Sweden’s foreign-born population is nearing 1,7 million — Finland and Iraq have the biggest communities

Tom Turula | 3 March 2017 | Business Insider Nordic

One in six people living in Sweden were born outside the country, shows Statistics Sweden’s (SCB) latest data from 2015.

Immigration currently by far exceeds migration in Sweden, which has seen the country’s share of foreign-born people grow to  17 percent, the  highest in the Nordics. According to OECD, Norway’s share is some 14 percent, Denmark’s 8,5 while Finland has only a third of Sweden’s share at 5,6 percent.

Sweden’s relatively relaxed asylum and immigration policies, combined with a strong economy, have contributed to a 67 percent growth in the foreign-born population since 2000. Half of today’s total, 1,67 million, are from non-European countries, according to SCB.

Finns are the biggest group, with more than 150.000 born outside Sweden, and a further 550.000 second- or third-generation descendants.

The northern bordertown of Haparanda has the highest concentration, four out of ten people of inhabitants born in Finland. Otherwise Finns dominate as the biggest foreign-born group in Stockholm and the Upplands Väsby region.

SCB statistics show that Sweden’s foreign-born citizens are mostly concentrated in the biggest cities. Almost a third of Malmö’s population were born abroad, whereas up to 40 percent of the inhabitants in some districts in the Stockholm region, like Botkyrka and Södertälje, are non-Swedish natives.

Also Read: Sweden’s population has hit 10 million  – here’s five key insights explaining the unprecedented growth

The effect of the immigration wave in 2015, when more than 160,000 refugees and migrants entered Sweden, has also shown an effect. In Western and Southern Sweden, Syrians are now the biggest foreign-born nationality group.

Here are the 15 most common countries of origin for foreign-born Swedes, according to SCB:

Country of Birth     /    Women     /   Men    /   Total

Source: Statistics Sweden