Immigration to Norway - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The number of immigrants in Norway is currently approximately 601,000, which corresponds to 12.2 percent of the total population (2011). In addition to these, 213,486 are born in Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

with one immigrant parent, 31,540 are born abroad with one Norwegian parent, and 37,056 are born abroad to Norwegian parents (including adopted children). The population of Norway is about 4.9 million. In 2011 the net migration rate was at 42,622. In 2011, of the total 600,922 with immigrant background, 245 751 had Norwegian citizenship (42.1 percent). The cities or municipalities with the highest share of immigrants are Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

(27%) and Drammen

Drammen

Drammen is a city in Buskerud County, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the eastern and most populated part of Norway.-Location:...

(22%). The five largest immigrant groups in Norway are in turn Polish

Poles

thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...

, Swedish, Pakistanis, Iraqi

Iraqis in Norway

The population of Iraqis in Norway has shown a large increase over the last years due to the Iraq war. Iraqis have become the fourth largest immigrant group in Norway after Polish, Pakistanis and Swedes...

and Somali

Somali people

Somalis are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family...

History

Norway has a long history of immigration. During the Viking era, almost all Norwegian kings sought their wives from foreign countries, thus seeking allies in other royal houses.

Social and economic innovation has frequently been connected to immigration: the hanseatic league

Hanseatic League

The Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...

introduced large scale trade in Bergen and Northern Norway. Mining

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

in Kongsberg

Kongsberg

is a town and municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. It is located at the southern end of the traditional region of Numedal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Kongsberg....

, Røros

Røros

is a town and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Gauldalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Røros. Other villages include Brekken, Glåmos, Feragen, Galåa, and Hitterdalen....

and other places was made possible by immigrants from nearby countries, and from ca 1500 until the first university was established in Christiania

Oslo

in 1811, almost all civil servants were immigrants. During the 19th century the evolution of dairies

Dairy

A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting of animal milk—mostly from cows or goats, but also from buffalo, sheep, horses or camels —for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on a dedicated dairy farm or section of a multi-purpose farm that is concerned...

and the industrial exploitation of waterfall

Waterfall

A waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation:Waterfalls are commonly formed when a river is young. At these times the channel is often narrow and deep. When the river courses over resistant bedrock, erosion happens...

s depended on immigrants.

Contemporary immigration

The main waves of immigrants in the 20th and 21st century were caused by wars and riots in the migrants' home countries: Jews

Jews

The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...

from eastern Europe early in the 20th century, refugees from Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

in the 1950s, from Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

and Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

in the 1970s. In the mid 1980s, there was an increase in the number of asylum seekers from countries such as Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

and Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

. In the 1990s, war refugees from the Balkans were the predominant immigrant group accepted into Norway; a large number of which have since returned home to Kosovo. Since the end of the 1990s, new groups of asylum seekers from countries such as Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

, Somalia

Somalia

Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...

, and Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

arrived.

In 2006, Norway received a record 45,800 migrants with 22,100 leaving, for a net immigration of 23,700. This was 30 percent higher than in 2005.

Population

The number of immigrants in Norway and children of two immigrant parents was in 2010 approximately 552,000 combined, which corresponded to 11.4% of the total population (2010). In addition to these, 206,627 are born in Norway with one immigrant parent, 30,766 are born abroad with one Norwegian parent, and 36,688 are born abroad to Norwegian parents (including adopted children). In 2009, the Norwegian net migration rate was at 43,346. Of the total 600,922 with immigrant background, 245,751 had Norwegian citizenship (42.1 percent). The cities or municipalities with the highest share of immigrants in 2010 was Oslo

Oslo

(27 percent) and Drammen

Drammen

Drammen is a city in Buskerud County, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the eastern and most populated part of Norway.-Location:...

(22 percent). According to Reuters

Reuters

Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...

, Oslo is the "fastest growing city in Europe because of increased immigration".

Countries of origin

Rank	Country of origin	Population (2001)	Population (2011)
1.	Poland	6,432	60,610
2.	Sweden	23,010	34,108
3.	Pakistan	23,581	31,884
4.	Iraq	12,357	27,827
5.	Somalia	10,107	27,523
6.	Germany	9,448	24,394
7.	Vietnam	15,880	20,452
8.	Denmark	19,049	19,522
9.	Iran	11,016	16,957
10.	Turkey	10,990	16,430
11.	Lithuania	378	16,309
12.	Bosnia and Herzegovina	12,944	16,125
13.	Russia	3,749	15,879
14.	Philippines	5,885	14,797
15.	Sri Lanka	10,335	14,017
16.	United Kingdom	10,925	13,395
17.	Republic of Kosovo	0	13,303
18.	Thailand	3,738	13,293
19.	Afghanistan	1,346	12,043
20.	India	6,140	10,096
21.	Morocco	5,719	8,305
22.	People's Republic of China	3,654	7,895
23.	United States	7,253	7,853
24.	Eritrea	813	7,728
25.	Chile	6,491	7,708
26.	Netherlands	3,848	7,251
27.	Finland	6,776	6,626
28.	Iceland	3,756	6,022
29.	Ethiopia	2,803	5,805
30.	Kingdom of Romania	1,054	5,670
31.	Latvia	385	4,979
32.	Early Modern France	2,350	4,289
33.	Myanmar	63	3,350
34.		64	3,340
35.	Independent State of Croatia	1,863	3,327
36.		789	3,244
37.	Brazil	824	3,017
38.	Serbia	0	2,987
39.	Ukraine	399	2,918
40.	Estonia	342	2,871
41.	Kingdom of Bulgaria	842	2,693
42.	Hungary	1,666	2,599
43.	Spain	1,382	2,577
44.	Slovakia	207	2,498
45.	Lebanon	1,613	2,476
46.	Italy	1,265	2,230
47.		276	2,183
48.	Syria	860	2,163
49.	Ghana	1,355	2,116
50.	Canada	1,120	1,680
51.	Czech Republic	557	1,614
52.	Sudan	433	1,611
53.	Algeria	927	1,525
54.	The Gambia	1,050	1,472
55.	Nigeria	541	1,389
56.	Kenya	689	1,344
57.	Colombia	604	1,307
58.	Australia	609	1,294
59.	Switzerland	922	1,242
60.	Indonesia	405	1,237
61.	Portugal	704	1,226
62.	Burundi	69	1,192
63.	Peru	492	1,124
64.	Liberia	29	1,116
65.	Tunisia	648	1,097
66.	Austria	768	1,074
67.	Uganda	501	941
68.	Belgium	595	939
69.	Nepal	157	893
70.	Egypt	413	883
71.	Bangladesh	490	850
72.	Mexico	358	846
73.	Greece	533	834
73.	Hong Kong	742	834
74.	Japan	562	831
75.	South Korea	393	828
76.	South Africa	491	809
77.	Tanzania	464	784
78.	Cuba	286	781
79.	Kazakhstan	60	767
80.	Belarus	134	752
81.	Faroe Islands	770	751
82.	Republic of Ireland	445	727
83.	Argentina	378	700
84.	Rwanda	218	688
85.	Dominican Republic	276	648
86.	Venezuela	152	641
87.	Israel	485	630
88.	Sierra Leone	247	574
89.	Albania	156	539
90.	Cameroon	83	534
91.	Malaysia	257	514
92.	Cape Verde	297	505
93.	Cambodia	277	500
94.	Azerbaijan	95	476
95.	New Zealand	252	453
96.	Jordan	144	436
97.	Angola	96	434
98.	Moldova	43	376
99.	Ecuador	174	375
99.	Kingdom of Montenegro	0	375
100.	Singapore	220	366
101.	Kuwait	133	359
102.	Uzbekistan	35	355
103.	Libya	62	329
104.	Zambia	114	324
105.	Côte d'Ivoire	110	269
106.	Saudi Arabia	47	264
107.	Trinidad and Tobago	204	263
108.	Yemen	51	259
109.	Bhutan	10	253
110.	Armenia	47	251
111.	Georgia (country)	47	248
112.	Bolivia	134	245
113.	Slovenia	53	238
114.	Republic of China	113	227
115.	Senegal	83	220
116.	Mauritius	181	214
117.	Madagascar	141	212
118.	Zimbabwe	119	210
119.	El Salvador	134	202
119.	United Arab Emirates	33	202
120.	Uruguay	167	197
121.	Guinea	39	175
122.		60	164
122.	Kyrgyzstan	6	164
123.	Guatemala	81	162
124.	Jamaica	73	147
125.	Nicaragua	78	137
126.	Togo	80	135
127.	Mozambique	72	128
128.	Honduras	64	103

Religion

Immigration has altered the religious demography of Norway, with Islam

Islam in Norway

Islam is the largest minority religion in Norway, which consist between 2.0% and 3.4% of the population. In 2007, government statistics registered 79,068 members of Islamic congregations in Norway, about 10% more than in 2006. 56% lived in the counties of Oslo and Akershus...

now the second largest religion with up to 163,000 adherents, accounting for about 3.4% of the total population (2009). Other religions which have increased mainly as a result of recent post-war immigration (with adherents in parenthesis), include Roman Catholicism

Roman Catholicism in Norway

Roman Catholicism in Norway is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope, the Curia in Rome and the Scandinavian Bishops Conference.There are about 83,000 - 230,000 Catholics in the country, 70% of whom were born abroad...

(1.2%/4.7%), Hinduism

Hinduism in Norway

In Norway 0.1% of the total population are Hindus, of South Asian descent and around 75% of those are Tamil Hindus from Sri Lanka.-Ethnic Background of Hindus in Norway:...

(0.5%), Buddhism

Buddhism in Norway

Buddhism in Norway has existed since the beginning of the 1970s, after immigration from countries with Buddhist populations, mainly Vietnam. Buddhistforbundet in Norway was established as a religious society in 1979 by two Buddhist groups who wanted to create a common organization to preserve...

(0.4%), Orthodoxy

Orthodoxy in Norway

Orthodoxy in Norway is a small minority religion in Norway with 8,492 official members in 2010, up from 2,315 in 2000.- History of the Orthodox Church in Norway :...

(0.2%) and Bahá'í Faith

Bahá'í Faith in Norway

The Bahá'í Faith in Norway began with contact between traveling Scandinavians with early Persian believers of the Bahá'í Faith in the mid-to-late 19th century...

(<0.1%).

Among the immigrants, 250,030 have background from Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

countries, 119,662 from Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

countries, 28,942 from Buddhist countries, and 7,224 from Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

countries.

Employment

The unemployment

Unemployment

Unemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...

rate for foreign-born Norwegians is 9.2 percent, compared to a figure of 2.1 percent for the general population.

Demographic

Since 1970, the immigrant population from Nordic countries and Western Europe

Western Europe

Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...

has increased modestly from around 50,000 to around 120,000. In the same time frame however, the immigrant population from outside these regions, has increased dramatically from barely anything to more than 420,000 (137,572 from Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...

, and 284,246 from Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

, Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

and South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

). During the course of the first four-year term of the ruling Red-Green Coalition government (2005–2009), the immigrant population of Norway increased by 41 percent, or 143,300 persons. From 2000 to 2010, 510,748 persons received permanent residence permits.

Legal and administration issues

The Directorate of Immigration (UDI) is responsible for the administration of immigration into the country. Before the UDI was established in 1998, several government organisations were involved in administrating immigration. Another body, Integrerings- og mangfoldsdirektoratet (IMDi) (Directorate of Integration and Diversity), "contribute[s] to equality in living conditions and diversity through employment, integration and participation".

External links

Directorate of Immigration
Integrerings- og mangfoldsdirektoratet (Directorate of Integration and Diversity)

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

History

Contemporary immigration

Population

Countries of origin

Religion

Employment

Demographic

Legal and administration issues

Further reading

External links