Increased migration within Norway

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Never before has the migration across county borders been as high as in 2017. People are moving to central areas, and steadily more are moving out of rather than to Oslo.

After falling from the peak year 2015, domestic migration increased again from 2016 to 2017, according to the statistics on migration. Migration has increased within municipalities, between municipalities, between counties and between regions. Migration also increased relative to the population growth. The growth is greatest in migration between municipalities, and particularly so for women. Nor have so many migrations between the counties and the seven parts of the country been registered before.

Strong growth in Oslo’s domestic migration loss

Oslo, Rogaland, Nordland, Møre og Romsdal and Hordaland have major domestic migration losses. The increase in this loss was particularly high in Oslo, which now has a larger domestic migration loss than Rogaland, and thus the largest domestic migration loss in Norway. On the other hand, the neighbouring county Akershus continues to have the largest domestic migration surplus.

Oslo accounted for a very large part of the migration gains in Akershus. A total of 17 050 migrations were registered from Oslo to Akershus, and 10 450 migrations in the opposite direction, which gave Akershus a net migration gain from Oslo of 6 600. This is more than Akershus’ domestic migration surplus of 5 900, which is due to Akershus’ migration loss to other neighbouring counties. The migration gain from Oslo to Akershus was 88 per cent of the total migration surplus in Akershus, at 7 500.

Akershus is one of twelve counties with increased domestic migration gains from 2016 to 2017. The highest upswing was definitely Vest-Agder, with a growth of 1 500. The growth of Vest-Agder and Aust-Agder means that they now have positive domestic net migration.

Continued growth in the Akershus municipalities

Of the municipalities, Kristiansand had the largest domestic migration gain, with 1 300, followed by the Akershus municipalities, Ullensaker, Lørenskog and Bærum, with gains between 1 100 and 800. With the exception of Kristiansand, which had a domestic migration loss of persons with an immigrant background, the majority of the migration surplus in the three other municipalities consisted of persons with an immigrant background. The Akershus municipalities Skedsmo, Ås, Nannestad, Nesodden and Nes also had relatively large domestic migration gains, with between 700 and 300.

Oslo has the largest domestic migration loss, with a total of 2 400. Of these, 1 700 had an immigrant background. Bergen and Stavanger had a loss between 800 and 600. The municipalities of Vang, Snåsa and Nesna had the largest domestic migration loss in relation to population size.

Increased centralisation

Domestic migration in 2017 was more centralising than the migrations the year before. The domestic surplus in the central municipalities was the fourth largest since the measurement started in 1975, increasing by 9 per cent from 2016, or 700, to a total of 8 400. The central municipalities were also the only municipalities with a migration surplus. The remote municipalities had the largest migration loss, followed by the fairly remote municipalities and the fairly central municipalities.

The most central municipalities had significantly higher domestic moving gains in the years 2015-2017 than in the years 2008-2014.

Figure 1. Internal migration. Net migration. Centrality

Remote municipalities (code 0) Fairly remote municipalities (code 1) Fairly central municipalities(code 2) Central municipalities (code 3)
1975 -2285 760 700 825
1976 -1685 -61 830 916
1977 -969 7 1314 -352
1978 -1169 274 1596 -701
1979 -302 208 902 -808
1980 -762 9 564 189
1981 -1216 -130 51 1292
1982 -1650 -395 -313 2358
1983 -1562 -749 -243 2554
1984 -3444 -967 -1485 5896
1985 -5005 -1362 -723 7090
1986 -5431 -2077 -596 8104
1987 -4255 -1173 60 5368
1988 -3470 -682 -345 4497
1989 -2672 -48 114 2606
1990 -2517 -171 -783 3471
1991 -2652 -787 -1133 4572
1992 -2211 -534 -1035 3777
1993 -2418 -993 -1801 5212
1994 -3406 -1340 -566 5312
1995 -3439 -1835 -1355 6629
1996 -4011 -2164 -1380 7555
1997 -5492 -2306 -447 8245
1998 -5083 -1945 23 7005
1999 -3720 -1934 -772 6426
2000 -3581 -2314 -803 6698
2001 -3968 -2617 -1361 7949
2002 -3559 -2092 -1249 6900
2003 -3536 -1844 -1455 6835
2004 -4054 -1693 -2067 7814
2005 -4761 -2062 -1779 8602
2006 -4992 -2284 -1962 9238
2007 -4126 -2372 -1344 7842
2008 -3965 -1882 -580 6427
2009 -3162 -1763 -711 5636
2010 -2762 -1789 -602 5153
2011 -3050 -2041 -837 5928
2012 -3707 -1725 -1804 7236
2013 -3682 -2168 -1200 7050
2014 -3429 -1981 -1149 6559
2015 -3658 -2625 -2406 8689
2016 -3258 -2539 -1898 7695
2017 -3665 -2575 -2122 8362

Immigration still important for the migration balance

Immigration has been the main contributory factor to population growth in Norway (Economic Outlook 2017, in Norwegian) since the mid-2000s. In 2017, the immigration surplus contributed so eight out of eleven counties with a domestic migration loss having a positive migration balance. However, in Rogaland, Sogn and Fjordane and Finnmark, the immigration surplus was not large enough to prevent migration loss. In Rogaland and Sogn og Fjordane, immigration from abroad represented as much as 45 and 38 per cent of all immigration in the county.

Rogaland had a migration loss of 1 400. The immigration surplus of 800 curbed the loss. For Vest-Agder, the development was different, with the greatest growth in the migration balance from the previous year, at 1 200, despite the 300 fall in the immigration surplus from the year before.

Figure 2

Figure 2. All migrations to and from the counties. 2017

Fifteen counties had a reduced migration balance from 2016 to 2017. The greatest decline was in Oslo, where the migration loss was ‘only’ 1 100. In 2014, 2015 and 2016, the migration surplus in Oslo was 7 200, 4 900 and 2 400 respectively. Sogn and Fjordane also had a substantially weakened migration balance, and ended with a migration deficit of almost 200. In Hordaland, Østfold and Telemark, the decline was around 500 from the previous year.

Figure 3. Net migration, by county

Average 2012-2016 2017 2016
Finnmark - Finnmárku 320 -42 238
Troms - Romsa 915 528 863
Nordland 805 440 862
Nord-Trøndelag (-2017) 558 467 614
Sør-Trøndelag (-2017) 2490 2385 2607
Møre og Romsdal 1407 112 513
Sogn og Fjordane 287 -171 655
Hordaland 3351 298 874
Rogaland 2614 -1422 -1220
Vest-Agder 1188 1819 602
Aust-Agder 771 397 611
Telemark 730 295 796
Vestfold 1884 1854 1869
Buskerud 2350 1643 1560
Oppland 737 744 726
Hedmark 1089 1170 1312
Oslo 4900 1104 2401
Akershus 7176 7452 7390
Østfold 2720 2276 2803

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