Who leaves a wealthy, peaceful country?

Marianne Tønnessen , Oslo Metropolitan University
Astri Syse, Norwegian Institute of Public Health

Overshadowed by the high immigration to Norway in recent decades, emigration from Norway has also increased substantially. Currently, Norway has more annual emigrations (ca 30,000) than during the large emigration waves to America in the late 1800s. However, research on all those who leave Norway is scarce, which is paradoxical in a country with high-quality register data on many aspects of the population, including on those who emigrate. This paper uses Norwegian register data to provide an overall description of those who have emigrated from Norway during recent decades, showing a long array of characteristics (such as age, sex, immigrant background, family status, citizenship and income) which is relatively unique in international studies of migration. Guided by cluster analyses we divide emigrants into several main groups and show the characteristics of each group. Moreover, we compare the emigrants with those who did not emigrate, using event history analyses to investigate selection into emigration from Norway. Knowing the characteristics of emigrants – also compared with those who do not emigrate - can inform both the international research front and policymakers in several ways; about selection into emigration, loss of skills through emigration as well as determinants of emigration from a wealthy country.

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 Presented in Session 54. Flash session International Migration