| Table of contents |
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2 Language 3 Emigration 4 Immigration 5 Religion 6 Statistics 7 Age structure 8 Sex ratio 9 Literacy 10 See also 11 References 12 External links |
Ethnicity
Beside the Swedes, a small indigenous population of Saami (also known as "Lapps") live in the northernmost part of the country. Sweden-Finns, partly indigenous, is the largest ethnic minority.
Language
Even though Sweden (similar to the United States) has no official language, Swedish dominates totally. The indigenous Finno-Ugric languages have well into the 1960s been repressed. Since 1999 Sweden has five officially recognized minority languages: Saami, Meänkieli-Finnish, Standard-Finnish, Romani chib and Jiddisch.
Emigration
In the 19th century Sweden had a yearly population growth peaking at 12‰, 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 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).
| Origin | foreign-born inhabitants |
|---|---|
| Finland | 193,000 |
| Former Yugoslavia | 135,000 |
| Iraq | 56,000 |
| Iran | 52,000 |
| Norway | 43,000 |
| Poland | 41,000 |
| Denmark | 39,000 |
| Germany | 39,000 |
| Turkey | 32,000 |
| Chile | 27,000 |
| Lebanon | 20,000 |
| United Kingdom | 15,500 |
| USA | 14,700 |
| Syria | 14,600 |
| Hungary | 14,000 |
| Somalia | 13,500 |
| Romania | 12,000 |
| Ethiopia | 11,700 |
| India | 11,500 |
| Vietnam | 11,200 |
| Thailand | 11,200 |
| Greece | 10,900 |
| Estonia | 10,200 |
| Data as of December 2001 | |
Immigration
Today (2001) 11.5% of the population are immigrants according to official statistics, i.e. born in another country. This is a comparably high figure. The government and the population has not, as in traditional immigration countries such as Australia or USA, had centuries of immigration to adapt laws and mindset to the situation.
Immigration increased markedly with World War II. Soon 70,000 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.
Religion
The majority (87%) of the population belongs to the Church of Sweden, the Lutheran chrch separated from the state in 2000. Other christian common denominations are Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Baptist. Some of the Saami practise Animism. Due to refugee immigration, there are also a number of Muslims in Sweden. See also Muslims in Europe, Jewish,
Buddhist.
Statistics
Age structure
Sex ratio
Literacy
See also
References
External links