The Svalbard Archipelago sits halfway between the top of Norway and the North Pole; Svalbard is the name of the archipelago, while Spitsbergen refers to the largest island , one of the world’s northernmost inhabited places; It is one of the closest inhabited places to the North Pole, just 600 mi away! 60% of Svalbard’s landmass is permanently covered by ice and less than 10% has any vegetation Longyearbyen, the largest settlement in Svalbard, is often considered the northernmost town in the world: 78 degrees north latitude , with a population about 2,500 people