Demographics of Sweden

The total resident population of Sweden was 10,377,781 in October 2020.[1] The population exceeded 10 million for the first time on Friday, 20 January 2017.[2][3] The three largest cities are Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. Sweden's population has become much more ethnically, religiously and linguistically diverse over the past 70 years as a result of immigration. Every fourth (24.9%) resident in the country has a foreign background and every third (32.3%) has at least one parent born abroad. The most common foreign ancestry is Finnish.[4]

Swedes celebrating Midsummer (Swedish: Midsommar)

Population statistics

The birth and death rates in Sweden 1950–2008.

Population pyramid in 2019

Population density in the counties of Sweden.
people/km²

  0–9.9

  10–24.9

  25–49.9

  50–99.9

  100–199.9

  200+

Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review.[5]

• One birth every 4 minutes
• One death every 6 minutes
• Net gain of one person every 8 minutes
• One net migrant every 14 minutes

Demographic statistics according to the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.[6]

Population

10,202,491 (July 2020 est.)

Age structure

0-14 years: 17.54% (male 904,957 /female 855,946)

15-24 years: 11.06% (male 573,595 /female 537,358)

25-54 years: 39.37% (male 2,005,422 /female 1,947,245)

55-64 years: 11.67% (male 588,314 /female 583,002)

65 years and over: 20.37% (male 946,170 /female 1,098,986) (2018 est.)

0-14 years: 17.43% (male 892,462/female 843,375)

15-24 years: 11.31% (male 581,025/female 545,971)

25-54 years: 39.42% (male 1,993,590/female 1,933,080)

55-64 years: 11.58% (male 578,942/female 574,479)

65 years and over: 20.26% (male 931,593/female 1,085,970) (2017 est.)

Median age

total: 41.1 years. Country comparison to the world: 45th

male: 40.1 years

female: 42.2 years (2018 est.)

total: 41.2 years

male: 40.2 years

female: 42.2 years (2017 est.)

Birth rate

12.1 births/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 164th

11.78 births/1,000 population (2013 est.)

Death rate

9.4 deaths/1,000 population (2017 est.) Country comparison to the world: 52nd

9.37 deaths/1,000 population (2013 est.)

Total fertility rate

1.87 children born/woman (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 141st

Net migration rate

5.3 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.) Country comparison to the world: 23rd

6.75 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2013 est.)

Population growth rate

0.8% (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 129th

0.81% (2017 est.)

0.93% (2013 est.)

Mother's mean age at first birth

29.1 years (2015 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 82.1 years Country comparison to the world: 16th

male: 80.2 years

female: 84.2 years (2017 est.)

Net birth surplus rate

2.40 births/1,000 population (2013 est.)

Infant mortality rate

total: 2.6 deaths/1,000 live births Country comparison to the world: 218th

male: 2.9 deaths/1,000 live births

female: 2.3 deaths/1,000 live births (2017 est.)

2.75 deaths/1,000 live births (2010 est.)

Dependency ratios

total dependency ratio: 58.5

youth dependency ratio: 27.4

elderly dependency ratio: 31.1

potential support ratio: 3.2 (2015 est.)

Unemployment, youth ages 15–24

total: 17.9%. Country comparison to the world: 72nd

male: 18.8%

female: 17% (2017 est.)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

total: 19 years

male: 18 years

female: 20 years (2016)

Urbanisation

88% of total population (2020 est.)

Rate of urbanisation: 1.05% annual rate of change (2015–20 est.)

Population change

The demography of Sweden is monitored by Statistics Sweden (SCB).

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.[7][8]

Historical populations

Year	Pop.	±%
1570	900,000	—
1650	1,225,000	+36.1%
1700	1,485,000	+21.2%
1750	1,780,700	+19.9%
1800	2,347,300	+31.8%
1850	3,482,500	+48.4%
1900	5,136,400	+47.5%
1950	7,041,900	+37.1%
1970	8,081,300	+14.8%
1980	8,318,000	+2.9%
1990	8,590,600	+3.3%
2000	8,882,800	+3.4%
2010	9,415,600	+6.0%
2019	10,327,600	+9.7%
Source: Historical figures – Sveriges land och folk,[9] Modern figures – Statistics Sweden As of:[10] Dec. 2019[1]

Population projections

Born in 1953, a report on the longitudinal study Project Metropolitan

In 1950 Sweden had fewer people aged 10–20 with more people ages 20–30 and 0–10. In 2017 the ratio of male to female remains steady at about 50–50. As a whole, the graph broadens with people appearing to live longer. In 2050 it is predicted that all ages will increase from below 300,000 males and females to above 300,000 males and females. With about 50,000 people living to the ages of 90–100. In 2100 the graph is shaped as a rectangle with people of all ages and genders remaining steady. It narrows slightly at the top of the graph with about 250,000/300,000 males and females living to be 90–100 years old.[11] Statistics Sweden projects the following population development in Sweden:[12]

Year	Projection
2016	9,995,000
2020	10,431,000
2026	11,046,000
2030	11,344,000
2040	11,898,000
2050	12,395,000
2060	12,858,000

Eurostat projects a population in Sweden reaching 11,994,364 people in 2040 and 14,388,478 in 2080.[13]

Geography and population density

The population density is just over 25 people per km² (65 per square mile), with 1 437 persons per km² in localities (continuous settlement with at least 200 inhabitants).[14]^,[15] 87% of the population live in urban areas, which cover 1.5% of the entire land area.[16] 63% of Swedes are in large urban areas.[16] The population density is substantially higher in the south than in the north. The capital city Stockholm has a municipal population of about 950,000 (with 1.5 million in the urban area and 2.3 million in the metropolitan area). The second- and third-largest cities are Gothenburg and Malmö. Greater Gothenburg counts just over a million inhabitants and the same goes for the western part of Scania, along the Öresund. The Öresund Region, the Danish-Swedish cross-border region around the Öresund that Malmö is part of, has a population of 4 million. Outside of major cities, areas with notably higher population density include the agricultural part of Östergötland, the western coast, the area around Lake Mälaren and the agricultural area around Uppsala.

Norrland, which covers approximately 60% of the Swedish territory, has a very low population density (below 5 people per square kilometer). The mountains and most of the remote coastal areas are almost unpopulated. Low population density exists also in large parts of western Svealand, as well as southern and central Småland. An area known as Finnveden, which is located in the south-west of Småland, and mainly below the 57th parallel, can also be considered as almost empty of people.

Ethnicity

The majority of the population are ethnic Swedes, or people who can trace most of their ethnicity to Sweden going back at least 12 generations. The Sweden Finns are a large ethnic minority comprising approximately 50,000 along the Swedish-Finnish border, and 450,000 first and second-generation immigrated ethnic Finns, mainly living in the Mälaren Valley region. Meänkieli Finnish has official status in parts of northern Sweden near the Finnish border. In addition, Sweden's indigenous population groups include the Sami people, who have a history of practicing hunting and gathering and gradually adopting a largely semi-nomadic reindeer herding lifestyle. They have been present in Fenno-Scandinavia from at earliest 5000 years [17] to at latest around 2650 years.[18] Today, the Sami language holds the status of official minority language in the Norrbotten, Västerbotten and Jämtland counties.

In addition to the Sami, Tornedalers, and Sweden Finns, Jewish and Roma people have national minority status in Sweden.[19]

There are no official statistics on ethnicity, but according to Statistics Sweden, around two million (19.6%) inhabitants in Sweden are born in another country. Of those, more than half are Swedish citizens. [20] The most common countries of origin were Syria (1.82%), Finland (1.45%), Iraq (1.41%), Poland (0.91%), Iran (0.76%) and Somalia (0.67%).[21] The average age in Sweden is 41.1 years.[22]

Historical fertility rates from 1630 to 1900

The total fertility rate is the number of children born per woman. It is based on fairly good data for the entire period. Sources: Our World In Data and Gapminder Foundation.[23]

Years	1630	1632	1634	1636	1638	1640	1642	1644	1646	1648	1650	1652	1654	1656	1658[23]
Total fertility rate in Sweden	4.81	4.25	3.89	4.38	4.4	4.92	4.38	4.25	4.95	5.4	4.34	4.54	5.33	4.72	4.58

Years	1660	1662	1664	1666	1668	1670	1672	1674	1676	1678	1680	1682	1684	1686	1688[23]
Total fertility rate in Sweden	4.2	4.54	5.01	4.98	4.6	5.13	5.01	4.38	4.28	4.35	4.64	5.4	5.25	4.84	5.29

Years	1690	1692	1694	1696	1698	1700	1702	1704	1706	1708	1710	1712	1714	1716	1718[23]
Total fertility rate in Sweden	4.99	5.11	4.98	5.33	5.11	5.56	5.81	5.52	5.16	5.32	4.3	5.63	5.81	4.92	5.13

Years	1720	1722	1724	1726	1728	1730	1732	1734	1736	1738	1740	1742	1744	1746	1748[23]
Total fertility rate in Sweden	4.62	5.09	5.02	4.75	4.23	4.77	4.86	4.77	4.51	4.96	4.52	4.35	5.02	4.85	4.86

Years	1750	1752	1754	1756	1758	1760	1762	1764	1766	1768	1770	1772	1774	1776	1778[23]
Total fertility rate in Sweden	5.09	5.29	5.4	5.23	4.68	5.06	4.98	4.92	4.79	4.77	4.68	4.1	4.89	4.67	4.94

Years	1780	1782	1784	1786	1788	1790	1792	1794	1796	1798	1800[23]
Total fertility rate in Sweden	5.06	4.54	4.47	4.67	4.81	4.33	5.19	4.79	4.92	4.79	4.07

Years	1801	1802	1803	1804	1805	1806	1807	1808	1809	1810[23]
Total fertility rate in Sweden	4.26	4.5	4.45	4.52	4.5	4.36	4.42	4.31	3.78	4.67

Estimated birth rate (blue) and death rate in Sweden for the period of 1735 to 2000. The graph indicates strong population growth for the period of 1800 to 1970, and a beginning population decline from the 1980s.

Years	1811	1812	1813	1814	1815	1816	1817	1818	1819	1820[23]
Total fertility rate in Sweden	5.01	4.76	4.22	4.42	4.93	5.01	4.74	4.8	4.68	4.68

Years	1821	1822	1823	1824	1825	1826	1827	1828	1829	1830[23]
Total fertility rate in Sweden	5.03	5.09	5.22	4.9	5.18	4.94	4.44	4.77	4.94	4.67

Years	1831	1832	1833	1834	1835	1836	1837	1838	1839	1840[23]
Total fertility rate in Sweden	4.32	4.38	4.84	4.78	4.63	4.52	4.37	4.17	4.18	4.46

Years	1841	1842	1843	1844	1845	1846	1847	1848	1849	1850[23]
Total fertility rate in Sweden	4.3	4.49	4.36	4.56	4.46	4.25	4.2	4.3	4.66	4.45

A Swedish family with their five children in 1898

Years	1851	1852	1853	1854	1855	1856	1857	1858	1859	1860[23]
Total fertility rate in Sweden	4.36	4.2	4.26	4.53	4.3	4.23	4.36	4.66	4.71	4.71

Years	1861	1862	1863	1864	1865	1866	1867	1868	1869	1870[23]
Total fertility rate in Sweden	4.44	4.59	4.65	4.69	4.58	4.68	4.4	3.93	4.03	4.11

Years	1871	1872	1873	1874	1875	1876	1877	1878	1879	1880[23]
Total fertility rate in Sweden	4.37	4.34	4.49	4.54	4.6	4.57	4.62	4.44	4.56	4.36

Years	1881	1882	1883	1884	1885	1886	1887	1888	1889	1890[23]
Total fertility rate in Sweden	4.29	4.32	4.24	4.4	4.34	4.39	4.36	4.24	4.1	4.15

Years	1891	1892	1893	1894	1895	1896	1897	1898	1899	1900[23]
Total fertility rate in Sweden	4.14	3.93	3.97	3.94	4.01	3.98	3.92	3.99	3.9	4

Vital statistics since 1900

Data according to Statistics Sweden, which collects the official statistics for Sweden.[24]

	Average population	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)	Total fertility rates[fn 1]
1900	5,117,000	138,139	86,146	51,993	27.0	16.8	10.2	4.02
1901	5,156,000	139,370	82,772	56,598	27.0	16.1	11.0	4.04
1902	5,187,000	137,364	79,722	57,642	26.5	15.4	11.1	3.95
1903	5,210,000	133,896	78,610	55,286	25.7	15.1	10.6	3.82
1904	5,241,000	134,952	80,152	54,800	25.7	15.3	10.5	3.83
1905	5,278,000	135,409	82,443	52,966	25.7	15.6	10.0	3.83
1906	5,316,000	136,620	76,366	60,254	25.7	14.4	11.3	3.81
1907	5,357,000	136,793	78,149	58,644	25.5	14.6	10.9	3.77
1908	5,404,000	138,874	80,568	58,306	25.7	14.9	10.8	3.79
1909	5,453,000	139,505	74,538	64,967	25.6	13.7	11.9	3.71
1910	5,499,000	135,625	77,212	58,413	24.7	14.0	10.6	3.60
1911	5,542,000	132,977	76,462	56,515	24.0	13.8	10.2	3.49
1912	5,583,000	132,868	79,241	53,627	23.8	14.2	9.6	3.44
1913	5,621,000	130,200	76,724	53,476	23.2	13.6	9.5	3.32
1914	5,659,000	129,458	78,311	51,147	22.9	13.8	9.0	3.29
1915	5,696,000	122,997	83,587	39,410	21.6	14.7	6.9	3.06
1916	5,735,000	121,679	77,771	43,908	21.2	13.6	7.7	2.99
1917	5,779,000	120,855	77,385	43,470	20.9	13.4	7.5	2.93
1918	5,807,000	117,955	104,594	13,361	20.3	18.0	2.3	2.83
1919	5,830,000	115,193	84,289	30,904	19.8	14.5	5.3	2.72
1920	5,876,000	138,753	78,128	60,625	23.6	13.3	10.3	3.22
1921	5,929,000	127,723	73,536	54,187	21.5	12.4	9.1	2.93
1922	5,971,000	116,946	76,343	40,603	19.6	12.8	6.8	2.66
1923	5,997,000	113,435	68,424	45,011	18.9	11.4	7.5	2.55
1924	6,021,000	109,055	72,001	37,054	18.1	12.0	6.2	2.43
1925	6,045,000	106,292	70,918	35,374	17.6	11.7	5.9	2.34
1926	6,064,000	102,007	71,344	30,663	16.8	11.8	5.1	2.22
1927	6,081,000	97,994	77,219	20,775	16.1	12.7	3.4	2.11
1928	6,097,000	97,868	73,267	24,601	16.1	12.0	4.0	2.08
1929	6,113,000	92,861	74,538	18,323	15.2	12.2	3.0	1.95
1930	6,131,000	94,220	71,790	22,430	15.4	11.7	3.7	1.96
1931	6,152,000	91,074	77,121	13,953	14.8	12.5	2.3	1.88
1932	6,176,000	89,779	71,459	18,320	14.5	11.6	3.0	1.83
1933	6,201,000	85,020	69,607	15,413	13.7	11.2	2.5	1.72
1934	6,222,000	85,092	69,921	15,171	13.7	11.2	2.4	1.67
1935	6,242,000	85,906	72,813	13,093	13.8	11.7	2.1	1.70
1936	6,259,000	88,938	74,836	14,102	14.2	12.0	2.3	1.75
1937	6,276,000	90,373	75,392	14,981	14.4	12.0	2.4	1.77
1938	6,297,000	93,946	72,693	21,253	14.9	11.5	3.4	1.84
1939	6,326,000	97,380	72,876	24,504	15.4	11.5	3.9	1.90
1940	6,356,000	95,778	72,748	23,030	15.1	11.4	3.6	1.86
1941	6,389,000	99,727	71,910	27,817	15.6	11.3	4.4	1.92
1942	6,432,000	113,961	63,741	50,220	17.7	9.9	7.8	2.19
1943	6,491,000	125,392	66,105	59,287	19.3	10.2	9.1	2.41
1944	6,560,000	134,991	72,284	62,707	20.6	11.0	9.6	2.61
1945	6,636,000	135,373	71,901	63,472	20.4	10.8	9.6	2.63
1946	6,719,000	132,597	70,635	61,962	19.7	10.5	9.2	2.57
1947	6,803,000	128,779	73,579	55,200	18.9	10.8	8.1	2.50
1948	6,883,000	126,683	67,693	58,990	18.4	9.8	8.6	2.47
1949	6,956,000	121,272	69,537	51,735	17.4	10.0	7.4	2.39
1950	7,014,000	115,414	70,296	45,118	16.5	10.0	6.4	2.28
1951	7,073,000	110,168	69,799	40,369	15.6	9.9	5.7	2.20
1952	7,125,000	110,192	68,270	41,922	15.5	9.6	5.9	2.22
1953	7,171,000	110,144	69,553	40,591	15.4	9.7	5.7	2.25
1954	7,213,000	105,096	69,030	36,066	14.6	9.6	5.0	2.18
1955	7,262,000	107,305	68,634	38,671	14.8	9.5	5.3	2.25
1956	7,315,000	107,960	70,205	37,755	14.8	9.6	5.2	2.29
1957	7,364,000	107,168	73,132	34,036	14.6	9.9	4.6	2.29
1958	7,409,000	105,502	71,065	34,437	14.2	9.6	4.6	2.26
1959	7,446,000	104,743	70,889	33,854	14.1	9.5	4.5	2.29
1960	7,480,000	102,219	75,093	27,126	13.7	10.0	3.6	2.17
1961	7,520,000	104,501	73,555	30,946	13.9	9.8	4.1	2.21
1962	7,562,000	107,284	76,791	30,493	14.2	10.2	4.0	2.25
1963	7,604,000	112,903	76,460	36,443	14.8	10.1	4.8	2.33
1964	7,661,000	122,664	76,661	46,003	16.0	10.0	6.0	2.47
1965	7,734,000	122,806	78,194	44,612	15.9	10.1	5.8	2.39
1966	7,808,000	123,354	78,440	44,914	15.8	10.0	5.8	2.37
1967	7,868,000	121,360	79,783	41,577	15.4	10.1	5.3	2.28
1968	7,914,000	113,087	82,476	30,611	14.3	10.4	3.9	2.07
1969	7,968,000	107,622	83,352	24,270	13.5	10.5	3.0	1.94
1970	8,043,000	110,150	80,026	30,124	13.7	9.9	3.7	1.94
1971	8,098,000	114,484	82,717	31,767	14.1	10.2	3.9	1.98
1972	8,122,000	112,273	84,051	28,222	13.8	10.3	3.5	1.93
1973	8,137,000	109,663	85,640	24,023	13.5	10.5	3.0	1.88
1974	8,161,000	109,874	86,316	23,558	13.5	10.6	2.9	1.91
1975	8,193,000	103,632	88,208	15,424	12.6	10.8	1.9	1.78
1976	8,222,000	98,345	90,677	7,668	12.0	11.0	0.9	1.70
1977	8,252,000	96,057	88,202	7,855	11.6	10.7	1.0	1.64
1978	8,276,000	93,248	89,681	3,567	11.3	10.8	0.4	1.61
1979	8,294,000	96,255	91,074	5,181	11.6	11.0	0.6	1.66
1980	8,310,000	97,064	91,800	5,264	11.7	11.0	0.6	1.69
1981	8,320,000	94,065	92,034	2,031	11.3	11.1	0.2	1.63
1982	8,325,000	92,748	90,671	2,077	11.1	10.9	0.2	1.60
1983	8,329,000	91,780	90,791	989	11.0	10.9	0.1	1.61
1984	8,337,000	93,889	90,483	3,406	11.3	10.9	0.4	1.66
1985	8,350,000	98,463	94,032	4,431	11.8	11.3	0.5	1.74
1986	8,370,000	101,950	93,295	8,655	12.2	11.1	1.0	1.79
1987	8,398,000	104,699	93,307	11,392	12.5	11.1	1.4	1.84
1988	8,437,000	112,080	96,743	15,337	13.3	11.5	1.8	1.96
1989	8,493,000	116,023	92,110	23,913	13.7	10.8	2.8	2.02
1990	8,559,000	123,938	95,161	28,777	14.5	11.1	3.4	2.14
1991	8,617,000	123,737	95,202	28,535	14.4	11.0	3.3	2.12
1992	8,668,000	122,848	94,710	28,138	14.2	10.9	3.2	2.09
1993	8,719,000	117,998	97,008	20,990	13.5	11.1	2.4	2.00
1994	8,781,000	112,257	91,844	20,413	12.8	10.5	2.3	1.90
1995	8,831,000	103,326	96,910	6,416	11.7	11.0	0.7	1.74
1996	8,843,000	95,297	94,133	1,164	10.8	10.6	0.1	1.61
1997	8,846,000	89,171	92,674	-3,503	10.1	10.5	-0.4	1.52
1998	8,851,000	88,384	92,891	-4,507	10.0	10.5	-0.5	1.51
1999	8,858,000	88,173	94,726	-6,553	10.0	10.7	-0.7	1.50
2000	8,872,000	90,441	93,285	-2,844	10.2	10.5	-0.3	1.54
2001	8,896,000	91,466	93,752	-2,286	10.3	10.5	-0.3	1.57
2002	8,925,000	95,815	95,009	806	10.7	10.6	0.1	1.65
2003	8,958,000	99,157	92,961	6,196	11.1	10.4	0.7	1.71
2004	8,994,000	100,928	90,532	10,396	11.2	10.1	1.2	1.75
2005	9,030,000	101,346	91,710	9,636	11.2	10.2	1.1	1.77
2006	9,081,000	105,913	91,177	14,736	11.7	10.0	1.6	1.85
2007	9,148,000	107,421	91,729	15,692	11.7	10.0	1.7	1.88
2008	9,220,000	109,301	91,449	17,852	11.9	9.9	1.9	1.91
2009	9,299,000	111,801	90,080	21,721	12.0	9.7	2.3	1.94
2010	9,378,000	115,641	90,487	25,154	12.3	9.6	2.7	1.98
2011	9,449,000	111,770	89,938	21,832	11.8	9.5	2.3	1.90
2012	9,519,000	113,177	91,938	21,239	11.9	9.7	2.2	1.91
2013	9,644,000	113,593	90,402	23,191	11.8	9.4	2.4	1.89
2014	9,747,000	114,907	88,976	25,931	11.9	9.2	2.7	1.88
2015	9,851,000	114,870	90,907	23,963	11.7	9.3	2.4	1.85
2016	9,995,000	117,425	90,982	26,443	11.8	9.2	2.6	1.85
2017	10,120,000	115,416	91,972	23,444	11.4	9.1	2.3	1.78
2018	10,230,000	115,832	92,185	23,647	11.3	9.0	2.3	1.75
2019	10,327,000	114,523	88,766	25,757	11.1	8.7	2.4	1.70
2020	10,378,000		98,081			9.5

Current vital statistics

[25]

Number of births :

• from January-November 2019 = 106,447
• from January-November 2020 = 105,034

Number of deaths :

• from January-November 2019 = 80,608
• from January-November 2020 = 87,864

Natural increase :

• from January-November 2019 = 25,839
• from January-November 2020 = 17,170

Life expectancy from 1751 to 2015

Sources: Our World In Data and the United Nations.

1751–1949

Years	1751	1754	1756	1768	1776	1781	1789	1795	1810	1818	1824	1837	1847	1855	1861[26]
Life expectancy in Sweden	38.4	37.4	36.2	35.0	41.5	37.8	31.2	36.5	31.9	40.0	44.9	39.6	40.1	43.0	47.1

Years	1868	1872	1878	1884	1890	1896	1905	1911	1913	1916	1922	1929	1935	1943	1949[26]
Life expectancy in Sweden	43.2	50.0	47.6	49.1	50.4	53.4	54.5	58.0	58.7	58.2	61.0	62.3	64.9	68.7	70.8

1950–2015

Period	Life expectancy in Years	Period	Life expectancy in Years
1950–1955	71.9	1985–1990	77.2
1955–1960	72.9	1990–1995	78.2
1960–1965	73.5	1995–2000	79.3
1965–1970	74.1	2000–2005	80.1
1970–1975	74.8	2005–2010	81.1
1975–1980	75.4	2010–2015	81.9
1980–1985	76.4

Source: UN World Population Prospects[27]

Migration

Prior to World War II, emigrants generally outnumbered immigrants. Since then, net migration has been positive with many immigrants coming to Sweden from the 1970s through today.

Emigration

Between 1820 and 1930, approximately 1.3 million Swedes, a third of the country's population at the time, emigrated to North America, and most of them to the United States. There are more than 4.4 million Swedish Americans according to a 2006 US Census Bureau estimate.[28] In Canada, the community of Swedish ancestry is 330,000 strong.[29]

Immigration

Increases (1984–2014) of asylum in Sweden by origin

  Serbia and Montenegro: 118 669

  Iraq: 98 211

  Syria: 65 616

  Bosnia-Herzegovina: 58 166

  Somalia: 55 123

  Iran: 50 571

  Other countries: 134 479

  Unknown: 43 350

Data source (Swedish government).

The demographic profile of Sweden has altered considerably due to immigration patterns since the 1970s. As of 2017, Statistics Sweden reported that around 2,439,007 or 24.1% of the inhabitants of Sweden were from a foreign background: that is, each such person either had been born abroad or had been born in Sweden to two parents who themselves had both been born abroad.[30] Also taking into account people with only one parent born abroad, this number increases to almost a third in 2017.[31]

Additionally, the birth rate among immigrant women after arriving in Sweden is somewhat higher than among ethnic Swedes.[32] Taking into account the fact that immigrant women have on average fewer children than Swedish women of comparable age, however, the difference in total birth rate is only 0.1 children more if the woman is foreign born – with the disclaimer that some women may have children not immigrating to and not reported in Sweden, who are thus not included in the statistics.[33]

Historical immigration

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. 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.

A sizable community from the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) arrived during the Second World War.[34]

1945 to 1967

During the 1950s and 1960s, the recruitment of immigrant labour 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 characteristic of Scandinavia. 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.[35] 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 (64.3%) were born outside the EU and 477,000 (35.7%) were born in another EU Member State.[36][37] By comparison, the Swedish civil registry reports, for 2018, that nearly 1.96 million residents are foreign-born, a 47% increase from 2010. There are 8.27 million Swedish-born residents, giving a total population of 10.23 million, and a 19.1% foreign-born population.[38]

The first group of Assyrians/Syriacs moved to Sweden from Lebanon in 1967. Many of them live in Södertälje (Stockholm).[39][40] There are also around 40,000 Roma in Sweden.[41] Some Roma people have long historical roots in Sweden, while others are more recent migrants from elsewhere in Europe.

Immigrants from Western Asia have been a rapidly growing share of Sweden's population. According to the government agency Statistics Sweden, the number of immigrants born in all of Asia (including the Middle East) rose from just 1,000 in 1950 to 295,000 in 2003.[42] Most of those immigrants came from Iraq, Iran, Lebanon and Syria, according to Statistics Sweden.[42]

Immigration of Iraqis increased dramatically during the Iraq War, beginning in 2003. 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.[43]

A significant number of Syrian Christians have also settled in Sweden. There have also been immigrants from South-Central Asia such as Afghanistan and Pakistan. Since the European migrant crisis, Syrians became the second-largest group of foreign-born persons in the Swedish civil registry in 2017 with 158,443 people (after former Yugoslavia).

Note that the table below lists the citizenship the person had when arriving in Sweden, and therefore there are no registered Eritreans, Russians or Bosnians from 1990, they were recorded as Ethiopians, Soviets and Yugoslavs. The nationality of Yugoslavs below is therefore people who came to Sweden from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia before 1991 and people who came from today's Montenegro and Serbia before 2003, then called the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Counting all people who came from Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, there were 176,033 people from there in 2018.

42 countries with over 10,000 foreign-born persons.[44]

Country	1900	1930	1960	1990	2000	2010	2018	2019
Syria	−	−	6	5,874	14,162	20,758	185,991	191,530
Iraq	−	−	16	9,818	49,372	121,761	144,035	146,048
Finland	6,644	9,746	101,307	217,636	195,447	169,521	147,883	144,561
Poland	−	1,065	6,347	35,631	40,123	70,253	92,759	93,722
Iran	2	8	115	40,084	51,101	62,120	77,386	80,136
Somalia	−	−	−	1,441	13,082	37,846	68,678	70,173
former Yugoslavia	−	19	1,532	43,346	71,972	70,819	65,124	64,349
Bosnia and Herzegovina	−	−	−	−	51,526	56,183	59,395	60,012
Afghanistan	−	−	17	534	4,287	14,420	51,979	58,780
Turkey	15	22	202	25,528	31,894	42,527	49,948	51,689
Germany	5,107	8,566	37,580	37,558	38,155	48,158	51,140	51,436
Eritrea	−	−	−	−	3,054	10,301	42,300	45,734
Thailand	−	−	20	4,934	10,353	31,378	42,394	43,556
Norway	7,978	14,731	37,253	52,744	42,464	43,480	41,747	41,578
India	45	135	361	9,054	11,110	17,863	35,288	40,641
Denmark	6,872	8,726	35,112	43,931	38,190	45,548	40,011	39,457
China (not including Hong Kong)	34	201	520	3,896	8,150	23,998	33,288	35,282
Romania	3	34	719	8,785	11,776	19,741	31,040	32,294
United Kingdom	779	1,270	2,738	11,378	14,602	20,839	28,976	29,979
Lebanon	−	−	15	15,986	20,038	24,116	28,119	28,508
Chile	6	28	69	27,635	26,842	28,387	27,995	28,025
United States	5,130	8,852	10,874	13,001	14,413	17,179	21,943	22,802
Russia	1,506	−	−	−	6,523	15,511	21,615	22,265
Ethiopia	5	−	59	10,027	11,907	13,822	20,695	21,686
Vietnam	−	−	1	6,265	10,898	14,584	19,741	20,676
Greece	5	22	266	13,171	10,851	11,381	18,917	19,547
Pakistan	−	−	11	2,291	3,100	10,265	16,185	19,107
Hungary	50	108	8,544	15,045	14,127	15,339	16,799	16,728
Lithuania	−	149	−	233	785	6,735	14,732	15,596
Philippines	−	−	5	2,613	5,460	9,826	14,509	15,281
Serbia	−	−	−	−	−	5,324	13,856	15,022
Italy	−	−	−	−	6,337	7,804	13,192	13,741
Colombia	−	−	−	−	7,317	10,531	12,575	12,865
Spain	−	−	−	−	5,079	6,763	12,268	12,688
Netherlands	−	−	−	−	4,532	8,700	12,095	12,470
Croatia	−	−	−	−	5,229	6,277	11,163	11,844
South Korea	−	−	−	−	9,170	10,398	11,353	11,642
France	−	−	−	−	5,602	7,944	11,159	11,537
Morocco	−	−	−	−	4,492	7,391	11,025	11,530
Bangladesh	−	−	−	−	2,937	6,289	10,009	11,520
Ukraine	−	−	−	−	1,459	4,741	9,924	11,069
Kosovo	−	−	−	−	−	2,288	9,487	10,420
Brazil	−	−	−	−	3,496	6,005	9,297	10,159
Total	35,627	61,657	299,879	790,445	1,003,798	1,384,929	1,955,569	2,019,733

The twenty-five largest groups of foreign-born persons in the Swedish civil registry as of autumn 2018 were:[45]

1. Former Yugoslavia (176 033)*
2. Syria (172,258)
3. Finland (150,887) *
4. Iraq (144 035)
5. Poland (92 759)
6. Iran (77 386)
7. Somalia (68 678)
8. Germany (50,863)
9. Turkey (49 948)
10. Afghanistan (43,991)
11. Thailand (41,240)
12. Eritrea (42 300)
13. Norway (41 747)
14. Denmark (40 011)
15. India (35 234)
16. China (33 288)
17. Romania (31 040)
18. Chile (27,996)
19. United Kingdom (27,658)
20. Lebanon (27,487)
21. United States (20,930)
22. Russia (20,930)
23. Vietnam (18,713)
24. Ethiopia (19,358)
25. Greece (18,142)

• This only lists Swedish Finns born outside of Sweden; There are ~569,000 people of Finnish origin living in Sweden
• The seven successor states of Yugoslavia and their historic counterparts (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Kosovo) are counted as one group in many agencies across Sweden. There are also roughly 100,000 native-born "Yugoslavians" in Sweden

The ten most common countries of birth among immigrants registered in Sweden during 2016 (including asylum seekers who came in 2015) were the following:[46]

1. Syria (+51,540)
2. Eritrea (+6,580)
3. Poland (+5,078)
4. Iraq (+4,901)
5. India (+4,247)
6. Somalia (+3,794)
7. Afghanistan (+3,607)
8. Finland (+2,969)
9. Germany (+2,666)
10. Iran (+2,469)

Language

The Swedish language is by far the dominating language in Sweden, and is used by the government administration. English is also widely spoken and is taught in public schools.

Since 1999, Sweden has five officially recognised minority languages: Sami, Meänkieli, Standard Finnish, Romani 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.

During the mid to late 20th century, immigrant communities brought other languages, among others being Persian, Serbo-Croatian, Arabic and Neo-Aramaic.[47]

Religion

The majority (56.4%) of the population belongs to the Church of Sweden,[48] 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.[49] 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 have enjoyed 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 many Muslims, as well as a number of Buddhists and Baháʼís in Sweden, mainly as a result of 20th and 21st century immigration. There is also a small Zoroastrian community in Sweden.[50]

See also

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

Notes

1. In fertility rates, 2.1 and above represents a stable or increasing population and have been marked blue, while 2.0 and below leads to an aging and, ultimately, declining population.

References

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4. "Fler med finsk bakgrund i Sverige". Sverige Radio. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
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6. Sweden. The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency.
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9. Gustav Sundbärg, Sveriges land och folk (1901), p. 90.
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11. "World Population Prospects – Population Division – United Nations". Esa.un.org. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
12. "Sveriges framtida befolkning 2017–2060" (PDF). Statistics Sweden. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
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14. Densification in half of Sweden’s urban areas
15. Roughly 87 percent of the population lives in localities and urban areas
16. Statistiska tätorter 2018 page 33
17. Broadbent, Noel (16 March 2010). Lapps and Labyrinths: Saami Prehistory, Colonisation, and Cultural Resilience. Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press. p. 304. ISBN 978-0-9788460-6-0.
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22. "World Factbook EUROPE : SWEDEN", The World Factbook, 12 July 2018
23. Max Roser (2014), "Total fertility rate around the world over the last centuries", Our World In Data, Gapminder Foundation, archived from the original on 7 August 2018, retrieved 7 August 2018
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28. "United States – Selected Social Characteristics: 2006". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 12 February 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
29. "Ethnocultural Portrait of Canada Highlight Tables, 2006 Census". Statistics Canada. 2 April 2008. Archived from the original on 23 July 2013. Retrieved 30 June 2008.
30. "Number of persons by foreign/Swedish background, age, sex and year". Statistics Sweden. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
31. "Statistikdatabasen – välj tabell". Statistikdatabasen.scb.se. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
32. "Visa detaljerad information". Scb.se. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
33. "Får utrikes födda fler barn?". Statistiska Centralbyrån. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
34. Pocket Facts: Statistics on Integration (PDF). Integrationsverket. The Swedish Integration Board. 2006. ISBN 91-89609-30-1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 June 2007.
35. Sweden: Restrictive Immigration Policy and Multiculturalism, Migration Policy Institute, 2006.
36. Vasileva, Katya (2011). "6.5% of the EU population are foreigners and 9.4% are born abroad" (PDF). Statistics in Focus. Eurostat (34). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 January 2012.
37. "Statistikdatabasen – välj tabell". Ssd.scb.se. Archived from the original on 6 April 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
38. "Population by country of birth, age and sex. Year 2000 - 2018". Statistikdatabasen. Archived from the original on 26 September 2019. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
39. "Assyrier/Syrianer – Vilka är de?" [Assyrians/Syriacs – Who are they?] (in Swedish). Ronnaskolan.sodertalje.se. Archived from the original on 8 February 2009.
40. Vems är historien? Historia som medvetande, kultur och handling i det mångkulturella Sverige [Who Does History Belong To? History as Consciousness, Culture and Action in Multicultural Sweden] (PDF) (in Swedish). educ.umu.se. 2006. ISBN 91-7264-128-2. ISSN 1653-6894. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 November 2006.
41. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (17 October 2012). "UNHCR | Refworld | The Situation of Roma in Selected Western European Countries". Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
42. "Immigration and emigration in the postwar period, Yugoslav immigration was substantial" (PDF). Statistics Sweden. 2004. p. 96. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
43. "Sweden tightens rules on Iraqi asylum seekers". reuters.com. 6 July 2007. Retrieved 14 December 2010.
44. "Folkmängd efter födelseland 1900–2017". Statistics Sweden. 21 February 2018.
45. "Befolkning efter födelseland och år". Statistics Sweden / Befolkning efter födelseland och ursprungsland 31 december 2017. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
46. "Invandring till Sverige 2016 och 2015 efter de 20 vanligaste födelseländerna för de invandrade 2016". Statistics Sweden. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
47. "Sweden". Ethnologue. 19 February 1999. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
48. "Svenska kyrkans medlemsutveckling år 1972–2019" [Swedish church's membership development from 1972–2019] (PDF) (in Swedish). Church of Sweden. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
49. Wendy Sloane (4 October 1995). "Sweden Snaps Strong Ties Between Church and State". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
50. Stewart, Sarah; Hintze, Almut; Williams, Alan (2016). The Zoroastrian Flame: Exploring Religion, History and Tradition. London: I.B Tauris. ISBN 9781784536336.

External links

• Statistics Sweden – Official Data Base available in English