Shares and dividend payments

Updated: 20 June 2024

Next update: Not yet determined

Dividend payments
Dividend payments
2023
1 094 957
NOK mill
 
Received dividends, by holding sector
Received dividends, by holding sector
20231 2022 - 2023
NOK millionSharePer cent
Total1 094 95710051
Non-financial corporations630 7125893
Financial corporations52 220517
General government123 6751162
Non-profit institutions serving households7 076112
Households84 56787
Rest of the world195 969183
Unspecified sector7390-37
1Preliminary figures.
Explanation of symbols

Selected tables and charts from this statistics

  • Limited companies, nominal share capital and dividend payments, by main industry
    Limited companies, nominal share capital and dividend payments, by main industry
    202220231
    Number of limited companiesNominal share capital. NOK millionDividend payments. NOK millionNumber of limited companiesNominal share capital. NOK millionDividend payments. NOK million
    Total378 342960 833724 274386 531962 0421 094 957
    Agriculture, forestry and fishing6 12318 79720 0796 25719 24430 846
    Mining and quarrying1 328106 066148 8941 298100 965519 049
    Manufacturing13 898105 643104 59513 72399 84297 136
    Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply1 800100 36645 1131 84199 58856 577
    Water supply, sewerage, waste9343 1461 4139243 2342 187
    Construction50 52938 63538 35950 52537 42033 516
    Wholesale and retail trade: repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles47 11352 06368 06746 73953 91847 074
    Transportation and storage10 65977 07943 52610 63179 18951 586
    Accommodation and food service activities12 0916 9464 05812 1066 7933 831
    Information and communication19 57949 65929 23520 03549 16342 559
    Financial and insurance activities18 238182 64077 15717 689186 69477 112
    Real estate activities74 126134 84075 56374 367134 18366 939
    Professional, scientific and technical activities45 00238 48535 26645 79738 49532 982
    Administrative and support service activities15 12716 70012 54615 11316 3149 049
    Education4 8889005344 972942463
    Human health and social work activities11 5423 2334 68012 0833 4193 427
    Arts, entertainment and recreation6 3964 1041 2556 4294 3101 671
    Other service activities5 8821 8061 2985 9661 8451 373
    Missing33 08719 72612 63540 03626 48417 581
    1Preliminary figures.
    Explanation of symbols
  • Nominal share capital and received dividends, by owner sector. NOK million
    Nominal share capital and received dividends, by owner sector. NOK million
    202220231
    Nominal share capitalReceived dividendsNominal share capitalReceived dividends
    Sum all holding sectors960 833724 273962 0411 094 957
    Non-financial corporations527 283326 643521 148630 712
    Financial corporations112 76044 545114 49552 220
    General government62 99476 11564 431123 675
    Non-profit institutions serving households21 4266 29721 2497 076
    Households68 44678 81967 92884 567
    Rest of the world166 792190 685169 913195 969
    Unspecified sector1 1331 1692 876739
    1Preliminary figures.
    Explanation of symbols
  • Individuals who owned shares, nominal share capital, received dividends and received previously paid-up share capital and share premium, by sex and age
    Individuals who owned shares, nominal share capital, received dividends and received previously paid-up share capital and share premium, by sex and age
    202220231
    Number of individuals who owned shares 31 DecemberNominal share capital. NOK millionReceived dividends. NOK millionReceived share capital. NOK million2 Received share premium. NOK million2 Number of individuals who owned shares 31 DecemberNominal share capital. NOK millionReceived dividends. NOK millionReceived share capital. NOK million2 Received share premium. NOK million2
    Both sexes
    Total892 08968 23778 4831 1468 302913 14367 64884 1641 3335 257
    0-19 years15 3474921 195135314 949399232918
    20-29 years105 5452 3331 418111345106 6061 9742 7396194
    30-39 years160 6036 4196 49286456167 1516 7166 847106586
    40-49 years163 61212 33615 5941711 061166 93411 79416 553299785
    50-59 years178 12518 18224 5432931 903181 83017 66924 7972901 204
    60-69 years135 92216 06218 8242732 820138 95516 34320 5723251 453
    70-79 years93 5959 8658 60019078194 9429 8519 759143847
    80 years or older39 3402 5481 8182358341 7762 9032 66518282
    Men
    Total612 71752 55862 8909096 175624 90552 30365 3059104 222
    0-19 years11 089206571::10 93018683:2
    20-29 years76 4281 737779:20077 2951 3471 0465959
    30-39 years111 7254 5614 62058289115 1104 9144 70343506
    40-49 years113 7388 98812 254115662115 4188 68512 465209472
    50-59 years121 51213 96220 0322531 393123 81513 55319 588147894
    60-69 years93 07213 13716 0142262 43894 62413 40617 3162851 287
    70-79 years62 4308 1727 22517864263 3378 0878 042118759
    80 years or older22 7231 7961 39420:24 3762 1252 062:244
    Women
    Total279 37215 67915 5932372 127288 23815 34618 8594231 035
    0-19 years4 258286624::4 019213149:6
    20-29 years29 117596639:14529 3116281 693335
    30-39 years48 8781 8581 8722816752 0411 8022 1446279
    40-49 years49 8743 3483 3405639951 5163 1094 08890314
    50-59 years56 6134 2204 5114051058 0154 1165 208143310
    60-69 years42 8502 9252 8104738244 3312 9373 25640166
    70-79 years31 1651 6931 3741113931 6051 7641 7172588
    80 years or older16 6177524243:17 400778603:38
    1Preliminary figures.
    2Does not include capital paid back in connection with liquidation or partial liquidation of limited companies.
    Explanation of symbols
  • Nominal share capital and received dividend payments for foreign shareholders, by selected countries. NOK million
    Nominal share capital and received dividend payments for foreign shareholders, by selected countries. NOK million
    202220231
    Nominal share capitalReceived dividendsNominal share capitalReceived dividends
    Total166 792190 685169 913195 969
    Sweden19 58634 45219 28917 876
    United Kingdom23 55439 00822 45624 992
    United States13 13729 03113 37825 010
    Denmark6 2286 9915 6985 685
    France6 76814 0986 62323 490
    Netherlands12 42212 00011 99423 839
    Luxembourg13 8645 38315 3969 394
    Germany6 6747 3427 66010 597
    Cyprus2 9981 3413 0582 502
    Spain:4 973:7 108
    Switzerland3 9546 2336 2045 866
    Belgium2 4841 4092 6302 070
    1Preliminary figures.
    Explanation of symbols
  • Individuals who owned shares, nominal share capital and received dividends, by county, sex and age
    Individuals who owned shares, nominal share capital and received dividends, by county, sex and age
    20231
    Number of individuals who owned shares 31 DecemberNominal share capital (NOK million)Percentage share of residents who owned shares 31 DecemberNumber of individuals who received dividendsReceived dividends (NOK million )Percentage share of residents who received dividends
    Total913 14367 64816.5531 95284 1649.6
    County
    Oslo141 12813 12419.780 85719 85911.3
    Rogaland87 1116 91417.457 0648 09811.4
    Møre og Romsdal43 5843 96316.125 6403 3189.5
    Nordland - Nordlánnda37 5082 27115.421 7732 3289.0
    Viken (2020-2023)209 86714 63816.0120 97621 2079.2
    Innlandet53 6733 49914.331 2683 3858.3
    Vestfold og Telemark (2020-2023)68 1464 50915.739 0885 4199.0
    Agder45 6343 42414.322 7393 5727.1
    Vestland115 1017 53417.769 0359 14710.6
    Trøndelag - Trööndelage77 3095 17616.045 7415 9199.5
    Troms og Finnmark - Romsa ja Finnmárku (2020-2023)34 0822 59513.917 7711 9137.3
    Males
    Total624 90552 30322.4361 19265 30512.9
    0-19 years10 9301861.77 188831.1
    20-29 years77 2951 34721.444 5241 04612.3
    30-39 years115 1104 91429.059 5814 70315.0
    40-49 years115 4188 68531.460 54012 46516.5
    50-59 years123 81513 55332.668 75219 58818.1
    60-69 years94 62413 40630.757 77017 31618.8
    70-79 years63 3378 08726.843 7788 04218.5
    80 years or older24 3762 12523.019 0592 06218.0
    Females
    Total288 23815 34610.5170 76018 8596.2
    0-19 years4 0192130.72 5191490.4
    20-29 years29 3116288.517 3151 6935.0
    30-39 years52 0411 80213.627 6772 1447.2
    40-49 years51 5163 10914.626 4484 0887.5
    50-59 years58 0154 11615.932 4205 2088.9
    60-69 years44 3312 93714.528 2113 2569.2
    70-79 years31 6051 76412.622 5171 7179.0
    80 years or older17 40077811.613 6536039.1
    1Preliminary figures.
    Explanation of symbols

About the statistics

The statistics give an overview of ownership of Norwegian limited and public limited companies, how much the companies pay in dividends and who receives the dividends.

The information under «About the statistics» was last updated 22 March 2021.

A limited (liability) company is an enterprise where the owners' personal responsibilities for the firm's obligations are limited to the amount the owners have invested. The firm is considered an independent juridical entity. The company must have a deed of incorporation, obtain share capital and the company must be registered with the Brønnøysund Register Centre. A company is a Public limited company if it claims to be so in the ordinance and it is registered as such in the Brønnøysund Register Centre. All or a large part of the shares must be publicly traded and these must be registered with Norwegian Central Securities Depository. More information about the requirements can be found in the Limited Company Act and the Public limited Company Act.

A share is a unit of ownership in a limited company.

A primary capital certificate (PCC) is issued by a savings bank and is very similar to a share. The main differences is that the holders of the PCCs only own a limited part of the bank and has limited influence over the governance of the bank. The dividends are also limited.

Class of shares. The Board of directors can choose to divide the shares into different categories. Each category can have different dividend and voting rights or other characteristics specified at the date of issue.

A shareholder is a natural person or juridical person or other entity that owns shares in a limited company or public limited company.

Share capital. At the formation of a limited company the shareholders must invest a certain amount of capital. The minimum requirement of capital is NOK 100 000 for a limited company and NOK 1 million for a public limited company. The share capital may be increased at a later time by increasing the nominal value, or by issuing new shares. If a shareholder pays more than nominal value, a share premium has been paid. Limited companies can later reduce and repay both share capital and share premium to the shareholders. The share capital statistics include companies that were in existence 31 December in the fiscal year.

Nominal value is the value of the share when issued. The nominal value times the number of shares issued should be equal to the share capital. Nominal value can change due to stock split or a reverse stock split.

Paid dividend is the actual amount of dividend paid out to shareholders during the fiscal year. The paid dividend statistics include all dividends distributed to shareholders by limited companies during the fiscal year whether or not the limited companies were in existence at the year-end or liquidated during the year.

Received dividend is the dividend received by shareholder during the fiscal year.

Received share capital is that part of share capital by which the limited company has reduced its share capital and repayed to its shareholders. It is a non-taxable transfer.

Received share premium is that part of share premium by which the limited company has reduced its share premium and repayed to its shareholders. It is a non-taxable transfer.

Received other paid-in capital is that part of other paid-in capital by which the limited company has reduced its other paid-in capital and repayed to its shareholders. It is a non-taxable transfer.

Capital gains on sale of shares. If a shareholder sells shares and the selling price exceeds the cost price, a capital gain arise.

Risk-free return. With the introduction of the shareholder model as from 1 January 2006, dividends and capital gains on sale of shares for personal shareholders are taxed if they are above the calculated opportunity rate of return, named the risk-free return. As a rule, the risk-free return is computed by multiplying the cost price of the share by an opportunity rate of interest. It is the shareholder who owns the share at the time the risk-free return is calculated (31 December every year) who are entitled to the allowance. The risk-free return can also be used to reduce profit when the share is sold. If the risk-free return or part of it is not used in a given year, it can be carried forward and used later.

Taxable dividend is that part of the received dividend that exceeds the risk-free return.

Taxable capital gains on sale of shares is the part of the capital gains on sale of shares that exceeds the risk-free return.

Listed/non-listed. Listed shares are shares listed and traded at the Oslo Stock Exchange per 31.12 in the fiscal year. Non-listed shares are not listed at the Oslo Stock Exchange per 31.12 in the fiscal year. As of the statistics covering 2007, shares listed on Oslo Axess is also included.

Classification of industry is in accordance with the revised Norwegian Standard Industrial Classification (SN94), which is based on the EU industrial standard NACE Rev. 1 and the UN industrial standard ISIC Rev. 3. As of 2004, the revised standard SN2002 is used. This standard is based on the EU industrial standard NACE Rev. 1.1. As of 2007, the revised standard SN2007, which is based on the EU industrial standard NACE Rev. 2, is used. For companies that engage in several industries, the entire business will be placed under the business that contributes the most to the overall added value. Further information can be found on the Statistics Norway web page.

Institutional sector is a statistical categorizing of the shareholders based mainly on the economic function, but also organization structure and ownership. Institutional sector categories are based on United Nations standards "System of National Accounts" (SNA) from 1993. As of fiscal year 2012, the statistics use a new institutional sector classification which is based on the UN's "System of National Accounts" (SNA) from 2008 and the EU's "European System of National Accounts' (ESA) from 2010.

The country and region classification is based on ISO standard 3166 and the UNs Standard Country and Area Codes Classifications (M49). The statistics are classified by the country where the shareholder is registered. If a company, for instance an American company, owns a holding company in the Netherlands, and this holding company owns shares in a Norwegian limited company, the shareholder in the Norwegian company will be classified as Dutch in the statistisics, eventhough the ultimate owner is American.

Name: Shares and dividend payments
Topic: Establishments, enterprises and accounts

Not yet determined

Division for Accounting Statistics and Business Register

National level

Frequency: Annual, preliminary and final figures.

Timeliness: Preliminary figures are published 26 weeks after the year-end.

Not relevant.

Final statistics files are documented and stored.

The purpose of the stock statistics is to present the value of shares and dividends of Norwegian limited companies and public limited companies by ownership.

Statistics Norway has published annual stock statistics since 1984 with the exception of the period between 1991-1993 and 2000-2003.

The stock statistics is used by the Ministry of Finance, internal and external research institutes, the Bank of Norway (Norges Bank) and they are used in the National Accounts.

The statistics can be used to analyse the structure of a group of companies, the ownership structure of limited companies, the distribution of dividends from the companies to the shareholders etc.

No external users have access to the statistics and analyses before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on ssb.no at 8 am. Prior to this, a minimum of three months' advance notice is given in the Statistics Release Calendar. This is one of Statistics Norway’s key principles for ensuring that all users are treated equally.

The stock statistics cover nearly the same population as Accounting statistics for non-financial limited companies. The register-based accounting statistics include the profit and loss account and the balance sheet, thus providing more detailed figures broken down by industry and other variables.

Tax statistics for companies include both limited companies and public limited companies. The tax statistics are based on the Directorate of Taxes' register of non-personal taxation entities, and gives inter alia overall ordinary income.

The tax statistics for personal taxpayers comprise all taxable individuals. The tax statistics contains data about received dividend and it includes dividend from both Norwegian and foreign companies.

The Statistics Act section 3-2.

Not relevant.

Starting in the fiscal year 2004 the statistics incorporate all limited companies and public limited companies. As of 2006, the statistics also cover primary capital certificates (PCC). The statistics on taxable capital gains on sale of shares also include sale of equity fund shares.

Previously the statistics included all Norwegian limited companies registered on the Directory of Taxes' Register of Shares. Between 1997-1998 the statistics for non-listed companies did not included firms that were subject to tax regulation for electric power stations.

Starting in 2004 the statistics are based on data from the Directorate of Taxes' Register of Shareholders. In the statistics on taxable dividend, data on dividend reported electronically to the Directorate of Taxes are also used.

Between 1984 and 1999 the statistics were based on the Directory of Taxes' Register of Shares and annual statistics of listed companies from Oslo Stock Exchange (Oslo Børs).

For each company additional data regarding industry and institutional sector is obtained from the Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises.

Starting with the fiscal year 2004 Statistics Norway collected data from the Directorate of Taxes' Register of Shareholders. The registers consist of all Norwegian limited companies, specifying the number of shares issued, the share capital, the share premium, and proposed and paid dividend. In addition the register gives information about the shareholders and received dividends. Statistics Norway also collect information about received dividends that the tax payers report electronically to the Directorate of Taxes.

Between 1984 and 1999 Statistics Norway gathered data from the Register of Shares, which is a part of the Directories of Taxes' Register for Non-Personal Taxpayers. The Register of Shares contains information about the nominal value and the number of shares for Norwegian limited companies, as well as the tax value and proposed dividend for non-listed companies. Information about the listed companies was obtained from the Oslo Stock Exchange, partly through their published statistics and partly as an electronic data request.

The Tax Authorities control that the necessary and correct data is registered. In addition Statistics Norway carry out quality controls to ensure coherence and consistency within and with other available statistics.

The analysis unit is the limited company and the shareholder. The statistics are estimated by counting all units with a certain characteristic, e.g. the number of limited companies by main industry, and by aggregating a certain characteristic for all units in the statistics, e.g. received dividend.

Not relevant

As a main rule a figure is not published if it is based on less than three units, if one single company amounts for 90 per cent or more of the value, or if two companies amount for 95 per cent or more of the value.

A change of source means that starting in 2004 the stock statistics are not directly comparable to earlier statistics. Some of the variables are redefined, e.g. previously the statistics included proposed dividends and as of 2004 the statistics include paid dividends.

The statistics are comparable for the period 1994 to 1999.

Prior to 1991 the stock statistics showed the estimated market value of non-listed companies. An estimate of the market value was obtained by simply using the tax value of the firm unless the tax value was zero, in which case the face value was used.

Prior to 1990 the amount published as paid dividend was the proposed dividend in the previous year. Starting in 1994 the dividend figure published included the proposed dividend to be paid out in the following year.

Adjustments to the tax system and to the accounting regulation over the years are reflected in the data and influence the continuity of the timeseries.

Adjustment of industry categorisation or structural changes within the industries might have an impact on the figure and impede the comparison over the years.

The introduction of a new institutional sector classification in 2012 means that the sector classified statistics are not fully comparable with previous years. This particularly affects the demarcation between financial and non-financial corporations.

The dataset is based on information given by the companies in the Shareholder Registration form, and errors arise if the information given is erroneous or inaccurate. If mistakes are not corrected during the quality controls the information of the Shareholder Registration form might be incorrect. Mistakes can also occur during the processing, the correction or the registration of the data. The quality control is mainly concerned with mistakes that can have a significant impact on the statistics. As a result, less significant errors, which have no impact on the total amounts, may not be corrected.

Some errors made during the collecting and processing of the data are unavoidable and include coding, editing and data processing errors etc. Extensive efforts have been made to minimize these errors, and we regard these types of errors to be relatively insignificant.

The statistics are based on an administration register of the population. Still there could be that some companies are not included in the register. The non-response rate is between 3 and 7 per cent of the total population of limited companies. Non-response can typically be caused by limited companies that are establish during the year or are no longer in business. When the owner is a foreign company or the general government, we also see a larger non-response rate. This is most likely caused by the fact that these shareholders are not taxed by the shareholder model, and thus the incentive to report is smaller.

The quality of the register and the linked data from administrative registers also have an impact on the quality of the finished result. Both the administrative and statistics registers are regularly updated, and will therefore change during the production process.

The stock statistics present figures for both limited companies and shareholders. Comparing these figures on might find that for items such as share capital and dividend paid there will be some differences.

Revisions are planned adjustments made to previously published figures (for instance when preliminary figures are revised and replaced with final figures). In Shares and capital returns, preliminary figures covering the recent income year are publised together with final figures covering the previous income year. To get more information about revisions, please see Principles for revisions in Statistics Norway.

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