Norway - Child Participation in Family Law

Abstract

Norway has a population of 5.3 million people, of whom 1.1 million are children, i.e., under the age of 18. Almost half of marriages in the country end in divorce, the others end by the death of one of the partners. In 2018, the number of new mar-riages was 20,949, and there were 10,630 separations and 9,545 divorces. The number of minor children experiencing their par-ents’ divorce was 8,900. To file for divorce, spouses must ei-ther first file for separation and then wait 12 months or have been separated for at least two years. The prevalence of cohabi-tation is also high: 29% of children living with both parents have unmarried parents. The divorce statistics do not therefore re-flect the number of children whose parents cease to cohabit.