overlevelse

Overlevelse is the Norwegian term for survival—the ability of an organism, system, or person to continue existing and functioning under adverse conditions. In everyday usage, it denotes the act of staying alive, often in the face of danger, scarcity, or stress. The word is used across scientific fields and popular contexts to describe persistence through difficult circumstances.

In biology and ecology, survival refers to the probability that an individual will endure to a given age or stage. It is a key component of fitness and interacts with reproduction in shaping life-history strategies. Researchers describe survival with measures such as survival rates, survival curves, and life tables, and they study how factors like predation, disease, climate, and resource availability influence it.

In human contexts, survival encompasses safety planning, disaster preparedness, and medical recovery. Wilderness survival emphasizes practical skills such as shelter, signaling, and water procurement. In medicine, survival outcomes are reported as the duration or probability of living after diagnosis or treatment, often summarized by survival rates and life expectancy. Psychologically, resilience describes the ability to adapt and recover, contributing to long-term survival in the face of adversity.

In statistics and epidemiology, survival analysis is a methodological framework for analyzing time-to-event data, estimating survival functions and hazard rates. Overall, overlevelse covers a broad concept of continuing life under pressure, spanning biological, medical, psychological, and environmental dimensions.