Evaluation of Settlement and Integration Processes in Region West, 1989

The purpose of "Evaluation of Settlement and Integration Processes in Region West, 1989" was to evaluate the processes related to the settlement and integration of refugees in municipalities in Region West. The main purpose of the survey was to look at the differences between centrally located municipalities and rural municipalities. The main part of the project was based on a questionnaire directed towards settled refugees, and the results of the research therefore refers to their subjective evaluation of their own integration or equal opportunities.
The large city municipalities offered many activities, such as adapted Norwegian language training, work market courses, larger concentrations of countrymen etc. Yet, they scored well below average in our assessment of the degree of integration because of the high level of unemployment among refugees, the large number of people who were dependent on social security benefits, because they had little contact with Norwegians or because of a low level of well-being. Negative sides like these were on the other hand, also something that affected Norwegian inhabitants living in larger city municipalities.
Municipalities with medium-sized cities offered refugees a certain amount of activities, as well as having a size that made the city lucid and it provided anonymity. Despite that the measurements of work and economy and Norwegian language level were low, it could look like positive social sides, as contact with Norwegians, other immigrants and own countrymen, compensated for possible poor language skills, unemployment and poor economy.
Municipalities with smaller towns or larger villages shared many of the same conditions as medium-sized cities, and scored well on the index because of a concurrence of positive factors. The most conclusive one was maybe the access to work and all the positive effects that followed.
The rural municipalities that by many, has been viewed as the least attractive alternative for settlement, scored well above average. Despite little contact with own countrymen and other immigrants, there seemed to be a lot of social factors that compensated for this, for example work and economy and contact with neighbours and other Norwegians.
With the survey we've tried to underline the necessity of viewing settlement and integration as a whole process consisting of several components. We wanted to find out which of these components that were most prominent in each of the municipalities.