Western Norway

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Western Norway

Region (landsdel) of	Norway (Norge)
Capital	N/A
Area	58,582 km²
Population	1,194,445 (2004)
~ density	20.4 inh./km²
4 countiess (fylker):	Møre og Romsdal Sogn og Fjordane Hordaland Rogaland
Website	'

Western Norway (Norwegian: Vestlandet) is the region along the Atlantic coast of southern Norway. It consists of the counties Rogaland, Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane, and Møre og Romsdal, altogether 1.2 million people. The largest city is Bergen, second largest is Stavanger.

Western Norway is one of the wettest regions in Europe, with precipitation in the mountains near the coast of about 3,500 mm per year on average, and exceeding 5000 mm in peak years. In Bergen city the average precipitation is 2,250 mm per year [1]. The wet climate is partly due to the Gulf Stream, which also gives this region a milder winter than other parts of Norway, with rain being more common than snow in the winter.

Western Norwayis also notable for the extensive use of the Nynorsk variant of the Norwegian language: Most of the Nynorsk users in Norway (87%) live in Western Norway. But in spite of this the majority of the inhabitants here (56%) use Bokmål (because Bokmål is predominant in the cities). In Sogn og Fjordane (without larger cities) the use of Nynorsk is predominant (97%), and the users of Nynorsk is also a majority in Møre og Romsdal (54%). But in Hordaland and Rogaland the users of Nynorsk are a minority (42% and 26%, respectively).

Occasionally, the southeastern parts of Rogaland are considered part of Sørlandet.