rprises).
The country is richly endowed with natural resources - petroleum,
hydropower, fish, forests, and minerals - and is highly dependent on
its oil production and international oil prices, with oil and gas
accounting for one-third of exports. Only Saudi Arabia and Russia
export more oil than Norway. Norway opted to stay out of the EU
during a referendum in November 1994. The government has moved ahead
with privatization. With arguably the highest quality of life
worldwide, Norwegians still worry about that time in the next two
decades when the oil and gas begin to run out. Accordingly, Norway
has been saving its oil-boosted budget surpluses in a Government
Petroleum Fund, which is invested abroad and now is valued at more
than $43 billion. GDP growth was a lackluster 1% in 2002 and 0.5% in
2003 against the background of a faltering European economy.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $171.7 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
0.6% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $37,800 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 2.5%
industry: 36.2%
services: 61.2% (2003)

Investment (gross fixed):
17.8% of GDP (2003)

Population below poverty line:
NA

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 4.1%
highest 10%: 21.8% (1995)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
25.8 (1995)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
2.5% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
2.38 million (2003 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture, forestry, and fishing 4%, industry 22%, services 74%
(1995)

Unemployment rate:
4.7% (2003 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $129.8 billion
expenditures: $105.5 billion, including capital expenditures of NA
(2003 est.)

Public debt:
22.1% of GDP (2003)

Agriculture - products:
barley, wheat, potatoes; pork, beef, veal, milk; fish

Industries:
petroleum and gas, food processing, shipbuilding, pulp and paper
products, metals, chemicals, timber, mining, textiles, fishing

Industrial production growth rate:
-3.5% (2003 est.)

Electricity - production:
120.1 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
115.3 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
7.162 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
10.76 billion kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
3.408 million bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
171,100 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - expo