Here's why:

* Nitrogen's electron configuration: 1s² 2s² 2p³

* Outermost shell: The outermost shell is the second shell (n=2).

* Electrons in the outermost shell: The second shell contains 5 electrons (2 in the 2s subshell and 3 in the 2p subshell).

Therefore, nitrogen has 5 outer orbital electrons.