Sweden - Demographics

Demographics

As of 30 June 2012 (2012 -06-30), the total population of Sweden was estimated to be 9,514,406. The population exceeded 9 million for the first time on approximately 12 August 2004 according to Statistics Sweden. The population density is 20.6 people per km² (53.3 per square mile) and it is substantially higher in the south than in the north. About 85% of the population live in urban areas. The capital city Stockholm has a population of about 800,000 (with 1.3 million in the urban area and 2 million in the metropolitan area). The second and third largest cities are Gothenburg and Malmö.

Between 1820 and 1930, approximately 1.3 million Swedes, a third of the country's population, emigrated to North America, and most of them to the United States. There are more than 4.4 million Swedish Americans according to a 2006 U.S. Census Bureau estimate. In Canada, the community of Swedish ancestry is 330,000 strong.

There are no official statistics on ethnicity, but as of 2011, a Statistics Sweden report showed that around 1.858.000 (19.6%) inhabitants of Sweden had foreign background, defined as born abroad or born in Sweden by two parents born abroad.