The number of pensioners receiving a Norwegian pension outside of the country has increased by 6.4 per cent in a year, according to figures from the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV).

This brought the total number of pensioners in receipt of a Norwegian pension abroadzasdx to 59,200.

NAV director, Hans Christian Holte, said: “We are surprised by the strong increase, as the weaker krone exchange rate has led to a higher cost of living abroad.”

The research found that the number of old-age pensioners increased by 2 per cent over the past year and amounted to 1,056,000 people. In comparison, there are approximately 2.9 million working people in Norway now.

In September, NOK 514m was paid to retirement pensioners abroad, meaning that 2 per cent of retirement pension payments a total of NOK 27bn went abroad.

It also pointed out that over the past year, there was a particularly large increase in the number of pensioners in Sweden up by 1,100, Poland up by 600 and Denmark up by 300.

NAV said there had been a long-term increase in the number of retirees seeking lower living costs and more favourable climates abroad, with the number of pensioners living abroad increased by 52 per cent over the last decade.

It suggested the “strong” increase in the past year could partly be credited to fewer people moving abroad during the Covid 19 pandemic, resulting in a “sharp” rise in the number of retirees moving abroad in the aftermath.

NAV also said another explanation was that an increasing number of migrant workers are reaching retirement age and some of them could be settling in their home country as pensioners.

“We expect this proportion to increase significantly in the years ahead. This is because more and more of the labour immigrants who came to Norway after the EU enlargement in 2004 are gradually becoming pensioners, and we can expect some of them to settle in their home country,” Holte said.

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