NIER's published estimate – foreign-born, 2022
+6 bn SEK
+0,1 % of GDP
- Per person
- +SEK 2,700
- Population
- ~2,189,000
Facts and statistics about Sweden from official sources
Sourced. Neutral. Open data.
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Search topics, municipalities and statistics — or type a question.
Municipalities
Search for your municipality
Population, foreign background, schooling, crime, economy and elections — for each of Sweden's 290 municipalities. See all municipalities
Current events in Sweden's municipalitiesLive
See all events →Important events
Public safety, emergencies and major incidents.
- Mord/dråp, försök, KumlaKumla· 20 September 2026 09:36· Polismyndigheten
- Misshandel, PiteåPiteå· 20 September 2026 12:30· Polismyndigheten
- Här är skjutningen som gripne mannen misstänks ligga bakom· 19 September 2026 05:30· SVT Nyheter lokalt
- Övrigt, Västra Götalands län i VaraVara· 20 September 2026 14:45· Polismyndigheten
Traffic
A smaller feed of current disruptions.
Start here
Four ways into the data
New here? Pick an entry point. Everything is sourced and downloadable.
Five things you should know
About Sweden — brief and sourced
Five key facts about Sweden, based on official statistics from government agencies and research institutes.
- See the full analysis
One in five people in Sweden was born abroad. More than one in four has a foreign background.
In 1990 the figures were 9.2 % and about 13 %.
Source: Statistics Sweden, 2024
20.5 %Foreign-born27.5 %Foreign background20022024Foreign-born and foreign background, share of the population 2002–2024 - See the full analysis
The net fiscal cost of immigration is contested
Ruist (ESO 2018): ≈ SEK 74 bn/year lifetime. NIER (2025): about SEK 22 bn/year for the refugee group in cross-section. We show both.
Source: Ruist ESO 2018:3 · NIER 2025
- Ruist (ESO 2018)74 bn/year
- NIER (2025)22 bn/year
Two estimates of the same question — different methods - See the full analysis
Bombings: peak in 2023, sharp drop in 2026
189 completed bombings in 2025 (Police). Brå: 621 reports incl. attempts. H1 2026: sharp decline.
Source: The Police · Brå, 2025
2018: 1622025: 189Completed bombings per year (Police) - See the full analysis
PISA reading back to 2000 level
Swedish 15-year-olds read worse in 2022 than in 2000 (516). OECD average is 476.
Source: OECD PISA, 2022
2000: 5162022: 487OECD average 476
PISA reading score 2000–2022 - See the full analysis
Interpersonal trust has fallen in vulnerable groups
Share with high interpersonal trust: 57 % (2025). Largest decline in socially vulnerable groups.
Source: The SOM Institute, 2025
Share with high trust in other people (2025)
Public finances
Sweden's national debt
1,249.6billion kronor
−15 bn SEK vs previous month20 observations
- Exact amount
- 1,249,558,872,203 kr
- Latest observation
- 31 August 2026
Source: the Swedish National Debt Office, measure C (the central government's unconsolidated gross debt).
Monthly observations
Jan 2025 – Aug 2026
The national debt is the central government's own gross debt and is measured in a completely different way from the other cost figures on the site. The page shows its development, share of GDP, composition and what the debt costs.
Explore Sweden
Two interactive tools — the same data, different angles
GeographyThe map of SwedenMunicipality by municipality, 1964–2026. Demographics, economy and safety on a map — with playback over time.Open the mapDemographicsThe population pyramidEvery single year of age, both sexes, 2000–2120. Exact Statistics Sweden data up to 2025 and Statistics Sweden's official projection thereafter.Open the pyramid
What backs it up
What the database contains
Every figure on the site comes from a public source and can be traced back to it.
Scope of the database
About Sverigefakta- 290
- municipalities
- 5,800
- municipal pages
- 2,276
- data packages
- 3,068
- source links
- Official statistics
- Every figure links to its primary source.
- Open methodology
- No opinions. Just data.
- 380
- fact pages
- Public, indexable pages in Swedish and English. Internal pages, API routes and noindex pages are excluded.
- 52
- public agencies
- Unique domains classified as government or research among the source links.
- 73
- interactive charts
- Chart components rendered from open data series in the repository.
- 100 %
- open sources
- Every figure can be traced to a publicly available source.
Data is updated continuously from official Swedish and international sources.
The cost clock
Immigration's public finances — what the numbers actually show
The clock is not a real-time measurement. It takes the annual figure of −22 billion SEK from Sweden's National Institute of Economic Research (NIER) and spreads it across the seconds of the year — so a big abstract total becomes tangible. The methodology link sits below the number.
Since you scrolled here · illustration
original prices · NIER 2025 · SALAR 2022 · Brå 2021:9
What does immigration cost?
Default: NIER's net figure for the refugee group (−SEK 22bn/year). The other boxes are add-ons — they may overlap each other and the NIER net, toggle them on/off to compare.
Loading calculation …
≈ 000 000 refugee-years at 74,000 SEK (Ruist 2018, original prices)
Primary source · Joakim Ruist · ESO 2018:3Lifetime perspective, 2018 estimate
Immigration's public finances — what the numbers actually show
Ruist's ESO 2018:3 gives the direct fiscal figure per refugee: about −74,000 SEK/year (2015 prices) measured across a whole lifetime. What falls outside is examined separately: municipal imbalance, the costs of crime and long-term consequences.
What one refugee costs the public sector net per year — lifetime average
−74 000 krper year, over a lifetime (2015 prices)
Average net cost to the public sector (taxes in minus benefits and services out) per refugee per Joakim Ruist, ESO 2018:3. Calculated across the full life cycle — from arrival to retirement. The range depends on integration potential and country of origin.
Range per Ruist 2018
2015 prices
−53 000 kr
High integration potential
−74 000 kr
Average
−94 000 kr
Low integration potential
2015 · cross-section
−41.5 bn SEK
total for about 690,000 people in the refugee group (−SEK 60,000 per person, 2015 prices).
More recent data (NIER 2025)
−41.5 bn SEK−22 bn SEK
NIER Special Study 117: the refugee group's annual contribution in 2015 compared with 2022. Still negative — but less negative than in 2015. See history →
Breakdown · what is included in −SEK 74,000
Where does the money go?
The sunburst breaks down the public net cost per refugee — taxes in versus benefits, healthcare, schooling and services out.
Supplement · NIER 2025 · 2022 cross-section
What does each group contribute net to public finances?
NIER's Special Study 117 (June 2025) reports the 2022 net contributions. 2022 was a historically favourable year.
Refugee group
−22 bn SEK
−0,4 % of GDP
- Per person
- −SEK 27,500
- Population
- ~789,000
Other foreign-born
+28 bn SEK
+0,5 % of GDP
- Per person
- +SEK 19,800
- Population
- ~1,400,000
Native-born
−6 bn SEK
−0,1 % of GDP
- Per person
- −SEK 700
Published NIER estimate
+SEK 6bn (+0.1% of GDP) is NIER's modelled, static cross-sectional estimate for 2022 within the study's boundaries — not a complete booked profit from immigration.
Method status: The method is currently under review. NIER has announced a correction to the method description but has not published a replacement total.
Method note: the total in SEK bn and the “per person” figure rest on partly different cuts of NIER's model. the method note on Employment decides →
Context: The following historical metrics remain NIER's published series and are not changed by the alternative point: −16.1 bn SEK/year. Cumulative 1983–2022: +3 bn SEK. See history → By residence permit → Total cost →
Review · beyond the official numbers
Four things the headline number misses
Ruist and NIER measure only direct money in and out of the public purse. Here are four items that usually fall outside the headline figure.
How to read the +SEK 6bn figure
- It is NIER's static cross-sectional estimate for calendar year 2022.
- The population is foreign-born people under the study's definition.
- Fiscal effects of Swedish-born children of foreign-born parents are not counted as migration-related; the children are classified as Swedish-born.
- Costs and revenues before population registration, for example during the asylum process, are excluded.
- Several public expenditures are allocated using assumptions and standardised rules.
- The result should therefore not be described as a complete booked profit from immigration.
Municipal level
How costs are split between central and local government
The state's standard grant lasts two years. After that the municipality carries income support, Swedish tuition, social services and schools on its own.
Read the review →
Crime
Costs that are not counted
Brå 2021:9: foreign-born people are suspected of crime ~2.5 times as often, adjusted for age and sex. The cost of police and courts is not broken down by group.
Read the review →
Long-term
Structural consequences
Demography, segregation, school results, dependency burden and trust — effects that build over 20–30 years and are invisible year by year.
Read the review →
Second generation
What the headline number misses
Children born in Sweden to two foreign-born parents count as Swedish-born in NIER's statistics — and drop out of the calculation. Brå: suspected ~3.2 times as often.
Read the review →
Local review
Here's what it looks like in your municipality
Search Sweden's 290 municipalities for an estimate of what immigration costs the public sector (taxes in minus benefits and services out) — based on NIER Special Study 117 (2025) and recomputed to fit each municipality's own population.
Inquiry · 1985 → 2025
What happened to Sweden?
Six key measures from the 1990s compared with today — plus six deep dives behind the numbers.
Fatal shootings per year
approx. 8 (1996)44 (2024)
Source: Brå
Share foreign-born
9% (1990)20.5% (2024)
Source: Statistics Sweden
Share with foreign background
13% (1990)27% (2024)
Source: Statistics Sweden
Police: vulnerable areas
0 (the concept did not exist)65 (2025) — varav 19 särskilt utsatta, 46 övriga
Source: Polisen, Lägesbild över utsatta områden 2025 (metodbyte: kategorin riskområde borttagen, vissa områden geografiskt uppdelade)
PISA reading
516 (2000)487 (2022)
Source: OECD / National Agency for Education
Women feeling unsafe (late evening in their neighbourhood)
≈ 13% (2006)30% (2024)
Source: Brå NTU
Note 2024: shootings fell from 391 (2022) to 296 (2024) and fatal shootings from 63 to 44 — a clear decline, but still far above the pre-2015 level. Source: the Swedish Police / Brå.
Historical comparisonSweden then and now (1990 → 2025)44fatal shootings in 2024 — down from 63 in 2022 (Brå/Police)Läs granskningenWomen's safetyHonour culture and women's rights≈ 240 000young people live under honour norms (researcher estimate, Astrid Schlytter / City of Stockholm)Läs granskningenAn unsafe everyday lifeGang violence's impact on society189completed bombings in 2025 (Police). Brå: 621 reports incl. attemptsLäs granskningenThe populationDemographic and cultural changeca 27 %of Sweden's population has a foreign background (SCB 2024)Läs granskningenThe social contractSocial trust and the social contractsjunkerinterpersonal trust is falling faster among socially disadvantaged groups (Holmberg & Rothstein, SOM 2022)Läs granskningenBusinessBusiness and skills flight1 av 4of business owners have considered relocating due to insecurity (member survey, Confederation of Swedish Enterprise — trade body)Läs granskningen
Explore the full inquiry →The full table: Sweden then and now →
Sources: Brå · Police · Statistics Sweden · OECD/National Agency for Education · SOM Institute · Research · Trade-body surveys (Confederation of Swedish Enterprise)
Ahead of the 2026 election
How the parties actually voted in parliament
Parliamentary votes, the migration index and the Tidö tracker — pledges compared with actual action.
Investigations & accountability
Follow the money, follow the responsibility
Four in-house investigations — from Code 291 and private providers to agency criticism and welfare fraud.
Code 291
The 291 police — what has happened since 2015?
The police event coding around asylum housing in autumn 2015 — and what has happened since.
Read the review →
Follow the money
The winners of the reception system
The private providers that earned the most from asylum and integration services — company by company.
See the list →
National Audit Office · JO · KU
Reviews & criticism of public agencies
Collected criticism from independent oversight bodies, sorted by the agency responsible.
Open the register →
Welfare crime 2024
Latest situation — ISF, NOA, FOI
Incorrect payments, systematic fraud and organised crime against the welfare system.
Read the situation report →
Common claims
Click the asterisk for the numbers behind it.
Claims repeated so often they're rarely examined. We take them one at a time — with public statistics.
Safety
- FalseSweden is safe
Healthcare
- FalseHealthcare is available on time
Schools
- Partly trueWe have a good school system
Economy
- Partly trueThe economy is strong
Integration
- FalseIntegration is working
Police 2025: 65 vulnerable areas · 19 particularly vulnerable
65–80% foreign background — vs. 27% nationally
Average share of residents with a foreign background in the areas listed by the Police, compared with the national average. Unweighted mean — each area counts equally regardless of population. The area data below covers all 59 areas in the Police's historical 2023 situation report.
Source: The Swedish Police situation report · Statistics Sweden DeSO data · 59 areas
See the map and the situation report →Historical map data · Police 2023 (all 59 areas)
- Vulnerable areas (59)73.7 %Range: 53.1–90.1 %
- National average27.0 %
Frequently asked questions
What's included — and what isn't?
The most common objections answered neutrally and with sources. All questions live on the FAQ page.
How are the sources chosen?
Primarily official statistics: Statistics Sweden, Brå, NIER, ESO, the Police, the OECD and the National Audit Office. Academic sources and industry surveys are flagged in context.
Why a business-cycle span and not single years?
Single peak years (2022) or trough years exaggerate. We show 2015–2022 to capture both booms and downturns.
Are the costs of crime included in the economic figures?
No. Ruist/ESO and NIER measure only direct money in and out of the public purse — not insecurity, sick leave or reduced trust.
What do you do when the research disagrees?
We show both sides and link the primary source. We do not take a position for the reader.
Transparency & method
How we handle sources and uncertainty
Primary sources first, ranges instead of single years, explicit limitations — and every correction logged openly with a date.
Method
Method and principles
How sources are chosen, how uncertainty is handled and what the calculations do not cover.
Read the methodology
Transparency
Source in original →
Every primary source — Brå, NIER, Statistics Sweden, the OECD, the Police — linked straight to the original report.
Open the source list
Data status
How fresh is the data?
A public status overview of datasets, updates and known deviations.
See data status
Changelog
What has changed? →
Every correction, new figure and method adjustment is logged openly with date.
Open the log
Frequently asked questions
What's included — and what isn't?
The most common objections answered with sources.
All questions & answers →
NOT included: Crime costs, municipal imbalance, second generation, dynamic wage and employment effects, housing segregation and growth effects. The direction of these effects is uncertain — see method box.