Demographics of Sweden

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 Mälardalen 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 steadyness 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).

• Population: 9,316,256 (As of 31 August 2009 (2009 -08-31))
• Annual population growth rate: 0.158% (As of 2010)
• Net migration rate: 1.66 migrant(s)/1,000 population (As of 2010 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.)

• Life expectancy at birth: 80.86 years
  • Male: 78.59 years
  • Female: 83.26 years (As of 2010 est.)

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

At the end of year	Population	Annual growth
		Total	Per thousand
1570	900,000	-	-
1650	1,225,000	4,063	3.86
1700	1,485,000	5,200	3.86
1720	1,350,000	- 6,750	- 4.75
1755	1,878,000	15,086	9.48
1815	2,465,000	9,783	4.54
1865	4,099,000	32,680	10.22
1900	5,140,000	29,743	6.48
1990	8,562,000
2005	9,002,000
2010	9,348,000	91,552	9.7
2011	9 475 954	128,000

Sweden household census 1990

• Total number of households: 3 830 037
• Inv on average per household: 2.1
• Number of children 0–18 years on average per household: 1.72^{[citation needed]}

For the population from household incounting date was the total population of Sweden estimated to be 8.526 million, of them 8.043 million people came from all 3.830 million household's.^{[citation needed]}

Ethnicity	number	%
Swede	6,836,615	85,0
Finns	402,153	5.0 %
Assyrians	79,215	0.88
Norwegian		0.5
Danes		0.5
Croats		0.5
Albanians		0.5
Serbs		0.5
Bosnian		0.5
Lebanese		0.5
Turks		0.5
Iraqis		0.5
Iranians		0.5
Roma	39,974	0.497
Sami	19,303	0.24
Estonians		0.1
Chilean		0.1
Greeks		0.1
Somalis		0.1
Others	279,336	3.473
Undeclared		0.0
Total	8,043,077	100.0

^{[citation needed]}

Sweden census 2005

Note that the census does not collect data about ethnicity. It only collected data about which country a person was born in. Therefore the census does now show the number of citizens of Swedish ethnicity living in Sweden - probably a much lower rate than 85%. 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.

Ethnic estimate January 2012

Approximately 20% of the population in Sweden come from other countries.

<div class="transborder" style="position:absolute;width:100px;line-height:0; <div class="transborder" style="position:absolute;width:100px;line-height:0;

  Swedish (80.00%)

  Finns (5.20%)

  From Muslim-majority countries (5.20%)

  Gypsies (1.20%)

  Polish (0.70%)

  Germans (0.50%)

  Other (7.2%)

Ethnicity	number	%
Swedish	7,620,000	80 %
Finns	500,000	5,2 %
Iraqis	121761
Gypsies	120,000	1,2 %
Polish	70500	0,7 %
Iranians	62120
Germans	50000	0,5 %
Norwegian	45000	0,4 %
Turkish	42527
Somalis	37846
Chilean	30000	0,3 %
Lebanese	24116
Chinese	24000	0,2 %
Romanians	20000	0,2 %
Syrians	20758
English	20000	0,2 %
Americans	18000	0,1 %
India	18000	0,1 %
Russians	16000	0,1 %
Hungarians	15500	0,1 %
Afghans	14420
Ethiopians	13822
Greeks	11400
Eritreans	10265
Pakistanis	10265
Estonians	10000
Netherlands	8700
France	8000
Italians	8000
Moroccans	7391
Lithuanians	7000
Bangladeshis	6289
Danes	4600
Gambians	3886
Egyptians	3718
Nigerians	2997
Jordanians	2848
Algerians	2575
South Africans	2023
Sudanese	1766
Angolans	716
Others and undeclared	200,000	2,1 %
Total	9,475,700	100.0

Source:

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.

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

For the latest statistics, see this country's entry in the CIA World Factbook

Age structure

• 0–14 years: 15.7% (male 733,597; female 692,194)
• 15–64 years: 65.5% (male 3,003,358; female 2,927,038)
• 65 years and over: 18.8% (male 753,293; female 950,171) (As of 2010 est.)

Net migration rate

• 1.66 migrant(s)/1,000 population (As of 2010 est.)

Sex ratio

• at birth: 1.061 male(s)/female
• under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
• 15–64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
• 65 years and over: 0.8 male(s)/female
• total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (As of 2010 est.)

Infant mortality rate

• total: 2.75 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth

• total population: 80.86 years
• male: 78.59 years
• female: 83.26 years (As of 2010 est.)

Total fertility rate

• 2.02 children born/woman (As of 2010 est.)

Literacy

• definition: age 15 and over can read and write
• total population: 99% (As of 2003 est.)

Vital statistics since 1900

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.

	Average population (x 1000)	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)	Fertility rates
1900	5 117	138 139	86 146	51 993	27.0	16.8	10.2	4,02
1901	5 156	139 370	82 772	56 598	27.0	16.1	11.0	4,04
1902	5 187	137 364	79 722	57 642	26.5	15.4	11.1	3,95
1903	5 210	133 896	78 610	55 286	25.7	15.1	10.6	3,82
1904	5 241	134 952	80 152	54 800	25.7	15.3	10.5	3,83
1905	5 278	135 409	82 443	52 966	25.7	15.6	10.0	3,83
1906	5 316	136 620	76 366	60 254	25.7	14.4	11.3	3,81
1907	5 357	136 793	78 149	58 644	25.5	14.6	10.9	3,77
1908	5 404	138 874	80 568	58 306	25.7	14.9	10.8	3,79
1909	5 453	139 505	74 538	64 967	25.6	13.7	11.9	3,71
1910	5 499	135 625	77 212	58 413	24.7	14.0	10.6	3,60
1911	5 542	132 977	76 462	56 515	24.0	13.8	10.2	3,49
1912	5 583	132 868	79 241	53 627	23.8	14.2	9.6	3,44
1913	5 621	130 200	76 724	53 476	23.2	13.6	9.5	3,32
1914	5 659	129 458	78 311	51 147	22.9	13.8	9.0	3,29
1915	5 696	122 997	83 587	39 410	21.6	14.7	6.9	3,06
1916	5 735	121 679	77 771	43 908	21.2	13.6	7.7	2,99
1917	5 779	120 855	77 385	43 470	20.9	13.4	7.5	2,93
1918	5 807	117 955	104 594	13 361	20.3	18.0	2.3	2,83
1919	5 830	115 193	84 289	30 904	19.8	14.5	5.3	2,72
1920	5 876	138 753	78 128	60 625	23.6	13.3	10.3	3,22
1921	5 929	127 723	73 536	54 187	21.5	12.4	9.1	2,93
1922	5 971	116 946	76 343	40 603	19.6	12.8	6.8	2,66
1923	5 997	113 435	68 424	45 011	18.9	11.4	7.5	2,55
1924	6 021	109 055	72 001	37 054	18.1	12.0	6.2	2,43
1925	6 045	106 292	70 918	35 374	17.6	11.7	5.9	2,34
1926	6 064	102 007	71 344	30 663	16.8	11.8	5.1	2,22
1927	6 081	97 994	77 219	20 775	16.1	12.7	3.4	2,11
1928	6 097	97 868	73 267	24 601	16.1	12.0	4.0	2,08
1929	6 113	92 861	74 538	18 323	15.2	12.2	3.0	1,95
1930	6 131	94 220	71 790	22 430	15.4	11.7	3.7	1,96
1931	6 152	91 074	77 121	13 953	14.8	12.5	2.3	1,88
1932	6 176	89 779	71 459	18 320	14.5	11.6	3.0	1,83
1933	6 201	85 020	69 607	15 413	13.7	11.2	2.5	1,72
1934	6 222	85 092	69 921	15 171	13.7	11.2	2.4	1,67
1935	6 242	85 906	72 813	13 093	13.8	11.7	2.1	1,70
1936	6 259	88 938	74 836	14 102	14.2	12.0	2.3	1,75
1937	6 276	90 373	75 392	14 981	14.4	12.0	2.4	1,77
1938	6 297	93 946	72 693	21 253	14.9	11.5	3.4	1,84
1939	6 326	97 380	72 876	24 504	15.4	11.5	3.9	1,90
1940	6 356	95 778	72 748	23 030	15.1	11.4	3.6	1,86
1941	6 389	99 727	71 910	27 817	15.6	11.3	4.4	1,92
1942	6 432	113 961	63 741	50 220	17.7	9.9	7.8	2,19
1943	6 491	125 392	66 105	59 287	19.3	10.2	9.1	2,41
1944	6 560	134 991	72 284	62 707	20.6	11.0	9.6	2,61
1945	6 636	135 373	71 901	63 472	20.4	10.8	9.6	2,63
1946	6 719	132 597	70 635	61 962	19.7	10.5	9.2	2,57
1947	6 803	128 779	73 579	55 200	18.9	10.8	8.1	2,50
1948	6 883	126 683	67 693	58 990	18.4	9.8	8.6	2,47
1949	6 956	121 272	69 537	51 735	17.4	10.0	7.4	2,39
1950	7 014	115 414	70 296	45 118	16.5	10.0	6.4	2,28
1951	7 073	110 168	69 799	40 369	15.6	9.9	5.7	2,20
1952	7 125	110 192	68 270	41 922	15.5	9.6	5.9	2,22
1953	7 171	110 144	69 553	40 591	15.4	9.7	5.7	2,25
1954	7 213	105 096	69 030	36 066	14.6	9.6	5.0	2,18
1955	7 262	107 305	68 634	38 671	14.8	9.5	5.3	2,25
1956	7 315	107 960	70 205	37 755	14.8	9.6	5.2	2,29
1957	7 364	107 168	73 132	34 036	14.6	9.9	4.6	2,29
1958	7 409	105 502	71 065	34 437	14.2	9.6	4.6	2,26
1959	7 446	104 743	70 889	33 854	14.1	9.5	4.5	2,29
1960	7 480	102 219	75 093	27 126	13.7	10.0	3.6	2,17
1961	7 520	104 501	73 555	30 946	13.9	9.8	4.1	2,21
1962	7 562	107 284	76 791	30 493	14.2	10.2	4.0	2,25
1963	7 604	112 903	76 460	36 443	14.8	10.1	4.8	2,33
1964	7 661	122 664	76 661	46 003	16.0	10.0	6.0	2,47
1965	7 734	122 806	78 194	44 612	15.9	10.1	5.8	2,39
1966	7 808	123 354	78 440	44 914	15.8	10.0	5.8	2,37
1967	7 868	121 360	79 783	41 577	15.4	10.1	5.3	2,28
1968	7 914	113 087	82 476	30 611	14.3	10.4	3.9	2,07
1969	7 968	107 622	83 352	24 270	13.5	10.5	3.0	1,94
1970	8 043	110 150	80 026	30 124	13.7	9.9	3.7	1,94
1971	8 098	114 484	82 717	31 767	14.1	10.2	3.9	1,98
1972	8 122	112 273	84 051	28 222	13.8	10.3	3.5	1,93
1973	8 137	109 663	85 640	24 023	13.5	10.5	3.0	1,88
1974	8 161	109 874	86 316	23 558	13.5	10.6	2.9	1,91
1975	8 193	103 632	88 208	15 424	12.6	10.8	1.9	1,78
1976	8 222	98 345	90 677	7 668	12.0	11.0	0.9	1,70
1977	8 252	96 057	88 202	7 855	11.6	10.7	1.0	1,64
1978	8 276	93 248	89 681	3 567	11.3	10.8	0.4	1,61
1979	8 294	96 255	91 074	5 181	11.6	11.0	0.6	1,66
1980	8 310	97 064	91 800	5 264	11.7	11.0	0.6	1,69
1981	8 320	94 065	92 034	2 031	11.3	11.1	0.2	1,63
1982	8 325	92 748	90 671	2 077	11.1	10.9	0.2	1,60
1983	8 329	91 780	90 791	989	11.0	10.9	0.1	1,61
1984	8 337	93 889	90 483	3 406	11.3	10.9	0.4	1,66
1985	8 350	98 463	94 032	4 431	11.8	11.3	0.5	1,74
1986	8 370	101 950	93 295	8 655	12.2	11.1	1.0	1,79
1987	8 398	104 699	93 307	11 392	12.5	11.1	1.4	1,84
1988	8 437	112 080	96 743	15 337	13.3	11.5	1.8	1,96
1989	8 493	116 023	92 110	23 913	13.7	10.8	2.8	2,02
1990	8 559	123 938	95 161	28 777	14.5	11.1	3.4	2,14
1991	8 617	123 737	95 202	28 535	14.4	11.0	3.3	2,12
1992	8 668	122 848	94 710	28 138	14.2	10.9	3.2	2,09
1993	8 719	117 998	97 008	20 990	13.5	11.1	2.4	2,00
1994	8 781	112 257	91 844	20 413	12.8	10.5	2.3	1,90
1995	8 831	103 326	96 910	6 416	11.7	11.0	0.7	1,74
1996	8 843	95 297	94 133	1 164	10.8	10.6	0.1	1,61
1997	8 846	89 171	92 674	-3 503	10.1	10.5	-0.4	1,52
1998	8 851	88 384	92 891	-4 507	10.0	10.5	-0.5	1,51
1999	8 858	88 173	94 726	-6 553	10.0	10.7	-0.7	1,50
2000	8 872	90 441	93 285	-2 844	10.2	10.5	-0.3	1,54
2001	8 896	91 466	93 752	-2 286	10.3	10.5	-0.3	1,57
2002	8 925	95 815	95 009	806	10.7	10.6	0.1	1,65
2003	8 958	99 157	92 961	6 196	11.1	10.4	0.7	1,71
2004	8 994	100 928	90 532	10 396	11.2	10.1	1.2	1,75
2005	9 030	101 346	91 710	9 636	11.2	10.2	1.1	1,77
2006	9 081	105 913	91 177	14 736	11.7	10.0	1.6	1,85
2007	9 148	107 421	91 729	15 692	11.7	10.0	1.7	1,88
2008	9 220	109 301	91 449	17 852	11.9	9.9	1.9	1,91
2009	9 299	111 801	90 080	21 721	12.0	9.7	2.3	1,94
2010	9 379	115 641	90 487	25 154	12.3	9.6	2.7	1,99

Migration

Immigration

Main article: Immigration to Sweden

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. The largest groups were:

1. Finland (172,218)
2. Former Yugoslavia (152,268)
3. Iraq (117,919)
4. Iran (59,922)
5. Poland (49,518)
6. Germany (47,803)
7. Denmark (46,002)
8. Norway (43,819)
9. Turkey (40,766)
10. Somalia (31,734)

The number of Assyrians in Sweden is about 100,000 – 120,000. Christian Assyrians are in fact the majority of people from Iraq in Sweden.

The fastest growing groups of foreign-born residents in Sweden between 2000 and 2010 were the following nationalities:

1. Burundi (+3031%)
2. Gaza Strip (+2542%)
3. Mongolia (+2028%)
4. Uzbekistan (+1439%)
5. Cameroon (+1165%)
6. Kyrgyzstan (+1115%)
7. Myanmar (+1022%)
8. Azerbaijan (+1015%)
9. Lithuania (+758%)
10. Central African Republic (+627%)

It should be noted that the predominant reason for the large percentage growth is that most of these nationalities were virtually non-existent in Sweden in the year 2000. For example, despite a growth of 627% the number of Swedish residents born in the Central African Republic only numbered 80 individuals.

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.

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 Findland 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. Some tens of thousands of American draft dodgers from the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s also found refuge in Sweden.^{[citation needed]}

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.

The first group of Assyrians/Syriacs moved to Sweden from Lebanon in 1967. Many of them live in Södertälje (Stockholm), also known as Mesopotälje (after Mesopotamia). There are also around 40,000 Roma in Sweden.

Immigration of Iraqis has 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.

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

Main articles: Swedish Language and Languages of Sweden

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

The indigenous Uralic languages were repressed well into the 1960s.^{[citation needed]} 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 Danish, Turkish, Serbo-Croatian, Arabic, Neo-Aramaic.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Sweden

Although only one fifth of Swedes in one investigation chose to describe themselves as believing in God, the majority (78%) of the population belongs to the Church of Sweden, the Lutheran church that separated from the state in 2000. This is because until recently, those who had family members in the church automatically became members at birth.^{[citation needed]} Other Christian denominations in Sweden include Roman Catholic (see Catholic Church of Sweden), Orthodox, Baptist, 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. There are also a number of Muslims, Buddhists, Bahá'í and Jews in Sweden, mainly from immigration.^{[citation needed]}

See also

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

External links

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