Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, situated about midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. Unlike the overseas departments of France, Svalbard has a unique international legal status defined by the Svalbard Treaty of 1920, which recognizes the full and absolute sovereignty of Norway while granting citizens of all signatory nations equal rights to reside and conduct commercial activities, such as mining and fishing, on the islands. The territory is not part of the Schengen Area or the European Economic Area, meaning it maintains its own customs and immigration controls. Its administrative center is Longyearbyen, the northernmost functional town in the world, where the Governor of Svalbard (Sysselmesteren) represents the Norwegian state.

Jan Mayen is a remote volcanic island located in the Arctic Ocean, approximately 540 kilometers northeast of Iceland and 950 kilometers west of mainland Norway. Unlike Svalbard, Jan Mayen has no permanent civilian population and is not subject to the same international treaty obligations. It is an integrated part of the Kingdom of Norway but is not organized as a municipality; instead, it is administered by the County Governor of Nordland. The only inhabitants are personnel from the Norwegian Armed Forces and the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, who operate a long-range navigation base and a weather station. The island is dominated by the Beerenberg, the world's northernmost active subaerial volcano, which rises to 2,277 meters.

The Svalbard Treaty is one of the most unusual diplomatic documents in modern geopolitics, signed following the Paris Peace Conference after World War I. It ended decades of "terra nullius" status, during which various nations exploited the islands' resources without regulation. Under the treaty, the territory must remain demilitarized, meaning no naval bases or fortifications can be established. While Norway has the power to pass laws and environmental regulations, it cannot discriminate between Norwegians and foreigners regarding commercial access. This has resulted in a unique demographic in Longyearbyen, where nearly one-third of the population consists of non-Norwegian nationals from over 50 different countries living under Norwegian jurisdiction.