The population of Norway is 4,503,440 (2001 estimate). Norway has the lowest population density in continental Europe, with 12 persons per sq km.The population is growing very slowly, with an annual rate of increase of only 0.49 % in 2001. Life expectancy in Norway is among the highest in the world: 82 years for women and 76 years for men. About half of the nation’s population lives in the southeast, and more than three-quarters of all Norwegians live within about 16 km of the sea. Some 74 % of Norway’s population lives in urban areas.

Norway is in the top rank of nations in the number of books printed per capita, even though Norwegian is one of the world’s smallest language groups. Norway’s most famous writer is the dramatist Henrik Ibsen. Artists Edvard Munch and Christian Krogh were Ibsen’s contemporaries. Munch drew part of his inspiration from Europe and in turn exercised a strong determine on later European expressionists. Sculptor Gustav Vigeland has a permanent exhibition in the Vigeland Sculpture Park in Oslo. Musical development in Norway since Edvard Grieg has followed either native folk themes or, more newly, international trends.