Swedish Immigration Minister Anders Ygeman has suggested that Sweden follow the example of Denmark and seek to limit the concentration of people with an immigrant background in the most troubled areas of its cities.
In an interview with the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper, Ygeman said it was a problem for Sweden that there are neighborhoods where most residents come from countries other than the fellow Nordic nations of Denmark, Iceland, Finland, and Norway.
“I think it is bad to have areas where the majority are of non-Nordic descent,” he told DN.
“If you want to learn Swedish, you have to practice. If you live in an area where you can get by with the language of your native country, it becomes enormously more difficult to learn and develop the language,” Ygeman explained.
“If, in addition, you have a job where you can get by in the language of your native country, where will you practice Swedish? In that context, I think having that kind of goal can say something important,” he added.
Ygeman suggested a 50 percent limit when journalists questioned whether he thought Sweden should adopt a similar target to Denmark, where the ruling Social Democrats have adopted a target that no neighborhood is to have more than 30 percent of its population be of non-Western origin.