The population of Sweden. Population of Sweden

The Kingdom of Sweden occupies the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. In this state, a constitutional monarchy is a form of government. The name of the country appeared from the Old Scandinavian language and is translated as "the state of the Swedes". Swami called the ancient German tribe, inhabiting the lands of present-day Sweden. The capital of the country is Stockholm. As of February 28, 2013, the population of Sweden was 9.567 million people. The population density is 21.9 people per square kilometer. In this category, the country occupies the penultimate place in the European Union. Only Finland has a smaller population density. Most of the population is concentrated in the southern half of the state, as well as in the coastal areas. It is there that the climate is more temperate.

National composition

The population is traditionally dominated by the Swedes. Of course, modern inhabitants of Sweden are quite diverse in ethnic and racial terms. A powerful influence here is provided by political and economic immigration from developing countries. In fact, the population of the state is divided into two groups: immigrant and autochthonous. Among the autochthonous group are the Swedes and the ancient inhabitants of the northern region of Sweden. As a rule, they are representatives of the Finno-Ugric tribe - the Finns and the Saami. Ethnic Swedes have a German origin. They number about 7.5 million people.

In the far north of the country, besides the Swedes, there are more than seventeen thousand Saami. Finland was once part of the Kingdom of Sweden. So, along the border between these two countries, there are more than fifty thousand indigenous Finns. In the central region of the state there are more than 450 thousand people who have Finnish roots. These are people who immigrated to the country during the twentieth century, as well as their descendants. It should be added that in the territory of Finland, for several centuries, the Swedish minority lives. It is about 300 thousand people or 6% of the population.

In Finland, the Swedish language is given the status of the second state language. But the Finnish population of Sweden uses very sluggishly. He is officially not recognized by the state.

Religion

82% of Sweden's population belongs to the Lutheran church, which separated from the state in 2000. Here live Catholics, Orthodox and Baptists. Some Lapps adhere to traditional beliefs. The result of immigration in the country is the emergence of numerous Muslim communities professing Islam.

Migration

Before the First World War, the population in Sweden was a nation of migrants. At that time the country was agrarian with a small reserve of fossils. In total at that time more than a fifth of the population left. Mostly people went to Canada and the USA. Great popularity enjoyed the state of Michigan. Usually from the country the rural population left.

But after the Second World War, the migration situation is smoothly changing. What kind of population lives in Sweden in 2008? In fact, 13.5% of the state's residents were born abroad, and 22% - either immigrants or their descendants. Previously, among foreigners, people from Finland, Denmark and Norway took priority. At the end of the twentieth century, the situation changed. Among immigrants, the proportion of natives of Portugal, former USSR countries, Greece has increased significantly. And more recently, from Poland, some of the people moved to this country.

Sweden acted as a political asylum. She systematically received citizens from Chile, Iran, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Somalia. After 2001, more than 40,000 Iraqi political refugees settled in the country.

The population in Sweden is constantly fluctuating due to migration. Statistics determine immigrants by means of criteria according to which a long-term immigrant is a person who has come to the country for more than 12 months. The main categories of immigrants include working resources, refugees and close relatives of families. Persons displaced within the refugee quota, foreign students and adopted children also belong to this group.

Language

The population of Sweden usually speaks Swedish, which belongs to the category of Germanic languages of the Indo-European family. This is the de facto language. His relatives are Norwegian and Danish. In Swedish, a different pronunciation and spelling. There is no official language in the country, as Swedish takes a dominant position. But the question of recognizing him as an official has never been raised. By the way, this situation is also observed with the English language of America.

And the Swedish population speaks the Sami language, meyankil, Finnish, Gypsy and Yiddish. But these languages are mostly used by national minorities. The first three are used in courts, kindergartens, state and municipal offices, nursing homes.

Statistics

And now we will get acquainted with statistical data on the inhabitants of Sweden for 2010.

• The annual increase in the electorate is 0.158%.
• The density of the people is 26 people per square kilometer.
• How fast is Sweden's population increasing? On average, one person is born here every fifteen minutes.
• The birth rate is 10.13 children per one thousand inhabitants.
• Degree of fertility: 1.67 toddlers per woman.
• Age structure: 0-14 years old - 15.7%, 15-64 years old - 65.5%, 65 years old and over - 18.8%.
• The average age is 41.5 years.
• Life expectancy is 80.86 years. According to this assessment, the country took the ninth place in the world.
• The migration rate was 1.66 per 1000 persons.
• The unemployment rate is 9.1%.
• The death rate was 10.21 deaths per 1000 persons.
• The infant mortality rate is 2.75 deaths per thousand newborns.
• The overall sex ratio is 0.98 (men versus women).
• The level of urbanization was 85% of the total population.
• The prevalence of HIV among the population is 0.1%.
• The number of people infected with HIV was 6200 people.
• The number of deaths from HIV is less than one hundred people.
• The literacy rate is 99%.
• School education lasts an average of 16 years.
• The cost of education amounted to 7.1% of GDP.

Municipality of Sweden

The population of Sweden is increasing every year. In 2005, there were 1940 settlements in Sweden. They are similar to isolated areas in the United States. To obtain the status of a "settlement" in a Swedish village, there must be at least two hundred inhabitants. In addition, it must have the status of a city, a village or a large farm. In settlements, counted by statistics as cities or towns, more than 10,000 souls must live. At the moment in Sweden, the legal division of settlements into rural and urban is absent. Nevertheless, the definition of "city" exists and has three meanings:

• Historical, as the name of the village.
• Historical, as the name of the commune.
• Statistical. This is any settlement with the inhabitants of more than 10 000 souls.