Geir Axelsen (born 15 May 1965) is a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

economist, civil servant and politician for the Norwegian Labour Party. From 2018 he was appointed director general of Statistics Norway.

Early life

Born in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

, he has a cand.oecon. degree from the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

in 1994 and a Master of Public Administration from

John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

in 2004.

Career

He started his political career in the Workers' Youth League, and chaired that organization's chapter in Oslo from 1987 to 1988. He worked as party secretary for the Labour Party in Oslo from 1994 to 1997, when he was hired in the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and Ec ...

. In 2005 he became counsellor of the Norwegian embassy in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. When the

second cabinet Stoltenberg Stoltenberg's Second Cabinet was the Government of Norway from 17 October 2005 to 16 October 2013. It was a coalition between the Labour Party, the Socialist Left Party and the Centre Party, known as the Red–Green Coalition. On 9 Septembe ...

assumed office following the 2005 election, he was appointed State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance.

References

Biography
at Government.no
1965 births Living people Labour Party (Norway) politicians Norwegian state secretaries Politicians from Oslo University of Oslo alumni Harvard Kennedy School alumni Norwegian civil servants Norwegian expatriates in the United States {{Norway-politician-1960s-stub