Norway Cultural Groups

Traditional Groups
While official government statistics record the country of a person's birth, it does not quantify or track ethnicity. The Norwegian government has identified groups with a long-standing attachment to the country as national minorities. These minorities are: Kvens/Norwegian Finns, Jews, Forest Finns, Roma and Romani people/Taters (Travelers). The Sámi, who were also called Lapps or Lapplanders, are separately recognized as an indigenous people, with an obligation from the State to ensure the Sámi can further develop and strengthen their own culture, language, business, industry, and community.

Kven
The Kven are a Balto-Finnic group descended from Finnish peasants and fishermen who immigrated to Northern Norway in the 18th and 19th centuries from Finland and Sweden. Kven were recognized as a national minority in 1998 and the Kven language was recognized as a separate language in 2005. The word kven has been used for different groups of Finnish-speaking people in Northern Norway from the middle ages to the present. Tax records from the 16th and 17th centuries and land records from 1743 identify Kven settlements in Troms county. Because of this there is disagreement among scholars as to the permanence of a Finnish-speaking population in Northern Norway.

Jews
Jews were present in Norway in the 1400s, but in 1687 Christian V banned all Jews from the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway. After 1814 some Sephardi Jews (referred to as Portuguese Jews) were able to establish residence in Norway as local government officials believed the ban applied to Jews from Eastern Europe. This ban persisted until 1851 when it was repealed by the Storting. In 1892 the first synagogue was established in Oslo and in 1925 another was established in Trondheim.

Forest Finns
The Forest Finns (Skogfinnar) are descended from Finns from the historical provinces of Savolax and Tavastaland who settled in the forest areas on the Norwegian and Swedish border in the 16th century. Over time they adopted the language of the place where they were living becoming bilingual, and marriage among the local population became common. Despite these changes, their cultural distinctiveness persists and they were recognized as a national minority in 1998. On 29 December 2022, a common Skogfinne flag was adopted for use by the Skogfinneforeningen.

Roma
The Roma and Romani people/Tater (Travelers), as well as the Sigøynere, are historically a wandering people originating in Rajasthan, India. In Norwegian a distinction is made between the Travelers and Sigøynere, with the Travelers having been present in Norway since the 16th century, and Sigøynere having arrived in the 19th century from Eastern Europe. The term Sigøynere, which translates as Gypsy, does not have the same pejorative context in Norway as the term does in English-speaking cultures.

Sámi
The term Lapp or Lapplander are considered offensive terms to the Sámi. However, in historical records, they can often be identified by these terms. Sámi have a rich cultural heritage and have traditionally engaged in fur trapping, coastal fishing, sheep herding and nomadic reindeer herding as a means of providing a livelihood. In 1989 the Sámi University of Applied Sciences opened in Kautokeino. The same year the Sámi Parliament of Norway (Norwegian: Sametinget, Northern Sami: Sámediggi, Lule Sami and Pite Sami: Sámedigge, Ume Sami: Sámiediggie, Southern Sami: Saemiedigkie, Skolt Sami: Sääʹmteʹǧǧ) was opened in Karasjok (Kárášjohka). Its purpose is to coordinate issues of interest to the Sámi people with the government. See Sami People for more information about the Sámi in the Nordic countries.