‘Every Soul is Needed!' Processes of Immigration and Demographic Consequences for Swedish Rural Areas

In this paper, I outline processes of international migration to the Swedish countryside by investigating the demographic effects and the interregional mobility of international migrants in rural Sweden from a labour market perspective. The study is based on longitudinal register-data, and combines data on immigration to Sweden with unique micro-level geographical data. The results show that the annual increase of international migration is higher in rural and small-scale localities than in larger localities. The demographic effects of international migration are positive in rural and small-scale localities compared to those in larger localities. The total dependency ratio is relatively low. Accordingly, immigration is contributing to a positive population structure in the countryside. Moreover, international migrants have a higher employment rate in rural and small-scale localities than in larger localities, also when aspects such as country of birth are controlled for. The analysis also indicates that rural and small-scale localities are characterised by considerably higher interregional mobility of international migrants than are larger localities. Mobility is higher among newly-arrived migrants, migrants outside the labour market and self-settled and authority-settled refugees. Accordingly, international migration to the countryside is characterised by relatively high diversity and mobility. The increasing volume, the positive demographic effects and the favourable employment structure, at least in relative terms, point to an increasing importance of international migration for the Swedish countryside.