Integration of developing-world-origin population groups in Denmark, Norway and Sweden

This paper is about integration during 1999-2008 of the members of six largest Danish, Norwegian and Swedish foreign-origin population groups having roots in the developing world. The groups comprise immigrants born in Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Turkey and Vietnam and their children born in the respective Scandinavian countries. The integration of the two generations is looked at through the prism of inactivity, defined as absence from education, the labour market or both. Inactivity is measured using a novel synthetic indicator which is free of age-structure effects and captures inactivity of persons of a given age interval and sex at a specific date. Observations on inactivity were derived for the immigrants, descendants and the natives using information extracted from the population, employment and education registers. The rule of thumb used to judge integration is the following. If the inactivity indicator of the immigrants or descendants exceeds that of the natives, the former are judge partially integrated; otherwise, they are deemed fully integrated. The results reveal great variations over time, age, sex and groups within the host countries. These variations are analysed and conclusions are drawn.