Norway Postal code

Norway Postal Code

Norwegian postal codes are four-digit codes referred to as postnummer in Norwegian (literally "post number"). Each year, Posten, Norway's postal service, makes minor changes to the postal code system. Posten made significant adjustments to Norway's postal codes in 1999.

Norway has used a four-digit system since 18 March 1968: postnummer systemet. The numbers begin at 00 and increase in accordance with the distance from Oslo, the capital city. The county of Finnmark, near the Russian border, has the highest post numbers, beginning with 95–99. The smallest postcode is 0001 (Oslo), while the largest is 9991 (Btsfjord).

Posten Norge ('Norwegian Post') is the Norwegian postal service's official name. Until 2016, the corporation, which is controlled by the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications, held a monopoly on the circulation of letters weighing less than 50g in the nation. Norway has 30 post offices in addition to 1400 retail shops.

Henrik Morian, the general postmaster, created Posten in January 1647 as Postvesenet ("the postal system"). It was founded as a private enterprise with King Christian IV's consent. Postvesenet was privately owned until 1719, when it was taken over by the state. From that time forward, the national postal service was a monopoly of the state. Local city postal services remained private, but a new postal law expanded the monopoly to the entire country in 1888.

Postvesenet was renamed Postverket in 1933. Posten Norge BA was founded in 1996 as a state-owned enterprise with limited responsibility for the Norwegian government. Posten converted to a public corporation in 2002 to prepare for the anticipated liberalisation of the Norwegian postal sector. Posten Norge AS is still wholly controlled by the Norwegian state, and the government has delayed the liberalisation process until 2011.