Forest roads

Updated: 24 April 2024

Next update: 24 April 2025

Whole-year roads and summer roads for lorries finished
Whole-year roads and summer roads for lorries finished
2023
103
kilometres
 
Kilometres of forest roads finished and approved
Kilometres of forest roads finished and approved1
KmChange in per cent
20232022 - 20232013 - 2023
Whole-year roads and summer roads for lorries
New roads103-6.425.6
Roads rebuilt188-19.3-40.1
Winter roads for lorries and roads for tractors
New roads97-17.1-50.3
Roads rebuilt4223.5-27.6
1Data on roads built without public subsidies are however somewhat incomplete. The data cover roads that are finished and approved during the report year.
Explanation of symbols

Selected tables and charts from this statistics

  • Forest roads finished and approved
    Forest roads finished and approved
    Whole-year roads and summer roads for lorriesWinter roads for lorries and roads for tractors
    Number of roadsLength of roads newly completed (km)Length of roads rebuilt (km)Number of roadsLength of roads, newly completed (km)Length of roads rebuilt (km)
    20134418231447919558
    20144387036443617569
    201553410533542416572
    201653411541242515668
    201748710338844117251
    20184929428338915734
    201955013036041913760
    20204878633338515057
    202143510723227910243
    202243111023335811734
    20233871031882699742
    2023
    Oslo and Viken (2020-2023)7119332279
    Innlandet1061868110
    Vestfold og Telemark (2020-2023)46822913311
    Agder6512291093715
    Rogaland631610
    Vestland18941250
    Møre og Romsdal2987830
    Trøndelag - Trööndelage241816740
    Nordland - Nordlánnda732411
    Troms og Finnmark - Romsa ja Finnmárku (2020-2023)1548945
    Explanation of symbols
  • Expenditure and public subsidies at construction of forest roads. NOK 1 000
    Expenditure and public subsidies at construction of forest roads. NOK 1 000
    ExpenditurePublic subsidies
    TotalWhole-year roads and summer roads for lorriesWinter roads for lorries and roads for tractors
    2013178 392147 02631 36663 273
    2014186 366148 35038 01660 963
    2015243 172203 35839 81489 483
    2016267 534221 77145 76398 021
    2017267 307227 08940 21891 934
    2018252 274214 95937 31592 567
    2019295 364265 54129 823105 942
    2020299 097257 31341 784106 357
    2021281 110244 33036 780101 448
    2022288 372251 05337 319104 050
    2023303 907265 32738 580115 691
    2023
    Oslo and Viken (2020-2023)60 88457 2323 65219 405
    Innlandet55 00554 9406516 178
    Vestfold og Telemark (2020-2023)80 57125 5665 0499 166
    Agder57 07235 39521 67714 804
    Rogaland4 6133 8647492 226
    Vestland20 08818 0941 9949 804
    Møre og Romsdal17 26115 9431 3189 124
    Trøndelag - Trööndelage39 94039 22971122 181
    Nordland - Nordlánnda5 4054 2521 1533 274
    Troms og Finnmark - Romsa ja Finnmárku (2020-2023)13 02410 8112 2139 530
    Explanation of symbols
  • Average expenditure for forest road constructions. NOK per metre
    Average expenditure for forest road constructions. NOK per metre1
    Whole-year roads and summer roads for lorriesWinter roads for lorries and roads for tractors
    AllBuilt with public subsidiesBuilt without public subsidiesAllBuilt with public subsidiesBuilt without public subsidies
    201337139518812417997
    2014342350253156216122
    201546246840216827289
    2016421424353204299134
    2017463462479180317115
    2018570573514195318129
    2019543565309151369102
    2020615680257203378128
    2021720756321253504139
    2022732804191248429146
    2023912942333279491215
    1[Comprise new constructions and roads rebuilt.
    Explanation of symbols
  • Total road length of whole-year roads and summer roads for lorries
    Total road length of whole-year roads and summer roads for lorries1
    Kilometres
    The whole country
    20222 49 617
    20232 49 675
    20242 49 739
    2024
    Oslo and Viken (2020-2023)11 023
    Innlandet18 191
    Vestfold og Telemark (2020-2023)6 087
    Agder3 114
    Vestland1 580
    Møre og Romsdal965
    Trøndelag - Trööndelage5 954
    Nordland - Nordlánnda1 072
    Troms og Finnmark - Romsa ja Finnmárku (2020-2023)1 250
    1Source: The Norwegian Mapping Authorityand the Norwegian Public Roads Administration
    2At 1. January.
    Explanation of symbols

About the statistics

The statistics gives an overview of kilometres of forest roads that are finished and approved during the report year, and are based on data from the Norwegian Agriculture Agency and their database on the Forest Trust Fund.

The information under «About the statistics» was last updated 17 November 2023.

Forest roads

Includes whole-year roads, summer roads and winter roads for lorries and tractor roads.

Name: Forest roads
Topic: Agriculture, forestry, hunting and fishing

24 April 2025

Division for Housing, Property, Spatial and Agricultural Statistics

County.

The statistics are published annually approximately 16 weeks after the end of the year.

Not relevant

Collected and revised data are stored securely by Statistics Norway in compliance with applicable legislation on data processing.

Statistics Norway can grant access to the source data (de-identified or anonymised microdata) on which the statistics are based, for researchers and public authorities for the purposes of preparing statistical results and analyses. Access can be granted upon application and subject to conditions. Refer to the details about this at Access to data from Statistics Norway.

The purpose of the statistics is to provide information at the county level about the construction of forest roads. Statistics extend back to the working year 1932/33.

The statistics are used by public agencies (Ministries, county authorities), forest owner's organisations and research institutes. In recent years there has been increasing interest from environmental organizations. Results from the forest roads statistics are used in National accounts. The figures are also used annually in the publication National Resources and the Environment.

No external users have access to statistics before they are released at 8 a.m. on ssb.no after at least three months’ advance notice in the release calendar. This is one of the most important principles in Statistics Norway for ensuring the equal treatment of users.

Not relevant

The statistics are developed, produced and disseminated pursuant to Act no. 32 of 21 June 2019 relating to official statistics and Statistics Norway (the Statistics Act).

Not relevant

In principle, the statistics cover all private forest roads. Data on roads built without public subsidies are however somewhat incomplete. The data cover roads that are finished and approved during the report year.

Data on roads built with subsidies or public loans come from the Forest Trust Fund (SKAS) database. The Norwegian Agriculture Agency keeps data on roads built without subsidies or loans manually.

The statistical data on newly built and rebuilt forest roads built with subsidies are collected by the Forest Trust Fund (SKAS). The Norwegian Agriculture Agency extracts data from the database and forwards them to Statistics Norway. The County Department of Agricultural Affairs and the Norwegian Agriculture Agency reports roads built without subsidies to Statistics Norway.

If the data are unclear, The the Norwegian Agriculture Agency or County Department of Agricultural Affairs is contacted so that any errors can be corrected.

Not relevant

Employees of Statistics Norway have a duty of confidentiality.

Statistics Norway does not publish figures if there is a risk of the respondent’s contribution being identified. This means that, as a general rule, figures are not published if fewer than three units form the basis of a cell in a table or if the contribution of one or two respondents constitutes a very large part of the cell total.

Statistics Norway can make exceptions to the general rule if deemed necessary to meet the requirements of the EEA agreement, if the respondent is a public authority, if the respondent has consented to this, or when the information disclosed is openly accessible to the public.

More information can be found on Statistics Norway’s website under Methods in official statistics, in the ‘Confidentiality’ section.

Initially, when the work on the statistics commenced, it was difficult to break down the data for each year. The overview of forest roads built before 1 July 1950 is therefore a summary of all forest roads built from the working year 1932/33 to 1 July 1950.

Data on roads built with subsidies are assumed to be complete. Data on roads built without subsidies may not be complete because not all road projects are reported. The collected data on forest road building is therefore regarded as minimum figures.

Not relevant

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