Demographics of Sweden

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The demographics of Sweden is about the demographic features of the population of Sweden, including population growth, population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. In addition to the ethnic Swedish majority, Sweden has historically had smaller minorities of Sami people in the northernmost parts of the country while Finns (at 5% of the total population) are most prominent in the Mälaren Valley and in the north of Sweden.

The demographic profile of Sweden has changed significantly as a result of immigration since the 1970s.

Population statistics

Population of Sweden, 1961 to 2003. The population increased from 7.5 to 8.3 million during the 1960s to 1970s. After a phase of steadiness during the early 1980s, the population grew further from 8.3 to 8.8 million during 1987 to 1997, followed by another phase of stagnation (followed by another growth phase from 8.8 to 9.3 million over 2004 to 2010).

At the housing and population census 1990 the Swedish population stood at 8 587 353 out of which 4 242 351 male and 4 345 002 female. According to the 1990 census there were 788 767 foreign born within the country.^[1]

• Population: 9,555,893 (As of 2012)
• Annual population growth rate: 0.77% (As of 2012)
• Birth rate: 11.84 births/1,000 population (As of 2012 est.)
• Death rate: 9.62 deaths/1,000 population (As of 2012 est.)
• Net migration rate: 1.65 migrant(s)/1,000 population (As of 2012 est.)

• Total fertility rate: 1.94 children born/woman (2010 est.)
• Infant mortality rate: 2.75 deaths/1,000 live births (As of 2010 est.)

• Urbanization: 85% of total population (As of 2010)
• Rate of urbanization: 0.6% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)

• Life expectancy at birth: 81.18 years
  • Male: 78.86 years
  • Female: 83.63 years (As of 2012 est.)

Within Sweden's current borders, the historic population has been estimated to the following values:^[2]

Sweden census 2005

The 2005 Swedish census showed an increase of 475,322 compared to the 1990 census, an average increase of 31,680 annually. During the 1990s, birth rate increased by more than 100,000 children per year while death rates fell and immigration surged. In the early 2000s, birth rate declined as immigration increased further, with the context of unrest in the Middle East, upholding steady population growth.^[8]

Ethnicity

Beside the Swedes, the Sweden Finns are the largest ethnic minority comprising approximately 50,000 along the Swedish-Finnish border, and 450,000 first and second generation immigrated ethnic Finns. Also in the farthest North a small population of Samis live.

Vital statistics since 1900

Data according to Statistics Sweden, which collects the official statistics for Sweden.^[9]

Current vital statistics

Number of births from January to June 2012 = 57,428

Number of births from January to June 2013 = 57,950

Number of deaths from January to June 2012 = 47,476

Number of deaths from January to June 2013 = 47,129

Natural increase from January to June 2012 = 9,952

Natural increase from January to June 2013 = 10,821

Migration

Immigration

As of 2011, Statistics Sweden reported that around 19.6% or 1.858.000 inhabitants of Sweden had foreign background, defined as born abroad or born in Sweden by two parents born abroad.^[10]

Demographics

According to Eurostat, in 2010, there were 1.33 million foreign-born residents in Sweden, corresponding to 14.3% of the total population. Of these, 859,000 (9.2%) were born outside the EU and 477,000 (5.1%) were born in another EU Member State.^[11][12]

The ten largest groups of foreign-born persons in the Swedish civil registry in 2012 were:^[13]

1.  Finland (163,867)
2.  Iraq (127,860)
3.  Poland (75,323)
4. Former Yugoslavia (69,269)
5.  Iran (65,649)
6.  Bosnia and Herzegovina (56,595)
7.  Germany (48,731)
8.  Turkey (45,085)
9.  Denmark (44,209)
10.  Somalia (43,966)

The number of Assyrians in Sweden is about 100,000 – 120,000.^[14][15]

The ten fastest growing groups of foreign-born residents in Sweden between 2011 and 2012 were the following nationalities:

1. Syria (+5,153)
2. Afghanistan (+3,995)
3. Somalia (+3,801)
4. Bosnia & Herzegovina (+2,458)
5. Iraq (+2,361)
6. Thailand (+1,941)
7. Iran (+1,821)
8. Eritrea (+1,741)
9. Turkey (+1,176)
10. China (+1,161)

In 2012, the number of migrants coming from Syria to Sweden comprised 4,730 persons, which is a tripling compared to the previous year. Apart from remigrating Swedish citizens, this was the fastest growing migrant group of 2012.^[7] During the same year, the number of asylum seekers from Syria soared to 7,814 from merely 640 the year before.^[16]

History

World War II

Immigration increased markedly with World War II. Historically, the most numerous of foreign born nationalities are ethnic Germans from Germany and other Scandinavians from Denmark and Norway.^{[citation needed]} In short order, 70,000 war children were evacuated from Finland, of which 15,000 remained in Sweden. Also, many of Denmark's nearly 7,000 Jews who were evacuated to Sweden decided to remain there.^{[citation needed]}

A sizable community from the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) arrived during the Second World War.^[17]

1945 to 1967

During the 1950s and 1960s, the recruitment of immigrant labor was an important factor of immigration. The Nordic countries signed a trade agreement in 1952, establishing a common labour market and free movement across borders. This migration within the Nordic countries, especially from Finland to Scandinavia, was essential to create the tax-base required for the expansion of the strong public sector now charactreristic of Scandinavia.^{[citation needed]} This continued until 1967, when the labour market became saturated, and Sweden introduced new immigration controls.

On a smaller scale, Sweden took in political refugees from Hungary and the former Czechoslovakia after their countries were invaded by the Soviet Union in 1956 and 1968 respectively.

Contemporary immigration

Since the early 1970s, immigration to Sweden has been mostly due to refugee migration and family reunification from countries in the Middle East and Latin America.^[18]

The first group of Assyrians/Syriacs moved to Sweden from Lebanon in 1967. Many of them live in Södertälje (Stockholm).^[19][20] There are also around 40,000 Roma in Sweden.^[21]

Immigration of Iraqis increased dramatically during the Iraq War, during 2003 to 2007. A total of 8,951 Iraqis came to Sweden in 2006, accounting for 45% of the entire Iraqi migration to Europe. By 2007, the community of Iraqis in Sweden numbered above 70,000. In 2008, Sweden introduced tighter rules on asylum seekers.^[22]

Emigration

In the 19th century, Sweden's yearly population growth rate peaked at 1.2% (i.e. it doubled in less than 60 years), compared to 1% today (migration excluded). This considerable population growth rate led, before the Industrial Revolution, to a pauperization of the rural population, for each generation inherited smaller and smaller shares. Due to years of crop failure in the 1840s and 1860s, the U.S. Homestead Act of 1862, and to a lesser extent religious persecution, emigration started and grew. Between 1850 and 1930 1,050,000 Swedes emigrated (re-migration excluded), chiefly to Canada, U.S. and to Denmark. If they had not left, Sweden's population would have been about 2,000,000 higher today, assuming famine and civil war would not have resulted from their staying. (After 1929 the net-migration has been directed towards Sweden.)

The re-migration of Swedish nationals from the U.S. was culturally more important than the absolute figures reveal. The re-migrants often re-settled in their native parish, where their relative wealth and foreign experience ensured a prestigious position in the community. U.S. views, values and not the least world-view followed the re-migrants, ensuring a popular perception of closeness to U.S., contrary to the situation in for instance neighbouring Denmark or Finland (and contrary to the Swedish elite's closeness to Germany and Continental Europe).

Language

The Swedish language is by far the dominating language in Sweden, and is used by the government administration.

Since 1999, Sweden has five officially recognized minority languages: Sami, Meänkieli, Standard Finnish, Romani chib and Yiddish.

The Sami language, spoken by about 7,000 people in Sweden, may be used in government agencies, courts, preschools and nursing homes in the municipalities of Arjeplog, Gällivare, Jokkmokk and Kiruna and its immediate neighbourhood.

Similarly, Finnish and Meänkieli can be used in the municipalities of Gällivare, Haparanda, Kiruna, Pajala and Övertorneå and its immediate neighbourhood. Finnish is also official language, along with Swedish, in the city of Eskilstuna^{[citation needed]}.

During the mid to late 20th century, immigrant communities brought other languages, among others being Turkish, Serbo-Croatian, Arabic, Neo-Aramaic.^[23]

Religion

Although only one fifth of Swedes in one investigation chose to describe themselves as believing in a god,^[24] the majority (67.5%) of the population belongs to the Church of Sweden,^[25] the Lutheran church that was disestablished in 2000. This is because until 1996, those who had family members in the church automatically became members at birth.^{[citation needed]} Other Christian denominations in Sweden include the Roman Catholic Church (see Catholic Church of Sweden), several Orthodox churches in diaspora, Baptist, Pentecostal, Neo-pietistic (nyevangeliska) and other evangelical Christian churches (frikyrkor = "free churches"). Shamanism persisted among the Sami people up until the 18th century, but no longer exists in its traditional form as most Sami today belong to the Lutheran church.

Jews were permitted to practice their religion in five Swedish cities in 1782, and enjoy full rights as citizens since 1870. The new Freedom of Religion Bill was passed in 1951, and former obstacles against Non-Lutherans working in schools and hospitals were removed. Further, that bill made it legal to leave any religious denomination, without entering another. There are also a number of Muslims, Buddhists, and Bahá'í in Sweden, mainly from immigration.

See also

• Statistics Sweden
• Municipalities of Sweden
• Demographical center of Sweden
• Immigration to Europe
• List of countries by immigrant population
• Aging of Europe

References

External links

• Population Statistics – in English
• Statistics Sweden – Official Data Base

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