From 1866 on, North America received great waves of immigration from Norway, including an estimated 880,000 Norwegian immigrants to the US by 1910. The US and Canada still provide residence for many of the estimated 400,000 Norwegians living abroad. Emigration in recent years has not been significant. Norwegians moving abroad numbered 23,784 in 1990; immigrants totaled 25,494. Most emigrants went to Sweden (7,631), Denmark (2,756), the US (2,203), and the United Kingdom (1,980). Immigration was principally from the United States (1,908), the United Kingdom (1,250), Denmark (2,356), and Sweden (5,053). There were about 143,304 foreigners residing in Norway at the end of 1990.
Norway is an important resettlement country; as of 2001, it had an allocation of 1,300 places in cooperation with UNHCR.
In 2002 17,480 asylum applications were submitted, a considerable increase over the 14,782 submitted in 2001. Main countries of origin included the Russian Federation, Croatia, and Iraq. Recognition of refugee status is very low. The net migration rate for 2000 was 9,700, a 49% decline over 1999.