The high proportion of the demographic taking the medical career path is in part due to the influence of their parents, according to a report by national broadcaster NRK.

“The medical profession is highly respected in India. You hear that from your parents, and you are influenced by that,” Doctor Archana Sharma, whose parents moved to Norway from India, told NRK.

The high status of the medical profession in India influences career choices in Norway, the broadcaster writes.

The Institute for Social Research in Oslo has found that, for Norwegian women between the ages of 26 and 35 and with Indian heritage, almost one in five have completed medical studies.

By comparison, only one in 100 women with Norwegian-born parents in the same age group become doctors, according to the study, which was reported by newspaper Utrop.

“Many people experience very strong expectations that they will go into higher education, preferably within the type of high-status professions which provide security and good pay,” sociologist and project manager for the study Arnfinn Midtbøen told NRK.

“This shows that the migration [of the women’s parents, ed.] was successful,” Midtbøen also said.

An Oslo medicine student told NRK that her parents valued higher education without pressuring her.

“They have encouraged me here and throughout my childhood, but I felt no pressure to choose medicine. I think it is very common in Indian families that parents encourage children from an early stage to go into higher education,” Anisha Sharma told the broadcaster.

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