Environmental strain and levels of living. Some results from the Survey of Level of Living 1997

The national survey of level of living charts how many of the inhabitants that experience different types of environmental problems. This report presents the results from the latest survey that for the first time also charts people's degree of annoyance with these problems. The survey was undertaken during 1997 with 3600 interviews in all. Road traffic is the environmental problem that concerns most people. 725.000 persons report that they are moderately or highly annoyed. 12 and 15 percent respectively of the population are annoyed by noise and dust from road traffic. Air pollution from road traffic and industry are experienced equally annoying by those who are exposed to these problems. People's annoyance with the environmental effects of road traffic has increased. Different parts of the population experience their environment differently. People in larger towns/cities, in apartment blocks, and where the apartment faces the road, are more annoyed by road traffic than others. Air craft noise is more annoying in the Oslo/Akershus region, while air pollution from industrial plants is more annoying in the Agder and Rogaland counties.