Sweden more geographically segregated than previous measures have shown

”Previous studies of segregation have often focused on single indicators such as income, education or employment. Our study, which also takes into account factors such as family circumstances and social vulnerability, shows that these approaches underestimate the true scale of segregation. People with different life trajectories are far more geographically separated than measures based solely on income or education suggest,” says Bo Malmberg, Professor at the Department of Human Geography, Stockholm University.

Linked to political polarisation

The study, published in the scientific journal Nature Communications, follows the Swedish population from 1990 onwards, combining data on education, employment, income, family circumstances and residential location. The findings, presented in an atlas containing 100 maps, reveal how different life trajectories, shaped by either disadvantage or affluence, are distributed across Sweden. They also show how these patterns align with the country's political landscape, in other words, how voting behaviour varies across different areas.

”In city centres, we find young people in education, highly educated professionals at the start of their careers, and single adults. A little further out are young middle-income households living in apartment blocks. Beyond that are affluent homeowners alongside disadvantaged groups concentrated in suburban neighbourhoods. Middle-income families living in detached houses, the archetypal average Swedes, tend to live even further from the city centre. At the same time, the proportion of low-income residents is increasing in rural areas far from the major cities,” says Bo Malmberg.

Reduces mutual understanding

A key conclusion of the study is that growing geographical polarisation in voting patterns, for example between urban and rural areas, may be rooted in the geographical segregation of people's life trajectories.

”When people rarely encounter others with different experiences and viewpoints, it becomes harder to understand perspectives other than their own. This can fuel political polarisation of the kind we are seeing in many countries today, where divisions are increasingly geographical, both between neighbourhoods and between regions,” says Bo Malmberg.

The division is not absolute

The study also shows that separation between people with different life circumstances increases later in life, particularly when people start families. However, the researchers emphasise that segregation is far from complete. During early adulthood, up to around the age of 35, people tend to live in much more socially mixed environments.

”Looking at people's lives as a whole, we are not as isolated from other groups as one might think. It is often when people have children that they move to neighbourhoods with a more socially homogeneous population,” says Bo Malmberg.

What would it take to reverse the trend?

”Our findings provide strong evidence that segregation contributes to an increasingly polarised society. Reversing this trend will require measures that reduce segregation not only between neighbourhoods, but also between regions and across different parts of Sweden,” says Bo Malmberg.