Demographics of Sweden

The demography of Sweden is watched by the Statistiska centralbyrån (Statistics Sweden). As of 31 December 2025, Sweden had 10,605,500 people. This makes it the 15th-biggest country in Europe after Portugal. It is also the 10th-biggest member of the European Union and the 89th-biggest country in the world.

In 2024, the total fertility rate was 1.43. This is lower than the replacement rate of 2.1.

Sweden's population passed 10 million on Friday, 20 January 2017. The three biggest cities are Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. Over the last 70 years, Sweden's people have become more different in where they come from, what languages they speak, and what religions they practice because of people moving in. Now, about one in four people (24.9%) has a foreign background, and about one in three (32.3%) has at least one parent born in another country. The most common foreign ancestry is Finnish.

Statistics Sweden thinks Sweden's population will grow to about 12.6 million by the year 2070.

Population

Main article: List of cities in Sweden by population

Main article: List of Swedish counties by life expectancy

Sweden has 17 cities where more than 100,000 people live. Most people in Sweden live in Svealand and Götaland.

The total fertility rate shows how many children a woman might have during her life. Data for this comes from Our World In Data and the Gapminder Foundation.

The demography of Sweden is monitored by Statistics Sweden (SCB).

Sweden’s population was 10,605,500 as of December 31, 2025. This makes it the 15th-most populous country in Europe after Portugal, and the 89th-most populous country in the world. The total fertility rate was 1.43 in 2024, which is lower than the level needed for the population to stay the same.

Demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless noted otherwise.

By 2050, it is expected that the number of people of all ages will grow, with many living to be 90–100 years old. By 2100, the population is expected to stay steady across all age groups.

Eurostat expects Sweden’s population to reach 11,994,364 in 2040 and 14,388,478 in 2080.

The population density is about 25 people per square kilometer (65 per square mile), with 1,437 people per square kilometer in towns. About 87% of Sweden’s people live in urban areas, which cover only 1.5% of the land. Sixty-three percent live in large cities. The density is much higher in the south than in the north. The capital, Stockholm, has about 950,000 people in the city, 1.5 million in the urban area, and 2.3 million in the larger area. The next biggest cities are Gothenburg and Malmö. The area around Gothenburg has over a million people, as does the western part of Scania near the Öresund. The Öresund Region, which includes Malmö, has 4 million people and joins Sweden and Denmark.

Norrland, which is about 60% of Sweden, has very few people—less than 5 per square kilometer. The mountains and far coastal areas have almost no people. Some other areas, like parts of Svealand and Småland, also have low populations. An area called Finnveden in southwestern Småland has very few people.

Demographic statistics according to the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Origin

Most people in Sweden are ethnic Swedes. This means their families have lived there for many generations. There is also a large group called Sweden Finns. They are ethnic Finns who live mainly in the Mälaren Valley region. Another group is the Sámi people. They are Sweden's indigenous people and have lived in the northern parts of the country for thousands of years. They have their own language and culture.

About two million people in Sweden, or 19.6% of the population, were born in another country. Many of these people come from places like Syria, Finland, Iraq, Poland, Iran, and Somalia.

• Origin groups mapped as percentage of the population in counties in Sweden

Swedes of two Swedish parents in Sweden's counties and overall as of 2020.

Percentage of those of a foreign background in total in Sweden in 2021

• Population pyramids of each origin group

Population pyramid of Sweden by origin group in 2021

Swede of two Swedish parents

Swede of one Swedish parent and one foreign born

Foreign born

• Born in Sweden to two foreign born parents

Extended origin background statistics

Vital statistics

Data comes from Statistics Sweden, which keeps the official records for the country.

Some important moments in Sweden's history include the Dano-Swedish War, the Swedish famine of 1867–1869, and the First World War.

In 2021, most babies—80,465 out of 114,263—were born to mothers who were born in Sweden. The rest, 33,798, were born to mothers from other countries. By 2022, this changed a bit: 73,294 babies had Swedish-born mothers, and 31,440 had mothers born elsewhere. The number of babies per woman, called the fertility rate, was lower for Swedish-born women compared to those born in other countries.

Migration

Before World War II, more people left Sweden than arrived. Since then, more people have come to Sweden than left, especially since the 1970s.

Emigration

Between 1820 and 1930, about 1.3 million Swedes, which was a third of the country's population at the time, emigrated to North America, mostly to the United States. There are more than 4.4 million Swedish Americans today, according to a 2006 estimate. In Canada, about 330,000 people have Swedish ancestry.

Immigration

Main article: Immigration to Sweden

Sweden's population has changed a lot because of immigration since the 1970s. In 2020, Statistics Sweden said that about 2,686,040 people, or 25.9% of Sweden's residents, had a foreign background. This means they were either born outside Sweden or both of their parents were born outside Sweden.

Historical immigration

World War II

Immigration increased a lot during World War II. The largest groups of foreign-born people were from Germany and other Scandinavian countries like Denmark and Norway. About 70,000 war children came from Finland. Many of Denmark's Jews who were brought to Sweden stayed.

A big group came from the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) during World War II.

1945 to 1967

In the 1950s and 1960s, many people came to Sweden to work. The Nordic countries agreed to let people move freely between them in 1952. This helped Sweden build its strong public services.

On a smaller scale, Sweden also took in political refugees from Hungary and the former Czechoslovakia after wars in 1956 and 1968.

Contemporary immigration

Since the early 1970s, most people coming to Sweden have been refugees or joining family members from the Middle East and Latin America. In 2010, about 1.33 million people in Sweden were born in another country, which was 14.3% of the population. By 2018, that number had grown to nearly 1.96 million, or 19.1% of the population. Cities like Malmö and parts of Skåne have taken in many refugees.

Some of the first groups to come were Assyrians/Syriacs from Lebanon in 1967, many living in Södertälje near Stockholm. There are also about 40,000 Roma in Sweden.

People from Western Asia have become a bigger part of Sweden's population. The number of people born in Asia, including the Middle East, went from 1,000 in 1950 to 295,000 in 2003. Most came from Iraq, Iran, Lebanon and Syria.

The number of Iraqis grew fast after the Iraq War started in 2003. In 2006, 8,951 Iraqis came to Sweden. By 2007, there were over 70,000 Iraqis in Sweden.

Many Syrian Christians have also moved to Sweden. There have also been people from places like Afghanistan and India. After the European migrant crisis, Syrians became one of the largest groups of people born outside Sweden in 2017.

Note that the table below shows the country people were citizens of when they arrived in Sweden.

Migration data of Sweden (2000–present)

Language

Main articles: Swedish language and Languages of Sweden

The Swedish language is the main language in Sweden and is used by the government. English is also commonly spoken and is taught in schools.

Since 1999, Sweden has recognized five minority languages: Sámi, Meänkieli, Finnish, Romani and Yiddish. The Sámi languages can be used in some places like government offices, schools, and nursing homes in areas such as Arjeplog and Arvidsjaur. Meänkieli speakers have similar rights in some areas like Gällivare and Haparanda. Finnish speakers also have these rights in many parts of the country.

Over time, new communities have brought other languages to Sweden, including Persian, Serbo-Croatian, Arabic and Neo-Aramaic.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Sweden

Most people in Sweden, about 52%, belong to the Church of Sweden. This church is a Lutheran church. It is no longer the official state church. There are also other Christian groups like the Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox churches, Baptists, and Pentecostals.

There are communities of Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and Baháʼís in Sweden. These groups grew because people moved to Sweden in the 20th and 21st centuries. There is also a small Zoroastrian group.

Homelessness

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