Einar H. Dyvik
Research expert covering Nordics and global data for society, economy, and politics
Get in touch with us nowStockholm is located on the east coast of Sweden at the Baltic Sea. Winters are usually cold due to the city's northern location, but temperatures only occasionally fall below zero degrees Celsius. Summers are relatively mild with degrees usually between 20 and 25 degrees Celsius. Moreover, it has one of the highest number of hours of sunshine in Northern Europe due to its geographic location.
Low unemployment and high rental prices
As Sweden's Capital, Stockholm is also the country's main economic center. Around 30 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) is created in the region. In total, the municipality's GDP stood at nearly 1.8 trillion Swedish kronor in 2021. Life in the city offers several opportunities for employment, with unemployment rates usually being somewhat lower in Stockholm than in the country as a whole. The highest number of people was employed within professional, scientific, technical, and administrative activities.With the increasing population in the city, the population density has also increased in recent years. Comparing Stockholm County to the rest of Sweden, there lived over 370 inhabitants per square kilometer there, with less than 130 in Skåne, which had the second highest population density in Sweden in 2021. As more and more people search for a place to live, average rents for dwellings have gone up in the Swedish Capital. In 2020, Stockholm was the county with the highest average annual rent for dwellings in the country.
Increasing number of fatal shootings
With low unemployment rates, a safe society, solid educational opportunities, and a vibrant cultural life, Stockholm is a highly attractive city to live in. However, the city has seen problems with increasing gang violence in recent years. As in other parts of Sweden, the number of fatal shootings in Stockholm has gone up over the past years. Some have blamed the increasing violence on immigration and a lack of integration. In the most recent parliamentary election in Sweden, the party Sweden Democrats, who has been sharply critical of previous governments' immigration policies, received the second highest share of votes in the country. In Stockholm Commune, however, it only received 10.7 percent of the votes, significantly less than in the rest of the country.Looking at crime in general, numbers provide a more mixed picture; while the total number of crimes remained relatively stable since 2018, the number per 100,000 actually decreased somewhat during the same period. Moreover, the number of thefts and robberies have fallen sharply since 2013.
