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rfmcdonaldBarents Observer, an online newsjournal specializing in news from northermost Europe, is reporting that the region is continuing to lose population. I think that emigration is now the main factor, at least in the Nordic countries.
Hill and Gaddy have argued in the impressive if controversial 2004 tome The Siberian Curse that the overconcentration of so much of the Russian population in the inhospitable north of that country is a serious economic drag. Why wouldn't the same apply in Nordic countries?
Norway as a whole has had the largest population growth ever in 2007, but still the population decline in Northern Norway continues. Out of 19 counties in Norway, only Nordland and Finnmark, both situated in the north, had a decreasing population. Nordland's population decreased with 600 persons, while Finnmark lost 266 inhabitants. The total population in Nordland was 234 996 at the start of 2008, while in Finnmark there were 72 399 inhabitants at the same time.
The only county in northern Norway with a growth in 2007 is Troms, which gained 506 inhabitants last year. It is especially the growth of the region's largest city, Tromsø, which contributes to this growth. Tromsø has 65 286 inhabitants, which is 794 more than at the end of 2006. In general there is a population growth in the cities of northern Norway, while smaller communities slowly are depopulated.
Also Norrbotten County in northern Sweden is experiencing depopulation, in spite of large investments in the mining industry and high business activity in general. The net population decrease in Norrbotten in 2007 was 1300 inhabitants, and at de end of the year there were 250 602 persons living in the county.
Murmansk Oblast has lost almost 400 000 inhabitants over the last 20 years, but it now seems like the situation has stabilized. In 2007 the population decreased with only 0,7 percent and by the end of the year there were 851 000 persons living in the county. The other Russian counties in the Barents Region have also experienced large depopulation over the last years. The largest county, Arkhangelsk Oblast, has decreased from 1 569 000 inhabitants in 1990, to 1 280 000 inhabitants at the beginning of 2007.
Hill and Gaddy have argued in the impressive if controversial 2004 tome The Siberian Curse that the overconcentration of so much of the Russian population in the inhospitable north of that country is a serious economic drag. Why wouldn't the same apply in Nordic countries?
