Level of Living Study among foreign citizens, 1983

The "Level of Living" - concept in statistics/social research is originally a Swedish invention, but the modern Norwegian focus on this type of research and data collection dates back to a large-scale government initiated project from 1972. The first Level of Living Study in Norway was conducted in 1973, as a data collection project for a Government Commission studying the living conditions of Norwegian Citizens. The aim was to collect data on living conditions for different social groups, with particular emphasis on low-income groups and other groups that are assumed to live under special or problematic conditions. From 1980 onwards this became a regular data collecting activity run by Statistics Norway for statistical purposes, to monitor the living conditions of norwegians. The Level of Living Studies may be regarded as a continuation and developement of the statistical tradition behind consumer expenditure surveys and income- and property surveys.
By 1983 foreign citizens made up approx. 2,3 % of the total population in Norway. This meant that their social and economic situation were not very accurately mapped by ordinary Level of Living studies. Because of that Statistics Norway were commissioned by the Department for Local Affairs to conduct a study specificly for this segment of the population.