Demographics of Sweden

From Free net encyclopedia

1 Ethnicity
2 Language
3 Emigration
4 Immigration
5 Religion
6 Statistics
7 Age structure
8 Total Fertility Rate
9 Sex ratio
10 Literacy
11 See also
12 References
13 External links

Ethnicity

Beside the Swedes, the Sweden-Finns are the largest ethnic minority comprising of approximately 50,000 indigenous along the Swedish-Finnish border, and 450,000 first- and second generation immigrated ethnic Finns. Also in the furthest North a small indigenous population of Samis live (sometimes referred to as "Lapps", which, however, is considered a pejorative term by the Sami).

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Language

Even though Sweden (similar to the United States) has no official language, Swedish dominates totally. The indigenous Finno-Ugric languages were repressed well into the 1960s. Since 1999 Sweden has five officially recognized minority languages: Sami, Meänkieli, Standard-Finnish, Romani chib and Yiddish. The Sami language, spoken by ~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 immidiate neighbourhood. Similary, Finnish and Meänkieli can be used in the municipalities of Gällivare, Haparanda, Kiruna, Pajala and Övertorneå and its immidiate neighbourhood.

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Emigration

In the 19th century Sweden had a yearly population growth peaking at 1.2%;, i.e. a doubling in less than 60 years, compared to 1%; today (migration excluded). This led, before the Industrial Revolution as it was, to a pauperization of the rural population, for each generation inheriting smaller and smaller shares. Following years of crop failures 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, USA and to Denmark. If they hadn't left, Sweden's population would have been about 2,000,000 higher today, given that famine and civil war hadn't been the outcome of their staying. (After 1929 the net-migration has been directed towards Sweden.)

The re-migration of Swedish nationals from USA 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. US views, values and not the least world-view followed the re-migrants, ensuring a popular perception of closeness to USA, contrary to the situation in for instance neighbouring Denmark or Finland (and contrary to the Swedish elite's closeness to Germany and Europe).

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Immigration

**Immigrants in Sweden**
Origin	Foreign-born inhabitants (2004)
Finland	186,600
Serbia and Montenegro	74,600
Iraq	70,000
Bosnia and Herzegovina	54,500
Iran	54,000
Norway	45,000
Poland	43,500
Denmark	41,700
Germany	40,800
Turkey	35,000
Chile	27,700
Lebanon	21,100
United Kingdom	16,800
Thailand	16,300
Syria	16,200
USA	15,300
Somalia	15,300
Hungary	13,700
India	12,900
Romania	12,500
Vietnam	12,000
People's Republic of China	11,900
Ethiopia	11,200
Greece	10,800
Rest of Scandinavia	277,100
Western Europe	106,400
Eastern Europe	326,100
Former Soviet Union	37,800
Middle East	223,700
Rest of Asia	91,700
Sub-Saharan Africa	51,000
North America	26,500
South America	55,500
Oceania	3,500
Total Foreign-Born	1,199,300
Data as of December 2004

As of 2004, 13.3% of the population is foreign-born, a comparably high figure. The government and the population has not, as in traditional immigrant destinations such as Australia or the USA, had centuries of immigration to adapt laws and mindset to the situation.

Immigration increased markedly with World War II. Soon 70,000 war children were evacuated from Finland, of which 15,000 remained in Sweden. Until 1973 work-force immigration dominated, peaking in the late 1960s. The largest immigrant groups are Sweden-Finns and peoples from the former Yugoslavia representing both work-force immigration and war refugees. Migration triggered by political crises include refugee groups of Persians, Kurds, Palestinians, Vietnamese, Chileans and Hungarians.

Net migration rate: 1 migrant/1,000 population (1989) 3 migrants/1,000 population (1990) 3 migrants/1,000 population (1991) 3 migrants/1,000 population (1992) 2 migrants/1,000 population (1993) 3 migrants/1,000 population (1994) 2.62 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995) 2.27 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1996) 1.69 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1997) 1.69 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998) 1.68 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999) 0.86 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000) 0.91 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001) 0.95 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002) 1.00 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2003) 1.67 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004) 1.67 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005) 1.66 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006)

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Religion

The majority (87%) of the population belongs to the Church of Sweden, the Lutheran church separated from the state in 2000. Other Christian denominations in Sweden include Roman Catholic (see Catholic Church of Sweden), Orthodox, and Baptist. Some of the Sami practise Animism. Due to refugee immigration, there are also a number of Muslims in Sweden. See also Muslims in Europe, Jewish, Buddhist. An estimated 5% of the population attend church.