The Nordic nation is proving to be an exception, as others struggle under a mountain of debts. Set up in 1990, the fund owns around 1 per cent of the world’s stocks, as well as bonds and real estate from London to Boston, making the country an exception when others are struggling under piles of debts.

A preliminary counter on the website of the central bank, which manages the fund, rose to 5.11 trillion crowns ($931.87 billion), fractionally more than a million times Norway’s most recent official population estimate of 5,096,300. It was the first time it reached the equivalent of a million crowns each, central bank spokesman Thomas Sevang said. Not that Norwegians will be able to access or spend the money, which is being saved for future generations or times of national hardship.