nettoinvandring

Nettoinvandring, or net immigration, is the difference between the number of people who enter a country as immigrants and the number who leave as emigrants during a specified period, typically one year. It represents the international migration balance for that country and period.

Calculation and data: Nettoinvandring = immigrants minus emigrants. Data come from population registers, official migration statistics, censuses, and surveys. Some definitions distinguish long-term (permanent) migration from short-term or temporary stays, which can affect comparability across countries and time.

Interpretation: A positive value indicates that more people arrived than departed, contributing to population growth and potentially altering age structure and labor supply. A negative value indicates the opposite.

Relation to related measures: Nettoinvandring differs from net migration rate, which expresses the balance per 1,000 inhabitants. It is bounded by gross immigration and gross emigration, and the broader measure of net population change also includes natural increase (births minus deaths).

Limitations: Differences in definitions (citizenship, residency, or intention), data lags, and undercounting of irregular migrants can affect estimates. Seasonal or temporary movements may be counted differently depending on the source.

Example: If a country recorded 120,000 immigrants and 95,000 emigrants in a year, the nettoinvandring would be 25,000.