Immigration in Sweden: how the country went from one of Europe’s most welcoming, to one of its most restrictive

For decades, Sweden was known as one of Europe’s most welcoming countries for refugees. It took pride in pursuing one of Europe’s most generous asylum policies, and often presented itself as a humanitarian role model.

But today it has one of the continent’s most restrictive migration policies. That transformation has taken little more than a decade.

The turning point came during the 2015 refugee crisis. Sweden received more than 160,000 asylum applications, more…

© La Conversation - lundi 7 septembre 2026