Immigration and emigration, 2011

Of the 70 750 immigrants with citizenship other than Norwegian, 45 500 or 64 per cent were citizens of EU member countries. Similar percentages could also be seen in the 1960s, but the share decreased and as late as in 2003 was at 37 per cent. Extensive immigration in previous years has been due to large numbers of refugees, but particularly from 2006, labour immigration has accounted for the high immigration figures. This is particularly the case for Polish and Baltic citizens, but also for Swedes.

Seven out of ten immigrants are Europeans

A total of 50 000 Europeans with citizenship other than Norwegian immigrated, and as has been typical in recent years, Polish citizens made up the largest group, with 12 850; up 1 500 from the previous year. Swedish citizens followed next, with 8 200, followed by Lithuanian citizens, where the 7 750 immigrations were 1 100 more than the year before. These groups were by far the largest, and there is a major leap to the Filipino citizens, who constitute the fourth largest group, with 2 550 immigrations.

Immigration by citizens from countries in Southern Europe with economic problems, such as Spain, Portugal, Greece and Italy, increased by 33 per cent from 2010 to 2011, but the numbers are not high and reached 2 200 last year.

Immigration by citizens from refugee countries like Eritrea, Somalia and Afghanistan was slightly lower than the year before, at 4 750 compared to 5 000 in 2010.

Highest emigration ever among foreign citizens

Of the 32 500 who emigrated, 22 900 were foreign citizens, which is the highest figure ever registered and not far from twice the average for the last 20 years. While Polish citizens for the first and only time made up the largest group in 2009, the Swedish citizens again made up the largest group in 2011 with 5 400 emigrations compared with the 2 300 Polish. There was then a major leap down to the German and Filipino citizens, with 1 100 emigrations each.

Polish citizens had the highest net migration (immigration less emigration), with 10 550; up 3 000 from 2010, and close to the 11 900 in the record year 2008. These were followed by Lithuanian citizens, who had a net migration of 7 300. The third largest group was Swedish citizens, whose net migration was much lower than the first two groups, at 2 800.

Tables:

• Table 1 Immigration and emigration. 1951-2011
• Table 2 Immigration/emigration, by county. 1966-2011
• Table 3 Immigration, by country. 1966-2011
• Table 4 Emigration, by country. 1966-2011
• Table 5 Net in-migration, by country. 1966-2011
• Table 6 Immigration and emigration, by sex, age and marital status of migrants. 2011
• Table 7 Immigration and emigration, by sex and age of migrants. 2011
• Table 8 Immigration, emigration and net immigration, by sex, age of migrants and county. 2011
• Table 9 Immigration and emigration, by citizenship, 2011
• Table 10 Immigration and emigration, by Norwegian/foreign citizenship and country of immigration/emigration. 2011
• Table 11 Immigration, by citizenship and region. 2011
• Table 12 Emigration, by citizenship and region. 2011