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around 10,000 asylum seekers applied for refugee status in Norway in 2010. Few nations
contribute as much money to foreign aid and refugee programs as does Norway.
Norway was at last count home to 456,300 immigrants from 216 countries, plus 93,000
people born in Norway to immigrant parents, which together amount to 11.4% of the pop-
ulation (compared to 1.5% in 1970). More than half of Norway's immigrants come from
non-Western countries, especially Pakistan, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, Bosnia and Kosovo, al-
though the largest immigrant groups come from Poland, Sweden and Germany. In 2009
alone, 36,700 immigrants arrived in Norway. One-quarter of all immigrants have settled in
Oslo, which is easily Norway's most multicultural city, with 27% of its population born
outside Norway.
Although many non-Western immigrants came to Norway as refugees, a subtle shift has
occurred from refugee-driven immigration to more family-reunion and labour immigrants
(especiallyfromPoland);thisphenomenonhaspartlybeendrivenbytheoften-acutelabour
shortages caused by Norway's almost nonexistent unemployment.
As in many European countries, Norway is involved in an often anguished debate over
the country's cultural mix, with most Norwegians torn between traditional notions of fair-
ness and the perception of a rapidly changing society. Norway's first racially motivated
murder occurred in 2001 when a mixed-race youth was stabbed to death outside his Oslo
home;40,000NorwegianstooktotheOslostreetstoprotest.In2005theFremskrittspartiet
(Progress Party), which advocates far stricter limits on immigration, became the second-
largestpartyintheNorwegianparliament;itscharacterisationofimmigrantsasresponsible
for increasing crime rates was denounced as xenophobic by all other political parties.
Statistics Norway revealed that a 2009 poll suggested that 29% of Norwegians agreed
with the statement that 'most immigrants abuse the system of social benefits' and 33%
agreed that 'most immigrants represent a source of insecurity in the country'. At the same
time, 70% thought that 'most immigrants enrich the cultural life in Norway' and 89% said
that'allimmigrantsinNorwayshouldhavethesameopportunitiestohaveajobasNorwe-
gians'.
In 2004, the Norwegian prime minister Kjell Magne Bondevik rejected a plan to turn empty, disused
churches into mosques, claiming that it was not 'the most natural' solution.
Religion
As in other areas of Norwegian society, increasing immigration and other social changes
arehavinganeffectonthecountry'sreligiousbreakdown.Around90%ofNorway'spopu-
lationisChristian,with85%nominallybelongingtotheChurchofNorway.Althoughstat-
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