Nordregio is an international research institute established by the Nordic Council of Ministers

21 June, 2017

Foreign nationals in relation population size in 2016

At a national level, foreign citizens made up, on average, 7.6% of the populations of the Nordic countries in 2016, with Norway having the highest share (10%) and Greenland the lowest (2%). Of the seven regions with the highest shares of foreign nationals in their populations, four were populous capital regions (or, in the case of Norway, a region adjacent to the capital): Oslo and Akershus (Norway), Hovedstaden (Sweden) and Stockholms län (Sweden). The other three were all Norwegian regions: Rogaland, Buskerud and Finnmark. Conversely, with the exception of Greenland (1.9%), the seven regions with the lowest shares of foreign nationals in their populations were all in Finland.

Map Facts

This map shows the share of foreign nationals in the context of the total population size in Nordic regions in 2016.

The size of the pie charts indicates the total population size of each region. The yellow slice of the pie indicates the share of the population who are nationals of the country in question, while the green slice of the pie indicates the share of the population who are foreign nationals, in other words, citizens of countries other than the country in question. Dual nationals are considered nationals of the country in question in this map.

Citizenship rules and processes vary between the Nordic countries. Generally, Nordic citizens can more easily become citizens of another Nordic country than non-Nordic citizens. Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Åland are sovereign territories but for Greenland and the Faroe Islands the citizenship is Danish, and for Åland Finnish.

Map id: 02256c

Designer/Cartographer
Linus Rispling

Data source
Data source: NSIs

Published 21 June 2017

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