Norway experienced its biggest population increase in more than a decade during the first quarter of this year. There are now more than 5.5 million Norwegians, according to state statistics bureau SSB (Statistics Norway): 5,504,284 to be exact.
That’s up by 15,300 over the first quarter of last year and linked primarily to the ongoing influx of Ukrainian refugees. Of the 20,900 people who moved to Norway during the first three months of 2023, fully 7,700 of them were Ukrainian citizens, mostly fleeing Russia’s war on their homeland.
Net immigration (immigration minus emigration) was the highest for a first quarter since SSB started publishing such data in 1997. It amounted to 14,600, since 6,300 people left the country between January 1 and March 31.
A total of 12,300 babies were born in Norway during the first quarter, meanwhile, but that’s down from 12,900 in the same quarter last year. When deaths are subtracted, net population growth amounted to just 760, the lowest so-called “birth surplus” ever recorded during a first quarter. SSB noted that Norway’s fertility rate has declined steadily since 2009 apart from in 2021, after the Corona crisis of 2020 that kept most people at home resulted in a baby boom.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
