In the latest sign of the tremendous demographic changes facing Sweden, data shows that a majority of students in the Swedish city of Malmö now have a migration background. The news has prompted a prominent associate professor to call for new educational facilities where migrants can study in their native language, particularly Arabic, arguing that Swedish is now a “minority language.”
According to the city’s local government website, one-third of Malmö’s residents were born abroad; Iraq is the most common country of birth, while Syria and other Middle Eastern countries are also high on the list.
However, the demographic transformation is far more pronounced when the youngest age groups are examined. The data shows that two-thirds of people between the ages of five and 19 have an immigrant background, and this data also does not include third-generation immigrants and national minorities.
Associate professor of social work, Erica Righard, who works at Malmö University, wrote in her report for the Growth Commission, that the demographic changes present “new challenges for integration.”
Conservatives in Sweden have long pointed to Malmö as a harbinger of a future a majority of Swedes remain opposed to, as the city has completely transformed from nearly all ethnic Swedes into a multicultural area marked by urban decay, no-go zones controlled by migrant clans, and a city unsafe for women in many places.
Data also shows that migrants and those of a migrant background are responsible for the vast majority of murders, shootings, gang rapes, and robberies in Sweden.
Righard’s report also confirms what was once dismissed as right-wing rhetoric and a conspiracy theory. In the city, the Great Replacement, which describes the demographic displacement of Europeans with non-Europeans in their native countries, is statistically undeniable and ongoing.
Righard’s research is expected to be used in Malmö’s integration work, meaning there is a strong possibility that her recommendations could actually be implemented. The report shows that Swedish is a minority language and is therefore no longer proposed as the main language of instruction. If the city’s students were taught in their native tongue, “the school would do better,” the report published on Dec. 27 argues.
Swedes headed toward minority status?
In 2021, Kyösti Tarvainen Ph.D., a retired Finnish professor and researcher in the Department of Mathematics and Systems Analysis at Aalto University in Helsinki, predicted that Swedes would become a minority in their own country by 2050 if current immigration trends persisted.
In an editorial written for the Swedish newspaper Folkbladet, Tarvainen said: “The Swedish parliament unanimously decided in 1975 that Sweden is a multicultural country. At that time, more than 40 percent of the immigrants were my compatriots, Finns. The situation has changed. In 2019, 88 percent of net immigrants were non-Westerners, and 52 percent were Muslims. Thus, a huge cultural change has taken place in the immigration population, as its largest group has changed from being Finns to being Muslims.”
Prof. Righard appears to be a refugee activist
Righard also points out that students are unable to score higher grades because “a large proportion of students do not have” a large enough vocabulary in Swedish. She is proposing that a second language be introduced into schools in Malmö in order for students to learn in their native tongue.
“When people talk about integration, they usually think that an immigrant minority should be integrated with the native majority. But in cities without a numerical majority, you need to think about integration in a different way,” said Righard.
According to Swedish media outlet Samnytt, the professor also appears to be active in promoting pro-refugee work online, with the outlet writing, “A scan of Righard’s social media shows that the city council’s integration expert has a keen interest in asylum activist accounts, including ‘Refugees Welcome.’”