Half Norway’s population received money from NAV in 2017

NAV Social security fraud, NAV Rule labour marketNAV.Photo: Norway Today Media

Every second resident of Norway received a benefit from NAV at least once in 2017, and one in three received a benefit as a substitute for income.

 

NAV paid NOK 421 billion to Norwegians last year. On average,NAV paid NOK 80,000 per capita.

Retirement pensioners top the list (953 800 people), followed by recipients of child allowance (726 600) and sickness benefit (497 800).

“Even though many of the recipients received old-age pensions and child allowance, we still see that every third resident of working age received an unemployment benefit from NAV last year. It shows both the importance of the National Insurance
Scheme to the Norwegian welfare state, and how common it is to get help from NAV during demanding phases of life,’’ said Sigrun Vågeng, Labour and Welfare Director.

Every month, one in five received a living benefit

Survival benefits are sickness benefits, unemployment benefits,disability benefits, and other benefits related to work or illness.

In total, this amounted to NOK 172 billion in 2017 and was paid to 1,152,000 people.

This means that every third person (34%) aged 18-66 who lived in Norway last year received such a benefit at least once in 2017.

On a monthly basis, the proportion was one in five (20%). Oslo was lowest, with 15% and Aust-Agder highest by 27%.

Retirement pension raises the growth in payments

NOK 209 billion were pension payments, NOK 172 billion were work or sickness-related benefits, NOK 36 billion were benefits to parents of young children, and NOK 4 billion were payments of other benefits.

The increase in payments to persons living in Norway from 2016 to 2017 was NOK 11 billion (3%). Most of the growth is due to the payment of NOK 9 billion more to retirement pensioners (a 5% increase) and NOK 3 billion more to beneficiaries of disability benefits (a 4% increase).

The daily allowance had a reduction of NOK 1.4 billion (a 9% reduction),reflecting the improvement in the labour market and the decline in unemployment throughout the year. For the other benefits, there were smaller increases and reductions, which in total correspond to a 0.3% increase over the previous year.

 

© Nav / #Norway Today