Why are Indians leaving Sweden in record numbers?

Sweden is witnessing an unprecedented exodus of Indian migrants, reversing a decades-long trend that has seen more Indians arrive in the Scandinavian nation than leave. For the first time on record, more Indians left Sweden than moved there in the first half of 2024, signalling possible changes in the factors that have traditionally attracted Indians to Sweden.

Between January and June 2024, 2,837 people born in India left Sweden, an increase of 171 percent compared to the same period last year. This increase has made Indians the largest group of emigrants, surpassing people born in Iraq, China and Syria, according to Statistics Sweden. This is a stark contrast to previous years, when Indian immigration to Sweden consistently outpaced emigration, often by a significant margin.

Robin Sukhia, secretary general and CEO of the Sweden-India Business Council, urged caution in interpreting these figures and warned against jumping to premature conclusions. “We don’t think there is any particular reason for this at this point, we probably have to wait for a full year’s assessment. It could be a combination of several factors from the completed studies, the margins of error, the high costs in Sweden in recent years, the lack of serviced apartments and accommodation in general. It’s hard to say,” Sukhia said in an email to Swedish media outlet The Local.

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While the reasons for this sudden shift are not entirely clear, several factors could be at play. Sweden’s high living costs, lack of affordable housing and recent layoffs in the tech sector may be discouraging immigrants.

In addition, the Swedish government’s stricter rules on work permits have increased the challenges faced by foreign nationals. The number of work permits granted to highly skilled migrants fell by 20 percent in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period last year, and first-time work permits for Indian citizens plummeted by 30 percent.

Despite these challenges, Indians remain one of the largest groups of new immigrants to Sweden, second only to Ukrainians, whose numbers have increased due to the ongoing war with Russia in their home country. However, the number of Indians moving to Sweden in the first half of 2024 was 2,461, a significant drop from 3,681 during the same period in 2023. Excluding the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, this is the lowest level of Indian immigration to Sweden since 2017.

This turnaround comes after more than a decade of uninterrupted growth in Indian immigration, driven by strengthening diplomatic ties and Sweden’s efforts to attract highly skilled professionals, particularly in the technology sector. However, current data suggests that these trends may be flagging and that Sweden’s ability to attract and retain international talent is under pressure.

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To further complicate matters, Sweden’s emigration figures almost doubled in 2024, although this increase is partly due to the Swedish Tax Agency’s efforts to improve population registration. This means that some of the people recorded as leaving Sweden this year may have emigrated earlier, but have only now been formally registered. This administrative update may include Indians who had already left in previous years.