

Tables:

• Tabell 1 Urban settlements. Population and area, by municipality. 1 January 2003
• Tabell 2 Population and area in urban settlements, by municipality. 1 January 2003
• Tabell 3 Population in densely and sparsely populated areas, by municipality. 1 January 2003
• Tabell 4 New and ommitted urban settlements. 1 January 2003
• Tabell 5 Results of the geocoding, by municipality. 1 January 2000 and 2003