Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents, 1 January 2003

At the beginning of 2003 the immigrant population in Norway counted 332 800 persons, and this amounted to 7.3 per cent of the total population.

The immigrant population is here defined as persons who either self have immigrated to Norway or who are born of two non - Norwegian born parents . The population can accordingly be divided into the following groups : On the one hand the immigrant population contains first generation immigrants without any Norwegian background which are born abroad of two foreign - born parents . On the other hand it includes persons born in Norway with two foreign - born parents . Persons with one foreign - born parent and persons born abroad of Norwegian - born parents are not part of the immigration population .

During 2002 the immigrant population increased by 22 100 persons. 17 200 of these were first generation immigrants (net immigration). Nevertheless the highest increase in percentage was found among persons born in Norway of two foreign-born parents. This group increased from 51 500 to 55 500 persons, or 7.8 per cent.

Immigrants with Iraqi origin increased the most, by 2 800. The number of immigrants from Somalia and Bosnia -Herzegovina increased considerably as well - by 2 400 and 2 300 persons respectively.

Similar to previous years, Pakistanis and Swedes are still the largest immigrant groups. 25 500 persons with Pakistani origin resided in Norway by the turn of the year, accounting for 8 per cent of the total immigrant population. If we look at first generation immigrants only, Swedes and Danes are the largest groups.

A comparison between western and non-western immigrants indicates that 99 000 persons, or 30 per cent of all immigrants originated from a western country.

In the last 10 years the immigrant population grew by 72 per cent. Except for people with North American and Oceanian background, all immigration groups increased during this decade. The number of Eastern-Europeans increased the most. Currently there are almost three times as many people from Eastern European countries in Norway as there were ten years ago. Also the group of people with background from Asia, Africa and South America increased markedly. The total number of immigrants with the latter background doubled during the last decade.

Marriage is more common among immigrants

Compared to the general population, most immigrants are married. Unmarried people are more rare among the immigrant population. Another difference seems to be that there are fewer widows and widower among immigrants. Immigrants are also more frequently separated than others.

Yet we find wide differences among the several immigration groups in Norway. Differences in marital status depend on the one hand on age distribution between the groups, and on the other hand on differences in marriage and cohabitant patterns.

Equal gender distribution

On 1 January 2003 the immigration population consisted of as many men as women (165 300 men and 167 500 women). Nevertheless, there were considerable differences depending on country background. A larger surplus of men was found among immigrants from Iraq, Great Britain and Morocco with 62, 58 and 57 per cent respectively. Among immigrants from Thailand, the Philippines and Russia there was a surplus of women (84, 76 and 75 per cent respectively).

Non-western immigrants were younger than the Norwegian population as a whole. 84 per cent of all immigrants who are younger than 30 years are of non-western origin. One explanation for this phenomenon may be that many western immigrants are married to someone who is not part of the immigrant population. Consequently their children are not included in the immigrant population.

Most immigrants in Oslo

One third of the immigrant population was found in Oslo. Bergen, Stavanger, Bærum and Trondheim also had high portions of immigrants.

The immigrant population in Oslo increased by 6 900 persons during the previous year, and immigrants accounted for 21.2 per cent of the population in the capital. 80 per cent of the immigrants in Oslo were of non-western origin.

The highest portion of immigrants in Oslo was found in Søndre Nordstrand where 38 per cent of the population was immigrants. In Gamle Oslo and Stovner the portion was 36 per cent. The lowest portion of immigrants was found in Grefsen-Kjelsås (8.5 per cent) and Nordstrand (8.0 per cent).

Between western and non-western immigrants quite different settlement patterns were observed. Non- western immigrants are heavily represented in Romsås, Stovner og Furuset. In these parts of the capital more than 93 per cent of the immigrant population was of non-western origin. The average for Oslo is 80 per cent.

Also in absolute figures Søndre Nordstand was the area with most non-western immigrants. 11 400 out of 12 400 immigrants were non-western. Furuset and Gamle Oslo also had many non-western immigrants, 8 900 persons and 8 200 non-western immigrants respectively.

Duration of residence varies

First generation immigrants may be divided into three different groups concerning duration of residence in Norway. Approximately one third has lived in Norway less than 5 years, another third has resided in Norway between 5 and 14 years, and the last third have been residents in Norway for more than 15 years.

Among those with the longest stay in Norway there were many immigrants with European background - especially Danes and Swedes.

Tables:

• Table 1 Five different delimitations of persons with immigration background/foreign background, by citizenship and immigrant category. 1 January 2003
• Table 2 Population 1 January 2002 and 2003 and changes in 2002, by immigrant category
• Table 3 Population by three variants of country background, country of birth and citizenship.1 January 2003 (Corrected 12 June 2003)
• Table 4 Population by grouping of three variants of country background, country of birth and citizenship, 1 january 2003
• Table 5 Immigrant population and persons with other immigrant background, by immigrant category, sex and country of birth. 1 January 2003
• Table 6 Immigrant population and persons with other immigration background, by immigrant category and age groups. 1 January 2003
• Table 7 Population, by country background. 1970-2003. Foreign country background refers to immigrant population
• Table 8 Population by Norwegian1. 1 January 2003
• Table 9 Population by age, sex and immigrant populations country of birth. 1 January 2003
• Table 10 Population by marital status, immigrant populations country og birth and sex. 1 January 2003
• Table 11 Immigrant population, by country background and municipality. Classified by size of immigrant population. 1 January 2003
• Table 12 Immigrant population , by five groups of country background and municipality. 1 January 2003
• Table 12 Immigrant population , by country background and county. 1 January 2003
• Table 13 Immigrant population by country of birth (largest groups). Selected municipalities. 1 January 2003
• Table 14 Immigrant population, by five groups of country background. Urban districts of Oslo. 1 January 2003
• Table 15 Immigrant population by fife groups of country background and age . Urban districts of Oslo. 1 January 2003
• Table 16 First generation immigrants , by length of stay2 . 1 January 2003
• Table 17 First generation immigrants by lenght of stay (period) 2 . 1 January 2003