The highest number of people emigrating from Sweden in 2023 moved to the United Kingdom, the total number amounting to 5,000. The Germany was the second most common country for emigration, while neighboring Denmark came in third. The destination country of 16,000 emigrants was unknown.

The majority of immigrants moving to Sweden in 2023 were Swedes returning to Sweden. Nearly 10,600 Swedes returned to their home country in 2023. The remaining top five countries of origin were India, Poland, Germany, and Syria. In total, 95,000 people immigrated to Sweden in 2023.

Syrians largest immigrant group

Of Sweden's foreign-born population, Syrians made up the largest group. Following the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, many people left the country in search of a better life in Europe, some of which landed in Sweden. In 2022, Sweden hosted the world's 7th largest group of Syrian refugees.

Immigration drives population increase in Sweden

Over the past decade, Sweden has seen a positive migration rate, with more people immigrating to the country than people leaving. This is one of the main reasons why the country's population has been increasing steadily over recent years.

Sweden SE: Population: Growth data was reported at 1.447 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 1.256 % for 2016. Sweden SE: Population: Growth data is updated yearly, averaging 0.538 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1.447 % in 2017 and a record low of 0.045 % in 1983. Sweden SE: Population: Growth data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Sweden – Table SE.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Annual population growth rate for year t is the exponential rate of growth of midyear population from year t-1 to t, expressed as a percentage . Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.; ; Derived from total population. Population source: (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision, (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Reprot (various years), (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme.; Weighted average;

About 118 thousand people born in the Americas lived in Sweden in 2020. The top five countries of birth among immigrants from the Americas living in Sweden in 2020 were Chile, United States, Colombia, Brazil, and Peru.

In 2023, a record of over 70,000 people emigrated from Sweden. The high number is due to the Swedish Tax Agency conducting a major clean-up of their numbers to avoid welfare fraud. In 2023, around 95,000 immigrated to Sweden.

The Swedish security company Securitas AB was the company in Sweden with the largest number of employees as of August 2024, when the company employed nearly 287,000 people. H&M and Ericsson were the second and third largest companies in Sweden by number of employees, amounting to 107,000 and 102,000 employees, respectively. Securitas expansion to outside Europe Securitas started as a night guarding company in Helsingborg in 1934, by the name “Hälsingborgs Nattvakt” (Helsingborg’s Night Guard). The owner, Erik Philip-Sörensen, gradually acquired other security companies and they eventually all came together under the collective name Securitas in 1972. The company kept growing over the years and in 2023, the company had expanded with employees in Europe, North America and Latin America. Highest revenue in 2023Securitas has kept pace with the worldwide advancing knowledge of electronic security. In 2023, the company reached its highest revenue of roughly 157 billion Swedish kronor.

As of January 11, 2023, the highest number of deaths due to the coronavirus in Sweden was among individuals aged 80 to 90 years old. In this age group there were 9,124 deaths as a result of the virus. The overall Swedish death toll was 22,645 as of January 11, 2023.

The first case of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Sweden was confirmed on February 4, 2020. The number of cases has since risen to over 2.68 million, as of January 2023. For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

Based on a comparison of coronavirus deaths in 210 countries relative to their population, Peru had the most losses to COVID-19 up until July 13, 2022. As of the same date, the virus had infected over 557.8 million people worldwide, and the number of deaths had totaled more than 6.3 million. Note, however, that COVID-19 test rates can vary per country. Additionally, big differences show up between countries when combining the number of deaths against confirmed COVID-19 cases. The source seemingly does not differentiate between "the Wuhan strain" (2019-nCOV) of COVID-19, "the Kent mutation" (B.1.1.7) that appeared in the UK in late 2020, the 2021 Delta variant (B.1.617.2) from India or the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) from South Africa.

The difficulties of death figures

This table aims to provide a complete picture on the topic, but it very much relies on data that has become more difficult to compare. As the coronavirus pandemic developed across the world, countries already used different methods to count fatalities, and they sometimes changed them during the course of the pandemic. On April 16, for example, the Chinese city of Wuhan added a 50 percent increase in their death figures to account for community deaths. These deaths occurred outside of hospitals and went unaccounted for so far. The state of New York did something similar two days before, revising their figures with 3,700 new deaths as they started to include “assumed” coronavirus victims. The United Kingdom started counting deaths in care homes and private households on April 29, adjusting their number with about 5,000 new deaths (which were corrected lowered again by the same amount on August 18). This makes an already difficult comparison even more difficult. Belgium, for example, counts suspected coronavirus deaths in their figures, whereas other countries have not done that (yet). This means two things. First, it could have a big impact on both current as well as future figures. On April 16 already, UK health experts stated that if their numbers were corrected for community deaths like in Wuhan, the UK number would change from 205 to “above 300”. This is exactly what happened two weeks later. Second, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly which countries already have “revised” numbers (like Belgium, Wuhan or New York) and which ones do not. One work-around could be to look at (freely accessible) timelines that track the reported daily increase of deaths in certain countries. Several of these are available on our platform, such as for Belgium, Italy and Sweden. A sudden large increase might be an indicator that the domestic sources changed their methodology.

Where are these numbers coming from?

The numbers shown here were collected by Johns Hopkins University, a source that manually checks the data with domestic health authorities. For the majority of countries, this is from national authorities. In some cases, like China, the United States, Canada or Australia, city reports or other various state authorities were consulted. In this statistic, these separately reported numbers were put together. For more information or other freely accessible content, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

In 2021, the parent company in Sweden employed on average 52 people. The average number of employees among subsidiaries was highest in the Dominican Republic, reaching about 3.82 thousand people. In the United States, there were about 1.3 thousand people working for the Swedish tobacco products manufacturer.

Swedish Match is a manufacturer of snus and moist snuff, cigars and chewing tobacco products, as well as lighters and matches.

The number of high and ultra-high net worth individuals (HNWI and UHNWI) in Sweden increased steadily since 2016. While there were 288,000 individuals with a fortune of over one million U.S. dollars in the Scandinavian country in 2016, this had increased to over 573,000 in 2021. This was expected to reach over 980,000 by 2026. Of the Swedish millionaires in 2021, roughly 6,400 had a fortune of more than 30 million U.S. dollars.

In 2023, over 41,300 Volvo cars were sold in Sweden. This was a decrease of some 10 percent year-over-year, and the sixth time since 2012 that the company did not experience a rise in sales. Nevertheless, Volvo was actually the leading passenger car brand in Sweden that year, surpassing Volkswagen by more than 8,500 sold passenger cars.

A national and global success

In Latin, Volvo means “I am rolling” - a word which perfectly describes the success of the company. Since the foundation of Volvo in Gothenburg in 1927, the company has continuously expanded its production to a range of different countries and continents, including Europe, China and the US. As of August 2023, Volvo AB and Volvo Car AB accounted for the highest turnovers of companies in Sweden, amounting to nearly 654.3 million Swedish kronor altogether. Furthermore, Volvo is the fourth biggest employer in Sweden, employing roughly 84,000 people.

Conquering China

As a consequence of the automotive industrial crisis from 2008 to 2019, Volvo Cars was sold to the Chinese Holding Group, Geely, in 2009. This was the first time in history that a Western car manufacture was owned by a Chinese company. So which changes might this takeover have for Volvo? While the revenue of Volvo passenger cars amounted to one billion U.S. dollars in China in 2014, sales are expected to stabilize at four billion U.S. dollars as of 2024. That is an impressive increase, since Volvo cars tend to cost more than an average car in China.

Ranked as the largest employer among the Stockholm-based companies as of January 2024 was the security company Securitas AB, the employer of nearly 287,000 people. H&M and the information and communication technology company Ericsson had the second and third largest number of employees in Stockholm, amounting to nearly 107,000 and 102,000 employees respectively.

The three largest employers in Sweden The three companies did not only rank as the three largest employers based in Stockholm, but also formed the top three largest employers among all companies based in Sweden.

Employees in Europe, North and Latin America

Securitas AB is the largest employer based in Sweden, but employees of the company are spread around the world, both in Europe, North America, and Latin America. The largest region of employees of the company was within security services in Europe, where around 120,000 individuals were employed.

As recorded by the source, Moroccans ranked as the foreign nationality with more residents in Spain in 2023, closely followed by Romanians. After years of losing its foreign population, Spain’s immigration figures started to pick up in 2015, with the number of people that moved to the Mediterranean country surpassing the number of foreigners that decided to leave.

A matter of balance The net migration rate of Spain changed its course mainly due to the great inflow of foreigners that move to reside in the Mediterranean country. Spain’s immigration flow slowed down after the 2008 financial crisis, albeit the number of foreigners that opted to change their residence saw a significant growth in the last years. In 2022, Colombians ranked first as the foreign nationality that most relocated to Spain, distantly followed by Moroccans and Ukranians.

Spain does not have the highest number of immigrants in Europe In recent years, the European Union confronted a rising number of refugees arriving from the Middle East. Migration figures show that Germany accommodated approximately 15 million foreign-born citizens, ranking it as the country that most hosted immigrants in Europe in 2022. By comparison, Spain’s foreign population stood slightly over seven million, positioning the Western Mediterranean country third on the European list of foreign-born population. Unfortunately, thousands of persons have died ore gone missing trying to reach Spanish territory, as more and more irregular migrants opt to use dangerous maritime routes to arrive at Southern Europe from Africa's coasts.

In 2022, the number of shootings in Sweden reached 391, the highest observed in the period between 2017 and 2023. In 2023, the number fell slightly. Moreover, 53 of the 363 shootings that year were fatal, nine fewer than the previous year.

Rising gang-related violence

Sweden has experienced a rising number of shooting episodes related to the country's criminal gangs in recent years. The violence has usually been concentrated to the larger cities Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö, but recently also smaller towns have experienced episodes of shooting and even bombings. Indeed, There has been a steady increase in homicides through shootings over the past decade.

Violent crime in Sweden

Overall, Sweden's total number of homicides increased from 2012 to 2014, but remained relatively stable since, reaching 116 in 2022. The country's crime rate reached 13,800 per 100,000 inhabitants that year.

In 2022, the most common destination for people emigrating from Norway was the neighbor Sweden. Nearly 3,000 people emigrated from Norway to Sweden that year. The second most common destination country was Denmark, followed by Poland. Moreover, the destination of over 14,000 of the people who emigrated was unknown. After having fallen below 27,000, the number of emigrants from Norway reached over 32,000 in 2022.

The international tourism expenditure per capita in Sweden was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 4,017.9 U.S. dollars (+11.47 percent). After the eighth consecutive increasing year, the expenditure is estimated to reach 39,058 U.S. dollars and therefore a new peak in 2029. Covered are expenditures of international outbound visitors to other countries from the selected region, including payments to foreign carriers for international transport. Domestic tourism expenditures are not included. The forecast has been adjusted for the expected impact of COVID-19.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in more than 150 countries and regions worldwide. All input data are sourced from international institutions, national statistical offices, and trade associations. All data has been are processed to generate comparable datasets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).Find more key insights for the international tourism expenditure per capita in countries like Denmark and Finland.

The international tourism receipts in Sweden were forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 40.7 billion U.S. dollars (+16.92 percent). After the eighth consecutive increasing year, the tourism receipts is estimated to reach 281.3 billion U.S. dollars and therefore a new peak in 2029. Receipts denote expenditures by inbound tourists from other countries. Domestic tourism expenditures are not included. The forecast has been adjusted for the expected impact of COVID-19. The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in more than 150 countries and regions worldwide. All input data are sourced from international institutions, national statistical offices, and trade associations. All data has been are processed to generate comparable datasets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).Find more key insights for the international tourism receipts in countries like Denmark and Norway.

In 2023, the Swedish company Fenix Outdoor had the highest number of full-time employees in Germany, amounting to 1,097 people. In Sweden, the number of employed people of the group reached 582 employees. As of 2023, the group employed 2,972 people globally. Fenix Outdoor International AG is selling low-weight outdoor products globally. The group's major markets are Germany, the Nordic countries and North America. The company sells Fjällräven and Tierra brand products, Primus camp stoves and lanterns and operates additionally the retail chains Naturkompaniet and Skandinavisk Hoyfjellsutstyr.