Five things you didn’t know about Sweden’s diversity

1:Swedes are the largest immigrant group.

Returning Swedes that is. While it’s easy to assume foreigners mostly from the Middle East, Balkans, and East Africa make up a majority of those migrating to Sweden, according to the government, roughly 16,000 Swedes returning home were the single largest immigrant group in 2011; accounting for about 16%-17% of total immigration.

2:Arabic isn’t an official language, Yiddish is.

Within public debates, it seems Arabic is slowly making its way towards becoming Sweden’s de-facto second language. And on the surface, this continually propagates the myth that Sweden is slowly becoming a Muslim country. However, according to the Language Council (Språkrådet), there are over 200 languages spoken in Sweden. Swedish itself wasn’t even made the official “main” language until 2009, and English hasn’t been recognized as a second language yet even though everyone speaks it.

3:A lot less women in power than generally believed

Sweden remains a bastion of feminism and equal opportunity between the sexes, however there are still a lot less women in leadership positions in Sweden than the world perceives. Of all bosses in Sweden, only one third (30% or so) are women according to Statistics Sweden; with only 5% female bosses represented in the construction industry.

4:On paper, Sweden is more socially inclusive than the United States.

Sweden’s lack of minorities in major positions of power is quite glaring, but according to the “Global Diversity and Inclusion: Perceptions, Practices and Attitudes” paper published by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Sweden is in the top seven of the world’s most socially inclusive countries whereas the United States came in 25th. I personally find this hard to believe. Point me towards Sweden’s equivalent of Oprah Winfrey and I’ll think twice about this particular statistic.

5.It is illegal to track ethnicity and religion.

It is illegal to track ethnicity and religion.

In 1973, Sweden banned the official tracking of ethnic and religious statistical data within its governmental agencies because it is considered “sensitive data” which could potentially be used for future discrimination and sidelining of minorities. The only data you can officially collect on surveys and forms are country of birth and citizenship. 

statistic by thelokal