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6201
Continued growth in urban settlements
statistikk
2008-06-20T10:00:00.000Z
Population;Nature and the environment
en
beftett, Population and land area in urban settlements, densely populated areas, sparsely populated areas, residents, population, population density, population size, centre zones, geo-referenced addressArea , Population count, Population, Nature and the environment
false

Population and land area in urban settlements, 1 January 2008

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Continued growth in urban settlements

The number of residents in urban settlements increased by 67 400 or 1.8 per cent in 2007. High immigration in 2007 was the main reason behind the increase.

The number of residents in urban settlements increased by 67 400 or 1.8 per cent in 2007. The increase is 40 per cent higher than the corresponding increase in 2006. On 1 January 2008, the total number of residents in urban settlements was 3 722 786 divided between 922 urban settlements. Furthermore, 79 per cent of the population lives in urban settlements, compared with 76 per cent in 2000 and 70 per cent in 1990.

32 per cent of the total population growth in Norway since 1. January 2000 has occurred in the urban settlement in and around Oslo, which consist of eleven municipalities and have a population of 857 000. As much as 55 per cent of the population growth in Norway since 2000 has occurred in the four largest urban settlements Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger/Sandnes and Trondheim.

The number of residents in sparsely populated areas fell by 11 000 to 1 000 900 in 2007.

Residents in and areas of urban settlements, by population size
  2008 Change from 2007 to 2008
  Residents Area. km2 Number of
urban settlements 		Residents Area. km2 Number of
urban settlements
Total 3 722 786 2 333.73  922 67 395 39.65 5
200-499 residents  117 726  170.12  344 1 139 3.11 4
500-999 residents  152 820  190.38  218 -185 0.26 -2
1 000-1 999 residents  206 861  209.09  146 -536 -1.57 -1
2 000-19 999 residents 1 059 849  796.62  195 27 954 22.95 4
20 000-99 999 residents  661 875  383.16 14 -90 666 -58.90 -1
100 000 or more residents1 1 523 655  584.36 5  129 689 73.80 1
1  Fredrikstad/Sarpsborg is now included in the sizegroup 100 000 or more residents.

Small urban settlements in majority

Out of 922 urban settlements in Norway, 562 had fewer than 1 000 residents on 1 January 2008. Although they represented 60 per cent of the urban settlements, they only represented 4 per cent of the residents in urban settlements and slightly above 2 per cent of the urban settlement area.

The number of urban settlements increased by five in 2007. The number of new urban settlements was 13, while four urban settlements were abolished and another four merged with other urban settlements.

Continued growth in urban areas

The total land area of the urban settlements now amounts to 2 333 square kilometres, an increase of 40 square kilometres or 1.7 per cent from 2007 to 2008. However, the urban settlement area constitute less than 1 per cent of the total land area in Norway.

Better use of areas

Despite the growth in the urban settlement area, we use the areas more effectively than before. There has been a minor increase in the concentration of the population in the urban settlements, from an average of 1 593 residents per square kilometres on 1 January 2007 to 1 595 on 1 January 2008.

At county level there are however some distinct differences with regard to the concentration of the population and related changes. In Finnmark county there has been a marked decrease in the number of residents per urban area due to population decrease, while Oslo has seen an opposite development.

Urban settlement

A hub of buildings is to be registered as an urban settlement if it is inhabited by at least 200 persons. The distance between the buildings must not exceed 50 metres. Exceptions are allowed for areas that cannot/are not to be occupied, for example parks, sports facilities, industrial areas or natural barriers such as rivers or arable land. Agglomerations that naturally belong to the urban settlement with up to a distance of 400 meters from the centre of the urban settlement are also included.

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