Migration from Scandinavia to the US 1820-1957

Between 1820 and 1957, almost two and a half million people emigrated from Scandinavia to the United States. The period with the highest levels of migration came in the three decades between 1880 and 1910 (although it did dip at the turn of the twentieth century). The "Long Depression" of the late nineteenth century was the main catalyst for Scandinavian migration to the US. Poor harvests and economic troubles were particularly influential on young Scandinavians and those from rural areas, who were keen to follow in the footsteps of the first wave of Scandinavians who had migrated to the US following the American Civil War, and prospered during the Second Industrial Revolution. The year with the highest number of Scandinavian migration was 1882, where over 105,000 people arrived in the US. In the twentieth century, there was a decline during the First World War. However the period with the lowest levels of migration came in the aftermath of the Great Depression in the 1930s, although Scandinavian migration did increase slightly following the Second World War.