Key figures for immigration and immigrants

Last updated: 25 September 2014

Statistics Norway publishes statistics and analyses on immigration , immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents . These form a picture of the scope of immigration to Norway and immigrants’ settlement patterns, employment and living conditions.

Number of immigrants and norwegian born with imigrant parents, by country of origin. 1 January¹
	Number	Five years earlier	Ten years earlier	Period
¹Due to rounding of the numbers at an aggregate level, the sums may deviate from the actual numbers in the Statbank
Persons with immigrant background, total	759 185	508 199	348 940	2014
EU28/EEA, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand	331 596	191 739	117 872	2014
Asia, Africa, Latin America, Oceania excl. Australia and New Zealand, and Europe outside EU/EEA	427 589	316 460	231 068	2014
Immigrants, total	633 109	422 595	289 104	2014
EU28/EEA, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand	307 186	180 374	109 801	2014
Asia, Africa, Latin America, Oceania excl. Australia and New Zealand, and Europe outside EU/EEA	325 923	242 221	179 303	2014
Norwegian-born to immigrant parents, total	126 073	85 604	59 836	2014
EU28/EEA, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand	24 407	11 365	8 071	2014
Asia, Africa, Latin America, Oceania excl. Australia and New Zealand, and Europe outside EU/EEA	101 666	74 239	51 765	2014

Immigration, emigration and net-migration, by world region¹
	Number	Five years earlier	Ten years earlier	Period
¹Due to rounding of the numbers at an aggregate level, the sums may deviate from the actual numbers in the Statbank
Immigration	75 791	66 960	35 958	2013
EU/EEA, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand	49 967	47 829	20 312	2013
Asia, Africa, Latin America, Oceania excl. Australia and New Zealand, and Europe outside EU/EEA	25 822	18 307	15 421	2013
Stateless	428	808	200	2013
Unspecified	43	16	25	2013
Emigration	35 714	23 617	24 672	2013
EU/EEA, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand	19 811	19 985	20 119	2013
Asia, Africa, Latin America, Oceania excl. Australia and New Zealand, and Europe outside EU/EEA	15 905	12	4 529	2013
Stateless	26	12	19	2013
Unspecified	4	3	5	2013
Net migration	40 077	43 343	11 286	2013
EU/EEA, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand	22 404	27 844	193	2013
Asia, Africa, Latin America, Oceania excl. Australia and New Zealand, and Europe outside EU/EEA	17 232	14 690	10 892	2013
Stateless	402	796	181	2013
Unspecified	39	13	14	2013

Employed, by immigrant category, world region and sex. Percentage share of persons aged 15-74 years in each category
	Share	Change in % previous year	Year
Both sexes
Total population	68.6	-0.1	2013
Immigrants, total	63.1	0.5	2013
EU/EEA, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand	73.0	0.3	2013
Asia, Africa, Latin America, Oceania excl. Australia and New Zealand, and Europe outside EU/EEA	54.1	0.2	2013
Women
Total population	65.6	-0.2	2013
Immigrants, total	57.7	0.7	2013
EU/EEA, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand	68.2	0.4	2013
Asia, Africa, Latin America, Oceania excl. Australia and New Zealand, and Europe outside EU/EEA	50.3	0.4	2013
Men
Total population	71.4	-0.3	2013
Immigrants, total	67.9	0.1	2013
EU/EEA, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand	76.3	0.1	2013
Asia, Africa, Latin America, Oceania excl. Australia and New Zealand, and Europe outside EU/EEA	58.2	-0.2	2013

Students in tertiary education in per cent of registered age group 19-24 years, by country of origin and sex
	Share	Change in % previous year	Year
Both sexes
Total population	33.7	4.0	2013
Immigrants, total	16.2	3.8	2013
Norwegian-born to immigrant parents	40.6	5.5	2013
Women
Total population	40.1	2.6	2013
Immigrants, total	18.8	2.2	2013
Norwegian-born to immigrant parents	46.1	4.5	2013
Men
Total population	27.5	5.4	2013
Immigrants, total	13.6	5.4	2013
Norwegian-born to immigrant parents	35.5	7.3	2013

Persons with an immigrant background
As of 1 January 2014, around 760 000 persons resident in Norway were either immigrants (633 100) or born in Norway to two immigrant parents (126 000). These groups combined make up 14.9 per cent of the population of Norway.
From many different countries
The population of Norway includes persons with backgrounds from 221 different countries and autonomous regions. The largest groups of immigrants are from Poland, Sweden and Lithuania.
In all municipalities
There are immigrants in all Norwegian municipalities, most in Oslo and Drammen, where immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents make up 31 and 26 per cent of the population respectively in 2014.
Many young immigrants
Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents are, on average, much younger than the population in general. The immigrant group is made up of a large number of young adults. Over half of all immigrants in Norway are aged between 20 and 40. Only 8 per cent are over the age of 60. Children born to immigrants in Norway are even younger. Slightly more than half are below the age of 10, 80 per cent are under 20 and just 1.6 per cent are over 40 years of age.
Period of residence
There are major disparities in how long immigrants have lived in Norway. Some groups, including those from Pakistan, Vietnam, Turkey and Morocco, have lived in Norway for a long time, while immigrants from the new EU countries – particularly Poland and Lithuania – have lived here for a shorter period of time; mostly less than five years. Refugees from Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan have also lived in Norway for a relatively short period of time.
Various reasons for immigrating
Immigrants move to Norway due to work, family, as refugees or to study. Since 2007, work has been the most common reason for immigration , followed by family immigration.

Participation in the labour market
A total of 63.1 per cent of immigrants aged 15-74 years were in employment in 2013, compared to 68.6 per cent of the population as a whole. Among immigrants, the share of men in employment is far higher than for women. The gender gap is twice as large among immigrants compered to the population as a whole. There are also major disparities in employment between the different country groups. Seventy-three per cent of the immigrants from the EU etc. were in employment in 2013, while the share among immigrants from Asia was 55.2 per cent and from Africa 41.9 per cent.
Many take tertiary education
In 2013, 41 per cent of the 19-24 year-olds born in Norway to two immigrant parents were university or college students . The corresponding figure for immigrants was 16 per cent, and for all 19-24 year-olds as a whole the figure was 36 per cent. The relatively low share among immigrants is largely due to the fact that many immigrants in this age group come to Norway to work – not to study.
Statistics since 1865
Statistics Norway has published figures on “foreign-born persons” ever since the census of 1865. At that time, 1.2 per cent of the population were born abroad; mostly in Sweden. By 1920, the share had risen to 2.8 per cent, but sank again during World War II, and in 1950 was 1.4 per cent. After the war, Norway received refugees from Eastern Europe, followed by labour immigrants from other parts of the world. After the freeze on labour immigration in 1975, it was mostly refugees from Asia, Africa, South America and Eastern Europe that came to Norway. The expansion of the EU in 2004 led to a marked increase in immigration from new EU countries, particularly from Poland and Lithuania.
Religion and ethnicity
No register is kept of persons broken down by religion, beliefs or ethnicity. Details are available, however, on the number of members of religious and philosophical communities that receive government funding.