Immigration curbs population decline in Norway’s northernmost county
Norwegians, especially the youngsters, move south. Foreign citizens though, have more than doubled the last ten years.
Vadsø, Honningsvåg and Kirkenes are the three towns in Finnmark that waved bye-bye to most people Second Quarter 2018, the population overview from Statistics Norway shows.
The county lost 97 inhabitants in the period, continuing the shrinking in population from 2017. Today, Finnmark has just fewer than 76,000 inhabitants and is the only of the three northern regions in Norway with population loss.
The main reason is more people moving out than in. Interesting, among foreign citizens, three times more (164) moved in than out (54). The trend has changed the population in Norway’s northernmost county the last decade.
From 2008 to 2018, the number of foreigners living in Finnmark increased from 3,653 to 9,089.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Access to affordable housing a challenge in Northern Canadian cities, CBC News
Finland: Foreign residents acquiring Finnish citizenship in record numbers, YLE News
Norway: Rebel region in Arctic Norway slams door on Oslo government, The Independent Barents Observer
Russia: Population dropping in Northwestern Russia, The Independent Barents Observer
Sweden: Small town hopes to reverse depopulation trend affecting rural and Northern Sweden, Radio Sweden
United States: Can Alaska handle its senior population growth?, Alaska Dispatch News
