Blekinge County

Blekinge is a small coastal county with five municipalities and just over 156,000 inhabitants, and it is often called the garden of Sweden. The archipelago, the forest and the sea are never far away, but the picture of a calm and beautiful place to live has a flip side. The county is shrinking, unemployment is higher than in the country as a whole, and the municipalities are far apart in income and job markets.

Karlskrona pulls ahead, the rest lag behind

Karlskrona is the county's centre of gravity, with just over 66,000 inhabitants. The naval town is on the World Heritage List, the navy and the Blekinge Institute of Technology keep the town going, and this is where the county's strongest figures are found. Median income is above SEK 356,000, a third have at least three years of post-secondary education and unemployment is the lowest in the county. The average age is also the lowest in the county.

At the other end are Ronneby and Olofström. In Ronneby median income is below SEK 320,000 and unemployment just over nine per cent, among the highest in the country. Olofström has just under 15 per cent with at least three years of post-secondary education, among the lowest in the country, and the oldest population in the county. Karlshamn and Sölvesborg sit in between, with incomes just below the national municipal median and unemployment above the national average.

All five municipalities have fewer inhabitants than a few years ago. The decline is largest in Olofström, where the population has fallen by two per cent since 2021, but even Karlskrona and Sölvesborg, where the drop is smallest, have shrunk.

Commuting and distances

The job market in several of the municipalities is narrow, and many people live with commuting. In Sölvesborg almost half of those in work commute out, while many also come in. Ronneby and Karlshamn also send a large share of their residents elsewhere, whereas Olofström takes in more than it sends out. In Karlskrona commuting in both directions is considerably lower.

Connections are a weak point. From Karlskrona there are direct trains towards Malmö and Copenhagen, but the journey to Malmö takes three hours, and links to Stockholm and Gothenburg are thin. The ferry goes to Poland, and flights to Stockholm leave from Ronneby. For a really wide range of shops, people in Karlskrona have to go to Kalmar or Växjö. A car is needed as soon as you leave the larger towns, and in the archipelago the ferry becomes part of everyday life.

Everyday life in town and mill town

Karlskrona has most things a small town can offer, from restaurants and a cinema to museums and sports halls, and houses with sea views sell for prices far below those in the big cities. Ronneby is an old mill and spa town with a large spa park, but the social unrest around 2015 and 2016 and PFAS in the drinking water in Kallinge have shaped its reputation, and the PFAS story has not yet reached its final chapter. Karlshamn is pretty but uneventful, and both Sölvesborg and Olofström struggle with the same label: quiet, with services that mostly cover day-to-day needs.

The differences also run within the municipalities. In Karlskrona just over half the residents of Kungsmarken live on a low economic standard, and in Ronneby median income in Älgbacken-Hjorthöjden is far below that in Hulta. Even so, no area in the county is on the police list of vulnerable areas.

Blekinge suits those who want the sea, a house and reasonable prices and who have a job sorted or can commute, especially families with children and remote workers. Anyone looking for a broad job market, fast trains to the big city or a lively nightlife should think twice, and that applies in particular if Ronneby or Olofström is the target.