ÖVRE NORRLAND - Population
Slightly decreasing population in the last few years
The population increased from 470 thousands in 1950 to 509 thousands in 2003. However, since 1995 the population of the region has decreased by 3.5% (527 thousands in 1995).
Until the early 1960s the region experienced population growth, but between 1960 and 1970 the population fell by 2.6% as a result of extensive migration to the south of Sweden, where job opportunities were good at the time. There was also substantial migration within the region, from the interior to the coastal areas. The population began to increase again in the early 1970s when the migration wave to the south subsided.
Between 1983 and 1993 the population grew by 5.3% in the southern part of the region. This growth rate was slightly above the national average of 5.0%. In the northern part of the region the population growth for this period was only 1%, mainly as a result of a new wave of migration in the early 1980s. The population in the northern part of the region started to increase again after 1988, thanks primarily to a rising birth rate and immigration from abroad. However, during the last ten years the population in ÖVRE NORRLAND has begun to decrease again.
The region accounts for more than a third of the territory of Sweden (38%) but only 6.0% of the country's population on the 1st of January 2002. This means that the average population density of the region is very low: only 3.3 inhabitants per km2 in 2002, which is far below the national average of 22 inhabitants per km2.
The share of the regional population in the total national population remained at 6.0% from the beginning of the 1990?s until 1996, when a steady but very slight decline began. In 2003, this figures is 5.7%.
The distribution of the population by age group is quite similar to the national average. Furthermore, the death rate (11 per thousand) is close to the national average (10.6 per thousand) in 2002, while the birth rate was slightly under the national figure (9.4 per thousand against an average of 10.7 in the country). The infant mortality decreased substantially all over the 1990?s, down from 59 deaths in 1990 to 13 in 2001.
The region has a relatively low and constant ratio of foreign inhabitants (2002: 3.4%). In 1999, the region registered 1 969 immigrants. This figure has been subject to important variations over the years: in 1994 for instance, it was 4 958 but only 1 919 the next year. The number of emigrants went down more: 1 338 in 1999 against 1 257 in 1990. Regarding the internal migration, there are substantially more departures than arrivals, the corresponding number of people in 1999 being respectively 11 188 and 7 964.
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