Mobility in the Nordic region II– More males than females commute
At the end of 2015 a total of 51,234 Nordic residents commuted to a job in another Nordic country than they were residing in. Of these, 67 percent were male. Below the Nordic cross-border commuting is analysed in terms of sex and age.
Men cross-border commute more than women. Around 67 percent, or 34,480 of the 51,234 Nordic residents who commuted in 2015 were men. This is higher than the male rate for resident employees in all five countries, which vary from 48 percent in Finland to 53 percent in Norway [1].
When analysed by region of residence and country of work, the picture becomes a bit more complex.
Source: Nordic statistics database, COMM10: Cross-border commuters by type of municipality, region of residence, sex, age, time and country of work.
Analysed by region of residence the male rate is highest for Iceland, where 82 percent of those commuting from the country were male. For Denmark the male rate was 71 percent, for Sweden 67 percent, for Norway 66 percent and for Finland 65 percent.
When analysed by country of work the distributions between the sexes are generally more even. Commuters to Iceland and Finland have the most even distributions, with female rates of 48 and 46 percent respectively. The male rate is highest for those commuting to Norway, 72 percent.
Cross-border commuters are found in all ages, from 16 years and up. The age group 30-44 years is the largest with 36 percent of all commuters, followed by 16-29 years with 26 percent, 45-54 years with 23 percent and 55 years and older with 16 percent.
Norway has the youngest commuters, while Finland has the oldest. Almost 70 percent of the Norwegian commuters are 44 years or younger. For Sweden, Denmark and Iceland the corresponding number is around 60 percent while Finland has less than 50 percent in this age group.
Source: Nordic statistics database, COMM10: Cross-border commuters by type of municipality, region of residence, sex, age, time and country of work.
When analysed by country of work the age distributions are different. Commuters coming to Iceland for work are younger than commuters to other countries, 80 percent are a maximum of 44 years old. For Finland the corresponding number is 73 percent, for Denmark 65 percent and for Norway 59 percent. Sweden has the smallest share of commuters aged 44 years or younger, 53 percent.
Source: Nordic statistics database, COMM10: Cross-border commuters by type of municipality, region of residence, sex, age, time and country of work.
A lot of the variation in sex and age among the cross-border commuters can be explained by the difference in industrial structures in the respective countries. This will be further analysed in a coming article on mobility in the Nordic region.