Transport and infrastructure in Norway

Our listing of the primary kinds of transport compares the infrastructure of Norway with the average of all countries in Europe. Overall, the traffic routes are above average and in good condition.

In terms of the length of its rail network, Norway ranks 18th in the world with 0.78 meters per inhabitant. In total, the rail network is 4,200 kilometers long. Freight traffic on the rails most recently totaled 3.90 billion tons and kilometers traveled. Passenger traffic reached 4.53 billion passenger-kilometers in 2016.

The waterways listed refer to inland traffic on rivers and canals. The number of ports includes those located on the total 25,148 km of coastline. In 2020, about 808,100 freight containers were transported.

› Airports in Norway

Back to overview: Norway

Road traffic

The network of roads and highways has a total length of 94,902 km. For each of the country's 5.41 million inhabitants, this corresponds to 17.55 meters. This puts Norway in 30th place in the global ranking. However, it is also important to note the country's population density, which is very low at around 14 inhabitants per km². Like this, disproportionately long distances generally have to be covered to reach the more remote parts of the country.

With an average of 140 traffic fatalities per year (2012 - 2019), road traffic in Norway is considered very safe. This corresponds to around 4.3 accident fatalities per 2.7 inhabitants per year. By comparison, this figure is 12.2 in the USA and 17.1 worldwide.

In Norway, traffic drives on the right-hand side of the road, i.e. people drive in the right-hand lane and overtake on the left. Oncoming traffic comes toward you on the left side. This rule was introduced at the end of the 18th century during the Napoleonic Wars. Here you can also find an overview of all countries with left-hand traffic.

	total	per 1 mio inhabitants	per km²
	Norway
Roadways	94,900 km	17,547.41 km	246.37 m
Railroads	4,200 km	776.58 km	10.90 m
Waterways	1,577 km	291.59 km	4.09 m
Commercial harbors	1,644	303.98	0.004
Airports	49	9.06	0.127

	total	per 1 mio inhabitants	per km²
	Europe
Roadways	6,708,300 km	11,157.59 km	1,111.61 m
Railroads	258,600 km	430.13 km	42.85 m
Waterways	53,100 km	88.38 km	8.81 m
Commercial harbors	15,291	25.43	0.003
Airports	573	0.95	0.000

Data sources used

• Global Health Observatory Data Repository (World Health Organization)
• UNCTAD
• Internation Union of Railways (UIC)
• CIA Factbook
• OECD Statistics
• Wikipedia (german)

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