page_title: Norway–United States relations
section_title: Norwegian Americans
hierarchical_section_title: Norway–United States relations / Norwegian Americans
caption_attribution_description: English: Today, it was my great honor to welcome Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway to the @WhiteHouse - a great friend and ally of the United States! Joint press conference
context_page_description: Norway–United States relations are bilateral relations between Norway and the United States. The United States and Norway have a long tradition of positive relations.
  The American Revolution of 1776 had a profound impact on Norway, and the democratic ideals of the United States Constitution served as a model for the authors of Norway's own Constitution of 1814. The close relationship between the two nations was reinforced by massive Norwegian emigration to the U.S. during the period 1825–1940, when more than 850,000 Norwegians made new homes in the United States and helped build the nation.
  After the liberation from German occupation 1945, Norway abandoned its history of neutrality and joined NATO, stressing its military alliance and economic cooperation with Britain and the United States. The Marshall Plan helped Norway to modernize its economy and integrate more into the world market. It avoided any provocation that might offend the Soviet Union, its northern neighbor. Since the 1960s, Norway has been drawn increasingly into European affairs while the importance of ties to Britain and the United States has declined.
context_section_description: There are more than 4.5 million people of Norwegian ancestry in the United States today. Of these, approximately three million claim "Norwegian" as their sole or primary ancestry. 
  A little more than 2% of whites in the United States are of Norwegian descent. In the Upper Midwest, especially Minnesota, western Wisconsin, northern Iowa, and the Dakotas, more than 15% of whites are of Norwegian descent. Nearly one-third of all North Dakotans claim Norwegian as their ancestry.
  55% of Norwegian Americans live in the Midwest, although a large number (21%) live in the Pacific States of Washington, Oregon, and California.
  Norwegian Americans actively celebrate and maintain their heritage in many ways.  Much of it centers on the Lutheran-Evangelical churches they were born into, but also culinary customs (lutefisk and lefse), costumes (bunad), and Norwegian holidays (Syttende Mai, May 17) are popular. A number of towns in the United States, particularly in the Upper Midwest, display very strong Norwegian influences.
  Although the Norwegians were the most numerous of all the Scandinavian immigrant groups, other Scandinavians also emigrated to America during the same time period. Today, there are 11–12 million Americans of Scandinavian ancestry. Scandinavian descendants represent about 6% of the white population in the United States as a whole, and more than 25% of the white population of the Upper Midwest.
  Norwegian Americans tend to be Lutheran (Norwegian-American Lutheranism), although substantial minorities are Roman Catholic or belong to other Protestant denominations.
  There are more people of Norwegian ancestry in America than in Norway. Historically high birth rates over the past hundred years among Norwegian Americans resulted in their roughly quadrupling in population over the original 850,000 immigrants.
caption: President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Erna Solberg in 2018
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