Low population growth in Norway in the second quarter

People at Karl Johan in Oslo.Photo: Vidar Ruud / NTB scanpix

Lower immigration and fewer births caused population growth in Norway to be at its lowest since 2005.

 

There were a total of 5,312,300 people in Norway on the 1st of July this year according to Statistics Norway.

The population increased by 9,600 in the months of April, May and June.That is 1,050 fewer than in the same period last year.

One must go back to 2005 to find weaker population growth in the second quarter.

Lower immigration is the main reason for this development.10,700 people immigrated, which represents a decline of 1,700 people from the previous year.

Fewer from Syria and Eritrea

Net immigration, the number of those who immigrated minus the number of emigrants, was 4,600. This is about half of the level of net immigration in the same period in the years 2008 to 2012, when immigration was far higher.

The decline in immigration is mainly due to the fact that there are fewer people with Syrian or Eritrean citizenship entering the country.There has also been a slight decline in immigration from Afghanistan and Somalia.’

However, from countries in Eastern Europe there has been a slight increase in net immigration.

Lower population figures in several counties

14,700 children were born in the second quarter.That is a decrease of 400 from the same quarter last year and approximately 4% lower than the average for April, May and June in the past 20 years.The number of deaths remained constant.

The birth surplus was highest in Oslo, Rogaland, Akershus, Hordaland,and Vest-Agder for the surplus in relation to the total population in the counties.

In the counties of Hedmark, Oppland and Telemark, more died than were born.

In the second quarter,the population lost a little in the counties of Finnmark,Oppland, Vest-Agder and Sogn og Fjordane.The rest of the counties had population growth, and growth was highest in Oslo and Akershus.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today