Lars Aanonsen Havstad (3 February 1851 – 29 August 1913) was a Norwegian statistician, writer, secretary in the Liberal Party, newspaper editor and activist.
[2] After three years of working at the institute, Havstad was hired in Det statistiske kontor in 1874,[1] a statistical office within the Norwegian Ministry of the Interior.
In 1875, he published Forholdet mellom Kongen, Statsraadet og Storthinget together with J. F. Heiberg,[1] and also wrote articles in liberal historian Ernst Sars' journal.
[4] Historian Jens Arup Seip noted that Havstad had racist tendencies in describing the civil servants' and bourgeoisie's role in Norwegian history.
The district Viken was described as "[t]his dead belt which must first be permeated by the national spirit before the alien elements can be devoured by the body of society".