Kvens (Kven: kvääni; Finnish: kveeni; Norwegian: kvener; Swedish: kväner; Northern Sami: kveanat) are a Balto-Finnic ethnic group in Northern Norway. In 1996, Kvens were granted minority status in Norway, and in 2005 the Kven language was recognized as a minority language in Norway.

The term Kven is sometimes used more broadly to include the Tornedalians, a closely related Balto-Finnic minority group in northern Sweden.

The ethnonym Cwenas is mentioned in the Old English Orosius from the 9th century, and the Old Norse forms kvenir and kvænir occur in some Icelandic sagas, such as the Orkneyinga saga and Egil's Saga. From the 16th century onward, a small number of Kvens appear in tax records from northern Norway under the names Quæn or Qvæn. The number of Kvens increased with migration from northern parts of Sweden and Finland between the 17th and 19th centuries.

Due to the Norwegianization policy that began in the late 19th century, the term Kven became to perceived as derogatory and the stigma led many to deny or conceal their identity as Kven. With the revitalization of the Kven culture in the 1970s, the term was readopted. However, even in the 1990s there was a debate whether the Norwegian terms finne, finsk, or finskætted (respectively a Finnish person, Finnish, and of Finnish origin) should be used instead. Today, the term Kven is used as an official designation, and also within the group itself. However, there are people with Kven heritage who prefer to be called Norwegian Finns or use the name kainulaiset instead.

In 2001, the number of Kvens was estimated to be about 10,000 to 15,000 in a parliamentary inquiry on national minorities in Norway. However, estimating the number of Kvens is difficult since there is no official definition of a Kven. Kven organizations have estimated the number to be 30,000–50,000. Some studies have estimated the number of Kvens to be about 50,000–60,000, based on the criteria that at least one grandparent spoke Kven. Many Kvens identify as Norwegian, Sami, or a combination of both, in addition to their Kven identity.

Depending on the criteria used, the number of people who speak Kven today is between 2,000 and 8,000.

Historical mentions of Kvens appear in Norse and Anglo-Saxon literature from the 9th to 13th centuries. Texts like Egil's Saga describe the Kvens as a people residing east of the Norwegians, sometimes acting as allies and other times as adversaries. These early sources generally place Kvenland somewhere east of the Scandinavian mountains, possibly along the northern coast of the Bothnian Bay. However, these references are not evidence of permanent settlement in present-day Norway.

While Kvens may have been present in northern Norway earlier, the first concrete evidence dates of their presence dates to the 1520s, when a few individuals described as "Quæn" or "Qvæn" appeared in Dano–Norwegian tax censuses. Further, the 1539 map of Scandinavia by Olaus Magnus also shows a possible Kven settlement, "Berkara Qvenar", located between today's Tromsø and Lofoten. Kvens of this time are often considered to be connected to the birkarl organization in northern Sweden. In some early documents Kvens are grouped together with the Sami people, the indigenous people of Central and Northern Norway.