Immigrants getting more social financial aid in Norway
WHILE fewer than 1 in 5 of Norway’s inhabitants (about 17%) have an immigrant background, they now receive well over half (58%) of all the social financial assistance available in the country, new statistics have indicated.
On behalf of the national-conservative Progress Party, Statistics Norway has taken a closer look at the use of social benefits in Norwegian municipalities over the period 2009-2019. This includes all means of temporary support given to people unable to provide for their own subsistence.
Over the 10-year stretch, the number of welfare recipients with an immigrant background has increased over 70%, while recipients among the general population have become fewer.
This coincided with a period of record-high immigration, including the 2015 migrant crisis, the newspaper Nettavisen reported.
In 2009, just over NOK 1.8 billion (about R3bn) in social assistance was paid to people with an immigrant background. Ten years later, the number had more than doubled to NOK 4 billion.
This means that people with an immigrant background account for almost the entire increase in social assistance budgets across Norwegian municipalities.
In 2009, barely 17 municipalities in Norway spent more than half of their social assistance budget on people with an immigrant background. By 2019, this number had exploded to 123 municipalities. In Vik municipality in Western Norway, immigrants receive a record 89% of the available social assistance. In Oslo, three-quarters of the social help goes to immigrants.
Former Immigration Minister Sylvi Listhaug, who chairs the Progress Party that ordered the survey, argued that increased immigration will lead to increased poverty.
“The Labour Party and the leftwing radical socialists keep talking about social differences, but they refuse to relate to reality.
“The truth is that increased immigration means increased poverty. It doesn’t help how many pillows you give out to people.
“Ultimately, people need to get to work,” Listhaug said.