Net migration to Oslo is halved

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Net migration to Oslo, Rogaland and Hordaland has fallen sharply, while Nordland, Hedmark and Sør-Trøndelag have experienced growth, according to new figures from the statistics Migrations. Akershus has by far the largest net migration.

Net migration to the counties – the sum of domestic net migration and net immigration – has not changed much from 2015 to 2016. The strongest decline is in Oslo, where the net migration has roughly halved, from 4 900 in 2015 to 2 400 in 2016. In Rogaland and Hordaland, the downturn has also been extensive, with a fall of 1 900 and 1 600 in net migration respectively, while the decline in Buskerud was 900. In the three counties with the greatest increase – Nordland, Hedmark and Sør-Trøndelag – net migration is up by around 700 in each county. Akershus has by far the greatest net migration, with 7 400, followed by Østfold and Sør-Trøndelag, each with a net migration of 2 700.

Figure 1

Figure 1. All migrations to and from the counties. 2016

Figure 2. Net migration, by county

Average 2011-2015 2015 2016
Rogaland 3636.6 718 -1220
Finnmark Finnmárku 320.8 -16 238
Møre og Romsdal 1717.4 997 513
Vest-Agder 1301 1057 602
Aust-Agder 887.8 776 611
Nord-Trøndelag 647.6 431 614
Sogn og Fjordane 213.6 255 655
Oppland 846.4 348 726
Telemark 734.4 711 796
Nordland 795.2 92 862
Troms Romsa 863.6 400 863
Hordaland 3963.2 2479 874
Hedmark 1131 634 1312
Buskerud 2723.6 2434 1560
Vestfold 1983.8 1968 1869
Oslo 6085 4927 2401
Sør-Trøndelag 2493 1967 2607
Østfold 2805.6 2508 2803
Akershus 7331.6 7116 7390

Moving loss in Rogaland

In 2015, the net migration in Rogaland was 700, but for the first time since 2000 this changed to a negative net migration in 2016, with 1 200 persons. The negative domestic net migration of 1 800 was slightly offset by a continued positive net immigration to Rogaland, of 600 people. Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents accounted for 500 of these, while the rest of the population accounted for 1 300.

A total of 26 100 people moved from a municipality in Rogaland, including 13 300 who moved to another municipality in the county. A total of 12 800 left Rogaland in favour of another county or abroad. Among the latter group, 5 200 moved abroad, and 2 000 and 1 600 moved to Bergen and Oslo respectively. Some also moved to Akershus and Vest-Agder, each with just under 700 in-migrations from Rogaland.

Less centralisation than in 2015

Despite the fall in migration in the most central municipalities from the peak in 2015 to 2016, domestic migration had a strong element of centralisation in 2016 compared to the years dating back to 2008.

The municipalities with the highest centrality had a domestic migration gain of 7 700 in 2016, which is almost 1 000 fewer than in 2015, but also 1 100 more than in 2014. The "middle" grouping of municipalities – smaller and somewhat central – saw a reduction in the domestic migration loss from 2015 to 2016, of less than 600. Their domestic migration loss was 4 400 in 2016. The least central municipalities had a domestic migration loss of 3 300, which is their lowest loss since 2012. Their loss was reduced by 400 from 2015.

Figure 3. Internal migration. Net migration. Centrality

Remote municipalities (code 0) Fairly remote municipalities (code 1) Fairly central municipalities (code 2) Central municipalities (code 3)
1975 -2285 760 700 825
1976 -1685 -61 830 916
1977 -969 7 1314 -352
1978 -1169 274 1596 -701
1979 -302 208 902 -808
1980 -762 9 564 189
1981 -1216 -130 51 1292
1982 -1650 -395 -313 2358
1983 -1562 -749 -243 2554
1984 -3444 -967 -1485 5896
1985 -5005 -1362 -723 7090
1986 -5431 -2077 -596 8104
1987 -4255 -1173 60 5368
1988 -3470 -682 -345 4497
1989 -2672 -48 114 2606
1990 -2517 -171 -783 3471
1991 -2652 -787 -1133 4572
1992 -2211 -534 -1035 3777
1993 -2418 -993 -1801 5212
1994 -3406 -1340 -566 5312
1995 -3439 -1835 -1355 6629
1996 -4011 -2164 -1380 7555
1997 -5492 -2306 -447 8245
1998 -5083 -1945 23 7005
1999 -3720 -1934 -772 6426
2000 -3581 -2314 -803 6698
2001 -3968 -2617 -1361 7949
2002 -3559 -2092 -1249 6900
2003 -3536 -1844 -1455 6835
2004 -4054 -1693 -2067 7814
2005 -4761 -2062 -1779 8602
2006 -4992 -2284 -1962 9238
2007 -4126 -2372 -1344 7842
2008 -3965 -1882 -580 6427
2009 -3162 -1763 -711 5636
2010 -2762 -1789 -602 5153
2011 -3050 -2041 -837 5928
2012 -3707 -1725 -1804 7236
2013 -3682 -2168 -1200 7050
2014 -3429 -1981 -1149 6559
2015 -3658 -2625 -2406 8689
2016 -3258 -2539 -1898 7695

The domestic migration activity across municipal borders was somewhat reduced in 2016, with 241 400 migrations recorded. That is 4 400 fewer than in 2015.

Fewer counties have domestic migration gains

Six counties had domestic migration gains, one less than the previous year, while thirteen had a domestic migration loss. The counties with a gain were Akershus, Østfold, Sør-Trøndelag, Vestfold, Buskerud and Hedmark. Akershus continued to have the largest domestic migration gains, with 5 700, which is 700 and 2 700 more than in 2015 and 2014 respectively. These included 4 200 immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrants, while the rest of the population counted 1 500. Rogaland, Nordland, Møre og Romsdal and Oslo are the counties with the largest domestic migration losses.

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