Comments on: Expats on Norway: ‘Safe But Boring’

By: Mary Woll

Mary Woll — Sun, 11 Jun 2023 00:53:08 +0000

Dear John Davies,
Thank you for confirming my suspicions. I am a native Norwegian, and in spite of the massive, uncontested fantasy promoted by the authorities, the schools, universities and all Norweigan mainstream media, I came to your excact conclusions a few years ago. My friends react to my comments as me being deluded. No matter how many facts, statistics, comparisons with other countries I offer, they rest firmly in their beliefs that Norway is the best thing that ever happened to mankind, and that the whole Norwegian system is perfect, save for the occational human error here or there.

The systemic exploitation of the middle class, the contempt for personal achievement, the corruption, the monopolies, the obstacles to personal freedom… I agree with every single point you made.

Had I been younger, I would have emigrated. To Australia, for instance. Thank you for confirming, with your outsiders’s view, what my friends call me deluded for stating.

By: John Davies

John Davies — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 07:57:50 +0000

Norway is a salary sucker and the quality of life is relatively poor compared to a country for example Poland (where I have also lived).
You cannot operate here as a contractor. Contracting here is essentially being coerced into acting as a temporary worker/employee of a large resource management company with a payroll. So zero rights, high tax burden and no control of your circumstances.
The whole Norwegian system is rigged from its foundations up.
Government monopolies would rather watch people starve than see the cost of goods fall in line with market forces. As an example they are currently pushing/coercing people from butter to margarine, for “their health”…..
I am actually trying to work less to avoid the crippling bracket taxes levied upon the lower middle class upwards. In Norway it is better to be filthy rich or unskilled, anything in the middle and you will be robbed mercilessly.
Accommodation is astronomically expensive, 10,000 NOK per month to live in a noisy damp basement dwelling, and this does not include energy.
If you wish to eat a healthy diet, meat (Beef not the best cuts) is 400 NOK per kilo, and the much lauded cheap (don’t make me laugh) Salmon is farmed making it one of the most deadly toxic foods one can consume (but don’t worry the government corruption actively silences any truthful scientific research on the pesticide content of the farmed Salmon, business connections do work at the top of the political cesspit).
The harder you work, the less you earn, absolutely zero incentive to work hard under the crippling progressive tax regime that is squarely aimed at middle income earners (worker bees for the collective hive).
Once you’ve been taxed/robbed of your income, you have to deal with the cost of living, ten times higher than anywhere else on the planet.
Then, there is access to basic medicine cabinet supplies, Aspirin, is pharmacy access only, so ten times more expensive than it should be (starting to see the pattern?). Paracetamol is a dangerous hepatoxic drug with little medicinal use and is freely available to buy in supermarkets. Oh and if you ask a Norwegian their brainwashed response is, Aspirin is dangerous, clearly they’ve never seen a person die slowly from a Paracetamol overdose. Aspirin thins the blood and helps regulate hormones, paracetamol is just toxic garbage.
Then the cost of public transport, you are coerced into buying monthly tickets (you cannot buy a return ticket so have to pay double to travel return) with a smartphone, no smartphone? Then you are effectively excluded or have to pay twice the price. Local bus services are non existent on weekends and fragmented during the day. If you work overtime in the evening then there will be no bus, so all that overtime pay will be spent on a taxi home with of course the governments obligatory 12% cut (yes, another monopoly).
If you like a drink you are best off investing in a still and learning the art of distillery, unless you want to contribute more of your income to the government monopoly on alcohol!
As for the wages being higher I refer to my above statement, certainly if you are unskilled and have no ambition to improve your lot, but as a professional you will soon find you hit the tax barrier even though you earn 25% less than comparative positions in other countries, as soon as you hit the tax barrier, you will be working at a high level and earning the same as a hairdresser.
I find the government ignorant and stifling, there is no space for the individual and a small select bunch of activist experts can force their backward vision of the world upon the masses with impunity.
The state monopolies are deeply corrupt.
Anything that could be remotely described as fun is taxed into Hades.
And Norway is at the head of the “digital transformation” another totalitarian grab at your privacy and freedom sold as a convenience, and the Norwegians suck up the propaganda like a sponge!
The country is essentially lost, too many foreign immigrants with a high birthrate, they have already surpassed the limit for replacement, now it is just a matter of time. So all those high wage low skilled jobs will be taken in the not too distant future and the quality of life will continue to fall….

By: Lyndsay

Lyndsay — Mon, 24 Oct 2022 13:35:50 +0000

In reply to Anna. Yes I believed that only boring people get bored, except Norway is exceptionally boring for active not so boring people. Luckily I’m creative and have a lot of energy and can live in my own world in order to get through the slow, sluggish, extremely boring days - every day.

By: KIsmael

KIsmael — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 06:07:57 +0000

Child of war torn Somalia moved to UK as a refugee. Visited Norway mostly Oslo on four occasions now to see my cousin who also fled the war and sought safety in Norway. And for this I have deep respect and love for the compassion and love they have shown for my community.

I agree with respondents assessment of Norway with the finances standing out more for us. My kids wanted to experience other parts of Norway but we found it’s incredibly expensive to move around which makes it feel like its exclusive for well off tourist. We found basic experiences also to be expensive – same McDonalds meal back in London cost £15 more. I can go to the most exclusive part in London and get a cheaper meal all day long!

I love Norway egalitarianism system but found it inconsistent as the cost of living makes it incredibly challenging for people with low income households access many things like family activities including art culture and entertainment.
It is true wages are higher than most EU countries but higher taxes and expensive life makes hard for people like my cousin achieve better socio economic condition.
It’ll be interesting discussion how can these barriers addressed perhaps with a Norwegian.

By: Zee

Zee — Sat, 04 Sep 2021 14:58:18 +0000

I have lived in Norway for a year because I was asked to work there by my company. I loved it. Norway is far from boring. I liked the balance of that I could chill and relax and if I wanted to to have fun I could do party, going for hiking, I have travelled around the country. When I needed help people were kind and helpful. Never met any issue and I was never bored there. I miss the country, the people. I hope I can go back there again and maybe to move to Norway.

By: Glenn Martin

Glenn Martin — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 14:33:23 +0000

In reply to Jane Miller. I like your positivity. But of course, vacationing is very different than actually living in a foreign country.

By: Anna

Anna — Wed, 26 May 2021 11:12:05 +0000

In reply to David Nikel. Ah, thank you for the explanation! That is an awful amount of spam. :( I like reading the comments so thank you for putting in the extra work to keep everything spam free!

By: Susie Miller

Susie Miller — Wed, 26 May 2021 07:53:41 +0000

Lived there for five years after moving around for my husband’s job. It was not my favourite posting by any means but having a dog helped to make friends other than international ones. Not much history, repetitive scenery and ice in the winter and expensive. I was happy to leave.

By: David Nikel

David Nikel — Wed, 26 May 2021 07:18:54 +0000

In reply to Anna. It wasn't deleted, it was waiting to be approved. We get 250+ comments every day and around 240 of them are spam, so every comment must be manually reviewed.

By: Anna

Anna — Tue, 25 May 2021 20:44:38 +0000

Is there a reason why my comment was deleted twice?