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Rural Shrinkage in a Nordic Welfare State

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Pathways to Demographic Adaptation

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Geography ((BRIEFSGEOGRAPHY))

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Abstract

Studies of how planners and policymakers at local levels relate to shrinkage have been carried out in many different contexts before. This chapter explicates the context of the Swedish case under study. The main argument of the chapter is that Sweden exhibit two characteristics that prove to be relevant when discussing the consequences and policy implications of demographic decline. The first characteristic is an extremely sparse population structure. The second is an ambitious welfare assignment that in many respects has been devolved to the local level of government. These features, it is argued, are of great significance for the policy implications of depopulation and shrinkage.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The map is based on the so-called functional regions in Sweden. These are considered to be regions within which people can live and work within reasonable commuting distance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Culture and Society, Linköping University, Norrkoping, Sweden

    Josefina Syssner

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  1. Josefina Syssner
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Syssner, J. (2020). Rural Shrinkage in a Nordic Welfare State. In: Pathways to Demographic Adaptation. SpringerBriefs in Geography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34046-9_3

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