Nearly one in five people working in Norway's health and care services is now an immigrant or foreign commuter, according to new Statistics Norway figures reported by The Local Norway.
About 88,000 immigrants worked in the sector in 2025, compared with 56,000 a decade earlier. Most of the growth has been in direct patient care, and immigrants now make up more than a quarter of healthcare assistants, about 23 per cent of doctors and around 15 per cent of registered nurses. Statistics Norway said the number of healthcare assistants would have fallen over the decade without foreign workers.
Growth among nurses has been slower, which the agency links to stricter authorisation rules for staff trained abroad. Oslo and Akershus rely most heavily on immigrant staff, but rural areas also depend on them, at a time when many residents still struggle to get a regular GP.
Source: The Local Norway
