Norwegians

Norwegians
Nordmenn

Nordmenn
Distribution of Norwegians worldwide
Total population
c. 10 milliona
Regions with significant populations
Norway 4,459,166[1][2]
United States	4,642,526[3]
Canada	463,275[4]
United Kingdom[a][b]	13,798[5] 42,000
Sweden	48,385[6]
Australia[c]	25,700[7]
Denmark	17,350[8]
Spain	11,871[9]
Germany	11,000[10]
Brazil	10,618[11]
France	7,000[12]
Switzerland	2,234[13]
Finland	2,156[14]
New Zealand	1,400[15]
Iceland	1,369[16]
Portugal	1,086 [17]
Italy	1,024[18]
Japan	424[19]
Languages
Norwegian Standard forms Bokmål Nynorsk Unofficial forms Riksmål Høgnorsk
Religion
Lutheranism (Church of Norway)[20] Historically Norse paganism and Catholic Christianity
a. ^ Based on table of given countries above. Includes those of partial Norwegian ancestry but does not include people of Faroese, Icelandic, Orcadian or Shetland ancestry. b. ^ There are millions of Britons of Scandinavian ancestry and ethnicity, though mixed with others. c. ^ 2,700 were born in Norway; 23,000 claim Norwegian ancestry or partial Norwegian ancestry.

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Norwegians (Norwegian: Nordmenn) are an ethnic group and nation native to Norway, where they form the vast majority of the population. They share a common culture and speak the Norwegian language. Norwegians are descended from the Norse of the Early Middle Ages who formed a unified Kingdom of Norway in the 9th century. During the Viking Age, Norwegians and other Norse peoples conquered, settled and ruled parts of the British Isles, the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland.^[21] Norwegians are closely related to other descendants of the Norsemen such as Danes, Swedes, Icelanders and the Faroe Islanders, as well as groups such as the Scots whose nation they significantly settled and left a lasting impact in, particularly the Northern Isles (Orkney and Shetland).^[22][23][24]

The Norwegian language, with its two official standard forms, more specifically Bokmål and Nynorsk, is part of the larger Scandinavian dialect continuum of generally mutually intelligible languages in Scandinavia. Norwegian people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom.^[25][26] Norwegians are traditionally Lutheran since the Reformation in Denmark–Norway and Holstein which made Lutheranism the only legal religion in the country, however large portions of the population are now either non-practicing, atheist or agnostic.^[27][28]