Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - II. The Swedish People - 2. Demography. By [G. Sundbärg] E. Arosenius
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DENSITY OF POPULATION.
115
that for Western Europe alone (68 inh. per sq. km). Of all the countries
of Europe, only Norway and Finland are less densely populated than
Sweden.
The case is quite different if we consider the northerly situation of
our country. It must be remembered that Sweden lies as far north as
Alaska. As a matter of fact, there exists nowhere in the world, at such
high latitudes, so relatively dense a population as is found in the
Scandinavian peninsula.
It is clear that Sweden, with a length from north to south of 1 600
km, or almost one-sixt of the distance from the pole to the equator,
must present most striking deviations from the average figures for the
whole country when we come to consider particular districts. Table 8
gives the relative figures with respect to this for the different läns: the
map on page 114 shows differences of the figures in every commune.
This map gives seven different gradations of density in population,
namely: less than 1 inliab. per sq. km of land; 1—4; 5—9; 10—14;
15—24; 25—49, and finally, 50 persons and over (all per sq. km).1
The most thinly populated district extends in a broad belt from the angle
between the Norwegian and Finnish frontiers, along the former as far as
Jämtland. After being almost entirely severed in the neighbourhood of the
Jämtland railway, this belt begins to widen again, enclosing the greater part
of the ancient province of Härjedalen, and the northernmost angle of Dalarne,
and then juts, albeit slightly, into Svealand.
Eastward of this district comes the second in order, including those
communes whose density of population is 1 — 4 per sq. km. This region includes
the greater part of the country bordering on Finland, and extends, further, in
a rather broad belt, through the whole of Norrland into Dalarne; a few parishes
in Värmland also belong to this zone.
The third zone, with a density of 5—9 inhabitants per sq. km, is more
broken and dispersed than the two first mentioned. To this zone in general
belong the coastal districts of Upper Norrland; at times, however, interrupted
by more closely populated tracts. In the interior of the läns of Gävleborg and
Kopparberg, this zone extends over quite considerable areas. For the rest,
scattered parishes are encountered with the same density of population further
south, in the woodlands of Kolmården and Tiveden, in Dalsland and Småland,
and on Gottland.
The fourth degree of density, 10—14 souls per sq. km, will correspond to
the actual average for the whole kingdom. This density is met with as far
north as Norrbotten, in a few parishes on the coast, and likewise in a few
parishes in Västerbotten; it is then encountered more frequently in Ångermanland,
but even there is interrupted by districts of still denser population. The
degree of density in question occurs in a large number of communes in
Svealand, Dalsland, Småland, and on Gottland.
The fifth degree of density, 15 — 24, per sq. km, presents itself in some
parishes in Ångermanland, and somewhat more frequently in the southern portion
1 The grouping is arranged thus, that e. g. the density of population 14 6 is included
in the group 15—24. Some deviations, though, from the distribution of the communes
have taken place in the production of the map; the most important are that, in the
mining parishes of Norrbotten, the density of population is reckoned separately for the
municipal communities of Kiruna, Gällivare kyrkoby and Malmberget.
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