How did the covid-19 pandemic influence Sweden’s migratory situation?
The outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic in 2020 had a huge impact worldwide, particularly on the international migratory movements across countries. In Sweden, the sudden closing of national borders and the lockdown restrictions had a double effect on migrant groups: on the one hand, the number of people migrating to Sweden decreased, leading to a lower inflow of migrants in the country; on the other hand, the migrant groups already residing in Sweden experienced unemployment issues, and had limited access to health care services during the pandemic. Because of this, migrant groups were also overrepresented in the infection and death rates due to covid-19 compared to the whole population. As mentioned in the DELMI report (2021) on the impact of covid-19 on migrants in Sweden, the probability of being affected depends on the socio-economic background, working environment and conditions of different social groups.
References
DELMI (2021), Delegation for migration studies – https://www.delmi.se/publikationer/policy-brief-2021-2-miljonprogram-migranter-och-utsatthet-for-covid-19/
