Wealthy people in Norway are not like the rich elsewhere
In many countries, the economic elite are often educated engineers. In Norway, they tend to be business graduates.
Johs. Hjellebrekke and his colleagues found that nearly 75 per cent of Norway's economic elite have a master's degree. But almost none of them have a doctorate. That is also unusual.(Photo: Stig Brøndbo / UiT The Arctic University of Norway)
The World Elite Database (WED) collects information about the background of 3,500 powerful individuals in 16 countries across Europe, North America, South America, and Asia.
The first analysis from the database was recently published in the British Journal of Sociology. Several Norwegian social scientists have contributed.
Their data shows interesting differences between the background of the Norwegian and foreign economic elite.
Norway stands out
One of the differences is education.
Annonse
Nearly three-quarters of Norway's economic elite have a master's degree.
This is a large proportion. In the UK and Italy, only one in four has similar qualifications.
On the other hand, almost no one in Norway’s economic power elite holds a doctoral degree. This is a sharp contrast to Germany, where more than one-third do.
Several of Norway's wealthy have little to boast about from their school days. They share this with 10 per cent of Norway's most economically powerful.
Only 1 per cent of the economic elite in Norway have a doctorate. In Poland and China, 27 per cent have this level of education. A total of 10 per cent of Norway’s economic elite have only a primary school education. But many have taken a master's degree.(Image: Bühlmann et al., 2025)
Almost no engineers
In Norway, a business degree is by far the most common among the economic elite.
This is not the case in many other European countries. There, engineers play a much more important role. In France, one in four and in Germany nearly one in six have this professional background.
In Norway, only 6 per cent of the economic elite are engineers.
There's also a sharp contrast with Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. In those countries, there are far more engineers among the economic elite than in Norway.
This is one of the findings made by Professor Johs. Hjellbrekke at the University of Bergen, together with Professor Maren Toft and PhD candidate Marte Lund Saga at the University of Oslo.
Very few in the economic elite have a background in the humanities or social sciences. The highest shares are found in the UK and Switzerland, at around 20 per cent.
More wealthy Norwegians come live in rural areas
A common pattern internationally is that those who gain economic power in a society usually live in the capital or a major city.
Here too, Norway stands out. More members of the Norwegian economic elite live in the countryside.
Annonse
A full 42 per cent reside in a rural area.
"The fact so many wealthy people live outside the big cities in Norway likely has to do with the number of leaders and owners of fish farming companies in the database, as well as the fact that there are few big cities in Norway," says Hjellebrekke.
Almost all of Norway's economic elite were born in the country.
This is different from, for example, the UK, where nearly half of those who have reached the top economically were born abroad.
Slightly more wealthy women in Norway
Norway has the highest proportion of women among the economic elite of the 16 countries analysed. But that doesn't say all that much, as the share of women is only slightly higher in Norway than in most other countries.
The wealthy remain a group in society that is still heavily male-dominated.
"This also confirms previous research on Norwegian elites," says Hjellebrekke.
Important to know who they are
The professor believes it is important to study the economic elite.
These are some of the most powerful people in society.
"We're seeing that the growth of wealth at the top of the hierarchies has become even stronger in recent years," he says.
Hundreds of millions of people worldwide have been lifted out of poverty in recent years.
"At the same time, the fact remains that economic inequality has increased worldwide. We should know who these wealthiest individuals actually are, what their backgrounds look like, and where their wealth comes from," he says.
Hjellebrekke points out that when resources in a society become concentrated, much of the power in that society does too.
Also the Finance Minister and Central Bank Governor
It's worth noting that the researchers' database of the economic power elite includes more than just the wealthiest individuals. The Finance Minister, the Central Bank Governor, and some directors are also among the 118 people listed from Norway.
Johs. Hjellbrekke explains that it was a challenging task for the researchers involved in the project to agree on a common set of criteria for who should be included in the database.
They settled on three criteria for defining economic power:
The very richest.
Top executives and chairpersons – those who serve as the highest-ranking leader or chair of the board in one of the country's most important companies.
The regulatory power – individuals in positions that give them influence over economic policy. This can include politicians, bureaucrats, and others.
Differences are to be expected
Kjell Gunnar Salvanes is a professor of economics at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) and deputy director at the Centre of Excellence FAIR, which focuses on inequality research.
He agrees that understanding what characterises these elites – in terms of education, age, gender distribution, and more – is key to understanding how society functions.
It especially helps us understand who gets recruited into the economic elite.
Knowing what characterises elites is key to understanding how society functions, says Kjell Gunnar Salvanes.(Photo: NHH)
The authors of this study define the economic elite rather broadly, he believes.
"It may even be a somewhat mixed group, including the wealthiest individuals, major business leaders, and key government ministers. It would've been interesting to look at these three groups separately," he says.
Given the wide range of countries involved – like Norway, Russia, China, the US, and several European nations – differences are to be expected, according to Salvanes.
"The key question is whether those differences reflect deeper sociological and economic dynamics, or if they’re just surface-level variations," he says.
Norway adopted the two-year master's earlier
Salvanes believes it’s likely a combination of both.
"For example, there are differences in education levels between countries," he says. "Norway, along with countries like Denmark, Sweden, and France, has a high proportion with a master's degree among the economic elite. The US and the UK have a large share with only a bachelor's degree."
At first glance, that might seem like an important difference. But it likely has more to do with when countries adopted the system of a three-year bachelor's degree followed by a two-year master's, according to Salvanes.
Norway was 'best in class' and introduced it immediately.
"The UK largely ignored this and kept a four-year bachelor's and one-year master's degree. In the US, the four-year bachelor's degree remains dominant. There, the economic elite may add on a one-year Master of Business Administration (MBA)," he says.
