ABSTRACT
Sweden is a relatively large country with a small population (some 450,000 square kilometres and some 9 million people; cf. United Kingdom: some 245,000 square kilometres, some 57 million people). The population is concentrated in the southern parts of the country, where the three largest cities are situated, including the capital, Stockholm. This concentration is traditional, but it increased during the first decades after the Second World War. At the same time, central authorities increased their power considerably, partly as a consequence of systematic efforts by the Social Democrat governments of those decades. In spite of strong efforts at decentralization during the 1970s and 1980s, and a process of deregulation in the early 1990s, there is no denying that compared to many other countries Sweden is still highly centralized in many respects. (For some basic information about Sweden, see, for instance, Hadenius 1990; Hadenius and Lindgren 1992.)
At the time of writing (1992/93), Sweden -just like most other European countries - finds itself in a period of dramatic economic crisis, with high unemployment figures, soaring state budget deficit, etc. From a bird's-eye view (as reflected in the Statistical Abstracts of Sweden), however, the development of Swedish society during the postwar period (1945-1990) has been characterized by the following trends:
• A relatively slow but steady growth of population (from seven to nine million people).
