An unplanned green wave: settlement patterns in Sweden during the 1990s

This study focuses on the population changes in the countryside and in urban centres within the municipalities of Sweden outside the metropolitan areas, between 1990 and 1997. Overall, the countryside showed a higher population increase than the municipality centres. Smaller population centres suffered a population decline. The increase in population in the countryside was strongest in areas surrounding the metropolises and around regional centres. Statistical analysis showed that population change outside population centres mainly varies with the average income, labour-market access, and taxation values or housing costs in the municipalities. This process of change has run directly counter to the policy that was formulated for small municipalities from the end of the 1960s onwards. The growth in rural population was spontaneous for the most part, and more or less in conflict with the plans of the municipalities.