Arctic Ocean (2001) | Svalbard (2004) | |
Age structure | - | 0-14 years: NA
15-64 years: NA 65 years and over: NA |
Airports | - | 4 (2003 est.) |
Airports - with paved runways | - | total: 2
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1523 m: 1 (2004 est.) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | - | total: 2
under 914 m: 2 (2004 est.) |
Area | total:
14.056 million sq km note: includes Baffin Bay, Barents Sea, Beaufort Sea, Chukchi Sea, East Siberian Sea, Greenland Sea, Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, Northwest Passage, and other tributary water bodies |
total: 62,049 sq km
land: 62,049 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes Spitsbergen and Bjornoya (Bear Island) |
Area - comparative | slightly less than 1.5 times the size of the US | slightly smaller than West Virginia |
Background | The Arctic Ocean is the smallest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and the recently delimited Southern Ocean). The Northwest Passage (US and Canada) and Northern Sea Route (Norway and Russia) are two important seasonal waterways. A sparse network of air, ocean, river, and land routes circumscribes the Arctic Ocean. | First discovered by the Norwegians in the 12th century, the islands served as an international whaling base during the 17th and 18th centuries. Norway's sovereignty was recognized in 1920; five years later it officially took over the territory. |
Birth rate | - | NA births/1,000 population |
Budget | - | revenues: $11.5 million
expenditures: $11.5 million, including capital expenditures of NA (1998 est.) |
Capital | - | Longyearbyen |
Climate | polar climate characterized by persistent cold and relatively narrow annual temperature ranges; winters characterized by continuous darkness, cold and stable weather conditions, and clear skies; summers characterized by continuous daylight, damp and foggy weather, and weak cyclones with rain or snow | arctic, tempered by warm North Atlantic Current; cool summers, cold winters; North Atlantic Current flows along west and north coasts of Spitsbergen, keeping water open and navigable most of the year |
Coastline | 45,389 km | 3,587 km |
Country name | - | conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Svalbard (sometimes referred to as Spitzbergen) |
Currency | - | Norwegian krone (NOK) |
Death rate | - | NA deaths/1,000 population |
Dependency status | - | territory of Norway; administered by the Polar Department of the Ministry of Justice, through a governor (sysselmann) residing in Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen; by treaty (9 February 1920) sovereignty was awarded to Norway |
Disputes - international | some maritime disputes (see littoral states) | despite recent discussions, Russia and Norway dispute their maritime limits in the Barents Sea and Russia's fishing rights beyond Svalbard's territorial limits within the Svalbard Treaty zone |
Economic aid - recipient | - | $8.2 million from Norway (1998) |
Economy - overview | Economic activity is limited to the exploitation of natural resources, including petroleum, natural gas, fish, and seals. | Coal mining is the major economic activity on Svalbard. The treaty of 9 February 1920 gives the 41 signatories equal rights to exploit mineral deposits, subject to Norwegian regulation. Although US, UK, Dutch, and Swedish coal companies have mined in the past, the only companies still mining are Norwegian and Russian. The settlements on Svalbard are essentially company towns. The Norwegian state-owned coal company employs nearly 60% of the Norwegian population on the island, runs many of the local services, and provides most of the local infrastructure. There is also some hunting of seal, reindeer, and fox. |
Electricity - consumption | - | NA kWh |
Electricity - production | - | NA kWh |
Elevation extremes | lowest point:
Fram Basin -4,665 m highest point: sea level 0 m |
lowest point: Arctic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Newtontoppen 1,717 m |
Environment - current issues | endangered marine species include walruses and whales; fragile ecosystem slow to change and slow to recover from disruptions or damage; thinning polar icepack | NA |
Ethnic groups | - | Norwegian 55.4%, Russian and Ukrainian 44.3%, other 0.3% (1998) |
Exchange rates | - | Norwegian kroner per US dollar - 7.0802 (2003), 7.9838 (2002), 8.9917 (2001), 8.8018 (2000), 7.7992 (1999) |
Executive branch | - | chief of state: King HARALD V of Norway (since 17 January 1991)
head of government: Governor Odd Olsen INGERO (since 8 June 2001) and Assistant Governor Rune Baard HANSEN (since NA) elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; governor and assistant governor responsible to the Polar Department of the Ministry of Justice |
Exports | - | NA |
Flag description | - | the flag of Norway is used |
GDP | - | purchasing power parity - NA |
GDP - per capita | - | purchasing power parity - NA |
GDP - real growth rate | - | NA |
Geographic coordinates | 90 00 N, 0 00 E | 78 00 N, 20 00 E |
Geography - note | major chokepoint is the southern Chukchi Sea (northern access to the Pacific Ocean via the Bering Strait); strategic location between North America and Russia; shortest marine link between the extremes of eastern and western Russia; floating research stations operated by the US and Russia; maximum snow cover in March or April about 20 to 50 centimeters over the frozen ocean; snow cover lasts about 10 months | northernmost part of the Kingdom of Norway; consists of nine main islands; glaciers and snowfields cover 60% of the total area |
Highways | - | total: NA km
paved: NA km unpaved: NA km |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | - | lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA |
Imports | - | NA |
Independence | - | none (territory of Norway) |
Industrial production growth rate | - | NA |
Infant mortality rate | - | total: NA
male: NA female: NA |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | - | NA |
International organization participation | - | none |
Irrigated land | - | NA sq km |
Labor force | - | NA |
Land boundaries | - | 0 km |
Land use | - | arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (no trees, and the only bushes are crowberry and cloudberry) (2001) |
Languages | - | Norwegian, Russian |
Legal system | - | NA |
Life expectancy at birth | - | total population: NA years
male: NA years female: NA years |
Literacy | - | NA |
Location | body of water between Europe, Asia, and North America, mostly north of the Arctic Circle | Northern Europe, islands between the Arctic Ocean, Barents Sea, Greenland Sea, and Norwegian Sea, north of Norway |
Map references | Arctic Region | Arctic Region |
Maritime claims | - | territorial sea: 4 nm
exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm unilaterally claimed by Norway but not recognized by Russia |
Merchant marine | - | none |
Military - note | - | demilitarized by treaty (9 February 1920) |
National holiday | - | NA |
Natural hazards | ice islands occasionally break away from northern Ellesmere Island; icebergs calved from glaciers in western Greenland and extreme northeastern Canada; permafrost in islands; virtually ice locked from October to June; ships subject to superstructure icing from October to May | ice floes often block the entrance to Bellsund (a transit point for coal export) on the west coast and occasionally make parts of the northeastern coast inaccessible to maritime traffic |
Natural resources | sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, polymetallic nodules, oil and gas fields, fish, marine mammals (seals and whales) | coal, iron ore, copper, zinc, phosphate, wildlife, fish |
Net migration rate | - | NA migrant(s)/1,000 population |
Population | - | 2,756 (July 2004 est.) |
Population below poverty line | - | NA |
Population growth rate | - | -0.02% (2004 est.) |
Ports and harbors | Churchill (Canada), Murmansk (Russia), Prudhoe Bay (US) | Barentsburg, Longyearbyen, Ny-Alesund, Pyramiden |
Radio broadcast stations | - | AM 1, FM 1 (plus 2 repeaters), shortwave 0 (1998) |
Sex ratio | - | NA |
Telephone system | - | general assessment: probably adequate
domestic: local telephone service international: country code - 47-790; satellite earth station - 1 of unknown type (for communication with Norwegian mainland only) |
Telephones - main lines in use | - | NA |
Telephones - mobile cellular | - | NA |
Television broadcast stations | - | NA |
Terrain | central surface covered by a perennial drifting polar icepack that averages about 3 meters in thickness, although pressure ridges may be three times that size; clockwise drift pattern in the Beaufort Gyral Stream, but nearly straight-line movement from the New Siberian Islands (Russia) to Denmark Strait (between Greenland and Iceland); the icepack is surrounded by open seas during the summer, but more than doubles in size during the winter and extends to the encircling landmasses; the ocean floor is about 50% continental shelf (highest percentage of any ocean) with the remainder a central basin interrupted by three submarine ridges (Alpha Cordillera, Nansen Cordillera, and Lomonosov Ridge) | wild, rugged mountains; much of high land ice covered; west coast clear of ice about one-half of the year; fjords along west and north coasts |
Total fertility rate | - | NA children born/woman |