The national accounts are based on almost "all" economic statistics, accounting information, price indices, wage and employment statistics and much other information, which are put together in an overall accounting system where different parts of the national accounts must be consistent. The publication of the national accounts follows a fixed publication and revision cycle. The final national accounts will be published in year t+2 (final figures for the financial year 2023 will be published in November 2025). In the meantime, preliminary figures are prepared and published, based on the relationships in the latest final annual accounts and indicators for developments in parts of the economy. Preliminary figures are updated as more updated basic statistics become available.
In order to incorporate significant level changes, as a result of the incorporation of new statistics, new methods, or new principles, the entire number series must be changed to maintain a consistent development without breaks in the time series. Eurostat, the EU's statistics agency, recommends that such a main audit be carried out approximately every five years. In Norway, we have followed this recommendation, and seven main revisions of the national accounts have previously been carried out, in addition to some interim revisions. A coordinated publishing of revised figures was planned to for all countries in the EU and EEA in 2024. However, in the autumn of 2024, it was decided to postpone the publication of the benchmark revision 2024 for significant parts of the national accounts in Norway by one year: The publication of the main revision 2024 in November and December will be postponed until November and December 2025.
The main revision affects all parts of the national accounts system published by Statistics Norway. The financial accounts, the financial accounts in the Balance of Payments (BoP), as well as general government assets and liabilities were published as planned in December 2024. In 2025, these sub-accounts followed an ordinary publication routine and will be updated at the same time as the publication of revised data series for the other accounts in the national accounts system:
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Revised data series for the production accounts and generation of income accounts and the supply and use tables be published on 26 November 2025.
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Revised data series for the income and capital accounts and the BoP current accounts and the BoP capital accounts will be published on 10 December 2025.
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An update of the financial accounts and the BoP financial accounts will also be published on 10 December 2025.
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Revised figures for general government revenue and expenditure will be published on 12 December 2025.
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while updated figures for general government assets and liabilities will be published on 15 December 2025.
In addition, the changes affect the numerical basis for separate accounts that are based on figures from the national accounts, so-called satellite accounts, such as regional accounts, health accounts, various environmental accounts, satellite accounts for tourism, satellite accounts for non-profit institutions and education accounts. Revision of these accounts will not be carried out until after the benchmark revisions of the national accounts are in place, i.e. in 2026. The Statistics calendar will be updated later.
The most important changes in the main revision 2024 that are now being published are related to:
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New Classification of Consumption (COICOP 2018)
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New statistical basis, including
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Implementation of statistical enterprises in Statistics Norway's Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises (BoF) and Structural Business Statistics
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New structural business statistics for the main industry areas P (education), Q (health and care services) and R (culture, entertainment and recreation)
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New consumption survey
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Recoding related to changes in statistics for financial services
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Methodological changes – including new calculations of housing services for households' self-owned dwellings (imputed rents) in line with Eurostat's recommendations.
For the 2022 financial year, users can expect an upward revision of total GDP of about 3.5 per cent, and an upward revision of mainland GDP of Norway of about 5.1 per cent. The largest single revision is related to households' estimated production of housing services from their own dwellings. This production goes entirely to household consumption, which thus increases correspondingly. The expected revision for mainland GDP Norway excluding value added for households' owner-occupied dwellings is 1.8 per cent.
| New | Old | Revision | Revision in per cent | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final consumption expenditures of households and NPISH | 2 026 | 1 857 | 170 | 9,1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Final consumption expenditures of households | 1 921 | 1 747 | 174 | 10,0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ¬ Final consumption of goods | 817 | 838 | -21 | -2,5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ¬ Final consumption of services | 1 036 | 841 | 195 | 23,1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Consumption in NPISH | 105 | 110 | -4 | -4,1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Consumption in general government | 1 046 | 1 035 | 11 | 1,1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gross fixed capital formation | 1 159 | 1 053 | 106 | 10,0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Changes in stocks and statistical discrepancies | 87 | 160 | -73 | -45,8 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total exports | 3 180 | 3 182 | -2 | -0,1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total imports | 1 563 | 1 554 | 9 | 0,6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gross Domestic Product (GDP), market values | 5 935 | 5 733 | 202 | 3,5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Mainland Norway, market values | 3 865 | 3 679 | 186 | 5,1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total hours worked for employees and self-employed | 4 122,3 | 4 165,5 | -43,2 | -1,0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total hours worked for employees and self-employed, Mainland Norway | 4 074,9 | 4 089,6 | -14,7 | -0,4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1Minor changes in the figures at the date of publication may occur. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
When recalculating, previously calculated growth rates are mainly retained, since new statistics and methods provide little information about the development backwards. However, most of the revisions are due to changes in the source material or calculation system that was adopted at a particular point in time. In these cases, the revision is brought back to this point in time, and this leads to a change in the growth rates from this year until 2022. Overall, the effect is that the annual volume growth in mainland Norway is revised up by an average of 0.3 per cent in the period 2000-2022.
As mentioned, an important change in the revision is a new grouping of consumption. Changes in the classification of consumption are discussed in more detail here.
More documentation about the changes will be published at the same time as the publication of the revised data series, on 26 November and 10 December 2025 respectively.
Next benchmark revision
In parallel with the work on the benchmark revision in 2024, Statistics Norway has participated in discussions about and provided input on changes to international principles related to national accounts. New industry standards and new principles will be taken into accounts in a next benchmark revision, which will probably take place in 2030.