Immigration, Crime, and Economics Lessons for America
Sweden has a population of about 10.5 million, about the same as North Carolina. It has long had a tradition of liberal immigration policy, but this has accelerated tremendously in the last three decades. Previously, the largest share of immigrants was from neighboring Northern European countries. This has changed dramatically. From 2011 to 2021 Sweden received approximately 1.3 million immigrants, accounting for more than the population growth since 2011. More than 573,000 of these arrived during the Syrian War crisis years of 2014 to 2018. These mostly came from the Middle East, West Asia, and North Africa, and were predominantly Muslim. The estimated Muslim population of Sweden is now close to 6 percent. Close to 26 percent of the population is foreign born, and only 67 percent of Swedes were born of Swedish parents. One area of Sweden (Malmö, 325,000 population) is nearly 50 percent foreign born, and these are predominantly Muslim. Just over 6.5 million voters participated in the 2022 election, and over 200,000 of these were recent immigrants. The Muslim population has a strong affinity for voting for the Social Democrat Party or the Left (socialist) Party.
The Swedish Social Democrat government and the near totally captive “progressive” media have gone to great lengths, including persecution of dissenting voices, to coverup the high correlation of dramatically rising crime rates and the non-European immigrant population. In 1993, the Swedish newspaper Expressen published a poll that indicated 63 percent of Swedes were already fed up with excessive immigration levels and wanted immigrants to go back to their home countries. But this sentiment was not held by party bosses and the media establishment. The editor was fired, and a lock-step Swedish media has since aggressively suppressed any dissent against massive immigration and demographic changes.
The Swedish government has avoided publishing ethnic crime statistics since 2005 but was finally under enough pressure to publish a report on crime and national origins in November 2021. Sweden finally publishes new immigrant crime rate data, which shows no surprises – Clear Language, Clear Mind (emilkirkegaard.dk) This report, covering crimes committed by those aged 15 or older is in Swedish, but thanks to Emil Kirkegaard, enough English commentary has been added to understand it. The crime rate for Swedish natives and European Union born immigrants was the same, 3.4 percent. East Asians scored even lower at 3.3 percent. But the crime rate for those whom both parents were born in North Africa was 20.1 percent. Respective figures of West Asia and Central Asia were 11.9 and 15.8 percent. Overall Africa, probably owing to South Africa was 20.7 percent, which is consistent with South African statistics. The Central American, South American, and Caribbean immigrant crime rates varied from 13.5 to 13.8 percent. By far the largest numerical impact on Swedish crime comes from immigrants from predominantly Muslim countries in North Africa, West Asia (and Middle East), and Central Asia (Pakistan, etc.), although South Africa was surprisingly significant.
Crimes by Muslim immigrants have been most apparent in the number of rapes and recent shootings. In 2011, there were 17 deaths by firearms in Sweden. By 2017, this had risen to 41 and more than 100 wounded in over 300 shooting incidents. In 2021, there were 342 shootings and 46 dead, 15 in the Stockholm area alone. Sweden is the only country in Europe where gun deaths are rising, with a rate 2.5 times the average for Europe.
According to the 2022 World Population Review, Sweden has the highest rape statistics in Europe and the 5th highest in the world. Swedish government statistics from 2012 through 2017 have now been published. There were 842 men and one woman convicted of rape during that time. The report found that 57 percent of all convicted rapists were born outside of Europe, 75 percent of convicted gang rapists were born outside Europe, and 85 percent of all convicted assault rapists were born outside of Europe. Of the total rapists, 23 percent were from the Middle East or North Africa, and 16 percent were from South Africa. https://www.svt.se/nyheter/granskning/ug/ny-kartlaggning-av-valdtaktsdomar-58-procent-av-de-domda-fodda-utomlands However, rape convictions in Sweden are only a drop in the bucket of total reported rapes, which generally surpass 6,000 per year. Sweden has been criticized by the United Nations for its low rate of conviction. Again, the Swedish media has a heavy handed policy of not connecting rapes with immigrants.
Dr. Rich Swier, in a February 2020 Culture War blog, estimated that 77 percent of Swedish rapes were attributable to an immigrant population representing only two percent of Sweden’s total population, but the politicians and media were deliberately blind to the obvious facts. In Sweden, the United States, and the West generally, we have blindly accepted multiculturalism without examining strong religiously based cultural differences. Western leaders should examine the Sunna (traditions, words, and example) of Muhammad more closely. You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to figure out Sweden’s and the West’s serious dilemma. The consequences for ignoring culture related immigration issues can be nation-destroying.
Immigration and crime were the closely related top issues that motivated Swedish voters to throw out the long-entrenched progressive-left Social Democrats from power. A coalition of four right to center-right Swedish political parties took 176 seats in the 349 member Riksdag (parliament), a narrow victory of just a 3-seat majority in the September 11 national elections. This will also mean a new center-right Prime Minister will replace Social Democrat Magdalena Andersson and a new right to center-right cabinet will be appointed.
The right to center-right coalition was led by the most conservative party, the Sweden Democrats, who got 20.5 percent of the popular vote and gained a whopping 11 seats for a total of 73. The center-right Moderate Party with 19.8 percent lost two seats but contributes 68 seats to the winning coalition. The center-right to right Christian Democrats got 5.3 percent of the vote, losing 3 seats, but contributes 19 seats to the center-right coalition, and the center-right “Liberal” Party got 4.6 percent of the vote, losing 4 seats, but contributes 16 seats to the winning conservative coalition of 176 seats, representing 50.2 percent of the popular vote. The voter turnout was a high 84.2 percent, but off two percent from 2018. The Swedish Liberal Party is now the smallest party in the Riksdag. A minimum of 4.0 percent is necessary to receive representation. The Liberal Party is more equivalent to the Libertarian Party in the U.S. because of its advocacy of economic freedom and decentralization of power.
The center-left Social Democrats are still the largest political party in Sweden, actually gaining 7 seats for a total of 107 with 30.3 percent of the popular vote. The left-wing socialist Left Party received 6.7 percent of the vote and 24 seats, losing four seats. The center center-right Centre Party also received 6.7 percent of the vote and lost a whopping 7 seats to wind up with 24. The Centre Party is not a truly leftist party but refuses to work with the Sweden Democrats. The Greens received 5.1 percent of the vote, gaining two seats, for a new total of 18.
Sweden can probably be called a welfare state because of its generous pension and medical plans, but it is by no means a socialist state. The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom rates Sweden considerably above average in economic freedom and 11th among 177 nations rated. It is rated 8th of 45 European countries. It has an export oriented economy with many famous manufacturing companies and large timber and iron resource esports. It has large hydropower resources and related machinery exports. Both Sweden and Finland would add considerable technology, air, sea, and geographical advantages to NATO.
Jimmie Åkesson, the leader of the Sweden Democrats since 2005 and member of the Riksdag since 2010, is the real hero of this political victory and hopefully ultimate rescue of the Swedish nation from self-destruction by immigration policy. The new Prime Minister of Sweden, however, will probably be the Moderate Party leader, Ulf Kristersson. With only a 3 seat majority, Åkesson and Sweden Democrats might have more difficulty managing the top position and passing legislation until gaining more public credibility with the bulk of Swedish voters. Åkesson may not even have a place in the government, but his will be the greatest influence on agenda and policy. Kristersson and the Moderates may be better postured to smooth what might be a challenging change of government and policies. Kristersson is a relatively recent convert to strong measures for fixing Sweden’s dangerous and acute immigration and crime problems. The immigration problem also cascades over into maintaining Sweden’s generous pension and healthcare benefits. The immigrant welfare burden is heading Sweden toward fiscal disaster or extremely painful adjustments for most Swedes.
Excess immigration, multiculturalism, and secular-humanist social ideology has driven Sweden to the brink of disaster, but there is another presently prosperous country whose immigration, crime, and government spending addictions have it even closer to the brink. That is the United States, whose immigration problem is presently far worse and extends even to open-borders and generous welfare to illegal immigrants. With Critical Race Theory, transgender ideology, and other radical social theories prevailing in the Biden-Obama Administration, academia, the media, rapidly succumbing corporate and healthcare cultures, and even our military, the U.S. may be far nearer the edge of disaster than Sweden.
Hopefully, the conservative victory in Sweden may spread to other European nations and the United States in coming elections.
Of Sweden’s four left and left-center parties, none seem now to be as radical on social and energy policies as the U.S. Democratic Party. Even Sweden’s leftist parties are beginning to blink as reality catches up to them. Immigration adjustments are now more agreeable. Nuclear energy is back on their agenda. NATO membership is now favored by both Social Democrats and Sweden Democrats, although Turkey is threatening to veto their membership. Many U.S. Democrats are now attempting to pass themselves off as moderates, but they are still aggressively pursuing radical social and energy policies that will destroy our country and even our armed forces.