Sweden's Rapid Demographic Shift Causes Challenges

Sweden has long been the leading destination for immigrants in northern Europe. Consequently, its population diversity has changed rapidly.

As a result of all this, Sweden experiences an exceptionally high number of rapes relative to its population by European standards. Additionally, the country has several violent criminal gangs that practically control the drug trade and even entire neighborhoods.

Due to immigration, about 8.1 percent of Sweden's population was Muslim in 2017. And today, there are significantly more of them.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the largest mosque in northern Europe is being built in Stockholm. It is backed by the Turkish-origin Milli Görüş movement, which is known for its negative attitude towards Jews, women, and sexual minorities. These are values important to Sweden's "people's home."

Hence, a societal debate is emerging in Sweden about the status of Muslims in the country. The government has been reminded, for example, that "the authorities task is to integrate Muslims into society, not to create even wider rifts between the Muslim population and other residents of Sweden."

It remains to be seen how the Swedish society will withstand the rapid change in population diversity. Will it still be able to maintain some characteristics of the safe "people's home" for everyone, or will the country increasingly exhibit characteristics typical of developing countries in the future?

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Immigration issue
An immigrant who stands out from the average has been taken into custody
Even a brutal murder didn't stir the Swedes