Country Profiles

Norway

Context

Norway continues to be a committed political and financial supporter of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

Norway held its parliamentary election on 8 September 2025, resulting in a continued, though narrow, majority for the center-left red-green bloc, which secured 88 seats compared with 81 for the right-wing parties in opposition. The Labour party (Ap), which has governed in a minority government since 2021, remains the largest party and continues as a minority government. The Labour Party will need support from four smaller left-wing parties in budget negotiations. The Progress Party (Frp) emerged as the strongest party on the right and is now the primary opposition party.

The government continues to prioritise SRHR and women’s bodily autonomy, which is repeatedly confirmed by both the Minister of International Development and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Both Ministers remain in position from before the election, with the former remaining a SheDecides champions.

There is broad consensus across the political parties on Norway’s global SRHR policies. After the election, a new APPG has been established with representation from all parties in Parliament in the All-Party Parliamentary Group on SRHR (APPG Norway). 

Norway remains one of the world’s most consistent and high-level donors to international development, upholding its long-standing commitment to allocate around 1% of the GNI to ODA. In 2024, this amounted to 55.7 billion NOK (5 billion Euros). Within this, Norway continues to be the single largest core donor to UNFPA, maintaining one of the strongest and most stable contributions, with 589.6 million NOK (50 million Euros) allocated in both 2024 and 2025 and proposed again for 2026.

Policies & funding

The proposed 2026 State Budget maintains Norway’s long-standing commitment to allocate around one percent of GNI to ODA and includes a slight overall increase to SRHR-related funding primarily channelled through multilateral partners and targeted allocations for gender equality and women’s rights. However, the largest expansion in the budget is directed towards Ukraine. This prioritisation comes at the expense of allocations to Global South countries in Africa, Asia, namely Afghanistan, and Latin America , where regional envelopes have significantly reduced.

Humanitarian assistance expands significantly in the 2026 budget. In parallel, the new national strategy “Good Sexual Health – Our Shared Responsibility” (September 2025) establishes a framework for promoting sexual health as a core component of well-being and human rights. The strategy also reaffirms Norway’s international commitments by recognising SRHR as essential to global health, gender equality and sustainable development.

Over the past year, Norway has adopted several policy frameworks that strengthen its rights-based approach to gender equality, SRHR and protection within international development and humanitarian cooperation. The new Humanitarian Strategy for 2024-2029 reinforces Norway’s commitment to protection, including from sexual and gender-based violence, and highlights access to essential health and protection services for women, girls and other vulnerable groups in crises. The national Gender Equality Strategy for 2025-2030 sets out priorities such as strengthening women’s health, combating violence and harassment, advancing LGBTIQ+ inclusion, and positioning Norway as a counterforce to global anti-rights movements. Complementing this, the Action Plan on Gender and Sexual Diversity (2023-2026) focuses on safeguarding the rights, safety and inclusion of LGBTIQ+ persons at home and abroad. In addition, Norway’s Women, Peace and Security Action Plan (2023-2030) commits the government to integrating gender perspectives across security policy, peace processes and humanitarian operations, including strengthening prevention and response to conflict-related sexual violence. Together, these policy documents confirm that gender equality, SRHR and protection remain core priorities in Norway’s foreign, development and humanitarian policy. 

Taken together, these strategies show that Norway’s line is firmly rooted in a rights-based and multilateral approach that places gender equality, SRHR, protection from violence and inclusive participation at the centre of its international development and humanitarian policy. 

Internationally vocal

Norway remains vocal in global negotiations on the advancement of SRH/FP such as the UN Commission on Population and Development (CPD) and the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). In 2024, Norway hosted the 8th International Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Action Programme. 172 parliamentarians from 112 countries issued a forward-looking inclusive declaration confirming their commitment to upholding universal sexual and reproductive health and rights. In the Oslo Declaration, the parliamentarians recognized the ICPD Programme of Action as “a beacon of hope,” and celebrated the progress that has been made for women and girls in the three decades since it was adopted. But they also pointed out that crises and polarization are shaking the world, and require them to set out an ambitious vision for the future they want to help create in their legislatures. In 2025, Minister of International Development, Åsmund Aukrust, was part of the Norwegian delegation to CPD in New York, and was very vocal about SRHR.

Forecast

Contributions to SRHR are expected to be at least sustained in 2025. The proposed 2026 State Budget maintains Norway’s long-standing commitment to allocate around 1% of GNI to ODA and includes a slight overall increase to SRHR-related funding primarily channelled through multilateral partners and targeted allocations for gender equality and women’s rights. While Norway upholds its normative commitment to SRHR and gender equality, the geographic distribution of ODA in 2026 limits the resources available for long-term programming in Global South countries where the needs are greater.