[nine_k]

Norway is sitting on a gold mine, I mean, an oil field. It can afford many things other countries can't, while also prudently saving much of its oil income.

[nielsbot]

Denmark performs similarly to Norway and they don't have oil.

[scandinavian]

Denmark has several oil and gas fields. It's tiny compared to Norway but not completely insignificant.

[simonask]

It's largely insignificant when the question is "why is Denmark rich". Same goes for Sweden.

[ozlikethewizard]

The US is the world's largest producer of oil

[bitshiftfaced]

It looks like Norway's oil revenue per capita is somewhere between $20,000 and $90,000, while the USA's is between $200 and $800, depending on how you calculate it.

[lozenge]

The Norwegian government takes basically all the revenue from its oil rights, and the US has sold the oil rights for much less than they're worth.

[jackothy]

This answer always comes up but then how do you explain the other 4 Nordic countries?