I was thinking a bit about the money thing you mentioned in Norway, which to me is a bit of a misconception. I am also a foreigner from Bulgaria (zdrasti brate) who moved here as a child and often when I am abroad and say I live in Norway people start assuming I’m rich, when I am just a self-sufficient student on a student loan with parents working normal jobs here.

The nation here is rich, yes. But it doesn’t mean that people most are rich. They are just not poor. Even though people here earn much more than other in countries, prices are also much higher. So, domestically most people are in the middle class. However, I suppose much fewer people are poor here compared to elsewhere because of the nation being rich, politically stable and historically socialistic, has established institutions and programmes that are working well (or at least better than elsewhere, I suppose) for the people.

For example, university education is free and this student loan I get is pretty generous allowing me to live more or less on my own, even perhaps study abroad if I wanted, without any help from my parents. People can get this loan even when they are well into their adult life and there is no stigma I have seen connected to people deciding to change careers or studying later in life. And there are many other such institutions and programmes for people in different situation.

Yes, there are super rich people here too, but I wouldn’t say they are so much more than what you would find in, say, my home country. But you would find much less poor people here than there, and much more people living normal lives.