During World War II, the breed became nearly extinct. A Norwegian cat club helped the breed. They created an official breeding program. It was registered as a breed with the European Fédération Internationale Féline in the 1970s. This was when a local cat fancier, Carl-Fredrik Nordane, took notice of the breed. He made efforts to register it. Currently, the Norwegian Forest breed is very popular in Norway, Sweden, Iceland and France.