Migration and journey to work in sparsely populated areas in Norway

Sparsely populated areas in present-day North West Europe are almost automatically associated with demographic decline, in particular when studied on a local level. An image of an urn-like age pyramid, bulging near the top and with a slim base, presents itself to the observer. But it should not be forgotten that such a situation, with more deaths than births, is a long-term elTect of years and years of net out-migration. The analysis of geographic mobility thus becomes more important than fertility and mortality stud- ies. We want to understand how the age pyramid has become an urn.