Swedish Women Having Fewer Children, Migrant Birthrates Significantly Higher

For a country to maintain its current population, a replacement rate of 2.2 children per woman is needed. In Sweden, the number of children per woman is 1.78.

However, 2016 saw Sweden have the second highest population growth of any EU country as a result of mass migration.

There is also a considerable difference in birth rates between native Swedes and migrants. For the indigenous Swedish population, the birth rate is just under 1.78, whereas for foreign-born women that number is over 2.

Johan Tollebrant of Swedish statistics agency SCB puts this partly down to the fact that many foreign-born women move to Sweden to start a family.

The number of births per women has fluctuated since peaking at 2.1, and there have been claims that this fluctuates in line with the health of the economy.

In times of economic prosperity, it has been hypothesised that women are more likely to decide to start a family, and vice versa, but this has been challenged as the current birth rates do not reflect the strong healthy economy that Sweden is currently benefiting from.

In fact, birth rates have been falling among native Europeans across the continent for decades.

According to a study from June 2018 by the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) and the Vienna Wittgenstein Center, out of all Western European countries, only France and Ireland had naturally increasing populations as a result of birthrates from 1990 to 2017.

In every other country, populations are propped up with growth as a direct consequence of mass migration.

At current rates, migrants and foreign-born populations are moving rapidly away from being minorities in their new communities.

Students of Swedish school