Norway attracted 14,300 new citizens last year and around 2,100 came from Somalia, which ranked as the largest single group of immigrants taking on Norwegian nationality. More than half of all Norway’s new citizens are women.
State statistics bureau SSB reported last week that 53 percent of Norway’s new citizens were women and a third of all new citizens were under the age of 18.
Immigrants from Afghanistan followed those from Somalia as the next-largest group of new citizens, with 1,300 officially becoming Norwegian. Persons from Iraq were third, totalling 950 new citizens.
All told, 41 percent of the new Norwegian citizens came from Asia, and 32 percent from Africa. Around 18 percent came from other European countries.