Record number of unaccompanied minors are residing in Norway as refugees

RefugeesRefugees.Photo: pixabay.com

Never before have so many unaccompanied minors been living in Norway as refugees as over the past two years, according to new figures from Statistisk sentralbyrå (Statistics Norway – SSB).

The new SSB figures show that in 2015 , for the first time, 1,000 unaccompanied refugee minors became residents of Norway. This was repeated in 2016.

At year end, 8300 people with a background of being an unaccompanied minor refugee, from a total of 77 different countries, lived in Norway.

25% of these have been resident in Norway during the past two years. Most were from Afghanistan (43%), Eritrea (16%), and Somalia (14%).

About half of those settled in 2015 and 2016 were from Afghanistan. 570 from Eritrea, and 320 from Syria were given residence during the same period. These three countries dominate among those settled here during 2015 and 2016. They make up 92% of unaccompanied minor refugees residing here during the past two years.

95% of those who have been resident in Norway as unaccompanied minor refugees are still living here, while the remaining 5% (450 people), have since moved from the country.

Those who have been resident as unaccompanied refugee minors are now older, and few are minors today. 13% are under 18, while the majority are over 20 years of age. Every fifth person has passed the age of 30.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today