Ageing in Norwegian Rural and Urban Communities

This paper, based on data from two recent national surveys of the residents of municipalities in Norway, compares rural and urban elderly people’s degree of satisfaction with locally available services and their reported involvement with others in the community. It focuses in particular on their living conditions and indicators of well-being, including their access to home care and medical services and their degree of participation and trust in local social networks. Two findings stand out. First, contrary to common expectations, rural residents are at least as satisfied with their home care and medical services as their urban counterparts are. This parity reflects Norway's policy of subsidizing social welfare services in sparsely populated areas. Second, in keeping with common expectations, they report more frequent social contacts with their neighbours and greater participation in voluntary work than urban residents do.