Nordic countries

Nordic countries
Nordic countries
Norden (Danish)/(Norwegian)/(Swedish)
Pohjola (Finnish)
Norðurlöndin (Icelandic)
Norðurlond (Faroese)
Nunat Avannarliit (Kalaallisut)
Capitals Stockholm; Copenhagen; Oslo; Helsinki; Mariehamn; Tórshavn; Reykjavík; Nuuk
Membership  Denmark
 Faroe Islands
 -  Total 3,501,721 km2 
1,352,022 sq mi 
 -  2010 estimate 25,650,540 
 -  2000 census 24,116,478 
 -  Density 7.24/km2 
18.8/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2008 estimate
 -  Total $1011.705 billion 
 -  Per capita $40,838 
GDP (nominal) 2008 estimate
 -  Total $1559.736 billion 
 -  Per capita $62,959 
Currency Danish krone; Faroese króna; Icelandic króna; Norwegian krone; Swedish krona; Euro

The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland. In English, Scandinavia is sometimes used as a synonym for most of the Nordic countries (but excluding Greenland), but that word refers only to Denmark, Norway and Sweden.[1]


Although the area is linguistically heterogeneous, with three unrelated language groups, the common linguistic heritage is one of the factors making up the Nordic identity. The continental Scandinavian languages – Danish, Norwegian and Swedish – are considered mutually intelligible. These languages are taught in school throughout the Nordic countries; Swedish, for example, is a mandatory subject in Finnish schools, whereas Danish is mandatory in Icelandic, Faroese and Greenlandic schools. For this reason, (continental) Scandinavian language is considered the lingua franca of all of the Nordic countries. Besides these and the insular North Germanic languages Faroese and Icelandic, all belonging to the Indo-European language group, there are the Finnic and Sami branches of the Uralic languages, spoken respectively in northern Norway, Sweden and Finland, and Greenlandic, an Eskimo–Aleut language, spoken in Greenland.


Etymology and terminology

The term 'Nordic countries' is derived from the French term Pays nordiques[citation needed] as an equivalent of the local terms Norden (Scandinavian languages), Pohjola / Pohjoismaat (Finnish language), Põhjala / Põhjamaad (Estonian language), Norðurlönd (Icelandic), Norðurlond (Faroese) and Davveriikkat (North Sámi) with the meaning of "The North(ern lands)".

In English usage, the term Scandinavia is sometimes used—though not consistently—as a synonym for the Nordic countries. From the 1850s, Scandinavia was considered to include politically and culturally, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Geographically, the Scandinavian Peninsula includes mainland Sweden and mainland Norway, and also a part of Finland, while the Jutland Peninsula includes mainland Denmark and a small part of Germany. Denmark proper has not included any territory on the Scandinavian Peninsula since 1658. The Faroe Islands and Iceland are "Scandinavian" in the sense that they were settled by Scandinavians and speak Scandinavian languages, but geographically they are not part of Scandinavia. Having once been a part of Sweden, Finland has been significantly influenced by Swedish culture and part of it is geographically within Scandinavia, whereas the Finnish language is not related to the Scandinavian languages. Greenland was settled by the Norse, and is currently part of the Danish realm, with the Danish language spoken by nearly all inhabitants[citation needed], while geographically it is part of North America.

In geology, the term for the land area which lies above sea level on the Baltic shield (also known as the Fennoscandian Shield) is Fennoscandia (from the Latin toponyms Fennia and Scania).

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines "Nordic" as an adjective dated to 1898 with the meaning "of or relating to the Germanic peoples of northern Europe and especially of Scandinavia" or "of or relating to a group or physical type of the Caucasian race characterized by tall stature, long head, light skin and hair, and blue eyes".[2] Before the 19th century and romantic nationalism, the term Nordic may have been used more as a synonym for Northern to mean Northern Europe including the Baltic countries (at that time Lithuania, Livonia and Courland) and occasionally the British Isles and other lands on the shores of the Baltic and North Seas.[citation needed]

Use of Nordic countries vs. Scandinavia


In addition to the mainland Scandinavian countries of

the Nordic countries consist of


  •  Faroe Islands (part of the Danish realm, autonomous since 1948)
  •  Greenland (part of the Danish realm, with various degrees of autonomy since 1979)
  •  Åland Islands (an autonomous province of Finland since 1920)


A reconstructed Viking ship

The Nordic countries are characterised by similar structures of their societies and cultural traits. This results not only from similar environmental realities and thus traditional livelihoods but also from a shared history.

The indigenous population of northern half of continental "Norden" are the Sami people, whereas the southern half is the historical "urheimat" of the Norse cultures and the forefathers of the Finnish. The western isles may be said to have been first settled by the Norse, with two caveats: Inuit arrived on northwestern Greenland more or less at the same time as the Norse came to the island's southeast; and in the settlement of Iceland, Celts were also active.[citation needed]

During the Dark Ages, what are now Norway, Sweden, Denmark and from 10th century onwards also Iceland shared a similar cultural, linguistic (Old Norse) and religious (Norse mythology) environment. From ca. the 12th century onwards what is now Finland (linguistically Finnic and more broadly Uralic) started sharing the common developments[citation needed] as it was increasingly integrated into the kingdom of Sweden. As another example of a deeply rooted unifying past could be taken the indigenous Sami lifestyle (linguistically Uralic) across what is now northern Norway, Sweden and Finland (and beyond). Indeed, all Nordic countries have minority groups deriving or claiming heritage of a population residing within another Nordic state.

After being Christianized around the year 1000, the process of local unification established Denmark, Norway and Sweden as separate kingdoms. Finland became part of Sweden in the mid 13th century, whereas Iceland, the Faroe Islands, the Shetland Islands, Orkney, Greenland belonged to Norway. All Nordic countries followed the Protestant Reformation of the Western church during the 16th century and adopted Lutheran state churches—which still have large membership counts, although their state affiliation varies. Finland also has a much smaller Orthodox state church whose members, 1.1% of population, mainly come from the areas that were outside the Swedish realm when Christianity was introduced.

In the 14th century, Denmark, Norway (with Iceland) and Sweden (with Finland) were united under one regent, in the Kalmar Union which Denmark dominated, in the early 16th century Sweden reestablished itself as a separate kingdom. Denmark's domination over Norway lasted until 1814 when the king was forced to cede Norway to the king of Sweden. Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands remained Danish.

The power balance between the Nordic countries shifted after the Thirty Year War where Denmark was humiliated, but Sweden came out successful and with an alliance with France. During the 17th century Sweden established itself among the Powers of Europe, but Sweden ultimately lost its foreign Dominions one by one. This process culminated in the loss of the eastern part of Sweden in 1809, mainly today's Finland, which became an autonomous Grand Duchy under the Russian tsar.


The 19th century saw a personal union between Sweden and Norway which was dissolved in 1905 due to growing dissatisfaction from the Norwegian part. From 1840s Scandinavism emerged in Scandinavia. This movement strove to unite the three Scandinavian kingdoms into one, diminishing after Sweden refused to help Denmark on war in 1864.

In the midst of the Russian revolutions, Finland emerged for the first time as an independent nation, orienting for a Nordic community. During World War II in 1944, Iceland gained its independence from Denmark. The member states of the Nordic council (founded in 1952) had thus emerged.

The Nordic countries share similar traits in the policies implemented under the postwar period, especially in the socioeconomic area. All Nordic countries have large tax-funded public welfare sectors and extensive social-democratic legislation.[citation needed] In most cases, this is due to the political ambitions of the many Social Democrat governments that came to power during the interwar period in each of the Nordic countries.

Chronology of the Nordic countries

Century Nordic Political Entities
21st Denmark (EU) Faroes (Denmark) Iceland Norway Sweden (EU) Finland (EU)
20th Denmark Sweden Finland
19th Denmark Sweden and Norway (personal union) Russia
(GD of Finland)
18th Denmark-Norway (personal union) Sweden
15th Kalmar Union
14th Denmark Norway Sweden
12th Faroes Icelandic CW Norway
Nordic Peoples Danes Faroese Icelanders Norwegians Swedes Finns

The Sami peoples of north Scandinavia have been subjects of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia.

Nordic Passport Union

The Nordic Passport Union includes Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.




Political dimension and divisions

  EU Eurozone NATO
Denmark x   x
Finland x x  
Iceland     x
Norway     x
Sweden x    





National symbols



Faroe Islands





The Sami People


Åland Islands




Historical populations
Year Pop. ±%
1800 5,161,000
1850 8,736,000 +69.3%
1900 12,306,000 +40.9%
1950 18,757,000 +52.4%
2000 24,116,000 +28.6%
2050? 31,537,000 +30.8%


Christianity has been the dominant religion in the Nordic countries for more than thousand years. Before that, people followed different Pagan religions.
Sweden represents almost 40% of the Nordic population whereas Iceland represents less than 2%. The three others represent about 20% each. (Please note that the diagram is approximative since different sources have been used for each country.)
Religion in the Nordic countries
religion percent
Roman Catholicism
Name of country, with flag Population
Source Capital
Sweden Sweden 9,433,875 [4] Stockholm
Denmark Denmark 5,564,219 [5] Copenhagen
Greenland Greenland 56,615 [6] Nuuk
Faroe Islands Faroe Islands 48,596 [7] Tórshavn
Finland Finland 5,397,874 [8] Helsinki
Åland Islands Åland 27,734 [9] Mariehamn
Norway Norway 4,954,661 [10] Oslo
Iceland Iceland 318,452 [11] Reykjavík
Total 25,779,428 [12]

Countries with close relations to the Nordic countries

Several countries have a long and close relationship with and often identify with some or all of the Nordic countries. These are however for the most part not regarded as part of the Nordic group themselves, although classified as Northern Europe by the United Nations.


Estonia has widely been thought of as a Baltic state and a part of Northern Europe; but often grouped geographically with Eastern Europe. Interestingly many Estonians themselves consider themselves to be Nordic rather than Eastern European or Baltic.[13][14]

The term Baltic as a concept to group Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia has been criticized, as what the three nations have in common almost wholly derives from shared experiences of occupation, deportation and oppression; what these countries do not share is a common culture or identity. Furthermore, the original use of the word Balt appears in the 19th century referring only to the Germans living in the region (see Baltic Germans.)[15]

The Estonian language is closely related to the Finnish language, and Estonians, as an ethnic group, are a Finnic people. Sites of the Nordic Bronze Age culture reached as far east as Estonia; Estonia also had close contacts with Scandinavia in the Viking Age. The Oeselians were known in the Icelandic Sagas and Heimskringla as Víkingr frá Estland (Estonian Vikings).



In 2011, being a member of EU, NATO, OSCE and the Eurozone, Estonia taken another step north from the Baltic States closer to the Northern European society.[citation needed] Swedish ambassador, Mr. Dag Hartelius's speech on the Estonian Independence day, February 24, 2009, where he considered Estonia "A Nordic Country" gathered a lot of attention in the country and was widely considered as a great compliment.

Estonia Proposed Estonian flag featuring a Nordic cross Flag of Estonia proposed in 1919.svg
Flag of Estonia Proposed Estonian flag
featuring a Nordic cross
Flag proposed in 1919

Historically, large parts of Estonia’s north-western coast and islands have been populated by an indigenous ethnically Swedish population, the Estonian Swedes. The majority of Estonia's Swedish population fled to Sweden in 1944, escaping the advancing Soviet Army. In 2007, Estonian Swedes were granted official cultural autonomy under Estonian law.[16] Since regaining independence in 1991, Estonia has expressed interest in joining the Nordic Council. In 2003, the foreign ministry hosted an exhibit called "Estonia: Nordic with a Twist."[17] In 2005, Estonia also joined the European Union's Nordic Battle Group.


Stephen Oppenheimer's proposed pre-Roman presence of Germanic language in the British Isles

The Kingdom of England was founded mainly by invading Angles and in part by Jutes and Saxons, who all originated in Denmark prior to the Viking Age. Saxons, although usually associated with the modern region of Saxony, came from what is now lower Denmark and upper Germany. The name of England means 'land of the Angles', and scholars[who?] believe that the Angles were the main contributors in the creation of what is usually called Anglo-Saxon England. These tribes shared a Scandinavian culture with the neighbouring Swedes, Danes and Geats, who all appear in the English national saga Beowulf, which is itself set in Denmark.

However, recent scholarship has suggested the possibility that England's links with Denmark go back further than the migration period[citation needed]. Traditionally, from the dawn of serious histography in the 19th century, it has been assumed that the entire population of Roman Britain were one uniform ethnicity, sharing a common language, since Roman accounts made no ethnic distinction between the tribes of Britons. However, scholars such as Stephen Oppenheimer suggest that there was in fact already a clear genetic and cultural division between western Britain (linguistically Celtic and genetically closer to Iberia) and eastern Britain (linguistically Germanic and genetically closer to Scandinavia). Population genetics is relatively new, but it is clear already that the east coast of England has shared populations with coastal Scandinavia and Denmark in particular for thousands of years. This was facilitated by Denmark being on the opposite shore of the North Sea, the coast of which was an area of common trade, culture and settlement. This possibility also raises the question of whether the English language is older than previously thought, and more closely related to Scandinavian languages (North Germanic languages) than Continental Germanic languages (West Germanic languages).[18]

Proposed flag of Northern England

In addition to Migration Period links, much of England, particularly East Anglia, Mercia and Northumbria, were once part of the Danelaw, an area of England ruled by Danish vikings. These Danish vikings may have been following a tradition of fortune-seeking in England that pre-dated the Viking Age, and was already well established when earlier Angles, Jutes and Saxons set up petty kingdoms in England. By contrast, the Norwegian vikings tended to raid Scotland, Wales and Ireland. In the 11th century, Danish King Cnut the Great inherited the Kingdom of England, which was then the most prosperous monarchy in Europe, becoming king of England, Denmark, Norway and part of Sweden. In 1066, the Viking Age ended with the death of Norwegian King Harald Hardrada during an invasion attempt of England, where he was defeated by English King Harold Godwinson.

Cnut the Great's domains, in red

The story of Lady Godiva and Peeping Tom, London Bridge Is Falling Down and Sigurd the Dane of Macbeth fame come from this period of an Anglo-Scandinavian "Empire of the North". After England's population stabilised into a nation-state, Sweyn Forkbeard's family, which went back to Denmark from the Danish colonies in the West (see Harthacnut of Denmark), took over Wessex partly with the excuse of St. Brice's Day massacre and stratified as well as unified the government of England into four regional earldoms under control by Danes and Norwegians as well as promoting the English church in Scandinavia at the expense of the German church. This led to the later installment of the Archdiocese of Nidaros, which administered the Diocese of Sodor and Man formerly belonging to the Province of York (and would later reconnect upon Norse land cessions) by the English Pope Adrian IV. Direct relations between Denmark and England would continue intermittently until the reign of Eystein II of Norway, but the take overs of both by Eric of Pomerania and William of Normandy respectively, divided their focuses to re-attachment with Continental Europe instead. There was a much later interjection of New Sweden amidst the New England and Virginia colonies, but the relationship was much different in that period.


Like the English, the Scottish people had strong historical links to Scandinavia. The Scots language is descended from Old English, and the lowlands of Scotland were colonised by the same tribes as England. Later, during the Viking Age, Scotland was frequently attacked from Norway, giving rise to a culture of Norse-Gaels, similar to the Anglo-Dane culture of Northern England. Areas such as Caithness, Sutherland and the Hebrides were under Norse rule for long periods, and the Bishopric of Trondheim formerly controlled large sections of north west Scotland.

The Norn language was spoken in eastern Caithness into medieval times.

Norsemen have been found to have settled throughout Scotland, concentrated highly in the North.

Shetland and Orkney

The Northern Isles of Scotland—Orkney and Shetland—have a long-established Nordic identity. The islands were Norwegian and Danish colonies for more than 500 years, but ownership defaulted to the crown of Scotland in 1472 following non-payment of the marriage dowry of Margaret of Denmark and Norway, queen of James III of Scotland.

During World War II Shetland and Orkney were important bases for the Norwegian armed forces in exile. The Shetland Bus was based in Shetland and smuggled refugees, agents and supplies to and from Norway.

In later years financial relations, particularly in the maritime industries, have been important. Cultural and sporting exchanges are frequent. A genetic survey showed that 60% of the male population of Shetland and Orkney had Western Norwegian genes.[citation needed]


Orkney Shetland
Orkney Shetland

Other regions of the British Isles have adopted symbols to allude to a similar Norse or Norse-Gaelic heritage.






See also


  4. ^ "Befolkningsstatistik". Statistiska centralbyrån. 2011-04-30. Retrieved 2011-07-04. 
  5. ^ "Quarterly Population (ultimo)". Statistics Denmark. 2011-02-09. Retrieved 2011-07-04. 
  6. ^ "Greenland". Statistics Greenland. 2011-01-01. Retrieved 2011-07-04. 
  7. ^ "Statistics Faroe Islands". Statistics Faroe Islands. 2011-04-01. Retrieved 2011-07-04. 
  8. ^ "The current population of Finland". Statistics Finland. 2011-03-31. Retrieved 2011-07-04. 
  9. ^ "ÅSUB". ÅSUB. 2009-03-18. Retrieved 2009-01-06. 
  10. ^ "Population". Statistics Norway. 2011-04-01. Retrieved 2011-07-04. 
  11. ^ "Statistics Iceland". Government. The National Statistical Institute of Iceland. 2011-01-01. Retrieved 2011-07-04. 
  12. ^ This number was derived by adding up the referenced populations (from the provided table) of Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and Åland.
  13. ^ "Estonian Life". More recently, the international media has stressed the differences in economy, development and culture between Estonia and other "Baltic states" as well. This has had mainly to do with the significantly higher economic development of Estonia, compared to its southern neighbors. Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs publication, 2004.
  14. ^ "Estonian Life". Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs publication, 2002.
  16. ^ "Estonian Swedes Embrace Autonomy Rights" Citypaper, 2007
  18. ^ Stephen Oppenheimer. The Origins of the British: The New Prehistory of Britain and Ireland from Ice-Age Hunter Gatherers to the Vikings as Revealed by DNA Analysis (2006)
  19. ^

External links

  • Norden – the Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers' website.
  • Nordregio – a European centre for research, education and documentation on spatial development, established by the Nordic Council of Ministers. Includes maps and graphs.
  • Go Scandinavia – official website of the Scandinavian Tourist Boards in North America.
  • Scandinavia House – the Nordic Center in New York, run by the American-Scandinavian Foundation.
  • Mid Nordic Committee – Nordic organization to promote sustainable development and growth in the region.

Coordinates: 64°00′N 10°00′E﻿ / ﻿64°N 10°E﻿ / 64; 10

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