The number of Norwegian pensioners who build a life for themselves abroad post-retirement, has gone up by a third in the past four years, new statistics show.
More than 50,000 retirement age Norwegians have moved abroad, according to new statistics from the Work and Welfare Administration (Arbeids- og velferdsforvaltningen).
In 2009, however, there were about 30,000 Norwegians who chose to live elsewhere after retiring. Another 10,000 have joined their ranks since then, and figures from 2012 creep up to 50,000 when you take into account some 10,000 people who retired early due to work place disability issues. Additionally, 677 Norwegians who receive a military pension live abroad.
In total, the Norwegian pension system pays out around 5.5 billion kroner ($907 million) to people who no longer live in Norway.
Most of the travel-hungry pensioners don't fly very far fromthe nest, however, as the majority of them head to neighbouring Sweden. The US, Denmark, and Spain are runners-up on the list of most favourite retirement-age residences.