Record fall in immigration last year in Norway

OSLO, April 23 (Xinhua) -- The decline in the number of people immigrated to Norway in 2017 is the largest ever and is largely due to the drop in immigrants from Syria, the country's statistics bureau said on Monday.

A total of 58,200 people immigrated to Norway, a country with a population of nearly 5.3 million, in 2017, 8,600 fewer than the previous year, Statistics Norway said in a report.

Of the total people immigrated to Norway, 8,400 were Norwegian citizens and 49,800 were foreign.

The decline from one year to another has never been greater since records began in 1958.

A total of 5,100 fewer people immigrated to Norway from Asia, of which 4,200 were from Syria.

Much of the explanation for the decline lies in the introduction of border controls in the Schengen area and in the EU-Turkey Agreement that were introduced in spring of 2016 to limit the asylum flow to Europe in the wake of the refugee crisis that occurred in autumn 2015.

A total of 36,800 people emigrated in 2017, which is a fall of 3,900. Of these, 10,200 were Norwegian citizens and 26,600 were foreigners.

Net immigration to Norway was 21,300 in 2017, down 4,700 from the previous year. The decline was a result of 8,600 fewer immigrations and 3,900 fewer emigrations, according to the report. Enditem