The Nordic Region


The Nordic Region consists of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland,as well as the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland. The Nordic Region covers an area of about 3400 km2 and has a total population of over 26 million. Here you will find useful information about the Nordic Region and the individual Nordic countries.


The Nordic Council


The Nordic Council is the official inter-parliamentary body in the Nordic Region. The Nordic Council was formed in 1952. The Council has 87 elected members from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden as well as from the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland.


The Nordic Council outward looking and has close co-operation with a number of international, regional and national parliamentary organisations outside the Region.


This history of the Nordic region from the Viking times to the present.




The Early Modern Period: two Nordic states (approx. 1500–1800)


The Kalmar Union fell apart, and the two new states, Denmark–Norway and Sweden, did their best to crush each other in constant wars to become the dominant power in the region. However, in the long term, both had to accept their role as small European states.



Five welfare states in a global world (approx. 1920 to the present)


State-guaranteed welfare became the guiding principle for policy in the highly industrialised Nordic Region of the 20th-century. During the two world wars and the Cold War, the five small Nordic states were forced into difficult balancing acts, but retained their independence and developed peaceful democracies. Today, they face new challenges in an increasingly globalised world.