Young people with an immigrant background constituted between 15 and 20 percent of Norway’s relevant age cohorts over the past decade—but only 2.5 to 3.5 percent of those performing initial military service. Their representation among conscripts was therefore only around one-eighth to one-quarter of what proportional participation would suggest.

The findings echo recent evidence from Finland. Among Somali- and Arabic-speaking men born in 1992 and living in Uusimaa, as many as 70 percent received health exemptions from military service. Although Norway measures immigrant background while Finland’s figures concern particular language groups, both cases undermine the claim that Nordic conscription naturally integrates immigrants. Many never enter the barracks at all. The Finnish Conscripts’ Union Chairman called the disparity “alarming.”

“Statistically, certain language groups do not participate in national-defence duties to the same extent—and that is a problem.”

— Mats Uotila, chairman of the Finnish Conscripts’ Union

Conscription in the Nordics is not the melting pot it is made out to be.

Read the entire Norwegian piece in Forsvarets forum.