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For the first time in more than half a century, immigration has outstripped emigration, meaning more people are leaving the country than arriving, according to Statistics Sweden, which was reported in local media.
Maria Malmer Stenergaard, Sweden’s immigration minister, said the country’s current migration shift was part of a wider trend of fewer asylum seekers and fewer residence permits issued.
“Asylum applications are approaching historic lows, asylum-related residence permits continue to decline and Sweden is experiencing net migration for the first time in 50 years,” she told a news conference on Thursday.
Preliminary statistics from Statistics Sweden, the government agency responsible for handling official statistics, show that the country’s net migration rate was negative in the year to and including May this year.
In addition, Sweden had registered just 5,600 asylum applications by the end of July, a 27% decrease from the same period last year.
Since the 1990s, Sweden has received a large number of immigrants, most of whom came from conflict countries such as the former Yugoslavia, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iran and Iraq.
The government of Conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has vowed to tackle immigration and crime when it comes to power in 2022. Among other things, it has launched a review of social benefits for immigrants of non-European descent.
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