Demographics of Sweden


The total resident population of Sweden was 10,343,403 in March 2020. The population exceeded 10 million for the first time on Friday 20 January 2017. 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 global immigration. Every fourth resident in the country has immigrant background and every third has at least one parent born abroad.

Population statistics

Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review.
Demographic statistics according to the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.
;Population:
;Age structure:
;Median age:
;Birth rate:
;Death rate:
;Total fertility rate:
;Net migration rate:
;Population growth rate:
;Mother's mean age at first birth:
;Life expectancy at birth:
;Net birth surplus rate:
;Infant mortality rate:
;Dependency ratios:
;Unemployment, youth ages 15–24:
;School life expectancy :
;Urbanisation:

Population change

The demography of Sweden is monitored by Statistics Sweden.
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.

Population projections

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.
Statistics Sweden projects the following population development in Sweden:
YearProjection
20169,995,000
202010,431,000
202611,046,000
203011,344,000
204011,898,000
205012,395,000
206012,858,000

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

Geography and population density

The population density is 22.5 people per km² and it is substantially higher in the south than in the north. About 85% of the population live in urban areas. The capital city Stockholm has a municipal population of about 950,000. 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. 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 their ethnicity to Swedish stock 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 to at latest around 2650 years. Today, the Sami language holds the status of official minority language in four municipalities in the Norrbotten county.
In addition to the Sami, Tornedalers, and Sweden Finns, Jewish and Roma people have national minority status in Sweden.
There are no official statistics on ethnicity, but according to Statistics Sweden, around 3,311,312 inhabitants of Sweden were of a foreign background in 2018, defined as being born abroad or born in Sweden with at least one parent born abroad. The most common countries of origin were Syria, Finland, Iraq, Poland, Iran and Somalia. Sweden subsequently has one of the oldest populations in the world, with the average age of 41.1 years.

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.
Years163016321634163616381640164216441646164816501652165416561658
Total Fertility Rate in Sweden4.814.253.894.384.44.924.384.254.955.44.344.545.334.724.58

Years169016921694169616981700170217041706170817101712171417161718
Total Fertility Rate in Sweden4.995.114.985.335.115.565.815.525.165.324.35.635.814.925.13

Years175017521754175617581760176217641766176817701772177417761778
Total Fertility Rate in Sweden5.095.295.45.234.685.064.984.924.794.774.684.14.894.674.94

Years1801180218031804180518061807180818091810
Total Fertility Rate in Sweden4.264.54.454.524.54.364.424.313.784.67

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.
Years1811181218131814181518161817181818191820
Total Fertility Rate in Sweden5.014.764.224.424.935.014.744.84.684.68

Years1831183218331834183518361837183818391840
Total Fertility Rate in Sweden4.324.384.844.784.634.524.374.174.184.46

Years1851185218531854185518561857185818591860
Total Fertility Rate in Sweden4.364.24.264.534.34.234.364.664.714.71

Years1871187218731874187518761877187818791880
Total Fertility Rate in Sweden4.374.344.494.544.64.574.624.444.564.36

Years1891189218931894189518961897189818991900
Total Fertility Rate in Sweden4.143.933.973.944.013.983.923.993.94

Vital statistics since 1900

Data according to Statistics Sweden, which collects the official statistics for Sweden.
Average
population		Live birthsDeathsNatural changeCrude birth rate Crude death rate Natural change Total fertility rates
19005,117,000138,13986,14651,99327.016.810.24.02
19015,156,000139,37082,77256,59827.016.111.04.04
19025,187,000137,36479,72257,64226.515.411.13.95
19035,210,000133,89678,61055,28625.715.110.63.82
19045,241,000134,95280,15254,80025.715.310.53.83
19055,278,000135,40982,44352,96625.715.610.03.83
19065,316,000136,62076,36660,25425.714.411.33.81
19075,357,000136,79378,14958,64425.514.610.93.77
19085,404,000138,87480,56858,30625.714.910.83.79
19095,453,000139,50574,53864,96725.613.711.93.71
19105,499,000135,62577,21258,41324.714.010.63.60
19115,542,000132,97776,46256,51524.013.810.23.49
19125,583,000132,86879,24153,62723.814.29.63.44
19135,621,000130,20076,72453,47623.213.69.53.32
19145,659,000129,45878,31151,14722.913.89.03.29
19155,696,000122,99783,58739,41021.614.76.93.06
19165,735,000121,67977,77143,90821.213.67.72.99
19175,779,000120,85577,38543,47020.913.47.52.93
19185,807,000117,955104,59413,36120.318.02.32.83
19195,830,000115,19384,28930,90419.814.55.32.72
19205,876,000138,75378,12860,62523.613.310.33.22
19215,929,000127,72373,53654,18721.512.49.12.93
19225,971,000116,94676,34340,60319.612.86.82.66
19235,997,000113,43568,42445,01118.911.47.52.55
19246,021,000109,05572,00137,05418.112.06.22.43
19256,045,000106,29270,91835,37417.611.75.92.34
19266,064,000102,00771,34430,66316.811.85.12.22
19276,081,00097,99477,21920,77516.112.73.42.11
19286,097,00097,86873,26724,60116.112.04.02.08
19296,113,00092,86174,53818,32315.212.23.01.95
19306,131,00094,22071,79022,43015.411.73.71.96
19316,152,00091,07477,12113,95314.812.52.31.88
19326,176,00089,77971,45918,32014.511.63.01.83
19336,201,00085,02069,60715,41313.711.22.51.72
19346,222,00085,09269,92115,17113.711.22.41.67
19356,242,00085,90672,81313,09313.811.72.11.70
19366,259,00088,93874,83614,10214.212.02.31.75
19376,276,00090,37375,39214,98114.412.02.41.77
19386,297,00093,94672,69321,25314.911.53.41.84
19396,326,00097,38072,87624,50415.411.53.91.90
19406,356,00095,77872,74823,03015.111.43.61.86
19416,389,00099,72771,91027,81715.611.34.41.92
19426,432,000113,96163,74150,22017.79.97.82.19
19436,491,000125,39266,10559,28719.310.29.12.41
19446,560,000134,99172,28462,70720.611.09.62.61
19456,636,000135,37371,90163,47220.410.89.62.63
19466,719,000132,59770,63561,96219.710.59.22.57
19476,803,000128,77973,57955,20018.910.88.12.50
19486,883,000126,68367,69358,99018.49.88.62.47
19496,956,000121,27269,53751,73517.410.07.42.39
19507,014,000115,41470,29645,11816.510.06.42.28
19517,073,000110,16869,79940,36915.69.95.72.20
19527,125,000110,19268,27041,92215.59.65.92.22
19537,171,000110,14469,55340,59115.49.75.72.25
19547,213,000105,09669,03036,06614.69.65.02.18
19557,262,000107,30568,63438,67114.89.55.32.25
19567,315,000107,96070,20537,75514.89.65.22.29
19577,364,000107,16873,13234,03614.69.94.62.29
19587,409,000105,50271,06534,43714.29.64.62.26
19597,446,000104,74370,88933,85414.19.54.52.29
19607,480,000102,21975,09327,12613.710.03.62.17
19617,520,000104,50173,55530,94613.99.84.12.21
19627,562,000107,28476,79130,49314.210.24.02.25
19637,604,000112,90376,46036,44314.810.14.82.33
19647,661,000122,66476,66146,00316.010.06.02.47
19657,734,000122,80678,19444,61215.910.15.82.39
19667,808,000123,35478,44044,91415.810.05.82.37
19677,868,000121,36079,78341,57715.410.15.32.28
19687,914,000113,08782,47630,61114.310.43.92.07
19697,968,000107,62283,35224,27013.510.53.01.94
19708,043,000110,15080,02630,12413.79.93.71.94
19718,098,000114,48482,71731,76714.110.23.91.98
19728,122,000112,27384,05128,22213.810.33.51.93
19738,137,000109,66385,64024,02313.510.53.01.88
19748,161,000109,87486,31623,55813.510.62.91.91
19758,193,000103,63288,20815,42412.610.81.91.78
19768,222,00098,34590,6777,66812.011.00.91.70
19778,252,00096,05788,2027,85511.610.71.01.64
19788,276,00093,24889,6813,56711.310.80.41.61
19798,294,00096,25591,0745,18111.611.00.61.66
19808,310,00097,06491,8005,26411.711.00.61.69
19818,320,00094,06592,0342,03111.311.10.21.63
19828,325,00092,74890,6712,07711.110.90.21.60
19838,329,00091,78090,79198911.010.90.11.61
19848,337,00093,88990,4833,40611.310.90.41.66
19858,350,00098,46394,0324,43111.811.30.51.74
19868,370,000101,95093,2958,65512.211.11.01.79
19878,398,000104,69993,30711,39212.511.11.41.84
19888,437,000112,08096,74315,33713.311.51.81.96
19898,493,000116,02392,11023,91313.710.82.82.02
19908,559,000123,93895,16128,77714.511.13.42.14
19918,617,000123,73795,20228,53514.411.03.32.12
19928,668,000122,84894,71028,13814.210.93.22.09
19938,719,000117,99897,00820,99013.511.12.42.00
19948,781,000112,25791,84420,41312.810.52.31.90
19958,831,000103,32696,9106,41611.711.00.71.74
19968,843,00095,29794,1331,16410.810.60.11.61
19978,846,00089,17192,674-3,50310.110.5-0.41.52
19988,851,00088,38492,891-4,50710.010.5-0.51.51
19998,858,00088,17394,726-6,55310.010.7-0.71.50
20008,872,00090,44193,285-2,84410.210.5-0.31.54
20018,896,00091,46693,752-2,28610.310.5-0.31.57
20028,925,00095,81595,00980610.710.60.11.65
20038,958,00099,15792,9616,19611.110.40.71.71
20048,994,000100,92890,53210,39611.210.11.21.75
20059,030,000101,34691,7109,63611.210.21.11.77
20069,081,000105,91391,17714,73611.710.01.61.85
20079,148,000107,42191,72915,69211.710.01.71.88
20089,220,000109,30191,44917,85211.99.91.91.91
20099,299,000111,80190,08021,72112.09.72.31.94
20109,378,000115,64190,48725,15412.39.62.71.98
20119,449,000111,77089,93821,83211.89.52.31.90
20129,519,000113,17791,93821,23911.99.72.21.91
20139,644,000113,59390,40223,19111.89.42.41.89
20149,747,000114,90788,97625,93111.99.22.71.88
20159,851,000114,87090,90723,96311.79.32.41.85
20169,995,000117,42590,98226,44311.89.22.61.85
201710,120,000115,41691,97223,44411.49.12.31.78
201810,230,000115,83292,18523,64711.39.02.31.75
201910,327,000114,52388,76625,75711.18.72.41.70

Current vital statistics

Number of births :
Number of deaths :
Natural increase :
Sources: Our World In Data and the United Nations.

1751–1949

Years186818721878188418901896190519111913191619221929193519431949
Life expectancy in Sweden43.250.047.649.150.453.454.558.058.758.261.062.364.968.770.8

1950–2015

Source: UN World Population Prospects

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. In Canada, the community of Swedish ancestry is 330,000 strong.

Immigration

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. Also taking into account people with only one parent born abroad, this number increases to almost a third in 2017.
Additionally, the birth rate among immigrant women after arriving in Sweden is somewhat higher than among ethnic Swedes. 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.

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 arrived during the Second World War.
;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.
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 were born outside the EU and 477,000 were born in another EU Member State. 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.
The first group of Assyrians/Syriacs moved to Sweden from Lebanon in 1967. Many of them live in Södertälje. There are also around 40,000 Roma in Sweden. 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 rose from just 1,000 in 1950 to 295,000 in 2003. Most of those immigrants came from Iraq, Iran, Lebanon and Syria, according to Statistics Sweden.
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.
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.
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.
Country19001930196019902000201020182019
Syria
Iraq
Finland
Poland
Iran
Somalia
former Yugoslavia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Afghanistan
Turkey
Germany
Eritrea
Thailand
Norway
India
Denmark
China
Romania
United Kingdom
Lebanon
Chile
United States
Russia
Ethiopia
Vietnam
Greece
Pakistan
Hungary
Lithuania
Philippines
Serbia
Italy
Colombia
Spain
Netherlands
Croatia
South Korea
France
Morocco
Bangladesh
Ukraine
Kosovo
Brazil
Total35,62761,657299,879790,4451,003,7981,384,9291,955,5692,019,733

The twenty-five largest groups of foreign-born persons in the Swedish civil registry as of autumn 2018 were:
  1. Former Yugoslavia *
  2. Syria
  3. Finland *
  4. Iraq
  5. Poland
  6. Iran
  7. Somalia
  8. Germany
  9. Turkey
  10. Afghanistan
  11. Thailand
  12. Eritrea
  13. Norway
  14. Denmark
  15. India
  16. China
  17. Romania
  18. Chile
  19. United Kingdom
  20. Lebanon
  21. United States
  22. Russia
  23. Vietnam
  24. Ethiopia
  25. Greece
The ten most common countries of birth among immigrants registered in Sweden during 2016 were the following:
  1. Syria
  2. Eritrea
  3. Poland
  4. Iraq
  5. India
  6. Somalia
  7. Afghanistan
  8. Finland
  9. Germany
  10. Iran

    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 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
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.

Religion

The majority of the population belongs to the Church of Sweden, 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. Other Christian denominations in Sweden include the Roman Catholic Church, several Orthodox churches in diaspora, Baptist, Pentecostal, Neo-pietistic and other evangelical Christian 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 Bahá'í in Sweden, mainly as a result of 20th and 21st century immigration. There is also a small Zoroastrian community in Sweden.