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Demokratiskolan
The Internal migration card from MethodKit for Society and Politics
Card 42 of 128 · MethodKit for Society & Politics
  • AreaPlaces & infrastructure
  • Centre of gravityCentral government
  • Points of influence3 on the journey
  • Decisive electionThe general election
Places & infrastructure

Internal migration

Seeking better opportunities or avoiding problems

Every year, hundreds of thousands of Swedes move within the country: for studies, work, love or cheaper housing. The move is your own decision, but where it is possible to move is shaped by public decisions about housing, study places and where the jobs end up. And when you move, your tax and your right to vote move with you.

Where does the power lie?1

  • Municipality · housing, school & planning · approx 35 %
  • Region · healthcare, jobs & commuting · approx 20 %
  • State · equalisation, higher education & agencies · approx 40 %
  • EU · free movement in the union · approx 5 %

No one steers the moving vans, but central government shapes the conditions: the equalisation system, the study places and where agencies are located. The general election weighs heaviest.

How it works: the breakdown

The municipalityWhere you move to
The regionThe commuting region
Central governmentThe conditions · centre of gravity
Who decides?
The municipal council (kommunfullmäktige) and the committees, in both the old and the new municipality.
The regional council (regionfullmäktige) and the regional development committee.
The Riksdag, the Government, the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket), the Swedish Board of Student Finance (CSN) and the higher education institutions.
What do they decide?
Housing construction, school places, childcare and what the municipal tax will be at your new address.
Public transport that widens the labour market, healthcare in your new area and regional development investment.
The equalisation system, the distribution of higher education places, student finance and where central government jobs are located.
Where are decisions made?
In the council. The tax rate is decided every year in the budget.
In the regional council and the development committee.
In the Riksdag and at the agencies. Population registration is handled by the Tax Agency.
Who pays?
The municipal tax, which follows your registered residence: when you move, the money moves.
The regional tax, which also moves with your registered residence.
The central government budget: equalisation, student finance and the location of the agencies.
Fastest way in?
Municipal election You gain the right to vote in the new municipality. Citizen's proposals (medborgarförslag) and consultations (samråd) are open straight away.
Regional election Consultations (samråd) on the transport and the development strategy in your new region.
General election A referral response (remissvar) and contact with members. Policy shapes where the opportunities are.
EUThe EU's free movement means the move could just as easily go to Berlin as to Borås. Moves within the country, however, are not steered by the EU.

Read the table by column to understand one level, or by row to compare the levels. The green level is the area's centre of gravity.

How it works: follow the decision

The case You move for a job in another part of the country
  1. State

    Central government has drawn the map of possibilities

    Where higher education institutions, agencies and infrastructure have been placed decides which areas grow. At the same time, the equalisation system makes sure that school and care work even where many move out.

    Point of influence

    The general election shapes the equalisation and where central government jobs and courses end up.

  2. Region

    The commuting region decides whether you have to move at all

    The region's trains and buses determine how far away a job can be without a move. If the commute works, you can take the job and stay where you are.

    Point of influence

    The public transport plan's consultation (samråd) is open to all.

  3. Municipality

    The new municipality must have room

    Housing, a school place for the children and the preschool queue decide whether the move is possible. All of this is the result of municipal decisions about building and services, made in the years before you arrived.

  4. State

    Population registration moves you formally

    You report the move to the Tax Agency. From that date you pay tax to the new municipality and region, and your place in the electoral register moves with you.

  5. Municipality

    Your vote lands at the new address

    At the next election you vote where you now live. The new arrivals slowly change the municipality's politics, the electorate is never the same two elections in a row.

    Point of influence

    Use your right to vote in your new municipality, and get involved: community life is the fastest route into local society.

  6. Your everyday life

    At home in the new area

    A new job, a new tax rate, new politicians to keep an eye on. The move was yours, but the routes that made it possible were built by decisions at every level, and now you are part of making them.

The journey looks the same in reverse: what has been built came the same way, through the same decisions. Whoever knows where the decisions are made also knows where they can be changed.

Questions to discuss

  1. What would make you move, and what keeps you where you live?

  2. Is it a problem that young people move away from certain parts of the country, and if so, for whom?

  3. Should central government steer more where jobs and courses end up, or less?

  4. What is fair towards municipalities that educate children who then move and pay tax somewhere else?

  5. How long does it take to feel at home in a new area, and what can the public sector do about it?

Glossary

Folkbokföring
The Tax Agency's register of where you live. Governs where you pay tax and vote.
Röstlängd
The list of who may vote where, produced from the population register.
Utjämningssystemet
Redistributes money between municipalities with different tax capacity and needs.
Skattekraft
Residents' combined taxable income per resident in a municipality.
Pendlingsregion
The area you can work in without moving, shaped by the transport.

Go further

Footnotes

1) This is an estimate of how decision-making power over the issue is split between the municipality, the region, central government and the EU, based on how responsibility is divided in legislation. A teaching guide, not an exact measurement.