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 Svey.” Old German tribe, who lived on the lands of present-day Sweden , is called a saint . The capital of the country is Stockholm. As of February 28, 2013, the population of Sweden was 9.567 million people. The population density here is 21.9 people per square kilometer. In this category, the country occupies the penultimate place in the European Union. Only Finland has a lower population density. Most of the population is concentrated in the southern half of the state, as well as in coastal areas. It is there that the climate is more moderate.
National composition
The population is traditionally dominated by the Swedes. Of course, the modern inhabitants of Sweden are quite diverse in ethnic and racial terms. A powerful influence here is exerted by political and economic immigration from developing countries. In fact, the state’s population is divided into two groups: immigrant and autochthonous. Among the autochthonous group, the Swedes and the ancient inhabitants of the northern region of Sweden stand out. As a rule, these are representatives of the Finno-Ugric tribe - Finns and Sami. Ethnic Swedes are of Germanic origin. They number about 7.5 million people.
In the far north of the country, in addition to the Swedes, there are more than seventeen thousand Saami. Finland was once part of the Swedish Kingdom. So, along the border between these two countries, there are more than fifty thousand indigenous Finns. More than 450 thousand people with Finnish roots live in the central region of the state. These are people who immigrated to the country during the twentieth century, as well as their descendants. It must be added that the Finnish minority has been living in Finland for several centuries. 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 population of Sweden uses Finnish very sluggishly. He is not officially recognized as a state here.
Religion
82% of the population of Sweden belongs to the Lutheran church, which separated from the state back in 2000. Catholics, Orthodox and Baptists live here. Some Sami adhere to traditional beliefs. The result of immigration in the country is the emergence of numerous Muslim communities that practice Islam.
Migration
Before World War I, the population in Sweden was a nation of migrants. In those days, the country was agricultural with a small reserve of minerals. In total, more than a fifth of the population left at that time. Mostly people went to Canada and the USA. The state of Michigan was very popular . Usually the rural population left the country.
But after the Second World War, the migration situation is gradually changing. What population in Sweden lives in 2008? In fact, 13.5% of the state’s residents were born abroad, and 22% were either immigrants or their descendants. Previously, immigrants from Finland, Denmark and Norway excelled among foreigners. At the end of the twentieth century, the situation changed. Among immigrants, the share of natives of Portugal, the former countries of the USSR, and Greece greatly increased. And more recently, some people also moved to Poland from Poland.
Sweden acted as a political asylum. She systematically received citizens from Chile, Iran, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Somalia. After 2001, over 40 thousand Iraqi political refugees settled in the country.
The population in Sweden is constantly fluctuating due to migration. Statistics determine immigrants using criteria according to which a person who has arrived in the country for more than 12 months is called a long-term immigrant. The main categories of immigrants include labor resources, refugees and close relatives of families. Persons displaced under the refugee quota, foreign students and adopted children also belong to this group.
Tongue
The population of Sweden usually speaks Swedish, which belongs to the category of Germanic languages of the Indo-European family. This is a de facto language. His relatives are Norwegian and Danish. Swedish has a different pronunciation and spelling. There is no official language in the country, because Swedish occupies a dominant position. But the question of recognizing him as official has never been raised. By the way, a similar situation is observed with the English language of America.
And the population of Sweden speaks Sami, Meiankieli, Finnish, Gypsy and Yiddish. But these languages are mainly used by national minorities. The first three are used in courts, kindergartens, state and municipal offices, nursing homes.
Statistics
And now let's get acquainted with the statistics on the inhabitants of Sweden for 2010.
- The annual growth of the electorate is 0.158%.
- The density of people is 26 people per one square kilometer.
- How fast is the population of Sweden increasing? On average, one person is born every fifteen minutes.
- The birth rate is 10.13 babies per one thousand inhabitants.
- Fertility: 1.67 babies per woman.
- Age structure: 0-14 years old - 15.7%, 15-64 years old - 65.5%, 65 years and older - 18.8%.
- The average age is 41.5 years.
- Life expectancy is 80.86 years. According to this estimate, the country ranked ninth in the world.
- The degree of migration was 1.66 per 1000 people.
- The unemployment rate is 9.1%.
- The mortality rate was 10.21 deaths per 1000 souls.
- The infant mortality rate is 2.75 deaths per thousand newborns.
- The total sex ratio is 0.98 (men versus women).
- The level of urbanization was 85% of the total population.
- HIV prevalence in the population is 0.1%.
- The number of people infected with HIV was 6,200.
- The number of deaths from HIV is less than a hundred people.
- Literacy rate is 99%.
- Schooling lasts an average of 16 years.
- Education costs accounted for 7.1% of GDP.
Towns of Sweden
The population of Sweden is increasing every year. In 2005, there were 1,940 settlements in Sweden. They are similar to isolated areas in the USA. 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, village or large farm. In settlements counted by statistics as cities or towns, more than 10,000 souls should live. At present, in Sweden there is no legal division of settlements into rural and urban. Nevertheless, the definition of "city" exists and has three meanings:
- Historical, as the name of the settlement.
- Historical, as the name of the commune.
- Statistical. This is any settlement with inhabitants of more than 10,000 souls.