Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents, 1 January 2005

The immigrant population increased by 17 000 persons in 2004, or 4.9 per cent. The birth surplus was 3 800 and the immigration surplus 13 200. As comparison the whole population increased by 29 000 persons, or 0.6 per cent.

Three in four with non-western origin

265 000, or 72 per cent, of the persons in the immigrant population had non-western origin, and they counted for 5.7 per cent of the Norwegian population. About 61 000 of these came form Eastern Europe. 25 years ago 31 per cent of the immigrant population had non-western origin.

Among the western immigrant groups, the proportion of first generation immigrants is high. This is due to the fact that western immigrants to a larger extent get children with Norwegians than non-western immigrants, and these children are not part of the immigrant population. When two western immigrants get children together, they more frequently move back to their country of origin than non-western immigrants.

There were 63 900 persons born in Norway to two foreign-born parents. Persons born to two Asian parents was the largest group with 38 000 persons. As comparison there were only 13 800 persons born to two European parents. From single countries there were most persons born in Norway to two Pakistani parents with 11 800, followed by persons with Vietnamese parents (5 800) and Turkish parents (4 500). The corresponding figures for those with Danish and Swedish parents were 1 400 and 1 000 respectively.

One in three has lived shorter than 5 years in Norway

At the beginning of 2005, 32 per cent of the first-generation immigrants have lived shorter than five years in Norway, while 16 per cent have lived in Norway 25 years or longer. Almost half of the Danes have lived in Norway more than 25 years. On the other end, 84 per cent of the Afghans have lived in Norway less then five years. There were also a high proportion of Iraqis and Somalis whom have lived shorter than five years in Norway - 57 and 55 per cent respectively.

Many women from Thailand and the Philippines

There were almost as many women as men in the immigrant population, and this is the case for most of the immigrant groups. The proportion of women was high from Thailand (85 per cent), Philippines (76 per cent) and Russia (66 per cent), while there were slightly more men than women from Afghanistan (60 per cent), Great Britain (59 per cent) and Iraq (58 per cent).

30 municipalities above the country's average

There were immigrants resident in all the Norwegian municipalities, but two did not have any non-western immigrants. 30 municipalities had a higher proportion of immigrants than the country's average of 7.9 per cent. Most of these municipalities are located in the area around Oslo. Oslo had the highest proportion of immigrants with 22 per cent, followed by Drammen (17 per cent), Lørenskog (14 per cent), Askim, Skedsmo and Båtsjord (all 12 per cent).

Oslo had the highest part of non-western immigrants with 18 per cent, followed by Drammen (14 per cent), Lørenskog (11 per cent), Askim and Skedsmo (both 10 per cent). 47 per cent of the non-western immigrant population and 38 per cent of the western immigrant population lived in Oslo and Akershus at the beginning of 2005.

More figures in StatBank

Tables:

• Table 1 Five different delimitations of persons with immigration background/foreign background, by citizenship and immigrant category. 1 January 2005
• Table 2 Population 1 January 2004 and 2005 and changes in 2004, by immigrant category and country background
• Table 3 Population by three variants of country background, country of birth and citizenship. 1 January 2005 (Corrected 3 April 2006)
• Table 4 Population by differnt grouping of three variants of country background, country of birth and citizenship, 1 january 2005
• Table 5 Immigrant population and persons with other immigrant background , by immigrant background, immigrant category and sex . 1 January 2005
• Table 6 Immigrant population and persons with other immigration background, by immigrant category, country background and age groups. 1 January 2005
• Table 7 Population by country background. 1970-2005. Foreign country background refers to immigrant population
• Table 8 Population by Norwegian/foreign citizenship and immigrant populations country background1. 1 January 2005 (Corrected 9 August 2005)
• Table 9 Population by age, sex and immigrant populations country background. 1 January 2005
• Table 10 Population by marital status, immigrant populations country background and sex. 1 January 2005
• Table 11 Immigrant population, by country background and municipality. 1 January 2005
• Table 12 Immigrant population by country background and county. 1 January 2005
• Table 13 Immigrant population, by country background, (largest groups). Selected municipalities. 1 January 2005
• Table 14 Immigrant population by fife groups of country background. Urban districts of Oslo. 1 January 2005
• Table 15 Immigrant population, by two groups of country background and age . Urban districts of Oslo. 1 January 2005
• Table 16 First generation immigrants, by lenght of stay 2 . 1 January 2005