Statistics on reasons for immigration 1990-2011, what do we know and how can we best use this information?

Statistics Norway's official statistics on reasons for immigration provides an overview of the five most important reasons for persons to migrate to Norway: labour, family, protection/refugee, education and other immigration . This publication presents a broader description of the detailed codes from the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) which are included in these five main categories. The population consists of foreign-born non-Nordic citizens registered as resident in Norway in the Norwegian Population Register for the first time in 1990 or later.

In the period between1990-2011, about 525 000 persons with non-Nordic citizenship immigrated to Norway. 37 per cent of all first-time immigrations in this period were family immigrations. 30 per cent came for work purposes and 21 per cent came as refugees. 11 per cent of the first time immigrants came for educational reasons.

Not everyone immigrating to Norway stays here for the rest of their lives. The reason for immigration is significant for to what degree the immigrants leave the country. The number of labour immigrants still living in Norway drops substantially after a few years while majority of those who immigrated as refugees and family immigrants still lived in country by 1 January 2012. Immigrants who have come on the basis of education or cultural exchange is significantly less sedentary than immigrants with other immigration reasons.