Men outstrip women as population rises

More men than women are now living in Sweden, with the country’s population swelling to 9,793,172 by June 2015.

Figures released by Sweden’s number crunching agency Statistics Sweden on Monday revealed that women have been in the minority in Sweden since March 20th, as experts predicted would happen in a report released in February.

More boys than girls are born every year in Sweden, but they are usually outlived by women, giving the nation’s female population the edge in terms of numbers.

But the latest figures suggest that there are now 4,894,904 women in Sweden, with the country’s men adding up to a slightly higher total of 4,898,268.

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Statistics Sweden suggests that the country’s shifting demographics are largely due to rising immigration, with more men than women travelling to Sweden to seek asylum and find work.

Sweden’s immigrant population grew by almost 60,000 during the first half of 2015, the agency reported, an increase of six percent.

The country continues to take in more asylum seekers per capita than any other EU nation. Syrians make up the largest proportion, with growing numbers of refugees also making the journey from Eritrea. During the first six months of 2015, 3755 Eritrean nationals migrated to Sweden, up 67 percent on the same period in 2014.

Statistics Sweden also pointed to a slight dip in the number of births in the first half of 2015, with 57,912 children entering the world in Sweden, 809 fewer than between January and June last year.