Random facts about Norway


Did you know that there are more Norwegian descendants living in the United States than there are Norwegians in Norway (6 mill. vs. 4,8 mill.) and that Norway is nicknamed ”The Land of the Midnight Sun?” Read more random facts about Norway here.

There are more Norwegian descendants living in the United States than there are Norwegians in Norway (6 mill. vs. 4,8 mill.)
Norway is nicknamed ”The Land of the Midnight Sun.”
All of the surviving stave churches, (medieval wooden churches with a post and beam construction related to timber framing,) except one, are found in Norway.
Hydropower accounts for 99 per cent of the electricity generated in Norway.
In Norway, education is free, even college and university education.
Norwegian women and men spend more and more of their time on leisure activities, on average more than 6 hours a day.
Norway has a native population called the Sami people.



The plague called ”The Black Death” resulted in the death of more than half of Norway’s population in the mid 14th century.
In real terms, Norway is one of the most expensive countries in the world.
Norway was one of the first countries to establish a Ministry for the Environment (1972).
Women in Norway have the right to 44 weeks of fully paid maternity leave and men 6 weeks of fully paid paternity leave.
The name Norway is thought to mean “path to the North.”
Norway is one of the world’s richest countries per capita.
The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway’s capital, every year.
The all-time high temperature in Norway is 96.08ºF and was measured in Nesbyen, Buskerud in 1970.
Norway is one of the world’s largest oil and natural gas exporter.
One of Norway’s most important strategic priority area is the Arctic, where Norway works to protect the environment, maintain settlement patterns, promote business development and further develop cooperation with Russia and other partners.
The First United Nations Secretary-General, Trygve Halvdan Lie, was Norwegian.
Since the early 1990s, Norway has been playing an important role as facilitator in a number of peace and reconciliation processes.
Food stores are not allowed to stay open on Sundays, but petrol stations and kiosks selling groceries are.



In Norway, wine and liquor is only sold in a monopoly store called “Vinmonopolet”, which translates to “The Wine Monopoly”.
In the period 1860 to 1910, the percentage of the Norwegian population emigrating to America was second only to the percentage of the Irish.
In size, Norway is comparable to Montana, and it is the 6th largest country in Europe.
Norway is one of very few European countries not to be a member of the European Union, after twice rejecting membership after having a referendum (1972 and 1994.)
Norway is a constitutional monarchy.
The Norwegian Constitution dates back to 1814 and is celebrated with children’s parades, speeches and other festivities on May 17 every year.
In Norway there’s a saying that ”There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.”
Since the 1990s, Norwegian films have become very popular with Norwegian audiences and have also gotten more attention from abroad; several Norwegian films have been exported and received international awards.
Norway’s representative, Kurt Nilsen, won World Idol, the one-off international version of the television show Pop Idol, with the U.S. pop idol Kelly Clarkson as the runner-up.
Fossils of the marine reptile ”Predator X” that patrolled the Jurassic oceans 147 million years ago, was excavated on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, Norway.

[size=14pt]Facts about Austria[/size]

The Austro-Hungarian Empire played a decisive role in central European history. It occupied strategic territory containing the southeastern routes to Western Europe and the north-south routes between Germany and Italy. Present-day Austria retains this unique position.




Soon after the Republic of Austria was created at the end of World War I, it faced the strains of catastrophic inflation and of adapting a large government structure to the needs of a new, smaller republic. In the early 1930s, worldwide depression and unemployment added to these strains and shattered traditional Austrian society. In 1933, Engelbert Dollfuss formed a conservative autocracy. In February 1934, civil war broke out, and the Socialist Party was outlawed. In July, a coup d'etat by the National Socialists failed, but Nazis assassinated Dollfuss. In March 1938, Germany occupied Austria and incorporated it into the German Reich. This development is commonly known as the "Anschluss" (annexation).

At the Moscow conference in 1943, the Allies declared their intention to liberate and reconstitute Austria. In April 1945, both Eastern- and Western-front Allied forces liberated the country. Subsequently, the victorious allies divided Austria into zones of occupation similar to those in Germany with a four-power administration of Vienna. Under the 1945 Potsdam agreements, the Soviets took control of German assets in their zone of occupation. These included 7% of Austria's manufacturing plants, 95% of its oil resources, and about 80% of its refinery capacity. The properties returned to Austria under the Austrian State Treaty. This treaty, signed in Vienna on May 15, 1955, came into effect on July 27, and, under its provisions, all occupation forces departed by October 25, 1955. Austria became free and independent for the first time since 1938.

Government

The Austrian president convenes and concludes parliamentary sessions and under certain conditions can dissolve Parliament. However, no Austrian president has dissolved Parliament in the Second Republic. The custom is for Parliament to call for new elections if needed. The president requests a party leader, usually the leader of the strongest party, to form a government. Upon the recommendation of the Federal Chancellor, the president also appoints cabinet ministers.

The Federal Assembly (Parliament) consists of two houses--the National Council (Nationalrat), or lower house, and the Federal Council (Bundesrat), or upper house. Legislative authority resides in the National Council upon elections. Its 183 members serve for a maximum 4-year term in a three-tiered system, based on proportional representation. The National Council may dissolve itself by a simple majority vote or the president may dissolve it on the recommendation of the Chancellor. The 62 members of the Federal Council are elected by the legislatures of the nine states for 5- to 6-year terms. The Federal Council only reviews legislation passed by the National Council and can delay but not veto its enactment.

The highest courts of Austria's independent judiciary are the Constitutional Court; the Administrative Court, which handles bureaucratic disputes; and the Supreme Court, for civil and criminal cases. While the Supreme Court is the court of highest instance for the judiciary, the Administrative Court acts as the supervisory body over government administrative acts of the executive branch, and the Constitutional Court presides over constitutional issues. Justices of the three courts are appointed by the president for specific terms.

The legislatures of Austria's nine Laender (states) elect the governors. Although most authority, including that of the police, rests with the federal government, the states have considerable responsibility for welfare matters and local administration. Strong state and local loyalties have roots in tradition and history.




Economy

Austria has a well-developed social market economy with a high standard of living in which the government has played an important role. The government nationalized many of the country's largest firms in the early post-war period to protect them from Soviet takeover as war reparations. For many years, the government and its state-owned industries conglomerate played a very important role in the Austrian economy. However, starting in the early 1990s, the group broke apart, state-owned firms started to operate largely as private businesses, and the government wholly or partially privatized many of these firms. Although the government's privatization work in past years has been very successful, it still operates some firms, state monopolies, utilities, and services. The Schuessel government has presented an ambitious privatization program, which it is implementing, and which should further reduce government participation in the economy. Austria enjoys well-developed industry, banking, transportation, services, and commercial facilities. Some industries, such as several iron and steel works and chemical plants, are large industrial enterprises employing thousands of people. However, most industrial and commercial enterprises in Austria are relatively small on an international scale.

Austria has a strong labor movement. The Austrian Trade Union Federation (OGB) comprises constituent unions with a total membership of about 1.4 million--about 40% of the country's wage and salary earners. Since 1945, the OGB has pursued a moderate, consensus-oriented wage policy, cooperating with industry, agriculture, and the government on a broad range of social and economic issues in what is known as Austria's "social partnership." The OGB has announced opposition to the new government's program for budget consolidation, social reform, and improving the business climate, and indications are rising that Austria's peaceful social climate could become more confrontational.

Austrian farms, like those of other west European mountainous countries, are small and fragmented, and production is relatively expensive. Since Austria became a member of the EU in 1995, the Austrian agricultural sector has been undergoing substantial reform under the EU's common agricultural policy (CAP). Although Austrian farmers provide about 80% of domestic food requirements, the agricultural contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) has declined since 1950 to about 2%.

Austria has achieved sustained economic growth. During the 1950s, the average annual growth rate was more than 5% in real terms and averaged about 4.5% through most of the 1960s. In the second half of the 1970s, the annual average growth rate was 3% in real terms, though it averaged only about 1.5% through the first half of the 1980s before rebounding to an average of 3.2% in the second half of the 1980s. At 2%, growth was weaker again in the first half of the 1990s, but averaged 2.5% again in the period 1997 to 2001. After real GDP growth of 1.4% in 2002, the economy grew again only 0.7% in 2003, with 2001-2003 being the longest low-growth period since World War II. In 2004, Austria’s economy recovered and grew 2.0%, driven by booming exports in response to strong world economic growth.

Austria became a member of the EU on January 1, 1995. Membership brought economic benefits and challenges and has drawn an influx of foreign investors. Austria also has made progress in generally increasing its international competitiveness. As a member of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), Austria has integrated its economy with those of other EU member countries, especially with Germany’s. On January 1, 1999, Austria introduced the new Euro currency for accounting purposes.

In January 2002, Austria introduced Euro notes and coins in place of the Austrian schilling. Economists agree that the economic effects in Austria of using a common currency with the rest of the members of the Euro-zone have been positive.

Trade with other EU-25 countries accounts for about 71% of Austrian imports and exports. Expanding trade and investment in the new EU members of central and eastern Europe that joined the EU in May 2004 represent a major element of Austrian economic activity. Austrian firms have sizable investments in and continue to move labor-intensive, low-tech production to these countries.

Hard Facts

The official name of the country is Republic of Austria. It covers a relatively small area of land, 32,000 square miles. The capital is beautiful Vienna, which has a population of just over 1.6 million people. Other cities of note include Salzburg and Innsbruck which has hosted a winter Olympics. The country is predominantly a mountainous one and has a climate categorized as continental with plenty of rain and snowfall. Summers in the mountains of Austria are simply dazzling.

The people of Austria are known as “Austrians.” The total population for the country is just over 8 million people, and barely growing each year at a rate of .4 percent. The ethnicity of Austrians breaks down as 98 percent German with a mix of neighboring country natives mixed in. The dominant language is German. Roman Catholic is the faith of 73 percent of Austrians although 12 percent claim no religion at all. The literacy rate in this well-developed country is 98 percent. Life expectancy for women is 81.7 years while men average 75.9.

As these facts about Austria demonstrate, the country has seen all sides of the power ledger. Regardless, Austria is a beautiful country with a rich cultural heritage and is definitely worth a visit.

[size=14pt]Facts about South Africa[/size]


South Africa covers an area of roughly 470,462 square miles. The capital is Johannesburg. The country has diverse geographic elements, but a moderate climate.

The people of South Africa are known as “South Africans.” Totally population is just over 46 million, with 79 percent black, 9.6 percent white, 8.9 percent colored and 2.5 percent Asian. The primary languages are English and Afrikaans. Life expectancy is a relatively low 50 years for men and 52 years for women.
The Republic of South Africa was once the home to apartheid, the segregation of races. A movement and a man, Nelson Mandela, changed that and are pivotal to the facts about South Africa.

Facts about South Africa

Until 1991, South African law divided the population into four major racial categories: Africans (black), whites, coloreds and Asians. Although this law has been abolished, many South Africans still view themselves and each other according to these categories. Black Africans comprise about 79% of the population and are divided into a number of different ethnic groups. Whites comprise about 10% of the population. They are primarily descendants of Dutch, French, English, and German settlers who began arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the late 17th century. Coloreds are mixed-race people primarily descending from the earliest settlers and the indigenous peoples. They comprise about 9% of the total population. Asians descend from Indian workers brought to South Africa in the mid-19th century to work on the sugar estates in Natal. They constitute about 2.5% of the population and are concentrated in the KwaZulu-Natal Province.




Education is in transition. Under the apartheid system schools were segregated, and the quantity and quality of education varied significantly across racial groups. The laws governing this segregation have been abolished. The long and arduous process of restructuring the country's educational system has begun and is ongoing. The challenge is to create a single, nondiscriminatory, nonracial system that offers the same standards of education to all people.

History

People have inhabited southern Africa for thousands of years. Members of the Khoisan language groups are the oldest surviving inhabitants of the land, but only a few are left in South Africa today. Most of today's black South Africans belong to the Bantu language group, which migrated south from central Africa sometime before AD 100. The Nguni, ancestors of the Zulu and Xhosa, occupied most of the eastern coast by 1500.

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach the Cape of Good Hope, arriving in 1488. However, permanent white settlement did not begin until 1652 when the Dutch East India Company established a provisioning station on the Cape. In subsequent decades, the Dutch and Germans began to settle in the Cape. Collectively, they form the Afrikaner segment of today's population. The establishment of these settlements had far-reaching social and political effects on the groups already settled in the area, leading to upheaval in these societies and the subjugation of their people.

By 1779, European settlements extended throughout the southern part of the Cape and east toward the Great Fish River. It was here that Dutch authorities and the Xhosa fought the first frontier war. The British gained control of the Cape of Good Hope at the end of the 18th century. Subsequent British settlement and rule marked the beginning of a long conflict between the Afrikaners and the English.

Beginning in 1836, partly to escape British rule and partly out of resentment at the recent abolition of slavery, many Afrikaner farmers (Boers) undertook a northern migration that became known as the "Great Trek." This movement brought them into contact and conflict with African groups in the area, the most formidable of which were the Zulus. Under their powerful leader, Shaka (1787-1828), the Zulus conquered most of the territory between the Drakensberg Mountains and the sea (now KwaZulu-Natal).

In 1828, Shaka was assassinated and replaced by his half-brother Dingane. In 1838, Dingane was defeated and deported by the Voortrekkers (people of the Great Trek) at the battle of Blood River. The Zulus, nonetheless, remained a potent force, defeating the British in the historic battle of Isandhlwana before themselves being finally conquered in 1879.

In 1852 and 1854, the independent Boer Republics of the Transvaal and Orange Free State were created. Relations between the republics and the British Government were strained. The discovery of diamonds at Kimberley in 1870 and the discovery of large gold deposits in the Witwatersrand region of the Transvaal in 1886 caused an influx of European immigration and investment. In addition to resident black Africans, many blacks from neighboring countries also moved into the area to work in the mines.

Boer reactions to this influx and British political intrigues led to the Anglo-Boer Wars of 1880-81 and 1899-1902. British forces prevailed in the conflict, and the republics were incorporated into the British Empire. In May 1910, the two republics and the British colonies of the Cape and Natal formed the Union of South Africa, a self-governing dominion of the British Empire. The Union's constitution kept all political power in the hands of whites.

In 1912, the South Africa Native National Congress was founded in Bloemfontein and eventually became known as the African National Congress (ANC). Its goals were the elimination of restrictions based on color and the enfranchisement of and parliamentary representation for blacks. Despite these efforts the government continued to pass laws limiting the rights and freedoms of blacks.

In 1948, the National Party (NP) won the all-white elections and began passing legislation codifying and enforcing an even stricter policy of white domination and racial separation known as "apartheid" (separateness). In the early 1960s, following a protest in Sharpeville in which 69 protesters were killed by police and 180 injured, the ANC and Pan-African Congress (PAC) were banned. Nelson Mandela and many other anti-apartheid leaders were convicted and imprisoned on charges of treason.

The ANC and PAC were forced underground and fought apartheid through guerrilla warfare and sabotage. In May 1961, South Africa relinquished its dominion status and declared itself a republic. It withdrew from the Commonwealth in part because of international protests against apartheid. In 1984, a new constitution came into effect in which whites allowed coloreds and Asians a limited role in the national government and control over their own affairs in certain areas. Ultimately, however, all power remained in white hands. Blacks remained effectively disenfranchised.

Popular uprisings in black and colored townships in 1976 and 1985 helped to convince some NP members of the need for change. Secret discussions between those members and Nelson Mandela began in 1986. In February 1990, State President F.W. de Klerk, who had come to power in September 1989, announced the unbanning of the ANC, the PAC, and all other anti-apartheid groups. Two weeks later, Nelson Mandela was released from prison.

In 1991, the Group Areas Act, Land Acts, and the Population Registration Act, the last of the so-called "pillars of apartheid", were abolished. A long series of negotiations ensued, resulting in a new constitution promulgated into law in December 1993. The country's first nonracial elections were held on April 26-28, 1994, resulting in the installation of Nelson Mandela as President on May 10, 1994.

Following the 1994 elections, South Africa was governed under an interim constitution establishing a Government of National Unity (GNU). This constitution required the Constitutional Assembly (CA) to draft and approve a permanent constitution by May 9, 1996. After review by the Constitutional Court and intensive negotiations within the CA, the Constitutional Court certified a revised draft on December 2, 1996. President Mandela signed the new constitution into law on December 10, and it entered into force on February 3, 1997. The GNU ostensibly remained in effect until the 1999 national elections.

During Nelson Mandela's 5-year term as President of South Africa, the government committed itself to reforming the country. The ANC-led government focused on social issues that were neglected during the apartheid era such as unemployment, housing shortages, and crime. Mandela's administration began to reintroduce South Africa into the global economy by implementing a market-driven economic plan known as Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR). In order to heal the wounds created by apartheid, the government created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) under the leadership of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. During the first term of the ANC's post-apartheid rule, President Mandela concentrated on national reconciliation, seeking to forge a single South African identity and sense of purpose among a diverse and splintered populace, riven by years of conflict. The diminution of political violence after 1994 and its virtual disappearance by 1996 were testament to the abilities of Mandela to achieve this difficult goal.

Nelson Mandela stepped down as President of the ANC at the party's national congress in December 1997, when Thabo Mbeki assumed the mantle of leadership. Mbeki won the presidency of South Africa after national elections in 1999, when the ANC won just shy of a two-thirds majority in Parliament. President Mbeki shifted the focus of government from reconciliation to transformation, particularly on the economic front. With political transformation and the foundation of a strong democratic system in place after two free and fair national elections, the ANC recognized the need to focus on bringing economic power to the black majority in South Africa. In April 2004, the ANC won nearly 70% of the national vote, and Mbeki was reelected for his second 5-year term. In his 2004 State of the Nation address, Mbeki promised his government would reduce poverty, stimulate economic growth, and fight crime. Mbeki said that the government would play a more prominent role in economic development.

Thanks for the informative posts. God bless.

Good and educating post.
I think it will be better if you can also highlight the relationship between these countries and Nigeria.
In terms of government,business,migration and racism.

Thanks

^^^^seconded, rather than copy & paste frm googling.

Stop spamming!!!!!!!!!!

What is NSK by the way?
This must be a big joke.

Davidmon or what ever OGUN LA pe tufu tufu if you keep spammin on nairaland about your Nsk bastard

NSK is just an association and does not give anybody assess to move anywhere without visa.
my people dont be misled,it shows that some people are just so anxious and did not take their time to really understand NSK.

It is just like an association called NAS and once you have their membership id card in form of passport,u think u can travel anywhere,BIG LIE!!!

NSK IS AN ASSOCIATION FOR PEOPLE OF COMMON INTEREST,IT IS DIVIDED INTO 4.
THE PASSPORT IS JUST A MEMBERSHIP ID CARD.

NUFF SAID!!!