Norwegians

The term Norwegians may refer to:

• People with a Norwegian ethnic identity, whether living in Norway, emigrants, or descendents of emigrants.
• In Norway, "Norwegians" are often considered to be everyone whose mother tongue is Norwegian.
• Nationals/citizens of Norway, which also includes Samic and Ethnic Finnish minorities as well as recent immigrants (see: Demographics of Norway).

This article refers to the first definition, ethnic Norwegians.

Norwegians in Norway

There are nearly 4.5 million ethnic Norwegians living in Norway today. The Norwegians are a Scandinavian ethnic group, renowned worldwide as the descendents of the Vikings (along with the Swedes, Danes, and Icelanders). See also History of Norway.

The Norwegians are a successful people who enjoy a high quality of life. Every single year of this century (so far), the UN has ranked Norway "The world's best place to live" in its annual Human Development Index (HDI) report, which is essentially a composite of quality of life. Norway ranked #1 in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004. See: The 2002 Rankings (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2149799.stm#table), The 2003 Rankings (http://geography.about.com/b/a/2003_07_10.htm)

Norwegians in the Rest of the World

Norwegian citizens abroad

See also: List of Norwegian citizens abroad

As with many people from smaller European countries, Norwegians are spread throughout the world. It is likely that there are more than 100,000 Norwegian citizens are living abroad permanently, mostly in the USA, the UK and in the other Scandinavian countries.

America

It is noteworthy that there are as many Norwegians in America as there are in Norway.

The US Census determined that 4.5 million Americans are of Norwegian ancestry. The vast majority of Norwegian-Americans are the descendents of Norwegian immigrants who arrived in America between 1850 and 1920 and settled in the American Midwest. Today, only 5 in 10 Norwegian-Americans live in the Midwest, but it is estimated that nearly 9 in 10 Norwegian-Americans have ties to the Midwest (e.g. they were born there, or one or both of their parents were born there). Over the past two generations, the lack of opportunities and the lack of good jobs in the Midwest has led many Norwegian-Americans to migrate southwards, westwards, or eastwards to other parts of the country.

Notable and Famous Norwegian-Americans

see the complete List of famous Norwegian-Americans

Some of the most famous Norwegian-Americans are:

• Hubert Humphrey. Humphrey served as Vice-President under Lyndon Johnson, and was the 1968 Democratic candidate for president. He lost by only 1% of the vote to Richard Nixon
• Walter Mondale. Mondale also served as Vice-President. He ran for president in 1984, but lost to Ronald Reagan.
• Earl Warren. Warren served as governor of California and as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1953-1969. Famous for Brown v. Board of Education, among other cases.
• Marilyn Monroe. The famous actress (born as Norma Jeane Mortensen).
• Conrad Hilton. Developed one of the most successful Hotel chains in the world, the Hilton Hotel chain.
• Elliot Ness. Prohibition-era American cultural icon. One of the most famous people from the "Golden Age of Gangsters" (surpassed in fame perhaps only by Al Capone), although he himself was on the side of law and order.

Use of Norwegian Language in America

According to Census figures, 81,000 Americans speak Norwegian at home, although hundreds of thousands of others speak and understand a little bit of Norwegian (especially certain phrases and sayings), having picked it up from their parents or grandparents. Use of the Norwegian language in America was at its peak between 1900 and World War I, during which time over one million Americans spoke Norwegian as their primary language, and during which time hundreds of Norwegian-language newspapers were in operation in the Upper Midwest, from Michigan to the Dakota plains. Most Norwegian-language newspapers in America closed down in the 1930s and 1940s. It is also estimated that there were 3,000 Lutheran churches across the Upper Midwest that used Norwegian as their sole language of worship between the 1890s and World War I.

As far as the other Scandinavian languages, 78,000 Americans speak Swedish at home, and 36,000 speak Danish at home. A total of nearly 200,000 Americans speak a Scandinavian language at home. The same number of Americans speak a Scandinavian language at home as speak Pennsylvania German, one of the most famous secondary languages in America.

Statistics

4.5 million Americans are of Norwegian ancestry. Norwegians represent 1.6% of the total US population. This figure is actually much higher in the Upper Midwest (specifically Minnesota, Wisconsin, the Dakotas, Iowa, and Northern Illinois), where Norwegians represent approximately 15% of the total population. It is much lower in the South, Norwegians are hardly above 0% of the population in most Southern states.

The total number of Americans who are of Scandinavian ancestry is nearly 11 million. There are 4.5 million Norwegians, 4 million Swedes, 1.5 million Danes, and 700,000 who describe themselves only as "Scandinavian". Scandinavians as a whole represent approximately 4% of the total US population.

The 10 states with the most Norwegians are:
Minnesota - 850,000
Wisconsin - 456,000
California - 436,000
Washington state - 365,000
North Dakota - 193,000
Illinois - 179,000
Iowa - 167,000
Oregon - 147,000
Texas - 119,000
South Dakota - 115,000

The 8 states with the top percentages of Norwegians are:
North Dakota - 30% of the state's population is Norwegian
Minnesota - 18% of the state's population is Norwegian
South Dakota - 16% of the state's population is Norwegian
Montana - 11% of the state's population is Norwegian
Wisconsin - 9% of the state's population is Norwegian
Washington state - 6% of the state's population is Norwegian
Iowa - 6% of the state's population is Norwegian

Canada

Canada's Census determined that there are 360,000 Canadians who are of Norwegian ancestry. Norwegians represent 1.1% of the total Canadian population.

External Links

Norwegian-American Links

• Sources for Norwegian-American population data: 1 (http://www.euroamericans.net/euroamericans.net/norwegians.htm), 2 (http://names.mongabay.com/ancestry/st-Norwegian.html). Source for Canadian population data: 3 (http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/products/highlight/ETO/Table1.cfm?Lang=E&T=501&GV=1&GID=0)
• Friends of Norway Caucus (http://www.norway.org/norwayinus/caucus/norwaycaucus.htm). This is a U.S. Congressional Caucus, founded by Norwegian-American congressmen, which promotes Norwegian-American relations.
• Norwegian-American homepage (http://www.lawzone.com/half-nor/nor-am.htm). A website especially for people who are of Norwegian heritage, prize that heritage, and want to know more about the Kingdom of Norway — but do not happen to speak Norwegian.
• Sons of Norway (http://www.sofn.com/home/index.jsp). An organization dedicated to preserving and promoting Norwegian heritage and culture, especially in America.
• Norwegian-American Foundation (http://www.nor-am.org/). The mission of this group is to further cooperation among all Norwegian-American organizations and to strengthen the ties between Norway and people throughout North America, who through ancestry and interest have a special relationship with Norway.
• Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum (http://vesterheim.org/index.php). The website of the Vesterheim museum (in Decorah, Iowa), which is a museum dedicated to Norwegian-American culture and heritage. Vesterheim means "western home" in Norwegian, and it is what many Norwegian immigrants called America when they wrote to relatives back in Norway.
• Norwegians in the Civil War (http://vesterheim.org/CivilWar/db/index.html). An online database of Norwegians who fought for the Union during the Civil War (none fought for the Confederacy). You can search the databse by entering a surname or keyword. Available through Vesterheim museum's website.

de:Norweger no:Nordmenn

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