Assessments of citizenship criteria: are immigrants more liberal?

Figures & data

Table 1. Six questions on perceptions of ideal citizenship criteria.

Different countries have different requirements that must be met to acquire citizenship. Now you will be presented with some questions where we ask you to think about what requirements you personally think are reasonable for different kinds of rules. What requirement do you think would make sense in terms of …
Length of residence in the country	No requirement 3 years 5 years 7 years 9 years Longer than 9 years
Norwegian language competence	No requirement Take a course Pass a basic exam (enough to get around in society) Pass a higher exam (equivalent to 10th grade)
Economic qualifications	No requirement Not be on welfare Be employed Have worked full-time for several years
Historical and cultural knowledge	No requirement Pass an easy exam about living in society Pass an advanced exam about Norway’s history and culture
Dual citizenship	Should not be allowed Should be allowed
Declaration of citizenship commitment	Should require an oath that will respect the country’s laws Should require an oath of loyalty to the country Should require both of the above None of the above should be required

Figure 1. Perceptions of ideal citizenship criteria distributed on each citizenship criterion by macro group.

Table 2. Estimating perceptions of ideal citizenship criteria.

	Model 1		Model 2
Immigrant background
Native (ref.)
2nd generation	−0.052***	(0.011)	−0.039**	(0.012)
1st generation	−0.035**	(0.011)	−0.047***	(0.013)
Gender
Man (ref.)
Woman			−0.022**	(0.007)
Age group
20–24
25–30			0.012	(0.010)
31–37			0.014	(0.014)
Education
Secondary school or less (ref.)
Further education			0.012	(0.010)
Higher education			−0.022*	(0.009)
Citizenship status
No citizenship in Norway (ref.)
Citizenship in Norway			−0.024*	(0.010)
Employment
Not employed (ref.)
Employed			0.004	(0.008)
City size
Less than 19.999 (ref.)
20.000–99.999			−0.041**	(0.013)
More than 100.000			−0.039***	(0.009)
Constant	0.539***	(0.010)	0.592***	(0.019)
N	2639		2639
R^2	0.010		0.033

Note: Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression with robust standard errors in parentheses.

*p < 0.05.

**p < 0.01.

***p < 0.001.

Figure 2 Predicted mean levels of perceptions of ideal citizenship criteria by macro group (0 = very liberal and 1 = very restrictive). Note: The figure is based on model 2 in Table 2.

Table 3. Estimating assessment of actual Norwegian citizenship criteria.

	Model 1		Model 2
Immigrant background
Native (ref.)
2nd generation	0.008	(0.014)	0.015	(0.017)
1st generation	0.035*	(0.014)	0.067***	(0.018)
Gender
Man (ref.)
Woman			0.014	(0.010)
Age group
20–24
25–30			−0.025	(0.014)
31–37			−0.018	(0.019)
Education
Secondary school or less (ref.)
Further education			0.011	(0.014)
Higher education			0.016	(0.013)
Citizenship status
No citizenship in Norway (ref.)
Citizenship in Norway			0.054***	(0.016)
Employment
Not employed (ref.)
Employed			0.005	(0.011)
City size
Less than 19.999 (ref.)
20.000–99.999			0.004	(0.018)
More than 100.000			−0.016	(0.013)
Constant	0.629***	(0.011)	0.573***	(0.028)
N	2516		2516
R^2	0.003		0.012

Notes: Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression with robust standard errors in parentheses. The marginally lower number of respondents in this table (N = 2.516) compared to Table 2 (N = 2.639) is due to a higher number of missing responses to the questions on attitudes towards the actual citizenship criteria.

*p < 0.05.

**p < 0.01.

***p < 0.001.

Figure 3 Predicted mean levels of perceptions of the actual Norwegian citizenship criteria by macro group (0 = very negative and 1 = very positive). Note: The figure is based on model 2 in Table 3.

Table A1. The gross sample, net sample and difference between the gross and net sample, percent (point).

	Gross	Net	Difference
Gender
Men	51.1	49.4	−1.7
Women	48.9	50.6	1.7
Age
20–25 years	35.9	34.5	−1.4
26–30 years	27.6	26.6	−1.0
31–36 years	36.5	38.9	2.4
Education
Secondary school	36.2	32.5	−3.6
Further education	29.9	31.4	1.5
Higher education	22.5	26.9	4.4
Unknown	11.3	9.1	−2.2
Immigration category
Native Norwegians	17.0	17.3	0.3
Immigrants	37.8	39.6	1.8
Descendants	45.3	43.1	−2.2
Citizenship status
Norwegian citizenship	78.8	79.3	0.5
Not Norwegian citizenship	21.2	20.7	−0.5
Sum of respondents	7 937	4 031

Table A2. Estimating perceptions of ideal citizenship criteria among subgroups (Y = 6 items).

	Model 1		Model 2
Subgroups
Native (ref.)
Iraq 2nd	−0.034*	(0.015)	−0.025	(0.016)
Somalia 2nd	−0.122***	(0.016)	−0.114***	(0.017)
Pakistan 2nd	−0.044**	(0.015)	−0.031	(0.016)
Poland 2nd	−0.007	(0.014)	−0.002	(0.015)
Turkey 2nd	−0.070***	(0.015)	−0.062***	(0.016)
Iraq 1st	−0.014	(0.016)	−0.024	(0.017)
Somalia 1st	−0.072***	(0.016)	−0.081***	(0.017)
Pakistan 1st	−0.040*	(0.016)	−0.036*	(0.018)
Poland 1st	0.002	(0.014)	−0.009	(0.020)
Turkey 1st	−0.050**	(0.016)	−0.059**	(0.018)
Gender
Man (ref.)
Woman			−0.021**	(0.007)
Age group
20–24
25–30			0.008	(0.010)
31-7			0.006	(0.014)
Education
Secondary school or less (ref.)
Further education			0.006	(0.010)
Higher education			−0.033***	(0.009)
Citizenship status
No citizenship in Norway (ref.)
Citizenship in Norway			−0.002	(0.012)
Employment
Not employed (ref.)
Employed			0.004	(0.008)
City size
Less than 19.999 (ref.)
20.000 - 99.999			−0.031*	(0.013)
More than 100.000			−0.031***	(0.009)
Constant	0.539***	(0.010)	0.579***	(0.020)
N	2639 0.037		2639 0.056
R^2

Note: Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression with robust standard errors in parentheses.

*p < 0.05

**p < 0.01.

***p < 0.001.

Table A3. Estimating assessments actual citizenship criteria among subgroups (Y = 3 items).

	Model 1		Model 2
Subgroups
Native (ref.)
Iraq 2nd	0.009	(0.020)	0.011	(0.023)
Somalia 2nd	0.000	(0.023)	0.003	(0.026)
Pakistan 2nd	−0.005	(0.020)	0.002	(0.022)
Poland 2nd	0.064***	(0.018)	0.080***	(0.020)
Turkey 2nd	−0.040	(0.020)	−0.032	(0.023)
Iraq 1st	0.072**	(0.022)	0.094***	(0.024)
Somalia 1st	0.041	(0.022)	0.063**	(0.024)
Pakistan 1st	0.047*	(0.021)	0.071**	(0.024)
Poland 1st	−0.016	(0.022)	0.032	(0.028)
Turkey 1st	0.035	(0.022)	0.068**	(0.024)
Gender
Man (ref.)
Woman			0.015	(0.010)
Age group
20–24
25–30			−0.025	(0.014)
31–37			−0.015	(0.020)
Education
Secondary school or less (ref.)
Further education			0.013	(0.015)
Higher education			0.017	(0.014)
Citizenship status
No citizenship in Norway (ref.)
Citizenship in Norway			0.052**	(0.018)
Employment
Not employed (ref.)
Employed			0.009	(0.011)
City size
Less than 19.999 (ref.)
20.000–99.999			0.005	(0.018)
More than 100.000			−0.012	(0.013)
Constant	0.629***	(0.012)	0.567***	(0.029)
N	2516 0.017		2516 0.025
R^2

Note: Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression with robust standard errors in parentheses.

*p < 0.05.

**p < 0.01.

***p < 0.001.