What is the status of integration in Norway in 2026?

The population with immigrant backgrounds in Norway 

The past 50-60 years have seen a major change in the composition of Norway’s population: 
Immigrants made up only 1.5 per cent of the Norwegian population in 1970, while by the start of 2026 that number had risen to 17.5 per cent for immigrants and 4.2 per cent for people born in Norway to immigrant parents. 

Immigrants are a highly diverse group. More than half of all immigrants in Norway originate from European countries, while just under one-third come from Asian countries and 11 percent from African countries. A relatively small share, 5 per cent, come from North, Central and South America, as well as Oceania. People immigrate to Norway for a variety of reasons. Some arrive to work, study, or reunite with family members, while others are fleeing war or humanitarian crises.

How are immigrants and their Norwegian-born children faring in terms of integration?

Overall, developments are moving in a positive direction across several integration indicators: 
more people are completing education, and more are entering employment. At the same time, substantial average differences remain between immigrants and the rest of the population across a range of indicators. Outcomes also vary considerably within the population with an immigrant background. Integration outcomes differ according to factors such as country of origin, length of residence, educational attainment and generation. For example, women with a refugee background and a short period of residence in Norway tend to have less favourable outcomes than other groups on several indicators. By contrast, Norwegian-born individuals with immigrant parents, particularly girls and young women, tend to fare better than their immigrant peers in several areas.

An increasing number of children and young people with an immigrant background are participating in education and training. Compared with 2015, more attend early childhood education and care (ECEC), complete upper secondary education and pursue higher education. Nevertheless, gaps in educational outcomes persist between people with an immigrant background and the wider population. On average, immigrants and Norwegian-born individuals with immigrant parents achieve lower grades in compulsory education than the population as a whole. However, Norwegian-born individuals with immigrant parents are more likely than the rest of the population to pursue higher education, and this group demonstrates high levels of social mobility. Immigrant boys are less likely to complete upper secondary education than both immigrant girls and young people without an immigrant background, although completion rates have risen significantly since 2015. A higher proportion of young immigrants are not in employment, education or labour-market programmes compared with their peers without an immigrant background, and this difference has remained relatively stable over time.

Immigrants are less likely to be employed than the rest of the population. Since 2015, however, employment has increased somewhat more among immigrants than among the rest of the population. As a result, the employment gap between the two groups has shrunk from 14 percentage points in 2015 to 12 percentage points in 2025. It is important to note that the composition of the immigrant population has also changed during this period. Because of the war in Ukraine, the number of refugees has increased substantially, while labour immigration has declined slightly. In 2015, approximately twice as many labour immigrants as refugees arrived in Norway (18,000 compared with 9,000). By 2024, the situation had reversed: just over 10,000 arrived as labour immigrants, while nearly 23,000 arrived with refugee status as their reason for immigration.

Since 2021, labour market participation among immigrants with less than four years of residence has declined. This can largely be explained by the record-high number of refugees arriving from Ukraine, many of whom are still participating in Norway’s Introduction Programme for newly arrived immigrants. Unemployment among immigrants remains four times higher than among the rest of the population, although the gap has narrowed since the pandemic year of 2020. Norwegian-born individuals with immigrant parents are more likely to be employed than immigrants of the same age, but their employment rate remains below that of people without an immigrant background. Nevertheless, the employment gap between Norwegian-born individuals with immigrant parents and the wider population has been reduced by 4.5 percentage points since 2015.

Immigrants more often experience challenges with their financial situation and living conditions than the rest of the population. On average, immigrants have a lower median income and are overrepresented among those experiencing persistent low income. 47 per cent of immigrant children and 25 per cent of Norwegian-born children with immigrant parents live in households with persistent low income, compared with five per cent among the rest of the population. After several consecutive years of decline in both the number and share of children living in low-income households, a slight increase has been observed for the period 2022–2024. This increase is mainly due to the inclusion of children who immigrated from Ukraine in 2022.

On average, immigrants in Norway have lower mortality rates and higher life expectancy than people without an immigrant background. However, immigrants’ health tends to deteriorate with longer residence in Norway. In other words, the longer immigrants live in the country, the more their health status comes to resemble that of the wider population. Immigrants, Norwegian-born individuals with immigrant parents and the rest of the population assess their quality of life and general health as similarly good, although immigrants report mental health problems more frequently.

Both immigrants and their children have lower rates of political participation than the rest of the population. Among immigrants and Norwegian-born individuals with immigrant parents, voter turnout is considerably lower than among the rest of the population. This pattern has remained relatively stable over time and across generations, both in parliamentary elections and in local and county council elections. Voter turnout increased slightly in the 2025 parliamen tary election among both those with and without an immigrant background. In that election, 83 per cent of people without an immigrant background voted, compared with 56 per cent of immigrants and 60 per cent of Norwegian-born individuals with immigrant parents. Although the proportion of eligible voters with an immigrant background has increased, immigrants remain underrepresented in municipal councils, and this underrepresentation has grown.

Integration takes place in workplaces, in educational institutions, and across numerous other arenas of society. The social dimension of integration is increasingly recognised as crucial. Meaningful everyday social relationships help expand networks and foster trust and belonging, while a lack of such relationships can contribute to exclusion and segregation. This, in turn, may lead to loneliness and poor mental health.
Immigrants participate somewhat less in organised activities and voluntary work than the wider population. People with an immigrant background are also more likely to experience unfair treatment, hate speech, discrimination and violence. 68 per cent of people with an immigrant background report having experienced discrimination at some point in their lives, compared with 43 per cent of the rest of the population.

Norwegian-born individuals with immigrant parents generally have stronger social networks than immigrants and have more contact with people without an immigrant background. They are much more likely to identify as Norwegian and to perceive themselves as well integrated than those who immigrated themselves. However, they are less likely to feel that others regard them as Norwegian, resulting in a wider gap between self-identification and societal acceptance. They report experiencing more discrimination than immigrants and perceive such discrimination as more upsetting.

For the third consecutive year, the share of people expressing positive attitudes toward immigrants has declined. Fewer people believe that most immigrants make a valuable contribution to the Norwegian labour market, while more consider immigrants to be a source of insecurity in society. Despite this decline, a majority still express positive rather than negative attitudes. Viewed over a 20-year period, attitudes towards immigration and immigrants have become more positive overall.

Immigrants are overrepresented both among offenders and among victims of crime. However, the degree of overrepresentation varies according to factors such as gender, age, living conditions, country background, educational attainment, and type of offence. Being outside employment and education, as well as experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage, is associated with higher levels of crime.

Young men are overrepresented among individuals charged with offences, both among those with and without an immigrant background. At the same time, the number of charges brought against young people has declined over the last twenty years. Grades achieved in compulsory schooling are the single factor most strongly associated with the likelihood of being charged with a criminal offence. At the group level, there is a strong relationship between socioeconomic resources and crime. Population groups with high shares of low-income families, overcrowded housing conditions, and parents with low educational attainment also tend to have higher proportions of individuals charged with offences. 

Men are generally more likely than women to be victims of crime. Norwegian-born individuals with immigrant parents, both women and men, are more frequently exposed to violence and abuse than both immigrants and the rest of the population.

The freedom to determine one’s own way of life, free from negative social control, honour-based violence, forced marriage and female genital mutilation, remains a key priority within integration policy. Efforts also target more subtle forms of control, pressure, threats, and restrictions that significantly limit the autonomy and opportunities of children and young people. Some groups experience far more extensive restrictions and control than others. Young people with an immigrant background, particularly girls with backgrounds from Asia and  Africa, are most exposed to such restrictions, especially regarding relationships and marriage.

People who challenge traditional norms relating to gender and sexual orientation (LGBT+) are also at higher risk of experiencing negative social control. This applies both to those with and without an immigrant background. Other particularly vulnerable groups include newly arrived refugees and immigrants, unaccompanied minor asylum seekers and refugees, persons with disabilities, older people living in dependent relationships, and individuals belonging to certain religious or belief communities.

What contributes to and what hinders successful integration?

The integration process is unique to each immigrant, because it is shaped by several personal and societal factors. At an overall level, education and proficiency in Norwegian are key factors promoting participation and integration. Educational attainment and language skills are especially important for labour market participation in Norway, where demand for workers with high formal qualifications continues to grow.

A longer period of residence in Norway is also associated with better outcomes on most in tegration indicators, including completion of upper secondary education, labour market participation, income, housing conditions, and involvement in civil society. In addition, the sub jective sense of belonging tends to increase over time. Immigrants who have lived in Norway 
longer are more likely to feel Norwegian and well-integrated than those with shorter periods of residence.

At the same time, various factors act as barriers to integration, including unemployment, financial difficulties, poor living conditions, health challenges, social exclusion, crime, and negative social control. The interaction between these factors is also important. For example, good health can facilitate economic, social, and political participation, whereas poor health can limit participation in all of these areas. Discrimination can also hinder access to good living  conditions, employment opportunities, educational attainment and housing. Furthermore, discrimination may weaken people’s sense of belonging and reduce trust both in society and 
in other people. 

Taken together, the findings highlight the importance of understanding integration as a long term and two-way process. Individuals’ participation in education, employment, and social life  must be met with equal and genuine opportunities for inclusion, belonging, and recognition 
within the wider society