In the first quarter of the year, 14,600 people immigrated to Norway. 5,300 people moved out of the country. 12,900 children were born. 11,900 people died.

The population increased by 10,300 people, according to Statistics Norway (SSB). There are now 5,435,500 people in Norway.

This is due to higher immigration. There are also fewer who have emigrated. This is the largest increase in the first quarter since 2015.

– There was an increase, although fewer. There were also more people who died than in the same quarter last year, says Espen Andersen. He is a senior adviser at Statistics Norway.

12,900 children were born. This is the lowest amount in a first quarter since 1997, when Statistics Norway began with its quarterly statistics.

In comparison, 13,700 children were born in 2021. 13,000 children were born in 2020 and 13,400 in 2019.

Andersen says that it may seem that the increase in births during the pandemic was temporary. Most people who had children before had children during the pandemic.

– The figures show that there are many women in this generation who wait longer to have their first child.

There were the fewest births in Oslo, Nordland and Troms and Finnmark, compared to last year. These counties had a large increase from 2020 to 2021.

The death toll rose to 11,900. 10,100 died in the first quarter of last year. Some of it is because people are getting older. But mortality has increased despite that.

– Mortality was artificially low in 2020. It lasted a while until 2021. It was due to the corona rules.