Shqiptarët në Norvegji: Popullsia, Historia dhe Komuniteti

Norvegjia është shtëpia e një komuniteti të konsiderueshëm shqiptar, shumica dërrmuese e të cilit janë kosovarë, të ndërtuar mbi të gjitha gjatë Luftës së Kosovës dhe pasojave të saj. E përqendruar rreth Oslos, është një nga komunitetet më të mëdha shqiptare në rajonin nordik. Ky udhëzues trajton numrin e tyre, vendin ku jetojnë dhe si u formua komuniteti.

Është pjesë e jonë Shqiptarët në mbarë botën seri.

Fakte të shkurtra: Shqiptarët në Norvegji

• Popullsia: 22,951 people with a Kosovo (17,978) or Albania (4,973) country background on January 1, 2026 (Statistics Norway). Norway does not record ethnicity. A conservative estimate from the official figures: about 22,500 to 24,700 people of Albanian origin (method shown below).
• Ku jetojnë: Oslo dhe rajoni përreth mbi të gjitha, me komunitete në Akershus, Buskerud dhe Rogaland.
• Origjinat kryesore: Kosova mbi të gjitha, me Maqedoninë e Veriut dhe Shqipërinë.
• Si erdhën: Kryesisht si refugjatë të Luftës së Kosovës në vitin 1999 dhe më pas.

Në këtë faqe

• Sa shqiptarë jetojnë në Norvegji?
• Një vlerësim konservator dhe si ndërtohet ai
• Si u rrit komuniteti
• Ku jetojnë shqiptarët
• Shqiptarë të shquar norvegjezë
• Pyetje të shpeshta

Sa shqiptarë jetojnë në Norvegji?

Norway does not record ethnicity, but Statistics Norway counts immigrants and their Norwegian-born children by country background. On January 1, 2026, that was 17,978 people with a Kosovo background and 4,973 with an Albania background, 22,951 in all. The great majority trace their roots to Kosovë, dhe komuniteti është një nga popullatat më të mëdha shqiptare në vendet nordike.

Një vlerësim konservator dhe si ndërtohet ai

A conservative estimate from the official figures: about 22,500 to 24,700 people of Albanian origin in Norway. This is an estimate, not an official figure. Norway does not record ethnicity, so we build the range from Statistics Norway’s published counts and state every assumption.

Diapazoni i Maqedonisë së Veriut varion nga pjesa e popullsisë shqiptare në popullsinë rezidente të atij vendi në regjistrimin e vitit 2021 (24.3 përqind) deri te pjesa e popullsisë shqiptare midis qytetarëve që jetojnë jashtë vendit dhe që morën pjesë në të njëjtin regjistrim (rreth 66 përqind). Shifra e dytë është aritmetika jonë nga totalet e publikuara: Shqiptarët ishin 29.52 përqind e të gjithë 2,097,319 personave të numëruar dhe 24.3 përqind e 1,836,713 banorëve, gjë që lë rreth 173,000 shqiptarë midis 260,606 personave të numëruar jashtë vendit.

Çfarë lë jashtë diapazoni. Statistics Norway counts children with one Norwegian-born parent separately, so they are not in these totals. Some people who arrived before Kosovo declared independence in 2008 may still be recorded under Serbia or the former Yugoslavia, and the third generation and Albanians from Montenegro or Serbia are outside the count as well. The real community is therefore likely to be larger than our range, but we do not put a number on what cannot be measured.

Last reviewed: September 18, 2026. Inputs: Statistics Norway, tables 05183 and 09817; Kosovo Agency of Statistics, Census 2024; State Statistical Office of North Macedonia, Census 2021.

Si u rrit komuniteti

Komuniteti shqiptar i Norvegjisë është kryesisht produkt i Lufta e Kosovës. Rreth 6,000 shqiptarë të Kosovës were evacuated to Norway from North Macedonia in 1999 as the conflict raged. Most of them returned home that autumn, according to Norway’s national encyclopedia, while others stayed. They were joined by earlier Yugoslav-era migrants and by later arrivals seeking work and family reunification, and a Norwegian-born generation is now growing up.

Ku jetojnë shqiptarët

Komuniteti është i përqendruar në Oslo dhe rajoni përreth saj, destinacioni kryesor për migrantët shqiptarë, me komunitete të mëtejshme në Akershus, Buskerud, Ostfold dhe përreth Stavanger në Rogaland. Shoqatat dhe xhamitë shqiptare mbështesin jetën komunitare dhe mbajnë lidhjet e forta me Kosovën.

Shqiptarë të shquar norvegjezë

Norvegjia ka prodhuar një brez të shquar futbollistësh me origjinë shqiptare. Valon Berisha, i rritur në qytetin Egersund, luajti për Norvegjinë në nivelin e të rinjve dhe të seniorëve përpara se të zgjidhte të përfaqësonte Kosovën, ashtu si edhe vëllai i tij më i vogël. Veton Berisha. Të tjerë, si p.sh. Zymer Bytyqi dhe Herolind Shala, kanë shkëlqyer në ligën norvegjeze. Shoqatat e komunitetit dhe xhamitë në të gjithë rajonin e Oslos janë thelbësore për jetën kulturore.

Community life is organized through cultural and student associations, the Friendship Association Norway-Albania, and Albanian Muslim congregations such as the Albanian Islamic Cultural Center in Oslo.

What Statistics Norway Counts

Norway does not register ethnicity. Statistics Norway (SSB) counts two groups instead: immigrants, and people born in Norway to two immigrant parents. Both are sorted by country background. For the Albanian community, three country backgrounds matter most: Kosovo, Albania and North Macedonia.

On January 1, 2026, SSB counted 17,978 people with a Kosovo background, 5,127 with a North Macedonia background and 4,973 with an Albania background. Country background is not the same as ethnicity. The North Macedonia figure includes ethnic Macedonians and others, and the Kosovo figure covers every community from Kosovo. Children with one Norwegian-born parent are not part of these totals.

Sixteen Years of SSB Figures

SSB’s long series runs back to 1970, when it recorded just 23 people with an Albania background in all of Norway. Kosovo appears as its own country background only in recent years. The series shows no separate Kosovo figure for 2005 or earlier, and by 2009 it lists 12,531 people.

The older part of the series shows when the other two groups took shape. SSB recorded 32 people with a North Macedonia background in 1995, 707 in 2000 and 2,549 in 2005. The Albania group stood at 156 in 2000 and 299 in 2005, so almost all of its growth has come in the last two decades.

The Kosovo group grew by about 41 percent between 2010 and 2026. The fastest change is among people from Albania itself. That group was ten times larger in 2026 than in 2010, rising from 491 to 4,973.

Immigrants and the Norwegian-Born Generation

SSB also splits each group into immigrants and Norwegian-born children of immigrants. In 2026 the Kosovo group was made up of 10,938 immigrants and 7,040 people born in Norway, so about 39 percent belong to the Norwegian-born generation. Men slightly outnumber women in the group, 9,353 to 8,625.

The Albania group is much newer. It had 4,024 immigrants and 949 Norwegian-born, a share of about 19 percent. The North Macedonia group sat in between, with 3,408 immigrants and 1,719 Norwegian-born.

County by County: Where the Numbers Are

SSB’s regional table shows that the Kosovo community is not packed into the capital alone. In 2026 the county of Østfold had slightly more residents with a Kosovo background than the city of Oslo itself, and Akershus was close behind. Together those three counties were home to 9,772 people, more than half of the national Kosovo total.

The newer arrivals from Albania follow a different pattern. About 43 percent of them live in Oslo, and another 27 percent live in Akershus. The North Macedonia group is also centered on Oslo, with 2,361 of its 5,127 people.

Collective Protection in 1999

The legal tool Norway used during the Lufta e Kosovës was called collective protection. Norway’s national encyclopedia, Store norske leksikon, explains that the rule was adopted in 1992 because of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It allows people in a mass flight situation to receive protection on the basis of a group assessment instead of an individual one.

In 1999 about 8,000 refugees from Kosovo received collective protection, according to the encyclopedia. About 2,000 of them were already in Norway when the scheme was adopted. The same entry notes that most of the Kosovo refugees who arrived in the summer of 1999 went home again that autumn.

Albanian in Norwegian Schools

For years SSB tracked how many pupils received mother tongue instruction or bilingual subject teaching, broken down by language. In 2002 there were 1,337 pupils receiving that support in Albanian. The number peaked at 1,405 in 2003 and then trended down, to 1,210 in 2007, 1,076 in 2009 and 932 in 2010, the last year with a published Albanian figure before SSB closed the series.

The series counts only teaching provided through the school system. It does not show how many children speak the Gjuhë shqipe at home or study it elsewhere.

The Albanian Islamic Cultural Center in Oslo

The best documented Albanian institution in Norway is Albansk Islamsk Kultursenter, the Albanian Islamic Cultural Center, at Sverres gate 8 in Oslo. It was founded in 1986, thirteen years before the Kosovo War evacuation. In 2019 it had 4,784 members. The center is listed as a member organization of Muslimsk Dialognettverk, the Muslim Dialogue Network.

Norway and Kosovo

Norway recognized Kosovo on March 28, 2008, less than six weeks after the declaration of independence, and is among the vendet që e njohin Kosovën today. Norway keeps an embassy in Pristina, and Kosovo has an embassy in Oslo. A Norwegian officer, Thorstein Skiaker, served as the fifth commander of the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force from April to October 2001. Norway still contributes a small contingent of 8 soldiers to KFOR, according to Wikipedia’s summary of the two countries’ relations.

More Footballers With Roots in Kosovo

• Bersant Celina: born in Prizren in 1996, he moved to Norway at the age of two and grew up in Drammen, where he came through the youth system at Strømsgodset. He joined Manchester City’s academy in 2012, played for Norway’s youth teams up to under-21 level, and made his senior debut for Kosovo in September 2014.
• Flamur Kastrati: born in Oslo in 1991 and of Kosovo Albanian descent, he represented Norway from under-16 to under-21 level. In February 2014 he announced that he would play for Kosovo. His Norwegian clubs include Skeid, Strømsgodset, Aalesund, Sandefjord, Kristiansund and Odd.

Timeline: Albanians in Norway

• 1970: SSB records 23 people with an Albania background in Norway.
• 1986: The Albanian Islamic Cultural Center is founded in Oslo.
• 1992: Norway adopts the collective protection rule during the Bosnian war.
• 1999: About 8,000 refugees from Kosovo receive collective protection. Most of the summer arrivals return that autumn.
• 2003: Albanian mother tongue instruction in Norwegian schools peaks at 1,405 pupils.
• March 28, 2008: Norway recognizes Kosovo.
• 2010: SSB counts 12,719 people with a Kosovo background.
• 2018: SSB counts 15,642 people with a Kosovo background and 2,111 with an Albania background.
• 2026: SSB counts 17,978 people with a Kosovo background, 5,127 with a North Macedonia background and 4,973 with an Albania background.

Pyetje të shpeshta

Sa shqiptarë jetojnë në Norvegji?

Statistics Norway counts 17,978 people with a Kosovo background and 4,973 with an Albania background (January 2026). Norway does not record ethnicity. A conservative estimate from the official figures is about 22,500 to 24,700 people of Albanian origin, with the method shown in this guide. Around 6,000 were evacuated from the Kosovo War in 1999.

Ku jetojnë shqiptarët në Norvegji?

Kryesisht në dhe rreth Oslos, me komunitete në Akershus, Buskerud dhe Rogaland.

Kur erdhën shqiptarët në Norvegji?

Kryesisht gjatë dhe pas Luftës së Kosovës të viteve 1998-1999, me emigrantë të mëparshëm të epokës jugosllave dhe më vonë ribashkim familjar.

Burimet

• Statistikat e Norvegjisë (SSB)
• Wikipedia: Shqiptarët në vendet nordike
• Statistics Norway (SSB): Table 05183, Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents, by sex and country background
• Statistics Norway (SSB): Table 09817, Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents by immigration category, country background and region
• Statistics Norway (SSB): Table 03742, Pupils who receive mother language training and/or bilingual education, by mother tongue
• Store norske leksikon: Kollektiv beskyttelse
• Muslimsk Dialognettverk: Albansk Islamsk Kultursenter
• Wikipedia: Kosovo-Norway relations
• Wikipedia: Bersant Celina
• Wikipedia: Flamur Kastrati
• Qeveria e Kosovës: Rezultatet e para përfundimtare të Regjistrimit të Popullsisë 2024 (përbërja etnike)
• Balkan Insight: Regjistrimi i popullsisë në Maqedoninë e Veriut 2021, banorët dhe jorezidentët e numëruar

Lexime të Ngjashme

• Shqiptarët në mbarë botën
• Shqiptarët në Suedi
• Lufta e Kosovës: Një histori e plotë

Autor: Dardanë Halimi

Dardanë Halimi është një shkrimtare dhe profesioniste e komunikimit me titull magjistër në Shkrim, Retorikë dhe Komunikim Teknik nga Universiteti James Madison. Puna e saj përqendrohet në tregimin e historive, përmbajtjen digjitale, arsimin e lartë dhe komunikimin strategjik, me përvojë në shkrimin për organizata akademike, jofitimprurëse dhe marketingu si në Shtetet e Bashkuara ashtu edhe në Kosovë.