Today Norway ranks among the tops of many indices and rankings of countries and societal factors, but how did this happen? About 200 years ago, Norway was one of the poorer countries in Europe, and also not independent. The journey from then to today is fascinating, so I made a timelapse video detailing the political situation and journey from 1814 to today, noting some political events and decisions, as well as stating some statistical facts along the way to give an impression on how it was living in those times. For those interested in history, Norway, or politics, or all, here is the link:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTtX9BawoZE&t=1s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTtX9BawoZE&t=1s)
by lonkgronk
7 comments
Oil, low population, good education, little corruption, family values.
Norway did relatively well 200 years ago.
Simplistic answer (I’m not a historian):
-Hydroelectric power made electricity super cheap 100+ years ago, making international companies invest in Foundries, factories etc.
-When oil was discovered in the North Sea in late sixties, Norway did not settle for the usual “take our oil, pay 30% taxes”, but rather “it’s our oil, you can have 10% of the revenue extracting it” or something like that.
-Both men and women work = double the amount of taxes payed.
-Earnings from oil and gas gets put in an investment fond for future use, we only use percentages og the interests from this fond.
Good governance
70 years of socialist politics. The state had all the control of oil instead of what venezuela and what the UK did.
Getting females in to the work force early. Securing hydropower in the hands of the country not companies. Strong social politics.
A bunch of former commies work tirelessly to pull people out of poverty and into self-owned homes from after the second world war until the late 60s. After that was in place, together with the mindset, there was a large oil finding. It was really well handled, with quite heavy taxation on foreign companies, and starting a state owned oil company. I would say this combination of social democracy being so strong as a base, then such a strike of luck, is quite rare. The oil extraction has infused the economy and made us so rich. Maybe because of this some working class people have been sliding to the right wing. Maybe in appraisal of capitalistic market which made us rich, or maybe to ensure their fortunes are not going to shrink. We are anyways not quite as driven these days as the social democrats of the 50s and 60s.