As a typical Norwegian I think your observations are largely correct but your interpretation is a little mistaken. I'm not shy or socially akward at all, and I don't mean to come off as cold or unfriendly. It's more to do with giving people their personal space, and not being intrusive.

Travelling in other "friendlier" countries, I find their friendliness a little overwhelming and to me it feels fake and superficial. But that is just how things work in that particular culture, and knowing that, I don't judge them as fake and superficial people. If you want to make friends in Norway, you should probably show the same kind of cultural understanding. If you act as if you're i Egypt you're going to scare people off by coming on too hard.

As to why we are like this, I don't know. Perhaps climate has something to do with it, Norwegians socialize more in private homes and less outside on plazas etc. We've also lived in small villages and not in big cities for most of our existence.

I don't think socialism has anything to do with our way of making friends, this is probably a cultural trait that dates further back. But I do think having a welfare state like ours to some degree weakens the sense of social responsibility. We're used to thinking that caring for the less priviliged is a public responsibility and that makes private initiative less nessecary. That said, I live far out on the contryside, I don't even think it qualifies as a village, and the culture for contributing to the community is a lot stronger here than in urban areas. Out here we also visit each other without calling in advance, and enters the house after knocking once, without waiting for someone to answer. Perhaps you would find the countryside friendlier?