ABSTRACT
Comparisons of health care and poor relief in Norway with other European countries may easily resemble repeated descriptions of the same processes, as the countries involved show substantial similarities in social development. Health care and poor relief are parts of the infrastructure of a modern society. In Norway this obvious fact is particularly important, because all sorts of infrastructure had to be reinforced or built up anew in the 19th century. The establishment of an independent civil administration required substantial efforts, as did the modernisation of business, trades and industry. To provide evenly distributed health care in the strict sense of the word – care for the individual in both sickness and health for all Norwegians – was an impossible public task in the 19th century due to the demographic and economic structure of the country. Care for the sick simply had to take place at home on the farm or in the cotter's hut in rural Norway.
