Disability benefit in Norway

Here you can read about the regulations for receiving disability benefit (uføretrygd) in Norway. The regulations vary between the different Nordic countries.

Disability benefit is intended to replace income lost through permanent illness or injury. Your earning capacity determines whether you are entitled to 100 percent disability benefit or partial disability benefit.

Are you entitled to Norwegian disability benefit?

To be eligible for disability benefit in Norway, you must generally satisfy the following conditions:

• You must be aged between 18 and 67.
• You must have been a member of the National Insurance Scheme (folketrygden) for the five years prior to you becoming ill. People who have lived/worked in other EEA countries may combine periods of social insurance according to the provisions in the EEA Agreement on social security.
• Illness and/or injury must be the main reason why your earning capacity is reduced.
• Appropriate treatment and vocational rehabilitation measures must have been completed.
• Your earning capacity must be reduced by at least 50 percent due to illness and/or injury.

You must have undergone appropriate treatment and vocational rehabilitation measures before you can possibly be eligible for disability benefit. Vocational rehabilitation measures can only be exempted from this requirement if there are clear reasons why these are not appropriate.

The Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) is the agency responsible for disability benefit in Norway.

How is disability benefit calculated?

The income you received in the last years before you became ill is used to calculate your disability benefit. If you have had low or no income, you are still entitled to a basic amount. How long you have been, or will be, a member of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme (folketrygden) also affects the disability benefit. This is called the social insurance period (trygdetid). It is your period of social insurance in Norway that affects how your Norwegian disability benefit is calculated. Social insurance in another Nordic country is relevant if you do not satisfy the basic requirement of at least five years continuous membership of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme before the date of disability.

If you are young and become disabled, special regulations apply, and the basic rate is higher than for others.

Disability benefit is taxed as ordinary income. NAV receives your tax card automatically from the Norwegian Tax Administration (Skatteetaten).