Historical abortion statistics, Norway

Abortion statistics and other data--Johnston`s Archive

Historical abortion statistics, Norway

compiled by Wm. Robert Johnston
last updated 25 May 2026

Definition of table data (see notes after table for additional information):

Live births.
Abortions, reported includes legal reported induced abortions.
Abortions (AWR) are combined reported and estimated abortion occurrences from the Abortion Worldwide Report and working papers.
Abortions, residents, in country only includes reported abortions obtained within the country by residents only.
Abortions, residents, obtained abroad includes reported abortions by country residents obtained in other countries.
Abortions, residents, total includes reported abortions by residents, obtained both within the country and abroad.
Fetal deaths generally includes fetal deaths or stillbirths of at least 20 weeks` gestation.
Miscarriages generally includes spontaneous fetal losses/ abortions, fetal deaths, or stillbirths, regardless of gestation period.
Abortion ratio is abortions per 1000 live births.
Abortion % is abortions as percentage of pregnancies (excluding fetal deaths/miscarriages).
Abortion rate, residents is abortions by residency per 1000 women ages 15-44.
Abortion rate, occurrences (AWR) is abortion occurrences from Abortion Worldwide Report figures per 1000 women ages 15-39.

Norway regional level data also available here.

year	live births	abortions, reported	abortions (AWR)	abortions, residents, in country only	abortions, residents, obtained abroad	abortions, residents, total	abortions, occurrences by non-residents	miscarriages	fetal deaths	abortion ratio		abortion %		abortion rate, residents	abortion rate, occurrences (AWR)
year	live births	abortions, reported	abortions (AWR)	abortions, residents, in country only	abortions, residents, obtained abroad	abortions, residents, total	abortions, occurrences by non-residents	miscarriages	fetal deaths	residents, in/out of country	all in country	residents, in/out of country	all in country	abortion rate, residents	abortion rate, occurrences (AWR)
1948	65,618
1949	63,052
1950	62,410
1951	60,571								967
1952	62,543								967
1953	62,985								967
1954	62,739	3,200	3,200	(3,200)		3,200			967	51.0	51.0	4.85	4.85
1955	63,552		(3,100)						967
1956	64,171		(3,100)						922
1957	63,063		(3,000)						922
1958	62,985		(3,000)						922
1959	63,005		(2,900)						922
1960	61,880		(2,900)						873
1961	62,555		(2,800)						822
1962	62,254		(2,800)						822
1963	63,290		(2,700)						822
1964	65,570	2,662	2,662	(2,662)		2,662			822	40.6	40.6	3.90	3.90
1965	66,277	3,455	3,455	(3,455)		3,455			727	52.1	52.1	4.95	4.95
1966	67,061	4,537	4,537	(4,537)		4,537			766	67.7	67.7	6.34	6.34
1967	66,779	5,108	5,108	(5,108)		5,108			766	76.5	76.5	7.11	7.11
1968	67,350	5,259	5,259	(5,259)		5,259			766	78.1	78.1	7.24	7.24	7.3
1969	67,746	6,458	6,458	(6,458)		6,458			766	95.3	95.3	8.70	8.70	8.9
1970	64,551	7,941	7,941	(7,941)		7,941			885	123.0	123.0	10.95	10.95	10.9
1971	65,550	10,402	10,402	(10,402)		10,402			799	158.7	158.7	13.70	13.70	14.1
1972	64,260	12,203	12,203	(12,203)		12,203			804	189.9	189.9	15.96	15.96	16.4
1973	61,208	13,680	13,680	(13,680)		13,680			770	223.5	223.5	18.27	18.27	18.2
1974	59,603	15,171	15,171	(15,171)		15,171			682	254.5	254.5	20.29	20.29	20.0
1975	56,345	15,132	15,132	(15,132)		15,132			614	268.6	268.6	21.17	21.17	19.7
1976	53,474	14,754	14,754	(14,754)		14,754			584	275.9	275.9	21.62	21.62	18.9
1977	50,877	15,528	15,528	(15,528)		15,528			548	305.2	305.2	23.38	23.38	19.6
1978	51,749	14,783	14,783	(14,783)		14,783			491	285.7	285.7	22.22	22.22	18.4
1979	51,580	14,456	14,456	14,417		14,417	9		526	279.5	280.3	21.84	21.89	17.7
1980	51,039	13,531	13,531	13,519		13,519	7		492	264.9	265.1	20.94	20.96	16.3
1981	50,708	13,845	13,845	13,830		13,830	12		421	272.7	273.0	21.43	21.45	16.2
1982	51,245	13,496	13,496	13,460		13,460	11		451	262.7	263.4	20.80	20.85	15.8
1983	49,937	13,646	13,646	13,628		13,628	12		424	272.9	273.3	21.44	21.46	15.6
1984	50,274	14,070	14,070	14,057		14,057	11		374	279.6	279.9	21.85	21.87	15.9
1985	51,134	14,599	14,599	14,592		14,592	7		405	285.4	285.5	22.20	22.21	14.7
1986	52,514	15,474	15,474	15,463		15,463	11		388	294.5	294.7	22.75	22.76	17.1
1987	54,027	15,422	15,422	15,400		15,400	6		344	285.0	285.4	22.18	22.21	15.1
1988	57,526	15,852	15,852	15,842		15,842	10		325	275.4	275.6	21.59	21.60	17.2
1989	59,303	16,208	16,208	16,200		16,200	8		419	273.2	273.3	21.46	21.46	15.5
1990	60,939	15,551	15,551	15,538		15,538	12		429	255.0	255.2	20.32	20.33	16.8	20.04
1991	60,808	15,528	15,528	15,501		15,501	9		396	254.9	255.4	20.31	20.34	16.8	19.92
1992	60,109	15,164	15,164	15,143		15,143	9		389	251.9	252.3	20.12	20.15	16.5	19.48
1993	59,678	14,909	14,909	14,892		14,892	15		358	249.5	249.8	19.97	19.99	16.3	19.19
1994	59,200	14,533	14,533	14,518		14,518	12		388	245.2	245.5	19.69	19.71	16.7	18.74
1995	60,292	13,762	13,762	13,625		13,625	17		335	226.0	228.3	18.43	18.58	14.9	17.81
1996	60,927	14,311	14,311	13,985		13,985	10		378	229.5	234.9	18.67	19.02	16.0	18.61
1997	59,715	13,985	13,985	13,836		13,836	7		297	231.7	234.2	18.81	18.98	13.1	18.26
1998	58,352	14,028	14,028	13,864		13,864	9		364	237.6	240.4	19.20	19.38	13.2	18.36
1999	59,298	14,279	14,279	14,249		14,249	16		323	240.3	240.8	19.37	19.41	13.3	18.71
2000	59,234	14,675	14,675	14,608		14,608	44		304	246.6	247.7	19.78	19.86	13.7	19.28
2001	56,696	13,887	13,887	13,805		13,805	74		339	243.5	244.9	19.58	19.67	13.0	18.32
2002	55,434	13,557	13,557	13,450		13,450	104	46	260	242.6	244.6	19.53	19.65	12.7	17.90
2003	56,458	13,888	13,888	13,815	9	13,824	66	60	245	244.9	246.0	19.67	19.74	12.9	18.31
2004	56,951	14,071	14,071	14,012		14,012	47	50	263	246.0	247.1	19.75	19.81	13.1	18.54
2005	56,756	13,989	13,989	13,928	12	13,940	37		230	245.6	246.5	19.72	19.77	12.9	18.39
2006	58,545	14,417	14,417	14,355	8	14,363			248	245.3	246.3	19.70	19.76	13.2	18.88
2007	58,459	15,165	15,165	15,093		15,093			281	258.2	259.4	20.52	20.60	13.8	19.75
2008	60,497	16,054	16,054	15,956	6	15,962			270	263.8	265.4	20.88	20.97	14.5	20.73
2009	61,807	15,774	15,774	15,720	8	15,728			248	254.5	255.2	20.29	20.33	14.0	20.18
2010	61,442	15,739	15,739	15,675	6	15,681			246	255.2	256.2	20.33	20.39	13.8	19.92
2011	60,220	15,365	15,365	15,297	6	15,303			228	254.1	255.1	20.26	20.33	13.3	19.22
2012	60,255	15,233	15,233	15,123	11	15,134			227	251.2	252.8	20.07	20.18	13.1	18.84
2013	58,995	14,778	14,778	14,662	6	14,668			227	248.6	250.5	19.91	20.03	12.5	18.08
2014	59,086	14,067	14,067	13,949	3	13,952			260	236.1	238.1	19.10	19.23	11.8	17.04
2015	59,058	14,032	14,032	13,895	11	13,906			219	235.5	237.6	19.06	19.20	11.7	16.85
2016	58,890	13,195	13,195	13,053	7	13,060			213	221.8	224.1	18.15	18.30	11.0	15.73
2017	56,633	12,753	12,753	12,576	7	12,583			178	222.2	225.2	18.18	18.38	10.6	15.11
2018	55,120	12,391	12,391	12,227	2	12,229			194	221.9	224.8	18.16	18.35	10.3	14.60
2019	54,495	11,735	11,735	11,598	2	11,600			173	212.9	215.3	17.55	17.72	9.7	13.74
2020	52,979	11,089	11,089	10,849	3	10,852			163	204.8	209.3	17.00	17.31	9.2	12.94
2021	56,060	10,874	10,874	10,669		10,669			120	190.3	194.0	15.99	16.25	9.0	12.65
2022	51,480	12,010	12,010	11,763		11,763			102	228.5	233.3	18.60	18.92	9.9	13.91
2023	51,980	12,837	12,837	12,587		12,587				242.2	247.0	19.49	19.80	10.4	14.79
2024	54,013	12,811	12,811	12,188		12,188				225.6	237.2	18.41	19.17	10.3	14.68
2025	55,847	13,211	13,211	13,211		13,211				236.6	236.6	19.13	19.13
year	live births	abortions, reported	abortions (AWR)	abortions, residents, in country only	abortions, residents, obtained abroad	abortions, residents, total	abortions, occurrences by non-residents	miscarriages	fetal deaths	abortion ratio		abortion %		abortion rate, residents	abortion rate, occurrences (AWR)
year	live births	abortions, reported	abortions (AWR)	abortions, residents, in country only	abortions, residents, obtained abroad	abortions, residents, total	abortions, occurrences by non-residents	miscarriages	fetal deaths	residents, in/out of country	all in country	residents, in/out of country	all in country	abortion rate, residents	abortion rate, occurrences (AWR)

Notes:

Parenthetical figures are estimates, some of which are derived from reported data.
Abortion ratios, percentages, and rates may be based on a mix of data from different sources and thus may not represent a consistent time series.

Sources:

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Last modified 25 May 2026.
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