During World War II, Norway was under German occupation. Britain was one of Norway’s allies and King Haakon and his family lived in exile in the UK until the war was over. Norway is a peace-loving nation and is a member of the United Nations (UN) and NATO. Norway’s belief in negotiation as a way of settling conflict makes them the ideal country to award the Nobel Peace Prize each year.
In the late 1960s, enormous fields of oil and gas were discovered off the Norwegian coast. This has had a huge effect on the country’s economy and for the last eight years, Norway has been voted the best country in the world to live in by the UN.