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| Languages of Svalbard | |
|---|---|
 Polar bear warning sign in Norwegian, Svalbard | |
| Official | Norwegian |
| Immigrant | Russian,Mandarin,Polish |
| Foreign | English |
| Signed | Norwegian Sign Language |
| Keyboard layout | |
Svalbard has a population of approximately 2,395 people as of 2011. Approximately 70% of the people areNorwegians; the remaining 30% areRussian andUkrainian. The official language of Svalbard isNorwegian.Russian is used in the Russian settlements.
The annual population growth is −0.02%, but as may be seen from the following chart, the ex-Soviet population has atrophied, while the Norwegians have been increasing.
| Year | Total | Norwegian | Russian | Polish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 3,544 | 1,125 | 2,407 | 12 |
| 1995 | 2,906 | 1,218 | 1,679 | 9 |
| 2000 | 2,376 | 1,475 | 893 | 8 |
| 2005 | 2,400 | 1,645 | 747 | 8 |
| 2010 | 2,541 | 2,083 | 449 | 9 |
| 2015 | 2,681 | 2,203 | 468 | 10 |
| 2020 | 2,898 | 2,433 | 455 | 10 |
| 2024 | 2,958 | 2,608 | 340 | 10 |
Norwegian is the official, and main language, of the archipelago. The weeklySvalbardposten is published in it.
Mainly Norwegian-speaking settlements includeLongyearbyen, the capital,Ny-Ålesund andSveagruva.
Polish Polar Station is located at Hornsund.
Mainly Russian-speaking settlements includeBarentsburg.
Some Russian is spoken in Svalbard's capital,Longyearbyen, and appears in some signage.
Abandoned communities which spoke Russian includeGrumant until 1961, andPyramiden until 2000.
TheArctic Yellow River Station was established in 2003, by thePeople's Republic of China.[3][4][5]
Smeerenburg wasDutch-speaking until about 1660. The name itself is Dutch for "blubber town". There was also a Dutch whaling station onYtre Norskøya and several other locations in Svalbard as well.
TheNetherlands still retains a research station atNy-Ålesund.
TheDanes were also present at Smeerenburg from 1619–23, 1625 and 1631. They also built a seasonal settlement inKobbefjorden, which they occupied for a quarter century (1631–58).
English was spoken from the many whaling settlements established in Svalbard from 1611 to 1670.
French was spoken at the whaling settlement inHamburgbukta, which was occupied from 1633 to 1638.France now maintains a research station atNy-Ålesund.
At present,Germany, theUnited Kingdom, France,Italy,Japan andSouth Korea all maintain research stations at Ny-Ålesund, although not all are inhabited year-round.
The history ofRussenorsk or Russonorsk (Norwegian for "Russo-Norwegian") is mainly limited to the 18th and 19th centuries. TheRussian Revolution of 1917 brought about an end to its use; it is reported that the last Norwegian–Russian trade occurred in 1923, marking the last use of Russenorsk.
Russenorsk was apidgin language combining elements ofRussian andNorwegian, created by traders andwhalers from northernNorway and the RussianKola peninsula. Another name for the language wasMoja på tvoja that parodied a perverted Russian phrase, meaning something like "I can speak in your language" (from the Russian wordsмоя (moya) "my",по (po) here used to mean "in"твоя (tvoya) "your")
Swedish and Norwegian are mutually comprehensible to a considerable degree.
Pyramiden, which later became Soviet, was founded by a Swedish company in 1910.
