This group, counting 63 400 individuals, is compared to three groups having arrived earlier through so-called «mass flight», i.e. as part of a major flow of refugees arrived over a short period of time: Bosnians, Kosovars and Syrians. Using register data, we examine the composition and remigration in the groups. For Ukrainians, we also look at the pattern of settlement among those still resident in the country as of 1.1.2025.
There are several major differences between the four groups. While the even distribution in age and gender composition among Bosnians suggests arrival of entire families, the other groups have more skewed profiles. While Kosovars to a certain extent also seem to have arrived as families, there was a predominance of children and young men. An even clearer overrepresentation of young men was evident among Syrians, with few persons 60 years or older. The Ukrainians stand out among the groups arrived through «mass flight», by being dominated by women, especially in their thirties and early forties, and children. The consequences of the travel restrictions for men in «army age» in Ukraine are evident. The proportion of men in the age groups between 18 and 60 were far smaller than among women. Furthermore, boys 17 year of age are overrepresented among Ukrainian children and constituted an increasingly larger part of arrivals during 2023.
There are furthermore considerable differences in the level of education. A substantial number of Bosnians had higher education, while many Kosovars and especially Syrians only had primary education. Also here the Ukrainians stand out, with a large share with education at college/ university level. Excluding people for whom we lack data on education, we see that over half of the Ukrainians at 16 years of age of older had education at this level, regardless of gender.
We see large variations in the level of remigration among the groups. This can primarily be attributed to different durations of the conflicts in the countries of origin. We see the largest emigration among Kosovars, where the end of the conflict in 1999 and loss of basis for residence led to almost two-thirds leaving. Among Bosnians and Syrians, for which the conflicts lasted longer or have continued until recently, there has been less remigration. So far, Ukrainians are most similar to Bosnians, in that one tenth have emigrated. In the groups experiencing significant emigration, we see differences according to age and education, as those with only primary school education and those in the older age groups are more prone to remigrate. Among the Ukrainians, there is a tendency toward fewer teenage boys to leave.
The Ukrainians still resident in Norway as of 1.1.2025 had a very dispersed pattern of settlement, both compared to the total population and to Ukrainian immigrants living in Norway before the full-scale invasion. Many lived in municipalities with low centrality, and few lived in the largest urban municipalities.
We also look at the integration of Bosnians, Kosovars and Syrians. Integration is measured through indicators of employment, naturalisation and participation in the municipal elections in 2019 and 2023. For refugees arrived as children, we examine the level of education and partner choice. Bosnians stand out as having the highest employment and the most consistent, albeit relatively low, voter turnout in elections. Of the Bosnians that came to Norway as children, there are also more that have higher education as adults and who choose a partner with another background. We furthermore see outcomes vary according to level of education, gender and age at immigration within the groups.
We conclude by drawing some parallels from the results to the prospects of the Ukrainians in Norway. With generally high levels of education, the Ukrainians share most similarities with Bosnians, who are largely integrated into the labour market and educational system. However, how the integration of Ukrainians proceeds will depend on several factors, including the time perspective of the conflict, as well as the degree and characteristics of remigration.