.png)
.jpg)
Increased immigration and rising youth unemployment, a natural byproduct of the European crisis, have led to rioting in several of Europe's most developed countries: in France in 2005, in the United Kingdom in 2011 and, on a smaller scale, in Belgium and Germany in 2012. It now appears that Sweden, a country that rarely sees violent ethnic strife, has likewise fallen victim to the social ramifications of the economic crisis. Riots that began three days ago continued into the night of May 21 as hundreds of immigrant youths set fire to cars and attacked police throughout the suburbs of Stockholm. The riots show that as the crisis drags on, it will continue to create friction between native and immigrant populations.
Sweden has a long history of immigration. After World War II, Stockholm actively sought immigrants to fuel its economic recovery. This led to a closer collaboration with other Nordic countries, resulting in the creation of the Nordic Council in 1952. The council originally consisted of Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Norway, but it later added Finland in 1955. This agreement created a common labor market that allowed the free movement of workers across borders. In the late 1950s, Sweden also became a haven for political refugees.
Sweden's immigration profile began to change in the early 1970s, when the country saw an increase in refugees from the Middle East, Africa and the former Yugoslavia, particularly during the Balkan wars of the 1990s. As a result, contemporary migration in Sweden consists of labor migration, family reunification, students and refugees. The government estimates that roughly 15 percent of the country's 9.5 million inhabitants were born abroad. In 2012, Sweden received 43,900 asylum seekers, a nearly 50 percent increase from 2011 (and its second-highest number of asylum seekers ever recorded). Nearly half came from Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia.
Naturally, this has affected Sweden's demographic profile. Fertility rates in Sweden are now higher than most countries in Western Europe (in 2012, the country's fertility rate was 1.9 children per woman, compared to Germany's and Italy's rate of 1.4 children per woman). Immigration partly explains high fertility rates -- in Western Europe, immigrant families tend to have higher fertility rates than their native counterparts. While this trend is militating against a shrinking and aging population, it is also transforming a previously homogeneous nation into a heterogeneous one.
Some Swedes have reacted unfavorably to these demographic changes, particularly since the beginning of the European crisis. Stockholm recently criticized the European Union's visa liberalization agreements with countries in the Western Balkans. Moreover, electoral support has grown for the nationalist Sweden Democrats party, which believes that the government has let in too many immigrants, diluting national identity and threatening societal cohesion. This party opposes Muslim immigration particularly, and protests by anti-Islamic organizations have become somewhat frequent in the country. In this context, Muslim minorities also stage frequent protests in Sweden.
The Sweden Democrats party received 2.9 percent of the popular vote in parliamentary elections in 2006 -- more the twice the amount of votes it received in 2002. In 2010, the party received 5.7 percent of the popular vote, which was enough to earn it seats in Parliament for the first time. These figures correspond with similar trends in Denmark, Finland and Norway.
Increased unemployment has accompanied increased immigration. According to Eurostat, unemployment in Sweden reached 8.2 percent in the first quarter of 2013 -- up from 7.8 percent in the same quarter of 2012. This puts Sweden's unemployment below the EU average of 10.9 percent. But as with many European countries, youth unemployment is higher: 24.4 percent last quarter, up from from 22.8 percent the previous year. In fact, youth unemployment in Sweden is higher than the EU average of 23.5 percent.
Aggravated Differences
In Sweden, the economic crisis seems to have aggravated the differences between foreigners and nationals. A recent study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development put immigrant unemployment at 16 percent (the unemployment rate for native Swedes is 6 percent). The situation is particularly difficult for young immigrants. According to a report by Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, 35 percent of immigrants between 19 and 24 were unemployed in 2011, up from 22 percent in 2005. In June 2010, immigrant youths clashed with police in Rinkeby, one of Stockholm's many districts with significant immigrant populations. In some Stockholm suburbs, such as Husky, where the current riots began, as many as eight out of 10 residents are immigrants -- and unemployment rates are higher there than the national average. This is explained by a combination of factors, which range from lower education levels among foreign populations to discrimination by employers.
Rising unemployment and social differences between local and immigrant populations are likely to remain key fixtures of the European crisis. Consequently, the European Union's more developed countries will be prone to social unrest, increased popularity of nationalistic parties and a widening gap between nationals and foreigners and foreign-born nationals.
Courtesy : Stratfor (www.stratfor.com)