Immigration to Sweden
[17] According to an official report by the governmental Swedish Pensions Agency, total immigration to Sweden for 2017 was expected to be roughly 180,000 individuals, and thereafter to number 110,000 persons every year.
Between 2010—2020, the ten net largest foreign-born populations immigrating into Sweden came from Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Eritrea, Iraq, Poland, India, Iran, Thailand, China.
"[57] In June 2017, the Supreme Administrative Court of Sweden (HFD) ruled that illegal immigrants, such as those who stay in hiding after their asylum applications had been rejected in order to evade deportation, had no right to welfare benefits.
[59] Data indicates that the smuggling networks would capitalize on the right of asylum seekers to establish their own housing (EBO) instead of accommodation organized by the Swedish Migration Agency.
[62] According to Swedish MP Ludvig Aspling, the smaller grant had rarely been utilized, as only about 70 people applied for it in 2023 and just 1 person received it, out of 16,000 migrants who left Sweden in 2023.
[66] Note that the table below lists the citizenship the person had when arriving in Sweden and therefore there are no registered Eritreans, Russians, Kosovo Albanians, Bosnians or Palestinians from 1990, they were recorded as Ethiopians, Soviets, Yugoslavs and Lebanese.
[72] However, in the 20-35 age group, there are more female than male migrants, due to a significant number of overseas women who migrate to Sweden to marry Swedish men.
The report pointed out that this measurement method still overestimates the degree of self-sufficiency of migrants, since it does not exclude jobs that are tax-financed through labor market initiatives which thus constitute a form of social security.
[96] According to the Swedish National Audit Office, changes in the volume and composition of people seeking or being granted residence permit has significant consequences to the finances and organisations of public institutions administered by the state and municipalities.
The expenses concern mainly extended administration of residence application by the Swedish Migration Agency and courts, reimbursing municipalities for lodging and welfare benefits to asylum seekers.
The paper concluded, based on current rates of labour market integration, that GDP per capita and public finance would not be improved sufficiently to compensate for an ageing population.
Due to the high birthrates in the early post-war years and the steep decline in the late 20th century, Sweden has one of the oldest populations in the world.
Research shows that socioeconomic and cultural factors, such as unemployment, poverty, linguistic shortcomings, and absence of skills, explain a significant portion of the differences in crime rates between immigrants and natives.
After a "clan"-based gang dispute had caused disruption, including incidents of violence, it was resolved between the parties in conflict, without police involvement; no arrests had been made.
The BBC also asked the chief editor of Uppdrag Granskning why they had aired a potentially inflammatory episode just before the 2018 Swedish general election: the response was that immigration was a major issue for every political party in Sweden, and Swedes needed an understanding of their own country.
[137] According to Felipe Estrada, professor of criminology at Stockholm University, this shows how the media gives disproportionate attention to and exaggerates the alleged criminal involvement of asylum seekers and refugees.
[148][149] A 2006 government report suggested that immigrants face discrimination by law enforcement agencies, which could lead to meaningful differences between those suspected of crimes and those actually convicted.
[152][non-primary source needed] By taking account of socioeconomic factors (gender, age, education and income), the crime rate gap between immigrants and natives decreases.
[148][non-primary source needed] However, a 1997 paper additionally found immigrants from Finland, South America, the Arab world and Eastern Europe to be overrepresented in crime statistics.
Immigrants in Sweden generally underperformed compared to the OECD average and the gap in performance to native students showing a steadily widening trend since 2006.
[176] This underperformance of immigrants in Swedish schools has been cited as a significant part of the reason why Sweden has dropped more than any other European country in the international PISA rankings.
[183] According to Statistics Sweden, as of 2012, the most common countries of birth for pupils in the Swedish For Immigrants program are Iraq (13,477), Somalia (10,355), Thailand (5,658), Poland (5,079), Iran (4,748), Turkey (3,344), China (3,408), Eritrea (3,618), Afghanistan (3,640), and Syria (3,257).
The most common mother tongues spoken by the students are Arabic (18,886), Somali (10,525), Persian (7,162), Thai (5,707), Polish (5,100), English (4,796), Spanish (4,552), Tigrinya (3,623), Turkish (3,064), and North Kurdish (3,059).
Segregation is not limited to the larger cities but also is a feature in many types of towns differing in size and location, like Kristianstad, Örebro, Trollhättan, Borås, Eskilstuna, Helsingborg, Örnsköldsvik and Jönköping.
[189] According to researcher Emma Neuman at Linnaeus University, segregation sets in at population share around three or 4 percent of non-European migrants in a district, while European immigration shows no such trend.
[205][206] A 2008 study, which involved questionnaires to 5,000 people, showed that less than a quarter of the respondents (23%) wanted to live in areas characterised by cultural, ethnic and social diversity.
[211] On the question of repatriation of the asylum immigrants, 61 percent of native respondents in 1990 thought that it was a good suggestion, with this figure steadily decreasing over the ensuing years to a low of around 40% in 2014.
[213] In late 2012, the party stated it wanted to open the borders completely to immigration, including removing requirements for some degree of job skills and a clean criminal record.
[214] The former Social-Democratic Party minister of finance Kjell-Olof Feldt stated in October 2017 that the half million unemployed immigrants in Sweden are a ticking bomb.
[215] In December 2017, Minister for Finance Magdalena Andersson stated in an interview with Dagens Nyheter that integration of immigrants had not worked well in Sweden since before 2015 and that the situation had become very strained since.
