Norway-- Not Flattered By Trumpanzee's Crude Comments

Norways' Prime Minister Erna Solberg with Señor Trumpanzee

Norway is a very prosperous country and a very happy one-- but the birthrate is among the lowest in the world. The half-dozen countries with the highest birthrates are all countries that Trump lumped in among the "shithole countries." I bet Trump couldn't find one of them on a map. Births per woman:

• Niger- 7.3
• Chad- 6.4
• Somalia- 6.4
• Congo- 6.3
• Angola- 6.2
• Mali- 6.0

And here are some other countries' birthrates-- a couple dozen countries that have been in the news for one reason or another, randomly

• Nigeria- 5.5
• Afghanistan- 5.3
• Ethiopia- 4.6
• Iraq- 4.1
• Pakistan- 3.6
• Egypt- 3.3
• Israel- 3.1
• Syria- 2.9
• Mexico- 2.2
• North Korea- 1.9
• France- 1.9
• iran- 1.8
• China- 1.8
• U.S.- 1.8
• U.K.- 1.8
• Russia- 1.7
• Norway- 1.7
• Cuba- 1.7
• Canada- 1.6
• Germany- 1.5
• Greece- 1.3
• Spain- 1.3
• Italy- 1.3
• South Korea- 1.2

Population replacement is 2.1, which means without immigration, all the countries on the above list below Mexico will have shrinking populations. That includes the U.S.-- and Norway.

Birth rates in Norway have decreased for the seventh year in a row. Social pressure is causing women to wait longer and longer before starting families, says one expert. Birth rates of 2.1 per woman are needed to keep population numbers constant. In Norway, the figure is now down to 1.71, having dropped every year since 2009. Many women in their 20s prefer to wait until they have finished studying and have stable, higher-paid jobs before starting families. In fact it's not until after the age of 30 that people in many wealthy western countries-- like Norway-- feel they have enough economic security to start having children. Populations aren't falling, primarily because of Trump's bugaboo: immigration.

According to Statistics Norway, Norway's immigrant population makes up 16.8% of the country's total population as of 2017. This includes immigrants and children born in Norway to two immigrant parents. The ten most common countries of origin of immigrants residing in Norway are Poland (97,196), Lithuania (37,638), Sweden (36,315), Somalia (28,696), Germany (24,601), Iraq (22,493), Syria (20,823), Philippines (20,537), Pakistan (19,973), and Eritrea (19,957). And Norwegians aren't emigrating to the U.S. the way they used to. Trump's comments Thursday isn't going to turn that around either.

The Nordic country, one of the richest in the world by GDP per capita, was last year named the happiest nation on the planet and is known for a cradle-to-grave welfare state funded in part by large reserves of oil and natural gas.

...“On behalf of Norway: Thanks, but no thanks,” tweeted Torbjoern Saetre, a politician representing Norway’s Conservative Party in a municipality near Oslo.

Others condemned the U.S. president’s comments as inappropriate or racist.

“We are not coming. Cheers from Norway,” one woman wrote.

While hundreds of thousands of Norwegians emigrated to the U.S. in the 19th century, just 502 out of a population of 5.3 million people moved there in 2016, down 59 from the previous year, according to Statistics Norway.

“Will there be more now?” the statistics agency asked in a tweet.

Government officials, seeking to deflect attention, turned down a chance to comment. “We respectfully decline the opportunity,” one government official said when contacted by Reuters.

The reference to Norway may have been prompted by Prime Minister Erna Solberg who visited the White House on Wednesday when the president praised Norway for running a trade deficit with the United States and for buying U.S. military equipment.

Christian Christensen, an American professor of journalism at Stockholm University in neighboring Sweden, tweeted: “Of course people from #Norway would love to move to a country where people are far more likely to be shot, live in poverty, get no healthcare because they’re poor, get no paid parental leave or subsidized daycare and see fewer women in political power. #Shithole”

Before the “shithole” controversy, former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt tweeted that, judging by Solberg’s visit, “keys to success with Trump is personal charm, a solid trade deficit with the U.S. and buying tons of U.S. military hardware.”

Solberg, whose office also declined to comment on Trump’s remarks, is expected to announce soon an expansion of her cabinet to include Norway’s Liberal Party, a centrist group that favors strong environmental policies and more immigration.

“The first point of order in the new government declaration: Norway will still not be a shithole country,” tweeted Kjetil Alstadheim, the political editor of financial daily Dagens Naeringsliv.