Government and power in Norway

Who leads Norway, how the World Bank's governance indicators score it, how many women sit in parliament and government, what the state spends and taxes, and the official bodies that hold power to account. System of government: Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy.

Who leads Norway?

• Head of state: King Haakon VIII (King)
• Head of government: Jonas Gahr Støre (Prime Minister of Norway)
• Foreign minister: Espen Barth Eide (Minister for Foreign Affairs of Norway)

Source: Heads of State, Heads of Government, Ministers for Foreign Affairs: Public List (United Nations Protocol and Liaison Service), list dated 15 October 2026. All world leaders.

Governance scores

The World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators combine surveys of households and firms with assessments by public, private and non-governmental bodies. Each score runs from 0 to 100; higher means the sources rate governance better. They measure perceptions, and each has a margin of error.

Voice and accountability

Measures how far citizens can choose their government, and freedom of expression, association and the media.

Political stability and absence of violence

Measures the likelihood of political instability or politically motivated violence, including terrorism.

Government effectiveness

Measures the quality of public services and the civil service, and how independent they are from political pressure.

Regulatory quality

Measures the government's ability to make and carry out policies that let the private sector develop.

Rule of law

Measures confidence in and respect for the rules of society, including contract enforcement, property rights, the police and the courts.

Control of corruption

Measures how far public power is used for private gain, including petty and grand corruption and "capture" of the state by elites.

Official bodies that hold power in Norway

Government

• Government of Norway
  White papers, propositions to the Storting, consultations and ministry documents.

Parliament

• Storting
  Bills, committee recommendations, debate transcripts, votes and member information.

Elections

• Norwegian Directorate of Elections
  Election administration information, statistics and official results via valg.no.

Courts

• Supreme Court of Norway
  Supreme Court judgments, case lists and information on pending appeals.

Public audit

• Office of the Auditor General of Norway
  Financial and performance audit reports on central government, delivered to the Storting.

Ombudsman

• Parliamentary Ombudsman
  Statements on complaints about public administration and annual reports.

Asset declarations

• Storting register of members' interests
  Members of parliament's declared positions, directorships, shareholdings and other economic interests.

Public contracts

• Doffin, national public procurement notices
  Public contract notices and awards from Norwegian public bodies.

Laws and the official gazette

• Lovdata
  Norwegian laws, regulations and the official Norwegian Law Gazette (Norsk Lovtidend), plus court decisions.

Government below the national level

• Counties (fylkeskommuner, 15 from 2024): County council (fylkesting) elected every four years
• Municipalities (kommuner, about 357): Municipal council elected every four years; council elects the mayor (ordfører)
• County governors (statsforvaltere, 10): Appointed by the King in Council (the government)
• Sub-municipal bodies: Oslo's 15 boroughs have directly elected borough councils; elsewhere optional

How local power works in Norway

Places in Norway

• All 7 statistical regions
• The 3 largest cities
• Official statistics for Norway

Sources

• World Bank: Worldwide Governance Indicators: Voice and accountability (governance score 0-100), read 23 October 2026 · saved copy (SHA-256 70f2804fd1e2…)
• World Bank: Worldwide Governance Indicators: Political stability and absence of violence (governance score 0-100), read 23 October 2026 · saved copy (SHA-256 1317de0c85e1…)
• World Bank: Worldwide Governance Indicators: Government effectiveness (governance score 0-100), read 23 October 2026 · saved copy (SHA-256 a775e808dc65…)
• World Bank: Worldwide Governance Indicators: Regulatory quality (governance score 0-100), read 23 October 2026 · saved copy (SHA-256 83b57e36ff8c…)
• World Bank: Worldwide Governance Indicators: Rule of law (governance score 0-100), read 23 October 2026 · saved copy (SHA-256 0bccc3c054e8…)
• World Bank: Worldwide Governance Indicators: Control of corruption (governance score 0-100), read 23 October 2026 · saved copy (SHA-256 3b15a5340cdd…)
• World Bank: World Development Indicators: Seats held by women in national parliament (SG.GEN.PARL.ZS), read 23 October 2026 · saved copy (SHA-256 1ae1dc13981a…)
• World Bank: World Development Indicators: Women in ministerial positions (SG.GEN.MNST.ZS), read 23 October 2026 · saved copy (SHA-256 a4e448a5b8bd…)
• World Bank: World Development Indicators: Central government spending (GC.XPN.TOTL.GD.ZS), read 23 October 2026 · saved copy (SHA-256 808094019f50…)
• World Bank: World Development Indicators: Tax revenue (GC.TAX.TOTL.GD.ZS), read 23 October 2026 · saved copy (SHA-256 08c94b750f31…)
• World Bank: World Development Indicators: Military spending (MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS), read 23 October 2026 · saved copy (SHA-256 a7f6913a783b…)
• World Bank: World Development Indicators: Armed forces personnel (MS.MIL.TOTL.P1), read 23 October 2026 · saved copy (SHA-256 fa4663c743ba…)
• World Bank: World Development Indicators: Statistical Performance Indicator (overall score) (IQ.SPI.OVRL), read 23 October 2026 · saved copy (SHA-256 08ac7cde9129…)
• World Bank: World Development Indicators: Births registered (SP.REG.BRTH.ZS), read 23 October 2026 · saved copy (SHA-256 f8d443034ba7…)
• World Bank: World Development Indicators: People using the internet (IT.NET.USER.ZS), read 23 October 2026 · saved copy (SHA-256 0d78dc658329…)

Each saved copy is the file exactly as downloaded, kept so the figures can be checked even if the source changes. Report an error.