Assyrians/Syriacs in Sweden

Assyrians in Sweden
Total population
150,000[1]
Regions with significant populations
Södertälje, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Örebro, Västerås, Norrköping, Linköping, Skövde, Jönköping, Tibro
Languages
Neo-Aramaic · Swedish
Religion
Predominantly Christianity
(majority: Syriac Christianity; minority: Protestantism)

Assyrians in Sweden (Swedish: Assyrier i Sverige) are citizens and residents of Sweden who are of Assyrian descent. There are approximately 150,000 Assyrians in Sweden.[2]

Assyrians first came to Sweden from Syria for work in the late 1960s when Europe needed laborers for its industries. However, with increased ethnic and religious persecution in their homeland, which is located in present-day southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq, northwestern Iran and northeastern Syria,[3] Assyrian immigration to Sweden increased. Those who had lived in Sweden for a longer period of time were granted residency for humanitarian reasons, given the conflicts in their place of origin.[4]

  1. ^ SVT: Statministerns folkmordsbesked kan avgöra kommunvalet: ”Underskatta inte frågan” (in Swedish)
  2. ^ SVT: Statministerns folkmordsbesked kan avgöra kommunvalet: ”Underskatta inte frågan” (in Swedish)
  3. ^ Sargon Donabed (1 February 2015). Reforging a Forgotten History: Iraq and the Assyrians in the Twentieth Century. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 18–. ISBN 978-0-7486-8605-6.
  4. ^ Swedish Minister for Development Co-operation, Migration and Asylum Policy, Migration 2002, June 2002 Archived 26 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine