Oslo has long been among Europe’s fastest-growing capitals. New statistics show that the overall population nationwide was up again at the end of last year.
Norway had an official populati0n of 5,258,317 as of December 31, 2016. That’s up 44,300, or 0.9 percent, from the year before, and the largest increase was among men.
State statistics bureau SSB (Statistics Norway) reports that around two-thirds of the growth is tied to net immigration. Akershus County recorded the largest growth percentage-wise, while the Norwegian capital of Oslo had, as expected the largest population concentration of 667,000. That’s more, reported The Independent Barents Observer, than the population of the entire country north of Trondheim (external link).
Norway’s population of foreign citizens has more than doubled than 2008, reported SSB, from 266,000 in to 559,2018 as of New Year. That coincides with the economic boom that extended from the late 2000s until oil prices collapsed in 2014, at a time when economic times were much worse on the European continent. Many Europeans came to Norway in search of work.
Immigrants and migrant workers now make up about 10.6 percent of the population, up from 5.6 percent in 2008. Citizens of Poland remain the single largest group of expatriates, followed by Swedes and Lithuanians.
newsinenglish.no staff
