Statistikk innhold
Statistics on
Patients in specialist healthcare services
The patient statistics provide information on patients treated in hospitals, public institutions, and outpatient clinics, including contracted specialists. The data are broken down by sex, age, geography, and immigration category, as well as country background among immigrants. The figures include diagnoses for somatic specialized health service, and types of treatment received, such as inpatient stays, outpatient consultations, and day treatment. Treatment and examinations within somatic specialist health care and adult mental health services (NO: PHV) are included. Child and adolescent mental health services (NO: PHBU) and interdisciplinary specialist substance abuse treatment (NO: TSB) are not included.
Selected figures from these statistics
- Patients in specialized somatic or mental health care for adultsDownload table as ...Patients in specialized somatic or mental health care for adults1
2024 2025 Both sexes Males Females Both sexes Males Females Patients in somatic health care Patients - total 2 656 857 1 450 461 1 206 396 2 716 218 1 484 946 1 231 272 Outpatients 2 530 260 1 386 297 1 143 963 2 592 768 1 422 735 1 170 033 Inpatients 575 964 316 626 259 338 580 713 319 836 260 880 Patients in mental health care for adults Patients - total 201 540 123 627 77 913 199 161 122 457 76 704 Inpatients 26 910 13 680 13 227 26 376 13 527 12 849 1A person can receive different types of treatment. Contract specialists included. Outpatients does not include day-cases. Only persons with valid national identify number are included. Kilde: NPR Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ...
About the statistics
The information under «About the statistics» was last updated 19 June 2026.
Somatic specialist health services
Refers to the specialist health services’ treatment of individuals with somatic (physical) illnesses, including the care and support required.
Mental health services
Refers to the specialist health services’ treatment of individuals with mental disorders, including necessary care and support. Most services are provided in hospitals, outpatient clinics, or psychiatric centres (DPS) within public health trusts. Private institutions and contracted specialists with agreements with regional health authorities also provide care.
Provider
Indicates the type of healthcare provider from which the patient received treatment. The statistics distinguish between:
- Public health trusts/hospitals and private institutions with agreements with regional health authorities
- Contracted specialists (NO: avtalespesialister)
Contracted specialists are private specialists in somatic medicine, psychology, or psychiatry operating under agreements with regional health authorities.
Inpatient stay
Health care where the patient is admitted to an inpatient ward or institution. In somatic care, only stays completed during the statistical year are included. In adult mental health care, both completed and ongoing stays are included. Inpatient stays correspond to level of care (NO: omsorgsnivå) 1 in the Norwegian Patient Registry (NPR).
Day treatment
Assessment and treatment more extensive than outpatient consultations, without overnight stay. Corresponds to level of care (NO: omsorgsnivå) 2 in NPR.
Outpatient contact
Assessment and/or treatment provided without hospital admission. Includes consultations, collaborative meetings, and follow-up activities related to care.
Corresponds to level of care (NO: omsorgsnivå) 3 in NPR.
All contacts with contracted specialists are classified as outpatient contacts.
Inpatient days
Number of days between admission and discharge, including leave periods. In somatic care, all bed-days are counted at discharge (stays crossing years are counted in the discharge year). In adult mental health care, ongoing stays are also included in the year.
Diagnosis
Refers to the main condition for which health care was primarily provided. If multiple conditions are relevant, the one requiring the greatest medical resources is chosen.
Diagnoses are presented according to ICD‑10 chapters and category blocks (top two levels), with adjustments:
- Diagnoses from Chapter XX (external causes), Chapter XXII (special purpose codes), and invalid codes are grouped under “Other”.
Place of residence
County of residence recorded in NPR at the time of treatment. If missing or invalid, data from Statistics Norway’s population register (per 31 December) is used. If unavailable, residence is set to Oslo. Health regions are derived from county.
Immigrants
Persons who have immigrated to Norway and born abroad to two foreign-born parents and with four foreign-born grandparents.
Norwegian-born to immigrant parents
Persons born in Norway to two foreign-born parents and four foreign-born grandparents.
The rest of the population
All others, i.e. persons in immigration categories A, E, F, or G according to the classification standard.
Country background
Defined using country of birth information across three generations (person, parents, grandparents). For foreign-born individuals, this is generally their own country of birth.
ICD-10: https://volven.no/produkt.asp?id=288799&catID=3&subID=8
Health regions: Classification of health regions
County: County
Patients
Number of unique patients within each group and category. A person may be counted in multiple groups if they received different types of treatment, care from multiple providers, treatment for multiple diagnoses or care with different registered residence. Thus, subtotals may differ from overall totals.
Bed-days
Number of days between date of admission and date of discharge.
Name: Patient statistics
Topic: Health
Division for Health, care and social statistics
National level, county and health region.
Annual publication.
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 current statistics on patients in specialist health services have been published since 2026, with data back to 2015. Previously, somatic care statistics were published as Patient statistics.
Statistics on treatment level and diagnoses provide insight into the population’s use of somatic hospitals. These statistics, published since 1999, are based on reporting to the Norwegian Patient Registry (NPR).
Statistics on adult mental health care were first published in 2026, also with data back to 2015.
Older tables for somatic patient data are available in archived table 10261 (back to 2012) and earlier data (2009–2011) in archived publications. These are not directly comparable due to methodological changes, including the transition from counting treatments to counting identifiable patients.
The public, health authorities and others.
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.
The statistics include only individuals with a valid national identity number. Figures may differ slightly from NPR statistics published by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) and administrative data from the Norwegian Directorate of Health.
Differences can arise because FHI and Statistics Norway classify treatment using level of care, while SAMDATA uses the edited variable “activity category”. FHI and SAMDATA usually include all individuals and events regardless of validity of national identity number.
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).
The statistics are part of the National Programme for Official Statistics 2024-2027, main area Health and care services, and sub-area Patient statistics.
Includes all individuals receiving treatment in somatic specialist care or adult mental health services, with identifiable personal identify numbers in both NPR and Statistics Norway’s population register. This includes individuals no longer resident in Norway at year-end.
Individuals under 18 in adult mental health care are excluded. Child and adolescent mental health services (NO: Psykisk helsevern for barn og unge, PHBU) as well as interdisciplinary specialist substance abuse treatment (NO: Tverrfaglig spesialisert behandling av ruslidelser, TSB).
The data source is the Norwegian Patient Registry (NPR). This includes data from contracted specialists.
In somatic care, multiple departmental episodes within a single hospital stay are aggregated into one stay. This aggregation is not applied in adult mental health care
NPR delivers data with contacts and stays in specialized somatic health care, among contract specialists and activities in mental health services for adults. Some of these records do not have personal identify numbers and some have invalid numbers registered. Only records that can be linked to Statistics Norway’s registers are included.
Age in all tables are at end of year, with year of birth from Statistics Norway’s population register.
Place of residence is from NPR, supplemented by population register if missing. If no information on residence at end of the year is available the person is placed in Oslo.
Age-adjusted rates (tables 14823 and 14827):
Calculated using direct standardisation with five-year age groups up to 85+, using the total population as standard. This corrects for differences in age distribution across groups. Mean population (i.e. average of 1.1 and 31.12) for each age is used for denominators and the age-distribution for the entire population is used as standard.
Not relevant
All published figures are rounded for confidentiality. Number of patients is rounded with base 3 and all other variables are rounded with base 6. Thus any cell containing a true number of patients being 1 or 2 is rounded to either 0 and 3, and similarly for all patient numbers. This may result in apparent discrepancies (e.g. more patients than contacts in some cases).
Data quality for national identity numbers in NPR has improved over time, particularly for newborns. In 2015 there are over 66,000 somatic contacts without ID numbers, whereas for 2025 there were only 13,500.
Not relevant
Statistics and reports from Norwegian Patient register (NPR) Norwegian institute of Public Health.