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I am Norwegian and soon to retire. I have mostly had an average income, except for the later years when my income has increased quite a lot, and of course the tax burden in line with this. I wouldn't mind lower taxes, but on the other hand, it has been very comforting to know that no matter what happened to me and my income, my children would never lose the opportunity for higher education, myself and my family would never be denied first class healthcare, never go hungry and always have a roof over our heads. I can also look forward to a public pension which is more than enough to give me a comfortable old age. Have I paid more in taxes than I will ever get back? Hard to say now, because I will probably live another 10-20 years, and who knows what will happen to my health during that time. Maybe I will need a lot of health care, or maybe spend several years in a nursing home. In any case, the state's eventual excess of my tax will have gone to give the less well-off the above-mentioned benefits and a decent life, and ensured that we don't have homeless people. I think all of this is part of the reason why we rank so highly in terms of happiness. I also think that the lack of collective thinking is why the US never will become a welfare state.
Norway's inventions stretches "a bit" further than cheese slicers.... A far better shot at important inventions is: - The production of artificial fertiliser ....which has been essential for the food production world wide. - Gas turbine and the concept for the jet engine. - Development of the mathematical basis for today's supercomputers. - Development of the first object oriented programming language ( OOP ) for computers .....named SIMULA. All later OOP programming langues . like C++ and Java is based on SIMULA. - Norway has been a shipping nation for a long time. The majority of ship types within the merchant sector has been developed in Norway ....except the container ship.... There is a long range of different ship equipment that has it's origin in Norway. - Norway was the one who developed the oil and gas exploration in deep sea.
Norway is a wonderful country. If you were born in Norway, you have won the golden lottery. That probably applies to all the Nordic countries. 😀 Greetings from Norway.
The pension fund is not allowed to invest in Norwegian companies. But the state owns and runs some companies. So if inflation happens in Norway the fund is not affected
I have an average salary of around 60k usd a year and I tax around 35%, considering what I get in return from the government I am very happy to pay that tax. Edit: The people responsible for the Pension fund are incredibly smart and a tiny nation of 5 million people owns 1-2% of all stocks. It's unreal and I agree with an earlier commenter that being born Norwegian is like winning the lottery.
I think everyone in Norway agrees that the country is very good to live in. Low unemployment and 2-300,000 working immigrants. We can say, think, believe and love whoever we want. We don't actually have censorship - but you can be fined for promoting hate against groups - or stigmatizing people. A large majority of people have already visited many other countries from the time they are in kindergarten - We are the country in the world that uses planes the most - of course often because of winter and we want to get to warmer areas. We also have the best space in Europe - only 14 people per km2 or 0.4 mi2
USA's inland is actually more sparsely populated than Norway (from what I can remember) however there is a metric ton of people along the coasts (especially the east coast)
It's worth noting that the VAT is not flat 25%. For example food is 15% and transportation is 12%. Also parental leave is 100% if you opt for 49 weeks and 80% if you opt for 59 weeks.
Norwegian from the north here. I'm classed as low income, but manage to own a house with a garden, about 20 minutes drive from the city center, and a decent car on my own. Being single and low income in cities like Oslo will be rough, but for most other places in the country you're good.
Answers to your questions here: 1:50 Housing prices are generally quite high, especially in the bigger cities, with Oslo the clearly highest. Average prices per sqm in Oslo right now is around 100,000 kroner, equaling to about £8000 per sqm. If you have a normal job and are single in Oslo you have no chance of bying a flat unless you've inherited money or get help from parents. If you're a couple, both with full time jobs around the average income it's still fairly easy to buy a small apartment. My wife and I own a 9 million kroner (around £750,000) townhouse in the suburbs of Oslo. The house is fairly big, but we have to walk about 12 min to the metro and the metro takes about 20 min to the city centre. 2:17 Money itself doesn't bring you happiness, but it brings you safety. The Nordic countries (Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden) are all within the top 10 happiest countries in the world in 2023 according to the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Norway sits at number 8. 2:55 The King of Norway is 86 years old. 3:55 Yes we feel that's true, that we have freedom, genorosity and good governance, but we're also openly and regularly critical to the MPs and government. Norwegians are never content with their conditions. Which in my opinion is the main reason why we're doing so well. Complacency is the number one reason why countries don't improve. 5:35 Narrator said Equinor is a non-listed company, which is false. Equinor, Norway's largest oil and gas company, is the most valuable listed company on the Oslo Stock Exchange, and the Norwegian government own 67% of Equinor stocks. 6:05 The domestic economy has suffered somewhat, especially for regular citizens. Our inflation is currently around 6.7%. But remember we have had insane incomes from oil and gas these past couple of years because of skyrocketing prices due to the war in Ukraine. Last year alone the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund, called "The oil fund" in Norway, had a net income of 3592 billion kroner, or around 300 billion British pounds. Norway uses 3% of that fund annually over the state budget, and this year alone the projection is that we use 373 billion kroner or around 30 billion £. 7:20 Odd Reitan is the founder and owner of one of the two largest grocery store chains in Norway. He also owns all of Norway's 7-elevens and has a large real estate portfolio, including luxury hotels and other commercial property. 7:45 I'm not, but my wife are one of the 163,000 because of her family. 8:15 Average annual income before taxes in 2023 in Norway is 675,000 kroner or about £56,000. 8:25 We have a tax bracket system, no regular worker pays 50-60%. And we have many deductibles, for instance you can deduct your interest paid on mortgages on your taxes, childcare, donations to charity etc. My effective tax rate after all deductibles last year was 23%, and I made 740,000 kroner or around £62,000. So my monthly take home salary was an average of about £4000 out of £5200 before taxes. 10:10 Yes, our welfare system is worth it. And yes, some people might have been able to pay for all of it individually, but a high percentage of people wouldn't. That in turn would make Norway a much, much more unequal society, and we can all see how well that is going in France and Great Britain, not to mention the U.S. 12:35 If all of the largest companies in the world go bankrupt simultaniously the least of our worries would be the oil money. We would have a third world war, uprisings in every country on earth and 5 years later we would be looking like the TV show "The Last of Us". Meaning that's not going to happen. The Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund is extremely diversified (hence stocks in more than 9000 companies world wide). The stock market is volatile, but that volatilty is decreased due to the spread of risk. 16:05 Yes, the Norwegian government introduced Norwegian harvested salmon in the 70's to the Japanese. The Japanese struggled with lice and other bacteria in their salmon, so they couldn't use it for sushi. Several private Norwegian companies started farming salmon in the ocean on Norway's west coast during the 70's, and quickly found ways to reduce the amount of infected salmon with lice and bacteria. This in turn opened up an opportunity for the companies as Japan's market was huge. Today, almost all the high quality salmon around the world is imported from Norway, and some of the above mentioned billionaires in Norway made their wealth from the salmon industry.
Wow! Thank you for this detailed answer to my questions, and only now I realised that I ask so many questions 🤣🤣 am I really that curious? 😱😂😅 I guess I was very shy while growing up, never asked any questions and now I'm asking all of them, youtube and this community has been teaching me so much. Thanks again!
By the way, I haven't seen the last of us, I was thinking of reacting to the series on patreon, is it any good? I heard it broke some records of viewership, but haven't looked into it
@@TeacherPaulReacts Haha, yeah I didn’t really realize that myself before my answer started getting so long! But asking many questions is great, I do that myself! The Last of Us is absolutely worth watching and reacting to. My wife and I came across it after it almost had finished and binged it all in a week. Great acting, great chemistry and great storyline. I strongly recommend it! Cheers 😁
norwegian economy did not really take a hit the last few years - energy void after russia is left to norway to fill for europe, so the state makes an additional few 100 billion usd of that. the currency has taken a hit, making imports more expencive, and ppl feel that to a degree, but less than most countries.
We don’t only pay the high taxes for our own benefit. What about the single mom, raising two kids? She probably do benefit from this. Think as a collective.
I think about every Norwegian has the opportunity to live a good life. I say that as someone who's suffered a lot from depression and other things (not related to my nation however treatment was). Generosity? lol You'd be hard pressed to find a more generous per-capita country in the entire world my friend... the volunteer spirit here is second to none. Last time I checked, the average Norwegian gives about 10 times as much yearly to good causes as the average US American, and the most generous state in USA was Minnesota, who happens to be the most Norway-influenced state of them all. That's not to take anything away from _anyone._ It's just a way to bring perspective on an intrinsic part of the _culture._ Norway wasn't always rich and Norway has been exploited and Norway has suffered. How many times our merchant fleet has been nicked or destroyed for instance in wars we never wanted. But every single time it goes back up to being the largest in the world or one of them. Norway is a harsh country, beautiful, but harsh. People who settled here were used to everyone having to contribute. We are made of the land, and we made the land.
Redefining the perception of the word happy to satisfied does not really change the fact that the population Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland are generally either happy or satisfied on a higher level than in most other countries. Curious where you got the idea of the high interest rates. The interest rate in Norway is on par or lower than the ECB interest rate, and for Denmark intentionally kept lower to reduce excessive capital inflow messing with their currency peg to the euro.
Most salarys are negotiated by the unions! Income tax. As a tax resident in Norway, you pay tax on the income you have earned during a calendar year. You are liable for tax on wages and other income, such as interest income, income from letting property and income from shares. Income tax is 22 percent, but there are bracets compared to how much your income tax is, the more you earn the more tax, this does not inklude vat!
The parental leave stat is way off. It's 100% of your salary for the first 49 weeks, then 80% for the next 59 weeks. And median monthly salary is more like 5000$.
The most important factor is that throughout your life you get back 86% of what you have paid in taxes and fees. In the US you only get 19%. Income tax has been reduced by 6% over the past 7 years. We have gone from being in 3rd place in tax to the average in Europe. We have 25% VAT on most things, with the exception of food which has 16% VAT. Still is much cheaper than in the US. Food prices are also the same as in the US - except - if you are going to eat in a restaurant. Alcohol and cigarettes are expensive, but Louis Vuitton and Rolexes are cheap ( haha ) We have no taxes on Electric cars under $50,000. The beauty of the tax system and social security is that you can rent a normal apartment and the State pays the rent and electricity if your finances are bad. You are also guaranteed food for about $750 per month. Whether you have worked or not - then part of the tax you have paid has gone to old-age pension or early retirement pension. The minimum amount is approximately $18,000 per year - limited up to $66,000 per years if you have worked and earned pension points for 40 years.
@@TeacherPaulReacts You can be a RU-vidr in almost every country - smart to research logarithms. You can probably use a larger part of your vocabulary here. The only thing that is not legal - according to RU-vid or our constitution is hatred of people because of religion, skin color or sexual relations or feelings. All apartments or houses have internet - the same in public places. High-speed fiber or satellite. 9 out of 10 have full access to 5G. Norway is fully digitized publicly and uses 3D security for all transactions. We don't use cash - just cards and phone. You transfer money in a second between your and other people's bank accounts. You spend 10 seconds on the annual tax form, where everything is based on your social security number. You get back 28% of everything you have paid in interest on loans or credit cards automatically. You can have your driver's license and all cards on your phone or watch. Access to bank accounts uses facial recognition. Easy here?
@@TeacherPaulReacts Teaching profession: I don't know what you can do or what profession you have. After all, there are international schools, universities and a few state schools that teach in English at all levels. Private schools also. Everyone in Norway learns English from the first year of school. A teacher has many extras in his salary - but the basic salary is approx. $55-70,000. for elementary school.
I teach English to foreigners, ESL for adults. I mainly focus on the IELTS, or SELT exams Norway sounds awesome! Do companies sponsor youtubers a lot? Because it seems that if I don't speak Norwegian, I wouldn't be able to cater to the local audience unless I only do vlog videos as a tourist. I would suppose 🤔
@@TeacherPaulReacts Lektor (don't know the English word sorry), high level teachers at universities can actually have quite a ridiculous pay, or a head master (which I think it's called). Teachers get OK paid. But the middle class is large and even the worst jobs can give you a good life. If you like your work I think you should look more into personal preferences of a life, if you were to move. Winters are long and dark and summers have bright nights. Will you be able to sleep or be awake? You should like utilizing the advantages and avoiding pitfalls. This goes for people as well of course. For instance, are you used to sitting next to and talking to others on a bus lol. There's alway exceptions to everything and the only way to know if it's right is to be yourself and try it out.
Of course, everyone wants to pay as little tax as possible, etc. But when you see what you get in return, I don't think it's so bad. If you have to go on medication etc, the upper limit of what you have to pay in a year is £220. After that, you can pick up all the medicines, go to the doctor as much as you want without paying
You know, in Monaco you can get almost all the same benefits, and pay 0% income tax. The only hurdle is the ridiculous real estate prices there. Sweden is almost identical in all ways in terms of what you get in return for taxes, and most of the rates, but they have no wealth tax, so their system is superior for that reason. And they manage to do it despite not having oil money. The Norwegian tax system is admittedly "overpriced" for what we're getting, and what the government can afford.
So what they mean by us having a say in our pay and working conditions is pretty much collective bargaining agreements. You don't individually have much say in that, unless you work in an industry with weak unions. However, pretty much all industries have very strong unions over here. Every year, worker's unions and employer's unions go together to discuss pay and other working conditions. First on a national level, then industry level, and then on a local level. And if at any time, in the said level, there is a breach in the discussions, then we will go on strike - which happens about every year or so (but in different industries, of course) Also, to your point of paying for some of these services ourselves instead of paying it as means of income tax, it would generally be more expensive if these services were privatized (we see that in other countries), as private companies want to earn money whilst the State just wants the best for its citizens. Also, we have collectively decided that these are the basic services everyone should get. No-one should even be able to opt out of these benefits, as they are deemed to be basal.
50-60% tax is not happening lol i make 100k£ a year doing concrete/formwork. I pay around 28-33% tax. You can get as low as 20%tax if you are married and have kids, house loan etc
@@viking_nor Even if the number was one dollar millionaire for every 28,7 people, that number would still be surprizingly low tbh. My parents are two of those 287, and I don't really feel like we have a ton compared to others. We're obviously fortunate, but not rich. So that number seems weird to me. I would've guessed about one in ten people were dollar millionaires, but anyways.. I guess it depends on how that wealth is calculated.
Awesome reaction video, I genuinely enjoyed your thoughts at the end and wished you took the time to delve a little deeper. Important clarification regarding the VAT: Yes, the general stat is 25%, but for anything that can be categorized as edible(food, drinks etc): the rate is 15%, and for anything relates to personal transport, cinema tickets and other "experiences" it's 12%. So if you're poor and just trying to survive, a VAT of 15% is more accurate for most of your expenses. When it comes to happiness: Yes, I am content with that the government offer in return for what I pay in, in fact as a low salary worker I actually feel like I'm cheating, because it's no way my taxes is paying for all of this.
I was a highschool teacher in Norway for many years, in economics, and supply, demand and taxation was subjects that we spent some time discussing. I said that most people apart from the billionaires pay way less into the welfare system than they get back. Let's imagine a typical lifecycle of i.e 85 years (you retire at the age of 67 for most people). When you get born it's free, and your parent's share a year of parental leave (they cannot be home at the same time tough. At 100% pay for 49 weeks or 80% for 59 weeks. The father has to be home for 14 weeks minimum. Add 5-6 weeks of paid holliday on top of that. Then you get heavily subsidized childcare, you can choose private or public for the same price. Entering the educational system and going through it is also free, even books are paid all the way up to university. Once there, there are no tuitionfees, but you have to pay for your books and living expenses. On the other hand, you are offered cheap student loans and grants to cover for that. (To some extent, this means that you are paying taxes later in life on consumption as a student until your studentloans are repaid. Only 22% of interests on loans can be deducted from your taxes). After studies you may have a few years where you are a "net contributor" if you have no health issues and no children, but how likely is that? Your pension is roughly paid with 1/3rd each by you, your employer and the state. This is the national pension plan, some people also have private pensions from insurance companies who offer these. Even when you die, a small lump sum from the public welfare system is paid out to relatives to cover part of the funeral costs. Funerals are expensive, so I don't think it makes much of a difference tough. All in all, the tax system is a good deal for most people.
I'm sure that if you paid no taxes, you'd be able to sustain most of those benefits with the money you don't pay in taxes. but. you don't work during your educational stage, so you have no money to pay for your education at that time, which would result in the american model of starting off your adult life with huge debt after loaning money for your education. all the money you "save" by not paying taxes, will then go to pay off your educational loans the first decade or two. IF you get a decent job. also, how much of your wages do you put into a savings account just in case you need it for all the eventualities that those taxes would cover? most people are way better at spending money than saving money. what if you're in an accident that leaves you unable to work for a year while you go through rehab, and it drains all your life savings before you are able to get back to work? what if your child gets cancer, and you have to stay home for years taking care of that child while it's fighting for it's life, and you can't work to pay the bills for your child's care AND your own normal expenses? what if you don't earn enough to have much savings at all, and you loose your job because your work place went bankrupt, and you're unable to get a new job fast enough? Here in Norway, we don't have to worry about all that. Yes, we pay extra taxes, but we pay less in total in taxes than the average american does with all their taxes and medical insurances combined. In return, no matter how poor we may be, no matter what unfortunate events may occur in our lives, we always know that our taxes will ensure that we get our basic human rights covered. We get to start off our adult life without a crippling debt, we get medical treatment when we need it, we get help to survive should we loose our jobs or get sick/injured for extended time, we get help to care for our child during and after a pregnancy, we get help to care for our children should they get sick, we are secure that we won't loose our jobs just for being sick or away from our work due to happenings outside of our control, even if that should last a whole year, we know that when we retire we will get a livable retirement pay even if we haven't worked much or had low wage jobs. Yes, we have higher taxes, but it gives us safety and peace of mind, that no matter how bad life could get, those taxes will help us when we need it.
Universal systems are worth it because you takes care of everybody equally. When you have tried universal welfare systems for a while, you never want anything else because of the effects it has on society. Everybody knows that people with bad luck will be taken care of, and one day that could be you. While you don't need help you get to live in a society with very low crime, and no real homelessness. It means everybody chips in their share to this system, which create social conditions for very high levels of trust because there are little "need" to do crime. This level of trust between people are often called "The Scandinavian Gold", because it makes society work very efficiently, but to get these conditions everybody have to agree to invest in it. You are paying for a safe society, highly skilled work force, good infrastructure, etc. The government will never take the bread out of your mouth, and you will get benefits from the state even if you don't "want" it. They will give it to you, so that no matter how rich you are you also get to feel some benefits on your own wallet. That helps the lojalty to the system. If you want more detailed explanations I would refer you to some videos the comedian and social science expert Harald Eia made about the norwegian society and economic model.
The tax is worth it. I'm fortunate that i'm mentally and physically healthy enough to work, and make a decent living. But there are people that aren't that lucky, they will get help regardless. + we have a government that we trust uses the tax revenue relatively good. But governing 6M people vs 330+ isn't comparable.
"we have a government that we trust uses the tax revenue relatively good" We had. But now we have Støre who is trying to collect as much tax as possible while giving nothing back.
Norway is the 41th country on the income tax list for 2023, where Finland, Sweden and Denmark is all in top 6 of highest income tax. UK is 18th place and pay higher income taxes than Norway.
Those stats are a bit misleading. Especially today. Støre has increased taxes quite a bit. I don't know if that "arbeidsgiveravgift" is included in that tax. And for those who are trying to build wealth, Sweden is generally better with lower corporate tax rates and ZERO wealth tax. Sweden only has higher personal income tax rates, with a maximum rate of 55%, about 10% higher than Norway. The stats you've found might be specifically based off of personal income tax rates.
The fund is actively managed and well-diversified across 9,000 different companies. The fund manager employs hedge fund-like strategies to mitigate risk. The probability of all major companies failing simultaneously is negligible and not a significant concern. Such an event would have catastrophic consequences for the global economy, rendering the financial implications inconsequential. The fund's assets are derived solely from oil revenues and are not essential to our way of living in Norway.
Not the case from what I'm hearing. Most people are not at all happy with how Støre is dealing with the economy. But most were happy a couple of years ago to be fair. And most had been happy for at least a few decades before a couple of years ago.
There is a lot of wealth here and it is a safe country to live in for the most of us. But still 10 % of the population lives under the powerty-limit (500 000 people) More then 100 000 of them are children. Thousands of people are now dependent on free food from voulantary organisations. And thousands and thousands are freezing trough the cold winters because they can not pay for the heating. Powerty is a growing problem in our country and our goverment really do not care. Which make them the most unpopular goverment in norwegian political history. These videoes about this filthy rich country never talks about that. The politician have really made a lot of bad decitions on our behalf. And Norway is one of the worst countries in the world conserning taking care of the wildlife and nature! Destroying the life in the fjords with dumping the mine sludge in the water. Polluting the fjords with the waste og parasites and run away salmon and medicine and feces waist from the salmon farming They lust decided to open up for mining for minerals in the sea as one of 2 countries in the world etc etc. People do not live on the streets here. And some of the healthcare is for free. But there is a deep crise in the healthsystem, Hospitals is closing down, and the doctors and nurses are fleeing to other jobs in the privare healthcare due to the workingconditions in the public healthcare. That means that the rich pay health insurance and use the commersial healthcare. While people with normal and low income have to wait in line for very long times to get medical care. Just an example right now. I need to see an orthopedist fast, and where I live it is minimum 12 months to get an appointment. Even though I am one of the low income people here, I had to go to the private healthcare because I could not wait a whole year. It costs about 250 us for 15 minutes consultation. The reason I still like to live here is all about the nature and the space and the peace. The system seems more and more corrupt and far from ordinary peoples lives.
As a Norwegian yes all of it is true and is at the core of our identity and society. There's more trust between people as well as our government. Even though no longer tribal, we are still all about community and being a farming and fishing nation. We value freedom above everything else... I can never relate to an American because you got none of that: an actual working democracy, free education and universal healthcare, equality and human rights, no strict gun laws, the list goes on.
The freedom of knowing that what ever hapends...... your back is covered....... I love hiking fx and if i gott my self lost in the wilderness or have an acident...... If needed i will be picked upp by a rescue helicopter and brought to a hospital...... and its all for free......
@@miloe436 Yeah, a salary of NOK 600,000, about 60,000 USD is taxed at 25.6% before deductibles. So the rumor that Norway has insanely high taxes is inaccurate. Actually Norway is pretty much average compared to other European countries.
A median is much more accurate IMO. Statistics Norway list it at 47.680 NOK/month in 2022. This is actually 5.500 NOK/month below the average. Median is found by sorting all salaries from lowest to highest and finding the two in the middle. Add those two up and divide by 2.
Any american made documentary on youtube or other media concerning Norway should not be taken to seriously.. We have the same problems here as in any other western economy..