Norway

Norway. Area 323,793.3 km². Population (census of 1920) - 2,649,775 inhabitants; of which 1,290,469 men and 1,359,306 women. ►Rural population - 1,864,371 inhabitants, urban - 785,404 inhabitants. Population density 8.6 inhabitants per 1 km². Proper statistical records have been kept since 1750. Table 1. Population movement in Norway. Years Number of inhabitants Percentage of urban population 1750.......- . . 625,000 1,399,733 2,242,995 2,653,054 2,772,414 2,788,893 2,797,827 2,810,592 2,821,202 28.02 29.64 28.79 , 1926- ......... 28.53 1 28.44 28.42 28.28 Demography. N. - a country with low birth rate and low mortality rate. Over the last 30 years, the birth rate has decreased by 40%, and the general mortality rate by 32%; the natural increase has decreased more than twice. Table Ь Years £3 „S3 tf^ O, a »^н 2* o o к 1901 1911 1921 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 29.85 24.9 17.0 25.71 22.3 13.20 23.97 17.7 11.50 19.48 24.6 11.03 19.31 22.9 10.76 17.82 24.0 11.15 17.67 25.6 10.80 17.54 23.7 11.17 15.0 12.51 12.47 8.45 8.55 6.57 6.87 6.37 Table 3. Infant mortality. Mortality of children under 1 year of age. Years Percentage mortality per 100 births Percentage mortality per 100 births 7.44 6.76 5.79 5.04 4.83 5.11 4.93 Organization of healthcare. Sanitary administration in N. is part of the ministry of social welfare and consists of two departments: civil medical administration headed by a chief physician, managing the technical side of all sanitary issues, and a purely administrative department studying and preparing bills and making budgets for healthcare. The entire country is divided into 20 departments, which in turn are divided into districts and communes. In each commune there is a sanitary council, headed by a physician. In each district, which usually includes from one to 5 communes, there is its own district government physician, carrying out administrative medical functions. Finally, similar medical positions also exist in departments at the prefecture. These physicians are sanitary advisors to the administration on all technical issues related to hygiene and sanitary statistics. Sanitary legislation in N. is one of the oldest in Europe. Thus, as early as the law of 13/III 1807 and the decrees of 7/XII 1860 and 2/V 1891, private physicians were required to fill out forms on morbidity sent to them by the sanitary administration. The sanitary law of 16/V 1860 established mandatory registration of contagious diseases. 18 infectious diseases are subject to this registration. Communal physicians are maintained at the expense of localities; district physicians are government officials and are maintained at the expense of the state. Sanitary legislation has great antiquity and covers all branches of sanitary affairs. School hygiene. Laws of 8/V 1900 and decree of 7/VII 1902 codified general legislation on school hygiene. Systematic examinations of schoolchildren have been introduced. There are no special school physicians; their functions lie with the district physicians and municipal physicians. Infectious morbidity. Statistics of morbidity in N. show a significant decrease in acute infectious diseases. Data for 1925-27 are as follows: Table 4. Disease name Number of cases of acute infectious diseases 1925 1926 1927 Typhoid fever....... Meningitis cerebrospinal............. Poliomyelitis........ Scarlet fever ........ Measles............ Diphtheria and croup..... Whooping cough........ Grip............ 1,410 1,177 10,373 1,637 1,212 1,042 12,066 12,921 26,029 38,894 1,313 15,138 1,028 11,969 81,990 Such diseases as typhus and smallpox give only individual cases. Typhus in 1925 gave 14 cases, in 1926 and 1927 cases of this disease were not recorded. Smallpox in 1927 gave 2 cases (in 1926-0; in 1925-1 case). Large numbers are given by childhood infections and influenza. In addition, in 1925 there was an epidemic of poliomyelitis simultaneously with an epidemic of it in Sweden. In 1927, there was a noticeable increase in influenza, as everywhere in Europe. Mandatory smallpox vaccination is not practiced in N., but upon marriage and upon admission to school, a certificate of smallpox vaccination is still required. In fact, exemption from it depends b. ch. on the pastor, and not on the physician. Among contagious diseases, it is necessary to note also leprosy and tbc. Leprosy. In N. there are still large foci of leprosy, which was very widespread in N. For the last 70 years, thorough isolation has been carried out, and the number of leprosy cases has decreased; 70% of patients are in leprosoria. table 5. « И я и Years OM P¹ K Years « o Ko ( & к Ho 1856. . . 2 85S 1910 . . . 1875. . . 1 752 1920 . . . 1890. . . 1925. . . 1900. . . Tuberculosis. Mortality from tbc is still high, although a tendency to decrease has emerged. In 1927, this mortality rate was 167 per 100,000 population among men, and 173 among women. At the same time, in neighboring Sweden in 1926, these figures were 128 and 138, and in Denmark - 70 and 87 (1927). Per 100 deaths from all causes, tbc accounts for 15.2 cases in N. (1927), i.e., the figure is significantly higher than in many other countries. The law of 8/V 1900 introduced mandatory registration by physicians in a prescribed form of all cases of open tbc. For tub. patients, there were in 1927 1,28 hospitals with 4,376 beds, 12 sanatoriums with 1,355 beds, 108 'homes for tub. patients' with 2,459 beds, 4 marine hospitals with 411 beds and 4 institutions with 151 beds for scrofula and tbc. Along the line of public struggle against tbc, there are the National Union against tbc and the Union of Norwegian Women against tbc. Patients in state and charitable institutions pay relatively little; the poor are treated free of charge at the expense of state, municipal or public organizations. Venereal diseases. By the law of 1860, venereal diseases are also subject to mandatory registration. Treatment of them in state and municipal institutions is free. Sanitary authorities have the right to isolate venereal patients and to examine sources of infection. Regulation of prostitution has been abolished. Number of venereal diseases in 1927: Table 6. Disease name Cities Rural areas Total Soft chancre Syphilis I . . Syphilis II. . Gonorrhea . . . 5,870 6,984 Protection of motherhood and infancy. By the law of 10/IV 1915, each indigent woman has the right to assistance from the commune for 6 weeks before childbirth and 3 months after childbirth. Unmarried women have the same rights as married women. Requests for assistance go through a special committee at the sanitary council. The council can refuse altogether, can extend the period of assistance and place the woman in a 'mother's home'; there are 9 such homes in Norway. An unmarried woman can declare her pregnancy 3 months before childbirth to a physician or midwife, specifying the term, time of conception and identity of the father. Paternity searches lie with the prefect. For abandoned children, each commune has a guardianship council. (Law 6/VI 1896) The entire N. is divided into a number of midwifery districts. In each there is one midwife, paid ^a/₅ by the state, ^a/₆ by the department and ¹/₆ by the commune. Psychiatric care. On 1/1 1928, there were 6,068 psych. patients in N. Their number increases every year. Hospitalization of these patients is almost complete. There are 23 hospitals with 5,368 beds. Alcoholism. The sale of alcoholic beverages with an alcohol content of over 16% is prohibited by the law of 1916. Hospital affairs. Hospitals are under the jurisdiction of the state or commune. Any general system of hospital care is absent. This care is based mainly on various charitable expenditures. The direction of medical care is the usual one for bourgeois countries: without prevention, without analysis of working and living conditions, without the dispensary method. Table 7. Number of hospitals, physicians, midwives and pharmacists. Name Civil medical districts Practicing physicians Dentists..... Midwives........ Pharmacies...... Hospitals Beds in hospitals . . , 1913 1927 S92 - 11,127 Pharmacy. Pharmacies are maintained by private individuals, as in all bourgeois countries, under the terms of concessions; the latter are granted to licensed pharmacists with at least 5 years of practical experience. The pharmaceutical tariff is established by the sanitary administration and changes depending on world prices. By virtue of a special ancient privilege, pharmacists in Oslo are also technical advisors to the central sanitary administration. Social insurance. Insurance against illness and accidents is mandatory by the law of 6/VIII 1915, amended 6/VI 1930. Mandatory insurance applies to all employees and workers whose income does not exceed 5,400 kroner per year. For persons with income above this, insurance is voluntary. Medical care is organized by insurance bodies or on the basis of special agreements between the insurance fund and physicians or by direct payment of medical care to the patient. Insured persons also have the right to free dental care. In the insurance funds, there is representation of both workers and employers; contributions are made by employers and mainly by workers (in illness insurance). A new law recently passed expands the representation of employers in insurance funds; passed under the influence of the economic crisis and the intensification of class struggle, it thus reflected the offensive of capital.

In 1925, the number of insured persons was 596,184, of which 37.3% were women. The law covers in general 73% of wage laborers. For the first 3 days of illness, no benefit is paid to the sick person, after which it is paid for 26 weeks at 60% of wages. The law of August 15, 1915, establishes insurance against accidents for all wage laborers, including fishermen, sailors, and ship crews. Contributions here are paid by entrepreneurs. A project has been developed for insurance against old age from 70 years of age at 60% of wages.