New research finds migrants in Sweden feel 'profound sense of loneliness'

“What is striking is the strong sense of isolation that many people feel," researcher Måns Lundstedt, who wrote the report, said in a press release. "That is where Sweden seems to stand out compared to many other countries."

In the report, Lundstedt identified three arenas as situations where migrants interviewed for the study were able to create and maintain meaningful social ties: school, civil society associations and the workplace. He discovered that these ties were often linked to positive integration experiences and provided opportunities for migrants to improve their language skills, gain a network for further employment and feel a sense of belonging.

However, it can be difficult for migrants who aren't able to create these social ties, for example the unemployed, adults, and those without the time or ability to become active in civil society due to family commitments or trauma, for example.

“It is very unusual for friends and acquaintances to be made, for example, on the bus. It is not primarily racism, but rather indifference they say they encountered when they came to Sweden,” Lundstedt said.

"Informal and spontaneous interactions were hardly ever mentioned as a means to create social ties," the report reads.

In the interviews, the report adds, many migrants tried unsuccessfully to strike up conversations with their neighbours but were met with indifference.

"Many migrants expressed a profound sense of loneliness, failing to create and sustain relations with their neighbours, classmates, and colleagues," the report reads, particularly among those who were unsuccessful in finding employment or making connections through engagement in civil society.

'Very grim picture'

Lundstedt said that, despite some success stories in the interviews, it is overall a "very grim picture that is painted."

“A feeling of great loneliness is experienced, and it is difficult to enter society. They have the worst jobs or rely on benefits. That, together with a lack of social contacts, contributes to social marginalisation and deteriorating mental health,” he added.

Those who are able to create these meaningful social ties also experienced barriers, such as solitary work, time-limited contracts or even de facto segregation.

"Integration in school mostly applies to migrants who came to Sweden at a young age; those who arrived as teenagers state that they are met with the same indifference as in the surrounding society, and few manage to make friends among the native-born youth," the report states.

Joining an association does not guarantee long-term contacts either, as it requires time, commitment, and shared interests from both parts.

Indifference 'protects' migrants

Many of those interviewed for the report felt however that the indifference from Swedes "protects" them from more direct racism or hostility.

"The best thing about Sweden is that even though you hate us, you don't say anything. You just go on your way,” said one respondent, who fled Syria in 2015.

This indifference from native Swedes meant that many of the participants rarely encountered direct racism, the report states.

"Even in locations with a large presence of neo-Nazi activists, the odd encounters with direct racism primarily involved individual strangers (screaming abuse, spitting at them) or individual co-workers and classmates, rather than collective anti-migrant mobilisation."

It also adds that, with some exceptions, those who had experienced direct hostilities felt in general that they had received support from their workplace, school, or others in their surroundings.

'Inherent racism in Swedish migration and integration policy'

Many of those interviewed for the report also felt that the difference in how Sweden welcomed Ukrainian refugees in 2022 compared to previous waves of Muslim, middle-eastern or non-white refugees showed an "inherent racism" in Swedish migration and integration policy.

"While most believed that the Swedish government’s response to the Ukrainian refugees was just, and while many had participated actively in receiving and supporting this group, the stark difference in public discourse and in government practices served to underline what they perceived to be an inherent racism in Swedish migration and integration policy," the report states.

"As such, the difference between the ways that Sweden received Ukrainians, and the way that Sweden had previously received other migrant groups, fractured the participants’ perceptions of, and trust in, the Swedish authorities and in Swedish society as a whole."

Larger EU project

In the report, which was part of a larger EU project on integration following the refugee crisis in 2015, Lundstedt conducted focus groups and interviews with migrants in Sweden between April and August 2022 to investigate the social aspect of moving here.

The aim of the EU project, titled Whole-Comm, is to find proposals for solutions that involve the whole community in the integration process through analysing how small and medium-sized communities in Sweden met the challenges that arose in the wake of increased immigration across Europe.

These solutions could potentially be used in different countries.