More than 1 billion people in low- and middle-income countries would like to move to another country permanently if they had the opportunity, according to a new report by three Swedish researchers. Of these, almost 10 million want to move to Sweden.
The study is based on a worldwide study, Gallup World Poll (GWP), which interviews people in more than 160 countries and asks about their opinions, living conditions and behaviors.
Sweden ranked 21st
Sweden ranks 21st out of all rich countries in the world, and 6th among EU countries. At the top you will find the USA, Canada and Australia. The most popular destinations in the EU are Germany, France and Spain.
Slightly more people want to come to Sweden during the most recently studied period, 2016–2021, compared with the five-year period before that. Despite the fact that migration policy has been tightened in recent years.
"We see that Sweden has increased in popularity, but it is difficult to say why this is the case. It may be that it will take some time before changes in migration policy have any effect. Or that they affect how many people actually come but not how many want to come here.
But, Hammar emphasizes, it is not possible to say how many people will actually move to Sweden based on these figures.
"If they could move to Sweden, they would probably have already done so. The question is hypothetical. But it can be a good indicator for making calculations for potential migration flows in the future.
Half from five countries
Half of those who prefer to move to Sweden come from five countries: China, Iran, Turkey, Iraq and Russia. The fact that these particular countries stand out in the statistics is due to several things, Olle Hammar believes.
"If we take China as an example, because it is such a large country, there will be a lot of them, but Sweden is not so popular there relatively speaking. But countries like Iraq, Turkey and Iran have a large diaspora here, they have relatives and friends who have already moved here.