Investigation · 1985 → 2025
What happened
to Sweden?
In a couple of decades Sweden has gone from being one of the world's safest and most cohesive countries to topping European league tables for fatal firearm violence, bombings and segregation. This investigation places the numbers side by side — without flinching from what they show.
Sweden 1990 vs Sweden 2024
What the official figures show
Eight measures where the change is so large that it is hard to explain away by business cycle or measurement method. All figures are published by authorities or established research institutes.
| Mått | Then (1990s) | Now (2020s) |
|---|---|---|
| Fatal shootings per year(Brå) | approx. 10 (1996) | 53 (2023) |
| Reported bombings(Police) | < 30/year (1990s) | 363 (2024) |
| Share foreign-born(SCB) | 9 % (1990) | 20.5 % (2024) |
| Share with foreign background(SCB) | 13 % (1990) | 27 % (2024) |
| Police 'vulnerable areas'(Police) | 0 (term did not exist) | 59 (2023) |
| PISA reading literacy(OECD/Skolverket) | 516 (2000) | 487 (2022) |
| Interpersonal trust (high)(SOM Institute) | approx. 62 % (1996) | approx. 55 % (2023) |
| Women feeling unsafe out late(Brå NTU) | 27 % (2007) | 34 % (2023) |
Sources: Brå, Swedish Police, SCB, OECD/Skolverket, SOM Institute.
Sweden in Europe
How does Sweden compare to the EU average?
Five measures where Sweden deviates clearly — up or down — from the rest of Western Europe. Sources: EUDA, Eurostat, OECD PISA, World Values Survey.
Fatal shootings /100k young men
4.5
EU avg.: 0.6
EUDA 2024
PISA reading 2000→2022
−29 p
EU avg.: −13 p
OECD
Share foreign-born 2024
20.5 %
EU avg.: 9.1 %
Eurostat
Interpersonal trust (high)
55 %
EU avg.: 33 %
WVS/SOM
Bombings /year 2024
363
EU avg.: <20*
Police, EU avg.
*The EU average for bombings is uncertain; several member states do not report separate statistics. Sweden is unique in topping both shootings and bombings in the EU in 2024.
Timeline
Forty years in points
1985
Sweden receives 14,500 asylum seekers. Crime and trust at post-war peaks.
1992
Financial crisis and the 'Lucia decisions'. Diversity enters political debate.
2002
The murder of Fadime Şahindal — honour violence becomes a national debate for the first time.
2008
The term 'exclusion areas' enters the government's political vocabulary.
2015
163,000 asylum seekers in one year. The single largest refugee wave in Swedish history.
2017
Police publish a list of 61 vulnerable areas for the first time.
2020
Record year for fatal shootings — 47 dead in firearm violence.
2022
Honour oppression becomes a separate crime in the criminal code (chap 4 § 4 e).
2024
363 bombings — new record. Sweden tops the EU list for fatal firearm violence among young men.
Six sub-topics
The broader picture — and what it means
Historical comparison
Sweden then vs Sweden now
Crime, school results, trust and safety across four decades — in comparable measures.
≈ 4×
more fatal shootings than 25 years ago (Brå)
Read the investigation →
Women's safety
Honour culture and women's rights
Honour-related violence, control and gender segregation — what Swedish research shows.
≈ 240,000
young people live under honour norms (Schlytter / City of Stockholm)
Read the investigation →
Insecure everyday life
Gang violence and its impact on society
Shootings, bombings and businesses opting out of Sweden or certain districts.
363
bombings in 2024 — record high (Swedish Police)
Read the investigation →
Population
Demographic and cultural change
How fast Sweden's population composition has changed — in two generations.
ca 27 %
of Sweden's population has a foreign background (SCB 2024)
Read the investigation →
The social contract
Social trust and the social contract
Trust trends from the SOM Institute, segregation and parallel societies.
−10 pp
drop in interpersonal trust in vulnerable areas (SOM)
Read the investigation →
Business climate
Businesses and talent flight
Recruitment problems, missed investments and how insecurity is reshaping the business climate.
1 in 4
entrepreneurs have considered relocating due to insecurity (Confederation of Swedish Enterprise)
Read the investigation →
⭐ The ultimate overview
Sweden then and now — 1990 vs 2025
Ten metrics. Thirty-five years. One page compressing the whole change.
Read more
Twenty deep-dives — sorted into three themes.
Crime & insecurity
Bombings →
From zero to Europe's top
BRÅ: 317 bombings in 2023 — highest per capita in the EU.
Shootings — vs Nordics →
10× higher than neighbours
62 killed in shootings in 2022 (Police). Nordics ~5.
Women's safety →
+50 % avoiding places
BRÅ NTU 2024: 33 % of women avoid going out at night.
Vulnerable areas →
The list that didn't exist in 2014
Police 2023: 59 vulnerable areas, 19 particularly vulnerable.
Sexual crime →
3× reports in 20 years
BRÅ: reported rapes 2,100 (2003) → ~9,700 (2023).
Children in gang areas →
Recruitment age 13
Police: recruitment now reaches primary school.
Gang violence & business →
Firms opting out of Sweden
Confederation of Swedish Enterprise: 1 in 4 firms hit by crime.
Demographics & culture
Demographic change →
Two generations, a new Sweden
SCB: foreign-born share 9 % (1990) → 21 % (2024).
By municipality →
From 9 % to 21 % — unevenly
Range: ~4 % in Vansbro, ~51 % in Botkyrka.
Big cities then and now →
Neighbourhood by neighbourhood
Rinkeby, Husby, Rosengård: 75–90 % foreign background.
Swedish at home →
30 % have another language
Skolverket: ~30 % of pupils have a mother tongue other than Swedish.
Islam in Sweden →
From <10,000 to 800,000
Pew/SST: ~800,000 Muslims (~8 %), from <1 % in 1990.
Mosques →
From 5 to 350 prayer halls
SST: ~350 mosques and prayer halls in 2024, from 5 in 1990.
Gender segregation →
In pools, schools, associations
School Inspectorate & DO: cases rising in schools, pools and sports.
Honour culture →
240,000 young people under honour norms
City of Stockholm 2018: 240,000 young people live under honour norms.
Society & economy
Schools & PISA →
From top 10 to below average
PISA 2022: reading literacy −19 points since 2018.
Property prices →
The market prices in safety
Realtor data: safer areas appreciate 2–3× faster.
Social trust →
Trust falls in vulnerable areas
SOM Institute: trust in vulnerable areas down ~65 → ~45 %.
Business & talent flight →
1 in 4 considered relocating
Confederation 2023: 25 % of managers have considered leaving.
Then vs now (overview) →
The original comparison
10 key indicators side by side — 1990 vs 2025.
Summary analysis
Why has it happened so fast?
No single factor explains the entire change, but several lines run in parallel: a historically large immigration over a short time (SCB), weak integration measured as employment, welfare dependency and educational results (KI, ESO, Skolverket), the emergence of geographically concentrated parallel societies (Police), and cultural norms around honour and collective control that Swedish law has failed to handle effectively (Schlytter; City of Stockholm).
The consequences are no longer marginal. Sweden tops the EU statistics for fatal firearm violence among young men (EMCDDA/EUDA). Reading literacy has fallen more sharply than in almost any other OECD country (PISA 2022). Interpersonal trust — what research considers the foundation of a functioning welfare state — has declined, especially in vulnerable areas (SOM Institute). Businesses increasingly report avoiding investment or recruitment because of insecurity (Confederation of Swedish Enterprise).
The common thread is that the demographic and cultural changes have outpaced society's capacity to integrate, and that policy has for decades underestimated both the costs and the social effects. This is not a claim — it is what the official numbers show when you put them side by side.