Relative poverty: Share of population below 50% of the median in Norway
Norway: Relative poverty: Share of population below 50% of the median was 7.6% in 2023. ▲ Rising
Relative poverty: Share of population below 50% of the median in Norway, 1979–2023
Source: World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
Norway recorded 7.6% for relative poverty: share of population below 50% of the median in 2023.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 4.8% on the previous year and up 6.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, relative poverty: share of population below 50% of the median in Norway peaked at 9.2% in 2016 and was at its lowest, 4.4%, in 1986.
Norway ranks 100th of 120 countries on this measure, in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 26 years of available data.
Relative poverty: Share of population below 50% of the median in Norway, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 5.7% | — |
| 1986 | 4.4% | -22.8% |
| 1991 | 4.8% | +9.1% |
| 1995 | 5.5% | +14.6% |
| 2000 | 4.9% | -10.9% |
| 2003 | 5.8% | +17.7% |
| 2004 | 5.9% | +3.2% |
| 2005 | 6.3% | +6.6% |
| 2006 | 8.0% | +26.3% |
| 2007 | 6.8% | -15.6% |
| 2008 | 7.2% | +6.9% |
| 2009 | 7.1% | -2.0% |
| 2010 | 7.1% | +0.2% |
| 2011 | 6.9% | -2.7% |
| 2012 | 7.1% | +3.0% |
| 2013 | 7.1% | +0.1% |
| 2014 | 7.6% | +6.2% |
| 2015 | 8.0% | +6.5% |
| 2016 | 9.2% | +14.1% |
| 2017 | 8.2% | -10.4% |
| 2018 | 8.0% | -2.6% |
| 2019 | 8.3% | +3.8% |
| 2020 | 8.7% | +4.4% |
| 2021 | 8.2% | -4.9% |
| 2022 | 7.2% | -12.5% |
| 2023 | 7.6% | +4.8% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 5.7% | 5.7% | 5.7% | 1 |
| 1980s | 4.4% | 4.4% | 4.4% | 1 |
| 1990s | 5.2% | 4.8% | 5.5% | 2 |
| 2000s | 6.5% | 4.9% | 8.0% | 8 |
| 2010s | 7.8% | 6.9% | 9.2% | 10 |
| 2020s | 7.9% | 7.2% | 8.7% | 4 |
Countries ranked near Norway
More poverty & inequality data for Norway
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via the World Bank 8 surveys (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per person (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Fertility rate vs. share living in extreme poverty 1.41 live births per woman (2023)
- Cereal yield vs. share in extreme poverty 4,220 kg per hectare (2024)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, annual growth rate 52.45 % change on previous year (2024)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, gaps filled 41.44 (2023)
- Tax revenue as share of GDP vs. income inequality 41.4% (2023)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is relative poverty: share of population below 50% of the median in Norway?
- Relative poverty: share of population below 50% of the median in Norway was 7.6% in 2023, according to World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest relative poverty: share of population below 50% of the median recorded in Norway?
- The highest recorded value was 9.2% in 2016.
- What is the lowest relative poverty: share of population below 50% of the median recorded in Norway?
- The lowest recorded value was 4.4% in 1986.
- How does Norway rank for relative poverty: share of population below 50% of the median?
- Norway ranks 100th out of 120 countries with data for 2023.
- Is relative poverty: share of population below 50% of the median rising or falling in Norway?
- Over the last ten years it is up 6.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Norway data come from?
- The figures come from World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Relative poverty: Share of population below 50% of the median. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 26 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Percentage of population living in households with an income or consumption below 50% of the median.