ABSTRACT
A lack of visibility of Indigenous peoples in official statistics obscures group identity and conditions. In Sweden, the lack of comprehensive and comparable longitudinal data on the Sámi people renders the conditions and experiences of the Sámi invisible and makes it challenging to direct policies towards this community or to understand conditions of daily life, well-being and change over time. Sweden, by law, has specific obligations to the Sámi people in terms of the protection of their language and culture, to ensure that they are not discriminated against and to protect land use rights. Where the limited data does exist to serve this role, it is often fragmented in such a way as to not be useful to inform policies. This lack of data has widespread repercussions for Sámi culture, identity and business development and the visibility of the Sámi peoples in Swedish society. This chapter discusses current issues and challenges with regard to the governance and collection of data for, with and by the Sámi in Sweden and identifies options to improve Sámi statistics and data governance.
