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Norway: 113, NAKOS and the register that is free
The medical emergency number is 113, not 112. The national defibrillator register is run by a state competence centre and costs nothing — which matters, because commercial look-alikes have been invoicing device owners.
CPR in sixty seconds
- Unresponsive and not breathing normally? Gasping is not breathing. Treat it as a cardiac arrest.
- Call 112 (113 in Norway). Speaker on, phone on the floor. Stay on the line — the dispatcher will coach you.
- Push hard and fast in the centre of the chest: 5–6 cm in an adult, 100–120 per minute, letting the chest come all the way back up.
- Send somebody else for a defibrillator. Do not go yourself unless it is seconds away. Keep compressing.
- Turn the device on and do what it says. It decides whether to shock. After a shock, go straight back to compressions.
This is a reference written for bystanders, not a diagnosis, a training course or medical advice. It cannot tell you what is wrong with a particular person, and it does not replace the dispatcher on the other end of an emergency call — they can see what is near you and they will talk you through it. If you are worried about your own heart, or about a symptom, that is a conversation with a clinician rather than a page on a website.
113 is the number to know
Norway is the one country in this region that has not consolidated onto a single emergency number: 113 is medical, 110 is fire and 112 is police. Dialling 112 will still get you help, but 113 goes straight to the emergency medical communication centre, and in a cardiac arrest that is the desk you want. The centre stays on the line, coaches compressions, and can see registered defibrillators near the caller.
Hjertestarterregisteret and NAKOS
The national defibrillator register, Hjertestarterregisteret, is operated by NAKOS, the national centre for prehospital emergency medicine at Oslo University Hospital, on assignment from the Directorate of Health. Owners register through the health portal Helsenorge or the register itself, and the entry is what allows a 113 operator to send a bystander or a lay responder to a specific machine. Registration is free, and the operator says so explicitly, because the alternative has been a problem.
The paid look-alikes
Norwegian first-aid organisations have publicly warned defibrillator owners that more than one register exists and that only one of them reaches the emergency services. Commercially operated services with official-sounding names have invoiced owners annually for a listing that no 113 operator reads. The test is the one that applies everywhere: the national register is run by the health service or its competence centre and does not charge. If you receive an invoice for keeping your defibrillator on a map, check which register you are actually in before paying it.
Cold, distance and the air ambulance
Norway's geography changes the arithmetic more than its guidelines do. Long response intervals in rural and mountainous areas make bystander action decisive, hypothermia is a routine complication rather than an exotic one, and the air ambulance service is a central part of the response. The Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation also publishes a widely used first-aid application that shows the caller's position and nearby registered defibrillators, which is the practical answer to an address problem that is much worse than in a Baltic city.
If you are the one standing there
Call 113. Speaker on, phone on the ground, start compressions and keep going. Give your position — coordinates if you are anywhere without a street address, which in Norway is a very large fraction of the country. Ask about a defibrillator. If a hypothermic casualty is involved, remember that the assessment takes longer and the resuscitation continues: cold changes the timeline, not the actions.
| Item | How it works |
|---|---|
| Medical emergency number | 113 |
| Fire / police | 110 / 112 |
| National AED register | Hjertestarterregisteret |
| Register operator | NAKOS, for the Directorate of Health |
| Register through | Helsenorge, or the register directly |
| Cost to register | Free |
| Watch out for | Commercial registers that invoice for a listing |
| Also relevant | Air ambulance service; long rural response intervals |
Sources: Helsenorge — register your defibrillator · NAKOS — national centre for prehospital emergency medicine · Røde Kors Førstehjelp: register in the right register · LHL on the public defibrillator register · Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation · Norsk Resuscitasjonsråd · checked 2026-09-08
Frequently asked questions
Do I call 112 or 113 in Norway?
113 for a medical emergency including cardiac arrest. 110 is fire and 112 is police. Dialling 112 will still get you help, but 113 reaches the medical communication centre directly.
Does it cost money to register a defibrillator in Norway?
No. The national register operated by NAKOS is free, and first-aid organisations have warned owners about commercially run registers with official-sounding names that invoice for a listing no dispatcher reads.
Who runs the Norwegian defibrillator register?
NAKOS, the national centre for prehospital emergency medicine at Oslo University Hospital, on assignment from the Directorate of Health. Devices can be registered via Helsenorge.
Country by country
Estonia: 112, kiirabi and no national AED register
One number for everything, a dispatch centre that coaches CPR down the phone, and defibrillators scattered by municipalities, employers and shops with no single public list. What that means if you are the one calling.
Finland: defi.fi and the 112 Suomi app
The best-organised defibrillator register in the Baltic Sea region: a national database run by the heart association with the resuscitation council and the Red Cross, feeding device locations to the emergency services app.
Latvia: NMPD, 112 and a patchwork of devices
The state emergency medical service answers the medical side of 112 and publishes guidance for defibrillator owners, but there is no single public register. Where devices have actually appeared, and what to do with yours.
Lithuania: a legal requirement and a service database
The one country in the region where the law names the venues that must have a defibrillator. How the 112 centre and the emergency medical service work together, and how the device database reaches the dispatcher.
Sweden: a register, a research base and SMS lifesavers
A national defibrillator register run by the resuscitation council, a quality register that has published cardiac-arrest outcomes for decades, and a volunteer scheme that grew out of the research.
Everything on this subject
Before the emergency, there is a long quiet stretch
Blood pressure, resting heart rate, movement and sleep are the part of this you can act on for years beforehand. TempoLife keeps them in one place, free to start.