Why we exist

Every morning, around three million new Swedes wake up and help keep this country running. They open the care home, staff the dental clinic and treat patients in the emergency ward. Yet in too much of Sweden's public debate they appear only as a problem, a cost or a threat. Daily racism has become so normal that many old Swedes no longer notice it, and many new Swedes have stopped reporting it. Dagens Nysvenskarna exists to break that silence.

New Swedes in numbers

At the end of 2025, 2,936,800 people – 28 per cent of the population – were new Swedes, either born abroad or born in Sweden to two parents born abroad [1].
Sweden's entire population growth in 2025 came from new Swedes, who increased by 26,000 while old Swedes decreased by 8,100 [1].
The working-age population (20–66) grew by 500,000 over the past ten years, and all of that increase was new Swedes [4].

Who keeps the welfare state running

Nearly 300,000 employees in Sweden's municipalities and regions were born in another country [3].
New Swedes make up 53 per cent of care aides, 37 per cent of assistant nurses, 46 per cent of dentists and 37 per cent of specialist doctors [2].
Almost 4,000 doctors, over 2,000 nurses and more than 33,000 assistant nurses and care aides working in municipalities and regions today arrived in Sweden within the last ten years [2].

When an old Swede's parent is cared for in their final years, it is very often a new Swede holding their hand.

The young generation of new Swedes

The young generation is choosing Sweden's future, even when Sweden does not always choose them.

One in three young employees in municipalities and regions was born abroad [2].
New Swedes born abroad are the fastest-growing group among new university students, rising from 11 to 19 per cent over ten years [3].
They also carry the weight of exclusion. 22 per cent of university students with foreign background have experienced discrimination based on ethnicity [5]. One in five children with foreign background worries about being teased because of their ethnicity, and school is where children face the most discrimination [6].
Trust in democracy is eroding. Only 55 per cent of young men with foreign background in socioeconomically challenged areas voted in the 2022 election [7]. That is not indifference. It is the result of feeling unheard.

Our promise

Dagens Nysvenskarna brings the day's news on migration, racism and extremism to new Swedes in their own languages, together with critical analysis written by people with lived experience. We will name racism when we see it, whether it comes from the street, the newsroom or parliament. We will count what new Swedes contribute, not just what they cost. And we will speak to old Swedes as well, because a country is built by everyone who carries it.

We are not guests. We are Sweden.

References