Analysis

Why Should Norwegians Emigrate to the United States?

Norwegians have it better than Americans in almost every way.

Norway fjord
Houses along a fjord in Norway (Unsplash/Raimond Klavins)

American president Donald Trump reportedly disparaged immigrants from Africa, El Salvador and Haiti, asking his advisors, “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?”

Trump argued the United States should bring more people from countries like Norway, whose prime minister he had met a day earlier.

Much of the outrage has focused on Trump’s racism. He would rather have more white than brown immigrants.

But here’s another question: why should Norwegians emigrate to America?

Land of opportunity

Seen from Haiti or El Salvador, America might still look like a land of opportunity. From the vantage point of Scandinavia, not so much.

  • Norwegians are richer. According to the IMF, they have a GDP per capita of $69,249 compared to Americans’ $57,436.
  • The average Norwegian salary is $68,434 compared to $52,543 in the United States.
  • Norway has far lower income inequality.
  • Norway ranks first in the Human Development Index. America shares tenth place with Canada.
  • Life expectancy in Norway is 81.7 against 79.2 years in the United States.
  • Norwegian health care is almost free of charge. The Euro Health Consumer Index ranks Norway’s health system as the third-best in Europe. It ranks first in terms of patient rights, prevention and outcomes.
  • Norway spends more than thrice as much on education as the United States.
  • Reporters Without Borders rank Norway number one in press freedom. The United States is at 43.
  • Norway has almost no corruption. It ranks sixth in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index. The United States is in eighteenth place.
  • Norway ranks third in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report. The United States is way down at place 45.
  • Norway’s homicide rate is .56 per 100,000 with a total of 29 murders in 2014. America, with 15,696 murders in 2015, has a homicide rate of 4.88 per 100,000.
  • Both countries have low unemployment, hovering around 4 percent, but unemployment benefits are more generous in Norway.
  • The two score similarly in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index and the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom.

America is more innovative and does have better universities, so Norwegian software developers and PhD students may want to move. The rest are better off where they were born.