Before Ibsen's time, the population in cities and densely populated areas constituted a small proportion of the population in Norway. Most people lived in the countryside in sparsely populated areas.

//Folketelling 1769-1865//

The first census in Norway was held in 1769, but it was not until 1801 that we had reliable figures for the population. The strongest growth in population after 1769 came in cities and densely populated areas, but what is special about Norway is that the population in sparsely populated areas before 1900 and Ibsen's death in 1906 has been well above the population in the cities. Between 1815 and 1865, the population growth in sparsely populated areas was actually much faster than the population growth in cities and towns. It is this population growth in the countryside that "floods over" and becomes the basis for the growth in the cities – while population growth after 1865 levels off in the countryside.

In the census of 1769, Skien had 1809 inhabitants. In Øvre Telemark, which included Tinn, Hjartdal, Seljord and Kviteseid, there were a total of 8000 inhabitants. That is more than 4 times as many. In Øvre Telemark there were therefore far greater opportunities to get positions as priests and civil servants than in Skien. This was the reason why sons of citizens in Skien moved out of Skien and became priests, magistrates, sheriffs and administrators in Øvre Telemark. Daughters of citizens in Skien were married to civil servants in Øvre Telemark.

Eventually, all the important positions in Øvre Telemark were filled. Therefore, the sons and daughters of priests, sheriffs and administrators in Øvre Telemark began to move back to Skien where they became skippers and merchants – or married skippers and merchants.

In Skien, second-generation immigrants from the Blom family in Lårdal became among the city's largest taxpayers. They were all cousins of Henrik Ibsen's mother Marichen.