Immigration to Norway

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A Norwegian residence permit issued to non-EU/EEA citizens.

The number of immigrants in Norway is approximately 710 465.[1] The five largest immigrant groups in Norway are in turn Polish, Swedish, Pakistani, Somali and Iraqi.[2]

Due to Norway's membership in the European Economic Area, migrants from the European Union as well as Iceland and Liechtenstein do not require any residency permits.

At the beginning of 1992, immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents totalled 183,000 persons, or 4.3 per cent of Norway’s population. Twenty years later, at the beginning of 2012, these groups had risen to 710 465 persons or 14.1 per cent of the population.[1]

Contents

History [edit]

Further information: History of Norway

Norway has a long history of immigration. During the Viking era, almost all Norwegian kings sought their wives from foreign countries, thus seeking allies in other royal houses.[3] Social and economic innovation has frequently been connected to immigration: the hanseatic league introduced large scale trade in Bergen and Northern Norway. Mining in Kongsberg, Røros and other places was made possible by immigrants from nearby countries, and from ca 1500 until the first university was established in Christiania in 1811, almost all civil servants were immigrants. During the 19th century the evolution of dairies and the industrial exploitation of waterfalls depended on immigrants.[4]

Contemporary immigration [edit]

The main waves of immigrants in the 20th and 21st century were caused by wars and riots in the migrants' home countries: Jews from eastern Europe early in the 20th century, refugees from Hungary in the 1950s, from Chile and Vietnam in the 1970s.[citation needed] In the mid 1980s, there was an increase in the number of asylum seekers from countries such as Iran and Sri Lanka. In the 1990s, war refugees from the Balkans were the predominant immigrant group accepted into Norway; a large number of which have since returned home to Kosovo. Since the end of the 1990s, new groups of asylum seekers from countries such as Iraq, Somalia, and Afghanistan arrived.[citation needed]

From 2000 to 2010, 510,748 persons received permanent residence permits.[5]

In 2012, net immigration was 47 300, a national record high. About 62% of the immigrants were European citizens.[6] The largest immigrant groups were Poles and Lithuanians who mainly came as labour immigrants, followed by Somalis and Eritreans who mainly came as refugees. Other countries in the top ten were Romania, Latvia, the Philippines, Spain, Afghanistan and Thailand.[7]

Demographics [edit]

Further information: Demographics of Norway

Population [edit]

As of 2012, an official study showed that 86.2%[8] of the total population were Norwegians having no migrant background and more than 660 000 individuals (13,2%)[8] were immigrants—or descendants of recent immigrants—from neighbour countries and the rest of the world.

In 2012, of the total 710 465 with immigrant background, 407,262 had Norwegian citizenship (60.2 percent).[9] Of these 13,2%, 335 000 (51%)[8] had a Western background mostly from Poland, Germany, and Sweden. 325 000 (49%)[8] had a non-Western background mostly from Turkey, Morocco, Iraq, Somalia, Pakistan and Iran. Immigrants were represented in all Norwegian municipalities. The cities or municipalities with the highest share of immigrants in 2012 were Oslo (30.4 percent), Drammen (25 percent), Lørenskog (23 per cent) and Skien (19.6 percent).[1] According to Reuters, Oslo is the "fastest growing city in Europe because of increased immigration".[10] In recent years, immigration has accounted for most of Norway's population growth.

In 2010, the immigrant community grew by 57,000, which accounted for 90% of Norway's population growth; some 27% of newborn children were of immigrant background. These statistics indicate that Norway's population is now 80.0% ethnic Norwegian, a figure that has steadily decreased since the late 20th century. Some 12.2% of the population is of solely immigrant background, while 5.7% of the population is of mixed Norwegian-foreign ancestry. People of other European ethnicity are 5.8% of the total, while Asians (including Pakistanis, Iraqis, and Turks) are 4.3%, Africans 1.5%, and others 0.6%.[11]

Religion [edit]

Further information: Religion in Norway

Immigration has altered the religious demography of Norway. Among the immigrants, 250,030 have background from predominantly Christian countries, 119,662 from predominantly Muslim countries, 28,942 from mostly Buddhist countries, and 7,224 from countries that are predominantly Hindu.[12] The proportion of Muslim immigrants has fallen drastically in recent years, from about 80% in 2000 to less than 20% in 2007.[13]

As of 2008 there were living in Norway somewhere between 120,000 and 163,000 persons who had either immigrated from or who had parents who had immigrated from countries where Islam is the predominant religion, accounting for up to 3.4% of the country's total population.[13][14] This number should, however, be interpreted with caution according to a report by Statistics Norway, as there are significant religious minorities in several of these countries, and varying degrees of commitment to the religion. In the same year, 84,000 persons were members of an Islamic congregation.[13] The largest single denomination besides the state church is the Roman Catholic Church, which had a membership of more than 54,000 in 2008. It gained about 10,000 new members, mostly Poles, in the period 2004-2008.[13] Other religions which have increased mainly as a result of recent post-war immigration (with percentages of adherents in parenthesis), include Hinduism (0.5%), Buddhism (0.4%), Orthodoxy (0.2%) and the Bahá'í Faith (<0.1%).

Employment [edit]

Unemployment [edit]

Immigrant employment rates are generally higher in Norway than overall employment rates in most countries, the overall unemployment rate among immigrants being 6.5% in May 2011, totalling about 20,000 persons. The unemployment rate in the population as a whole was 2.7% at this time. There are differences between immigrant groups. People with African backgrounds have the highest unemployment rates, with 12.4%. Unemployment rates among immigrants from Asia and Eastern Europe were 8.2% and 7.4%, respectively. Persons born in Norway to immigrant parents, still a young and relatively small demographic, had an unemployment rate of 5.0%, totalling 766 persons. This was 1.6 percentage points above persons with Norwegian-born parents in the same age group, and 2.1 percentage points below immigrants in the same age group.[15]

Workforce participation [edit]

Overall workforce participation in the immigrant population was 61.6% in 2010,[15] compared to 71.9% for the population as a whole.[16] African immigrants had the lowest workforce participation, with 43.9%. Persons born to immigrant parents had a workforce participation of 53.0%, similar to that of the corresponding age demographic with Norwegian-born parents.[15]

Effects of immigration [edit]

Demographic [edit]

From 1977 to 2012, the number of non-Norwegian citizens living in Norway of European descent has increased from around 46,000 to around 280,000. In the same period the number of citizens of nations on other continents increased from about 25,000 to about 127,000, of which 112,230 from Asia, Africa and South America.[17] If persons with two immigrant parents are counted, the total immigrant population has risen from 57,041 in 1970 to 710 465 in 2012, the non-European proportion rose from 20.1% to 46.1%. The proportion of women in the immigrant population shifted from 56.1% in 1970 to 48.0% in 2012.[18]

Crime [edit]

The overall probability that a person living in Norway would be convicted for a felony (no: forbrytelse) was increased by about 0.5 percentage points for the immigrant compared to non-immigrant populations for felonies committed in the years 2001-2004. The incidence was especially high among immigrants from Kosovo, Morocco, Somalia, Iraq, Iran and Chile, and reached more than 2% in all these groups. In comparison the incidence in the non-immigrant population was about 0.7%. Incidence was lower than for the non-immigrant population among immigrants from among others, Western European countries, Eastern Europe except Poland, the Balkans and Russia, the Philippines, China and North America. Incidence was also higher for persons with two immigrant parents for all countries of origin, including Nordic and Western European countries. When the data was corrected for the population group's age and gender structure (the most over-represented immigrant groups also have a considerable over-representation of young men), place of residence (rural–central) and employment situation, the over-representation was found to be significantly lower, especially for those groups which had the highest incidence in the uncorrected statistics. For some groups, among them immigrants from Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Poland, Russia and the other Eastern European countries, as well as Turkey, the corrected incidences did not differ significantly from the non-immigrant population.[19]

Sexual crimes [edit]

In the cases available to a descriptive study of crime among immigrants and non-immigrants for sexual crimes committed in the years 2001-2004, there were a total of 1804 cases, with an immigrant perpetrator in 155 of them, i.e. 8.6%.[19] In 2010, 1368 sexual crimes charges were filed in Norway, 1213 of these, i.e. 87%, were filed against Norwegian citizens.[20]

In a news report in 2010, a spokesperson for the Oslo Police Department stated that every case of assault rapes in Oslo in the years 2007, 2008 and 2009 was committed by a non-Western immigrant.[21] This picture has later been nuanced, as only perpetrators in the solved cases were counted, and 4 of the victims in the 16 unsolved cases described the perpetrator as being of Norwegian ethnicity.[22] The report shows that, of 131 individuals charged with the 152 rapes in which the perpetrator could be identified, 45.8% were of African, Middle Eastern or Asian origin while 54.2% were of Norwegian, other European or American origin. In the cases of "assault rape", i.e. rape aggravated by physical violence, a category that included 6 of the 152 cases and 5 of the 131 identified individuals, the 5 identified individuals were of African, Middle Eastern or Asian origin. In the cases of assault rape where the individual responsible was not identified and the police relied on the description provided by the victim, "8 of the perpetrators were African / dark-skinned appearance, 4 were Western / light / Nordic and 4 had an Asian appearance".[23]

Legal and administration issues [edit]

Further information: Norwegian nationality law

The Directorate of Immigration (UDI) is responsible for the administration of immigration into the country.[24] Before the UDI was established in 1988, several government organisations were involved in administrating immigration.[25] Another body, Integrerings- og mangfoldsdirektoratet (IMDi) (Directorate of Integration and Diversity), "contribute[s] to equality in living conditions and diversity through employment, integration and participation".[26]

[icon] This section requires expansion. (January 2011)

Immigrants by country of origin [edit]

Rank Country of origin[27] Population (2001)[28] Population (2012)[2]
1.  Poland 6,432 72,103
2.  Sweden 23,010 36,578
3.  Pakistan 23,581 32,737
4.  Somalia 10,107 29,395
5.  Iraq 12,357 28,935
6.  Germany 9,448 25,683
7.  Lithuania 378 23,941
8.  Vietnam 15,880 20,871
9.  Denmark 19,049 19,823
10.  Iran 11,016 17,913
11.  Russia 3,749 16,833
12.  Turkey 10,990 16,742
13.  Philippines 5,885 16,431
14.  Bosnia-Herzegovina 12,944 16,338
15.  Thailand 3,738 14,398
16.  Sri Lanka 10,335 14,293
17.  United Kingdom 10,925 13,959
18.  Kosovo 0 [29] 13,700
19.  Afghanistan 1,346 13,219
20.  India 6,140 10,830
21.  Eritrea 813 9,566
22.  Morocco 5,719 8,591
23.  China, People's Republic of 3,654 8,458
24.  United States 7,253 8,013
25.  Chile 6,491 7,782
26.  Netherlands 3,848 7,557
27.  Iceland 3,756 7,125
28.  Latvia 385 6,973
29.  Romania 1,054 6,869
30.  Finland 6,776 6,660
31.  Ethiopia 2,803 6,405
32.  France 2,350 4,716
33.  Estonia 342 3,817
34.  Palestinian Territory 64 3,593
35.  Burma 63 3,527
36.  Croatia 1,863 3,451
37.  Macedonia, Republic of 789 3,364
38.  Ukraine 399 3,343
39.  Bulgaria 842 3,337
40.  Brazil 824 3,327
41.  Serbia 0 [29] 3,278
42.  Spain 1,382 3,132
43.  Hungary 1,666 2,948
44.  Slovakia 207 2,959
45.  Lebanon 1,613 2,566
46.  Italy 1,265 2,513
47.  Syria 860 2,311
48.  Congo, Democratic Republic of 276 2,284
49.  Ghana 1,355 2,165
50.  Sudan 433 1,991
51.  Czech Republic 557 1,780
52.  Canada 1,120 1,666
53.  Algeria 927 1,569
54.  Gambia 1,050 1,525
55.  Nigeria 541 1,577
56.  Portugal 704 1,557
57.  Kenya 689 1,420
58.  Colombia 604 1,460
59.  Australia 609 1,363
60.  Indonesia 405 1,343
61.  Switzerland 922 1,318
62.  Burundi 69 1,249
63.  Tunisia 648 1,174
64.  Liberia 29 1,163
65.  Peru 492 1,136
66.  Austria 768 1,123
67.  Greece 533 1,035
68.  Nepal 157 1,013
69.  Belgium 595 994
70.  Uganda 501 977
71.  Egypt 413 933
71.  Bangladesh 490 933
72.  Mexico 358 916
73.  South Korea 393 898
74.  Japan 562 864
75.  Cuba 286 847
76.  Hong Kong 742 843
77.  South Africa 491 840
78.  Belarus 134 839
79.  Ireland 445 824
80.  Kazakhstan 60 813
81.  Tanzania 464 796
82.  Faroe Islands 770 787
83.  Venezuela 152 781
84.  Argentina 378 766
85.  Dominican Republic 276 716
86.  Rwanda 218 710
87.  Israel 485 642
88.  Albania 156 598
89.  Sierra Leone 247 593
90.  Cameroon 83 574
91.  Malaysia 257 573
92.  Azerbaijan 95 538
93.  Cambodia 277 519
94.  Cape Verde 297 514
95.  Jordan 144 478
96.  New Zealand 252 473
97.  Angola 96 464
98.  Moldova 43 443
99.  Libya 62 434
100.  Uzbekistan 35 414
101.  Ecuador 174 408
102.  Montenegro 0 [29] 405
103.  Kuwait 133 402
104.  Singapore 220 391
105.  Zambia 114 351
106.  Yemen 51 323
107.  Saudi Arabia 47 309
108.  Côte d'Ivoire 110 276
109.  Armenia 47 275
110.  Bolivia 134 272
111.  Bhutan 10 264
111.  Slovenia 53 264
112.  Trinidad and Tobago 204 262
113.  Senegal 83 250
114.  Georgia 47 248
115.  Taiwan 113 244
116.  Zimbabwe 119 226
117.  United Arab Emirates 33 224
118.  Mauritius 181 215
119.  Uruguay 167 211
120.  Madagascar 141 210
121.  El Salvador 134 209
121.  Guinea 39 203
122.  Congo, Republic of 60 189
123.  Kyrgyzstan 6 173
124.  Guatemala 81 167
125.  Jamaica 73 152
125.  Nicaragua 78 146
126.  Togo 80 143
127.  Mozambique 72 142
128.  Honduras 64 100

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Most new immigrants from the new EU countries ". Statistics Norway. 26 April 2012. Accessed 27 April 2011. Archived 7 August 2011.
  2. ^ a b "Persons with immigrant background by immigration category, country background and gender. 1 January 2012". Statistics Norway. 286 April 2012. Accessed 27 April 2012. Archived 7 August 2011.
  3. ^ From Harald Finehair to Håkon Håkonsson eight out of ten known queens were princesses from neighbouring countries. Steinar Imsen. Våre dronninger (Norwegian). Grøndahl og Dreyer. 1991. ISBN 82-09-10678-3
  4. ^ Knut Kjeldstadli. Norsk innvandringshistorie (Norwegian). Pax, 2003. ISBN 82-530-2541-6
  5. ^ "Norway received 500,000 immigrants in 10 years". norwaypost.no. Accessed 7 August 2011.
  6. ^ Framleis sterk folkevekst SSB, retrieved 21 February, 2013
  7. ^ Innvandring, utvandring og nettoinnvandring, etter statsborgerskap. 2012. SSB, retrieved 21 February, 2013
  8. ^ a b c d http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/02/01/10/innvbef_en/tab-2012-04-26-04-en.html
  9. ^ "Three categories of immigration background, country of birth and citizenship by country background and sex. 1 January 2012 ". Statistics Norway. 26 April 2012. Accessed 27 April 2012. Archived 7 August 2011.
  10. ^ Hare, Sophie. "Factbox – facts about Norway". Reuters. 22 July 2011. Accessed 22 July 2011.
  11. ^ "Statistics Norway – Persons with immigrant background by immigration category and country background". Ssb.no. 2011-01-01. Retrieved 2011-07-23. 
  12. ^ "De fleste innvandrerne er kristne" Google translation. NRK. 9 December 2009. Accessed 7 August 2011.
  13. ^ a b c d Daugstad, Gunnlaug; Østby, Lars (2009). "Et mangfold av tro og livssyn" [A variety of beliefs and denominations]. Det flerkulturelle Norge (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. Retrieved July 18, 2012. 
  14. ^ Leirvik, Oddbjørn. "Islam i Norge". Google translation. University of Oslo. 2008. Accessed 7 August 2011.
  15. ^ a b c Anders Ekeland (2011). "Stabil yrkesdeltakelse og ledighet" [Stable workforce participation and unemployment rates] (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. Retrieved July 18, 2012. 
  16. ^ "Tabell:05111: Personer i alderen 15-74 år, etter kjønn, arbeidsstyrkestatus og alder" [Persons aged 15-74, by gender, workforce status and age] (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. Retrieved July 18, 2012. 
  17. ^ "Tabell:05196: Folkemengde, etter kjønn, alder og statsborgerskap" [Table:05196: Population by gender, age and citizenship] (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. Retrieved July 18, 2012. 
  18. ^ "Tabell:07110: Innvandrere, etter landbakgrunn (verdensdel) og kjønn (K)" [Table:07110: Immigrants by country background (World part) and gender (municipality level)] (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. Retrieved July 18, 2012. 
  19. ^ a b Skarðhamar, Torbjørn; Thorsen, Lotte R.; Henriksen, Kristin (2011-09-12). Kriminalitet og straff blant innvandrere og øvrig befolkning [Crime and punishment among immigrants and non-immigrants] (pdf) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistics Norway. ISBN 978-82-537-8124-2. 
  20. ^ "Tabell: 09421: Siktede personer, etter hovedlovbruddskategori, hovedlovbruddsgruppe og statsborgerskap. Absolutte tall" [Table: 09421: Charged individuals, by main category of crimes, main group of crimes and citizenship. Absolute numbers] (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. Retrieved July 13, 2012. 
  21. ^ Tone Staude; Martin Fjørtoft (January 13, 2010). Rekordmange overfallsvoldtekter "Rekordmange overfallsvoldtekter" [Record number of assault rapes] (in Norwegian). Norsk Rikskringkasting. Retrieved July 13, 2012. 
  22. ^ Tanveer Hussain (May 2, 2012). "Myten om ikke-vestlige voldtektsmenn sprekker" [The myth about non-Western rapists is breaking up] (in Norwegian). Utrop. 
  23. ^ https://www.politi.no/vedlegg/lokale_vedlegg/oslo/Vedlegg_1309.pdf
  24. ^ "About UDI". Directorate of Immigration. Accessed 22 July 2011. Archived 7 August 2011.
  25. ^ "A brief history of the UDI". Directorate of Immigration. 6 May 2004. Accessed 22 July 2011. Archived 7 August 2011.
  26. ^ "About IMDi". Directorate of Integration and Diversity. Accessed 22 July 2011.
  27. ^ Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents
  28. ^ "Innvandrarbefolkninga og personar med annan innvandringsbakgrunn, etter innvandringskategori, kjønn og landbakgrunn. 1. januar 2001". Statistics Norway.  (Norwegian)
  29. ^ a b c 15,469 from Yugoslavia

Further reading [edit]

External links [edit]

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