Persons with refugee background, 1 January 2007

Around 125 100 persons with refugee background were living in Norway on 1 January 2007. 94 900 were registered as principal applicants, while 30 200 came to Norway as dependents.

10 years ago, in 1997 the refugees from Balkan, Vietnam and Iran made up the largest groups of refugees in Norway. Since 1997, the number of persons with refugee background has increased from 63 300 to 125 100, an increase by 61 800 persons. While it was a minor increase in number of refugees from Balkan in the last 10 years, the largest increase is to find among refugees from Iraq (13 900), Somalia (10 100) and Afghanistan (6 000).

Refugees from Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan and Russia have the shortest stay in Norway. Refugees from Viet Nam are the group with the longest stay in Norway. 43 per cent of the Vietnamese refugees have been residents in Norway for more than 20 years.

1 in 15 lives in Oslo

There were persons with refugee background in all the Norwegian counties, but Oslo had highest proportion of persons with refugee background at the beginning of 2007, with 35 000 persons. That is 30 per cent of the total number of refugees in Norway, and 6.4 per cent of the total population in the capital. The lowest proportion of persons with the refugee background is found in Nord-Trøndelag and Troms with 1.1 and 1.2 per cent respectively.

Different age composition

The refugee population is younger than the Norwegian population. 45 per cent of refugees were between 20 and 39 year old, compared with 27 per cent in the entire population on1 January 2007. It is that We find relatively few persons with the refugee background in age groups 67 years or older and children 0- 5 years. One of the explanations is that the children to refugees born in Norway are not included in the refugee population.

9 in 10 Vietnamese and have Norwegian citizenship

At 1 January 2007, 52 per cent of the refugees had Norwegian citizenship. This percentage varies from below 10 per cent for persons with Afghani and Russian background, while the largest groups from 1997 have a high ratio of Norwegian citizens, over 60 per cent. Groups with the longest residence in Norway have the highest ratio of Norwegian citizens. As many as 91 per cent of Vietnamese has Norwegian citizenship.

Tables:

• Table 1 Different definitions of refugees, by country background and refugee status. 1 January 2007
• Table 2 Refugees, by country background, citizenship and duration of residence in Norway. 1 January 2007
• Table 3 Different definitions of refugees, by country background and age. 1 January 2007
• Table 4 Refugees, by country background, citizenship and sex. 1 January 2007
• Table 5 Different definitions of refugees, by refugee status and county. 1 January 2007