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Immigration For Members

Where do Sweden's immigrants come from in 2019?

Emma Löfgren
Emma Löfgren - [email protected]
Where do Sweden's immigrants come from in 2019?
Sweden is home to more than 10 million people. Photo: Janerik Henriksson/TT

Most of the people who have moved to Sweden so far this year are people originally born here. Let's take a look at the stats...

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Most of the immigrants who moved to Sweden in the first six months of 2019 were Swedish-born people returning home. They made up 10 percent (or 5,753 people) of immigrants in that period.

That is however a small decrease (by 325 people) compared to the same period last year, and comes amid an overall slowdown of immigration, according to national statistics office Statistics Sweden.

A total of 55,222 people became registered as living in Sweden in the first six months of the year, the lowest level of immigration on record since 2013. Emigration also slowed in the same period, with 21,492 emigrants bringing Sweden’s net migration to 33,730 people – down 15 percent on last year.

In the same six months of 2019, a total of 6,890 Swedes were registered as leaving Sweden. That is also a decrease on the same period last year, when 7,543 Swedish-born people emigrated.

READ ALSO: The six waves of immigration that made Malmö

Since 2014, Syria has been the most common country of birth for immigrants, but this year it dropped to third place, with only 3,511 Syrians moving to Sweden (down 57 percent on last year).

Afghan-born people were the second biggest group of immigrants, and also the group that grew the most, with 4,508 immigrants moving to Sweden (up 38 percent on the first six months of 2018).

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Almost two-thirds of people who moved to Sweden in the first six months of this year came from a country outside the Nordics or EU/EEA – 35,312 people, or around 4,600 fewer than last year. The majority moved to join a family member.

However, immigrants who came for work grew the most compared to last year – by 14 percent to 5,828 people so far this year.

READ ALSO: Ten things Sweden should do to make life better for international talent

The Swedish capital Stockholm – which now has a population of 968,455 residents – was the city that welcomed both the most immigrants (7,916) and said goodbye to the most emigrants (3,804).

Sweden's total population was 10,281,189 people at the end of June, 51,004 more than at the start of the year. Immigration accounted for most of the population increase, despite the overall slowdown.

All statistics used in this article were put together by Statistics Sweden, based on the Swedish tax agency's information about people registered as living in Sweden (folkbokförda). They were translated into English by The Local, but for those who can read Swedish, there are more facts and figures available here.

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[email protected] 2019/08/20 16:03
And then they move to the UK....

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