Social assistance recipients from Ukraine received NOK 2.8 billion in 2024, while Norwegians received NOK 2.5 billion.
This is shown by figures from Statistics Norway published on 26 November 2025.
Norwegian municipalities paid out a total of NOK 11.9 billion in financial social assistance in 2024, an increase of 21 per cent from the previous year. A total of 166,400 people received benefits during the year.
Norwegians accounted for 21 per cent of payments
The ten country groups with the highest number of social assistance recipients received a combined 76 per cent of all payments, approximately NOK 9 billion. Of this, Ukraine accounted for NOK 2.8 billion, Norway NOK 2.5 billion, Syria NOK 1.1 billion and Somalia close to NOK 1 billion.
While Norwegians received 21 per cent of the total payments, around 79 per cent of social assistance therefore went to persons of non-Norwegian national background. Ukrainian women alone received NOK 1.8 billion, an increase of more than NOK 770 million from 2023.
The growth continues in 2025
Preliminary figures from Nav, published in June 2025, show that the number of social assistance recipients increased by 4 per cent in the first four-month period of 2025 compared with the same period the previous year. Payments increased by 10 per cent, or 7 per cent adjusted for inflation.
In 2024, 43 per cent of all social assistance recipients had social assistance as their primary source of income, according to Nav’s analysis of KOSTRA figures. The proportion was highest among Ukrainians.
Disability benefits are growing rapidly among immigrants
Disability benefits show the same pattern. As of January 2026, 54,195 immigrants were registered as disability benefit recipients, according to Nav. In 2016, the figure was 29,753, an increase of around 80 per cent over ten years.
Immigrants from Iraq constitute the largest group and have more than doubled, from 2,108 persons in 2016 to 4,473 by the end of 2025. The number of disability benefit recipients from Poland more than tripled during the same period, from 862 to 2,650.
By the end of 2025, a total of 374,900 people in Norway were receiving disability benefits, corresponding to 10.5 per cent of the population aged between 18 and 67.
– Most of the increase is explained by the refugee influx from Ukraine. There has undoubtedly been heavy pressure on Nav offices in recent years, said the then Director of Labour and Welfare, Hans Christian Holte.
Social assistance recipients from Ukraine received NOK 2.8 billion in 2024, while Norwegians received NOK 2.5 billion.
This is shown by figures from Statistics Norway published on 26 November 2025.
Norwegian municipalities paid out a total of NOK 11.9 billion in financial social assistance in 2024, an increase of 21 per cent from the previous year. A total of 166,400 people received benefits during the year.
Norwegians accounted for 21 per cent of payments
The ten country groups with the highest number of social assistance recipients received a combined 76 per cent of all payments, approximately NOK 9 billion. Of this, Ukraine accounted for NOK 2.8 billion, Norway NOK 2.5 billion, Syria NOK 1.1 billion and Somalia close to NOK 1 billion.
While Norwegians received 21 per cent of the total payments, around 79 per cent of social assistance therefore went to persons of non-Norwegian national background. Ukrainian women alone received NOK 1.8 billion, an increase of more than NOK 770 million from 2023.
The growth continues in 2025
Preliminary figures from Nav, published in June 2025, show that the number of social assistance recipients increased by 4 per cent in the first four-month period of 2025 compared with the same period the previous year. Payments increased by 10 per cent, or 7 per cent adjusted for inflation.
In 2024, 43 per cent of all social assistance recipients had social assistance as their primary source of income, according to Nav’s analysis of KOSTRA figures. The proportion was highest among Ukrainians.
Disability benefits are growing rapidly among immigrants
Disability benefits show the same pattern. As of January 2026, 54,195 immigrants were registered as disability benefit recipients, according to Nav. In 2016, the figure was 29,753, an increase of around 80 per cent over ten years.
Immigrants from Iraq constitute the largest group and have more than doubled, from 2,108 persons in 2016 to 4,473 by the end of 2025. The number of disability benefit recipients from Poland more than tripled during the same period, from 862 to 2,650.
By the end of 2025, a total of 374,900 people in Norway were receiving disability benefits, corresponding to 10.5 per cent of the population aged between 18 and 67.
– Most of the increase is explained by the refugee influx from Ukraine. There has undoubtedly been heavy pressure on Nav offices in recent years, said the then Director of Labour and Welfare, Hans Christian Holte.