Immigration
People immigrate to Malmö for different reasons. To study, work, seek protection or to reunite with family members.
Malmö´s reception of newly arrived
The number of persons who has been granted residence permit with refugee or subsidiary protection status and their reunited family members has varied over the years. Stockholm and Gothenburg have a larger reception in numbers of persons than Malmö. In relation to its population, Malmö received roughly the same number of people as Gothenburg but fewer than Stockholm in 2023.
In 2023 the total reception in Malmö was 299 persons, almost 0.8 person per 1,000 inhabitants. (2022:304, 2021:252 and 2020:403)
Over the years the dominating groups in Malmö´s reception has been persons who arrange their own accommodation during the asylum process (not staying in accommodation centres provided by the Swedish Migration Agency) and persons arriving as a result of family reunification.
Reception in accordance with the Swedish Reception for Resettlement Act
10 persons where included in Malmö´s reception according to the Reception for Resettlement Act in 2023. The Reception for Resettlement Act was enacted in March 2016 for the purpose of evenly distributing newly arrived persons with a residence permit among Sweden's municipalities. The reception of these persons also entails a municipal responsibility to arrange for a place of residence. In 2024, Malmö will receive 19 persons according to the Settlement Act.
Asylum seekers and persons with temporary protection
There were 1,679 asylum seekers living in own accomodations in Malmö as of 1 January 2024. 700 of these people were asylum seekers and 979 had temporary residence permits according to the mass migration directive. 354 were children under the age of 18.
The vast majority of those enrolled, 1,026 people (61 percent), lived in so-called own accommodation (EBO). However, the share in EBO differs greatly between asylum seekers and people with a residence permit according to the Mass Refugee Directive. Of the asylum seekers, eight out of ten lived in EBO. Of those registered under the mass displacement directive, just under half lived in EBO, and about the same number lived in the housing provided by the city of Malmö.
Unaccompanied minors
Malmö is both an arrival municipality and a referral municipality for unaccompanied children. This means that the municipality partly has responsibility for unaccompanied children who have applied for asylum and are waiting to be assigned to a municipality, and partly has responsibility for unaccompanied children who are assigned to Malmö while waiting for notification of a residence permit and those of these children who then receive a residence permit.
In 2023, 75 unaccompanied children came to Malmö as asylum seekers and were in transit in the city, waiting for municipal instructions. In addition, 17 unaccompanied children sought temporary protection under the Mass Refugee Directive and were in transit in the city. A total of 26 unaccompanied children were assigned to the municipality and 21 were granted residence permits.
At the end of February 2024, the city of Malmö was responsible for a total of 80 unaccompanied children, Some of these children have been in the country for years, while others have arrived more recently.
Work and studies
In 2023, 6,690 people moved to Malmö from abroad. At the time of writing, Statistics Sweden has not made available information about these people's countries of birth. 1,142 people, of which 478 were relatives, were granted residence permits for labor market reasons. 727 people, including 242 relatives, received a residence permit linked to studies.
New arrivals in Malmö
Newly arrived children between the ages of three and five will be offered a place in Malmö's preschools regardless of whether the parents have applied or not from autumn 2023. About twenty of the families who received such a special offer agreed to a preschool place.
In 2023, 572 children were admitted to primary special schools and primary schools. 170 of these children had fled the war in Ukraine. This can be compared to the year 2022, when 857 newly arrived schoolchildren were received, and 2021, when the number was 719. It is mainly younger children and children of labor immigrants who are received.
Lower immigration has led to fewer applicants to the upper secondary school's language introduction program and to sfi.
Since August 2022, the municipalities have the obligation to provide a coherent municipal adult education for adult newcomers who take part in the establishment program and who, due to a short educational background, are deemed unable to be matched with work during the time in the program.
287 people were included in the establishment program in Malmö in January 2024.