How are countries like Norway and Switzerland not so densely populated considering the fact that they are portrayed as nearly heaven in all aspects?
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I think one of the reasons is that most small European countries have their own languages that make integration difficult. Thou a lot of Europeans speak good English, getting a job or education more often than not requires you to speak the native language also.
For most places you need to actually be able to find a job to be allowed to immigrate. Refuges get a pass, everyone else is left to compete in immigration- so it’s doctors engineers, etc immigrating usually, and this is fairly standard for most developed countries. Hence the migrant crisis where in Greece turkey Italy, etc, there is a big fuss with people just coming over and inviting themselves in. Same with the US, where illegal immigrants just jump the queue of qualified professionals trying to immigrate.
For most places you need to actually be able to find a job to be allowed to immigrate. Refuges get a pass, everyone else is left to compete in immigration- so it’s doctors engineers, etc immigrating usually, and this is fairly standard for most developed countries. Hence the migrant crisis where in Greece turkey Italy, etc, there is a big fuss with people just coming over and inviting themselves in. Same with the US, where illegal immigrants just jump the queue of qualified professionals trying to immigrate.
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I’m from Canada and in the mid-2000s, some Norwegians came over to study.
They immediately bought the flashiest cars they could afford at the time (mid-2000s so Benz SLKs, etc) while in their early 20s because they said that it is the one time they can afford to get a car like that. I may have misremembered the actual amounts but they said that a Corvette or similar would be about the equivalent of $200k. They also partied a LOT, even compared to Canadian early-20s, and I realized why later.
I visited them in Oslo a few years later and when beer was about $7/pint in Canada, it was equiv of $17 in Oslo. I quickly realized that whatever it cost in Canada (Toronto area) at the time, it was 2.5x in the Oslo area. So they partied and went out all the time bc drinks and going out was less than half of what it cost in Norway, while they were making Norwegian pay (it was a subsidized study program).
They also said their income tax rate was phenomenal compared to Canada, which isn’t super high (depending on province) but generally higher than the US. So while they make a lot in theory, a lot of it goes to the higher cost of living and taxes.
I’m from Canada and in the mid-2000s, some Norwegians came over to study.
They immediately bought the flashiest cars they could afford at the time (mid-2000s so Benz SLKs, etc) while in their early 20s because they said that it is the one time they can afford to get a car like that. I may have misremembered the actual amounts but they said that a Corvette or similar would be about the equivalent of $200k. They also partied a LOT, even compared to Canadian early-20s, and I realized why later.
I visited them in Oslo a few years later and when beer was about $7/pint in Canada, it was equiv of $17 in Oslo. I quickly realized that whatever it cost in Canada (Toronto area) at the time, it was 2.5x in the Oslo area. So they partied and went out all the time bc drinks and going out was less than half of what it cost in Norway, while they were making Norwegian pay (it was a subsidized study program).
They also said their income tax rate was phenomenal compared to Canada, which isn’t super high (depending on province) but generally higher than the US. So while they make a lot in theory, a lot of it goes to the higher cost of living and taxes.
I’m from Canada and in the mid-2000s, some Norwegians came over to study.
They immediately bought the flashiest cars they could afford at the time (mid-2000s so Benz SLKs, etc) while in their early 20s because they said that it is the one time they can afford to get a car like that. I may have misremembered the actual amounts but they said that a Corvette or similar would be about the equivalent of $200k. They also partied a LOT, even compared to Canadian early-20s, and I realized why later.
I visited them in Oslo a few years later and when beer was about $7/pint in Canada, it was equiv of $17 in Oslo. I quickly realized that whatever it cost in Canada (Toronto area) at the time, it was 2.5x in the Oslo area. So they partied and went out all the time bc drinks and going out was less than half of what it cost in Norway, while they were making Norwegian pay (it was a subsidized study program).
They also said their income tax rate was phenomenal compared to Canada, which isn’t super high (depending on province) but generally higher than the US. So while they make a lot in theory, a lot of it goes to the higher cost of living and taxes.
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For both Switzerland and Norway, large parts of the country are pretty much uninhabitable, due to being mountainous and frozen, which pulls down average population density. I can’t speak for Norway, but the parts of Switzerland that aren’t mountains are quite densely populated, e.g. the canton of Aargau, which contains none of the major cities, has a population density of ca. 500/km²; roughly on a level with the Netherlands or New Jersey.
Both countries also have a very high cost of living.
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