Immigration and emigration, 2007

More than six out of ten immigrants arriving in 2007 came from EU countries. This was also the case in the 1960s, but the share decreased and as late as in 2003 the share was four out of ten. Major immigration in previous years has been due to extraordinary situations resulting in large numbers of refugees, partly from the Balkans, partly from Iraq and other countries in Asia and Africa. At the moment, however, labour immigration from Poland, Germany, Lithuania and Sweden account for the increase in net immigration.

On the whole, immigration from countries outside the EU has been relatively stable in recent years, but there are great variations from country to country. Immigration from Afghanistan has fallen significantly, whereas there has been an increase in immigration from countries like the Philippines, Thailand, India, Burma and Brazil. Immigration from Somalia has increased again following some years of decrease.

Europeans dominate

Polish citizens made up the largest group of immigrants (14 000) in 2007, followed by Swedish (4 300) and German citizens (3 600). This is the same order as in 2006.

Swedish citizens made up the largest group of emigrants with 2 200, followed by Danish, Polish and German citizens with 1 000, 600 and 500 respectively. Thus Polish citizens had the highest net immigration with 13 400 (compared with 6 800 in 2006), followed by German and Swedish citizens with 3 100 and 2 100 respectively. In the five years from 2003, net immigration from Poland has increased from 300 to 13 400. In comparison, net immigration from Germany has increased by 3 600, from Sweden by almost 3 000 and from Lithuania by 2 000.

8 300 Norwegian citizens immigrated and 8 800 emigrated, resulting in a net emigration of 500. This figure has varied considerably over time. In 1989, there was a net emigration of 9 300, while in 1993 there was a net immigration of 1 000. In 2000, there was a net emigration of 3 200, and in 2006 there was a net emigration of Norwegian citizens of 1 200.

Labour immigration dominates

From twelve countries the immigration was at 1 000 or more in 2007. Among these countries were six EU countries.

Where do they live?

Oslo had the highest number of immigrants with 13 700, followed by Akershus and Rogaland with 7 000 each.

Settlement patterns by county show that Oslo had the highest net immigration with 6 900, followed by Rogaland with 5 200. The four counties Oslo, Akershus, Rogaland and Hordaland accounted for more than half of the total net immigration. The total share of these four counties was 67 per cent of the net immigration in the 1980s, but was down to 34 per cent in 2003. Rogaland and Hordaland’s share of the net immigration has increased, from less than 10 per cent in the 1980s to 23 per cent in 2007. Correspondingly, Oslo and Akershus’ share has fallen from 50 per cent towards the end of the 1980s to 28 per cent in 2007.

The largest cities had the largest net immigration. After Oslo with 6 900, Bergen followed with 2 400, Stavanger with 2 000 and Trondheim with 1 400. In 2007, 400 of Norway’s 431 municipalities had net immigration.

Large share of Norwegian citizens

In total, 8 300 or 13 per cent of all immigrants were Norwegian citizens in 2007. Norwegian citizens account for a considerable share of the immigration from some countries. They may be students or professionals, or they live abroad in large parts of the year.

Tables:

• Table 1 Immigration and emigration. 1951-2007
• Table 2 Immigration/emigration, by county. 1966-2007
• Table 3 Immigration, by country. 1966-2007
• Table 4 Emigration, by country. 1966-2007
• Table 5 Net in-migration, by country. 1966-2007
• Table 6 Immigration and emigration, by sex, age and marital status of migrants. 2007
• Table 7 Immigration and emigration, by sex and age of migrants. 2007
• Table 8 Immigration and emigration, by sex, age of migrants and county. 2007
• Table 9 Immigration and emigration, by citizenship, 2007
• Table 10 Immigration and emigration, by Norwegian/foreign citizenship and country of immigration/emigration. 2007
• Table 11 Immigration, by citizenship and region. 2007
• Table 12 Emigration, by citizenship and region. 2007