ABSTRACT
Sweden was historically, and remains, a high-migration country. The chapter considers its experience using the census and population register data that are available for the analysis of migration over long historical periods, assessing their strengths and weaknesses. It then outlines levels of inter-parish moves from 1900 to 2015 as well as moves over shorter distances from the 1970s. The former oscillate around a stable level although with minor peaks in the 1930s, immediately after WWII, and to a lesser extent around 1970, possibly related to economic conditions and labour demand. After a trough in the 1980s, migration rates have since increased. An analysis of change in migration rates between the early 1990s and early 2000s using register data suggests that ageing has depressed all address-changing rates and has not been fully counteracted by changes in population composition by marital status and education levels that have moved people into more mobile groups. At the same time, people in each demographic sub-group tended to become more migratory. For longer-distance moves, increased education has had a positive effect on migration rate but again group-specific rates have also increased. It is suggested that this is a result of the expansion of higher education, the centralisation of services and jobs in the ‘new economy’ and the welfare regime that reduces the risks in moving.
