NORWAY
Kingdom of Norway
Kongeriket Norge
CAPITAL : Oslo
FLAG : The national flag has a red field on which appears a blue cross outlined in white.
ANTHEM : Ja, vi elsker dette landet (Yes, We Love This Country) .
MONETARY UNIT : The krone (Kr) of 100 øre is the national currency. There are coins of 50 øre and 1, 5, and 10 kroner, and notes of 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, and 1,000 kroner. Kr1 = $0.1410 (or $1 = Kr7.09) as of May 2003.
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES : The metric system is the legal standard.
HOLIDAYS : New Year's Day, 1 January; Labor Day, 1 May; National Independence Day, 17 May; Christmas, 25 December; Boxing Day, 26 December. Movable religious holidays include Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Ascension, and Whitmonday.
TIME : 1 PM = noon GMT
ETHNIC GROUPS
The Norwegians have for centuries been a highly homogeneous people of Germanic (Nordic, Alpine, and Baltic) stock, generally tall and fair-skinned, with blue eyes. Small minority communities include some 20,000 Lapps (Sami) and 7,000 descendants of Finnish immigrants.
