How far is it to services, and where are people moving?
Short answer: Half the residents of the metropolitan municipalities live less than a kilometre as the crow flies from the nearest health centre, in the rural municipalities 2.5 km. Since 2000 the metropolitan areas have grown by 35 percent, while the rural municipalities have 11 percent fewer residents.
More on the same questions: Population shows every municipality's population since 1900, Infrastructure the roads and public transport, Municipal finances equalisation between municipalities, Healthcare waiting times at health centres and Forests and the forest industry forestry and who owns the forest in each county. Carnivore populations, hunting and what town and country think of the wolf are on Large carnivores. Who has fibre and mobile coverage is on Digitalisation and broadband. Where local newspapers have closed and which municipalities have no news coverage of their own is on Public service and media.
How far half the residents have.
The gap between town and country is largest for health centres and pharmacies. To a compulsory school, grocery shop and fuel station, half the residents even in the rural municipalities have about a kilometre or less, since most live in or near a town. Pick a municipality at the top to compare.
The population-weighted median: half the residents of the group have further than this to the nearest place, half have less. Measured as the crow flies from the centre of each populated square kilometre, so the real route is longer, most of all where roads are sparse. Blue is the metropolitan areas and their surroundings, orange the larger towns and their surroundings, green the smaller towns and rural municipalities.
SKR's nine kinds of municipality.
The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SKR) sorts the municipalities into nine groups by the size of the main town and how many people commute. A is the metropolitan areas and their surroundings, B the larger towns and their surroundings, C the smaller towns and rural municipalities. Since 2000 the municipalities in A have grown by 35 percent, in B by 18 and in C by 1. Of the 114 municipalities with fewer residents now than in 2000, 84 are in C.
| Municipality group | Municipalities | Residents 2025 | Change since 2000 | Net domestic migration per 1,000, average 2021–2025 | Health centre, km | Pharmacy, km | School, km | Grocery, km | Fuel, km |
|---|
The grouping applies from 2023. A group's population and migration are the sum of its municipalities, also for the years before the grouping existed. Net migration is those who moved in from other municipalities minus those who moved out, per 1,000 residents.
Shop and school within two kilometres.
Nationally, 78 percent live near a grocery shop and 83 percent of children near a compulsory school, about as many in 2025 as in 2017. Pick a municipality to see how it differs from the country.
Share of residents living at most two kilometres from a grocery shop, and share of children up to 16 living at most two kilometres from a compulsory school. The Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth measures along the road network. The years 2020 and 2021 are missing.
Where people move, and where growth comes from.
The rural municipalities have lost residents to other municipalities every year since 2021, between 2 and 7 per 1,000 residents a year. Immigration makes up for part of it, but more people die than are born: 6 more per 1,000 residents in 2025. In the metropolitan municipalities more are born than die.
Per 1,000 residents and year. The groups' migration starts in 1997, when all municipalities have it. The country has no net domestic migration since moves within the country cancel out.
City and countryside since 1968.
Since 1968 Sweden's population has grown from 7.9 to 10.6 million. The rural municipalities have gone the other way, from 562,000 to 425,000 residents, a quarter fewer. 128 municipalities have fewer residents now than in 1968.
Population on 31 December as an index, where the first year is 100. Each municipality's own curve since 1900 is on Population.
Municipality by municipality.
The distance half the residents have further than, in kilometres as the crow flies, and the population. Sorted by municipality group and name.
| Municipality | Municipality group | Health centre, km | Pharmacy, km | School, km | Grocery, km | Fuel, km | Residents 2025 | Change since 2000 |
|---|
Knivsta was formed in 2003, so the change there is counted from that year.
What the parties want.
| Party | In brief | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Centre Party | Wants to open more government service offices and police stations, expand broadband and let more of the wind power revenue stay where it is built | Centre Party, Rural areas |
| Christian Democrats | Wants it to be possible to live in all of Sweden and to remove obstacles to life in the countryside | Christian Democrats, Rural areas |
| Liberals | Wants to expand government services through a joint organisation where the agencies cooperate | Liberals, Regional development |
| Green Party | Wants rural agreements where the state helps pay for local services, and part of the revenue from wind power and mines to go to the countryside | Green Party, Rural and sparsely populated areas |
| Moderates | Wants to reform shoreline protection and keep fuel prices down | Moderates, Sparsely populated areas |
| Social Democrats | Wants better conditions for jobs and businesses in the countryside and to link town and country with transport | Social Democrats, Business policy |
| Sweden Democrats | Wants to write off student debt for public employees who move to sparsely populated areas and remove the general payroll fee there | Sweden Democrats, Now we prioritise the countryside |
| Left Party | Wants to move government agencies out of the big cities and the state to make sure health care, post and police exist across the country | Left Party, Rural areas |
Summarised from the parties' own pages, retrieved in October 2026. More on each party on The parties.
Where the figures come from.
- Source: Statistics Sweden, population per square kilometre on 31 December 2025, and Statistics Sweden's population statistics per municipality: population, births, deaths, domestic moves, immigration and emigration.
- Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors. Health centres, pharmacies, grocery shops and fuel stations.
- Source: Swedish National Agency for Education, the school unit register. Compulsory schools.
- Source: Kolada. SKR's municipality grouping 2023 and the share with a grocery shop and compulsory school within two kilometres, calculated by the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth.
- Our own processing: the distances to services and the municipality groups' population and migration. The distance is as the crow flies from the centre of each populated square to the nearest place, and the median is weighted by the residents of the square.
- Not included: the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth's service analysis Pipos, which measures distance along roads, since its terms require written permission. OpenStreetMap misses places here and there, mostly in the countryside, which makes distances there longer than they are. Municipalities where OpenStreetMap has not a single health centre or pharmacy, or only has them far from the main town, are shown without a distance for that service and are not counted in the groups or the country.
Nothing is estimated by us except what is listed under own processing.