Persons with refugee background, 1 January 1999

There were 8 100 refugees with an Iranian background, while from the rest of former Yugoslavia, Sri Lanka, Chile, Somalia and Iraq the numbers range between 5 800 and 4 500 refugees. The 67 200 refugees include 18 000 persons or family members reunited with their family. Of those registered as the main individual refugee, 61 per cent were asylum seekers and 22 per cent transfer refugees.

Of the around 67 200 persons with a refugee background, 52 per cent were registered with foreign citizenship. Refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina made up the largest group of foreign nationals, with 11 200. The largest number of people who have taken out Norwegian citizenship are found among Vietnamese (8 300) and Iranian (5 200) refugees. The reason for this is that refugees from Vietnam and Iran have lived long enough in Norway to qualify for Norwegian citizenship. As a main rule, people can become Norwegian citizens after seven consecutive years of residence in Norway. Most of the refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina had not met this requirement as of 1 January 1999.

Statistics Norway's overview of persons residing in Norway at 1 January 1999, who at one time came to Norway as refugees or as relatives of a refugee, was prepared on the basis of the Directorate of Immigration's classification of immigrants.

Around 1/3 live in Oslo

Most refugees lived in Oslo, Akershus, Rogaland and Hordaland counties. Just over 20 000 lived in Oslo, which accounts for around 30 per cent of the total number of refugees in Norway. Refugees in Oslo made up 3.9 per cent of the city's total population. Just over 6 600 persons with a refugee background lived in Akershus and just over 5 000 in Rogaland and Hordaland. The fewest refugees are found in Finnmark, Nord-Trøndelag and Troms, with between 700 and 800 refugees.

Except for Hedmark, Sogn og Fjordane, Sør-Trøndelag and the three northernmost counties, all counties saw an increase in the number of refugees compared with the previous year.

Many with less than 10 years of residence

On 1 January 1999, 75 per cent of the people with a refugee background had lived in Norway for 10 years or less. The comparative figure the year before was 85 per cent. 22 per cent of the refugees had lived in the country between 11 and 20 years, while only two per cent had lived here more than 20 years.

Tables:

• Table 1 Different definitions of refugees, by country background. 1 January 1999
• Table 2 Different definitions of refugees, by country background. 1 January 1998