New figures from the European Social Survey (ESS) reveal that Norwegians do not fear crime or expect ill treatment from others. Only Denmark had slightly higher confidence in their fellow man, and Finns and Swedes followed after Norway.
"This doesn't surprise me. A feeling of security and trust in other people is typical of small, rich nations all over the world where conditions are clear and crime is relatively low," Professor of sociology Kristen Ringdal at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) told news agency NTB.
Ringdal is Norway's national coordinator for the annual ESS.
"Next year we will publish a book on Nordic attitudes and values in a European perspective, where we consider this phenomenon, social capital, among other things. Nordic countries more or less always score high there, both in terms of the degree of participation in organized activities and the degree of trust in others," Ringdal said.
In a European context Norwegians do not have an unusually low experience with crime - 22 percent say that they or someone in their home has experienced violence or a break-in - but still 81.5 percent say they seldom or never feel anxious, compared to 62 percent of Swedes feeling so comfortable.
Norwegian experts feel that a low degree of urbanization may be a strong factor.
"In Norway even the largest cities are small in an international context," says Arne Martin Klausen, Professor of social anthropology. "In many's eyes we are a rural, anonymous nation but it has its advantages, being small and peripheral."
