This year, that number is set to
grow substantially.
From one angle, no other
country seems better equipped
to handle this challenge.
Having weathered fairly well
both the recent economic crisis
and a deeper transition to a
globalized, European Unioninfused economy, Sweden
remains at, or close to, the top
of global tables of wealth and
well-being. It might no longer
be the quasi-socialist paradise
that many people looked to—
and flocked to—in the 1970s,
but it is one of the few
European countries that still
seems able to combine
relatively solid growth, a
strong welfare state and a
genuine openness, both in
economic terms and in
immigration policy. Sweden is
also already an “immigrant
society”: At 16 percent,
the proportion of its foreignborn population is higher than
that of not only Germany and
Great Britain, but also the U.S.
In other words, Sweden is a
country that should easily be
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