In the spirit of their adventurous Viking ancestors, today's Norwegians keep exploring new horizons — and breaking old records. In trade, for example, Norway regularly ranks among the world's top three exporters of oil, seafood, and natural gas. Trade helps explain why Norway has one of the world's highest per-capita GDPs (($55,600, in 2007) — and why its industries and people can afford to adopt the latest electronic technologies. By 2006, for example, Norway ranked among the world's top 20 nations in per-capita use of mobile phones.

Here's a profile of Norway today:

Area	125,181 sq mi — approximately the size of New Mexico
Population	4.6 million (estimate, 2007)
Urban Population	78%
Religion of Majority	Church of Norway (Lutheran)
Government	Constitutional monarchy: Head of state, King Harald V; Head of government, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg
Key Industries	Petroleum and gas, food processing, shipbuilding, pulp and paper, metals, chemicals, timber, mining, textiles, fishing
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)*	$257.4 billion (2007)
Basis of GDP	Farming 2.3%, Industry 41.4%, Services 56.3% (2007)
Exports	$136.1 billion (2007)
Imports	$75.98 billion (2007)
Key Trading Partners	EU (UK, Germany, Sweden, others), USA, China

* Norway's GDP earnings are reported here in terms of their purchasing-power parity (ppp). That's the dollar value of the "universal basket" of goods and services those earnings could buy within Norway (at Norwegian prices).