Almost 1.3 million have immigrated to Norway since 1990

jobsKarl Johans gate. Photo Norway Today Media.

Since 1990, 1,275,000 people have immigrated into Norway. At the turn of the year, 73% of these immigrants still lived here.

 

Six out of ten in this group (789,000 people), come from countries outside the Nordic region. Of these, 36% were immigrants, 33% were immigrant workers, 20% were refugees, and 10% were students, showed figures released by Statistics Norway (SSB) on Monday.

In total, 157,000 refugees have lived in Norway since 1990. The number almost doubled between 2014 and 2016, largely due to the influx from Syria.

The largest refugee groups are from Somalia, Eritrea, Syria and Iraq. Six out of ten refugees who come to Norway are men, and two out of three refugees were under 30 when they arrived.

The largest groups of immigrants from countries outside the Nordic countries are from Poland, Lithuania,Germany, Somalia, and the Philippines.

Since 2011, labour immigration has fallen, but it remains significant, according to Statistics Norway.

It is clear that most are Polish labour immigrants, and the second largest group have come from Lithuania, but immigrant workers are less likely to live in Norway permanently than refugees, and families of immigrants.

At the turn of the year, one in six residents of Norway had immigrant backgrounds, and almost half had a background from Asia or Africa.

 

NTB Scanpix / Norway Today