Immigration fuels Sweden population growth

High immigration helped Sweden’s population growth swell to record levels last year, new figures show.

According to the latest data published by Statistics Sweden, the Scandinavian country’s population grew by 104,000 people during 2015, the biggest year-on-year increase yet recorded. Immigrants accounted for 77 per cent of this increase while the remainder was down to fertility rates.

The statistics show that immigration to Sweden intensified in the summer and early autumn of 2015 before dropping from nearly 12,000 new arrivals per month in September to under 7,000 in November.

For the second year in a row, the largest group of immigrants were Syrian nationals, accounting for about a quarter of all newcomers, or 31,000 people.

Sweden’s population now stands at 9.85 million, Statistics Sweden said.