In SVT’s survey, 1,001 people aged 18-49, living in Svealand, Götaland and Gävleborg counties, had to decide which of the four northernmost regions they would most like to move to if they got a secure job with a good salary .
36 percent of the respondents answered that they could imagine moving to Jämtland. In Västerbotten and Västernorrland respectively, 33 percent of the respondents can imagine knocking down their piles. Norrbotten is the least attractive – only 24 percent express a desire to move there.
The industrial boom in the north
Here are the Swedes’ arguments for not moving to Norrland: “Cold and mosquito-ridden”
Here, the digital super cable runs through Norrbotten – buried for safety reasons
– That is the expected result, says Stina Almkvist, strategist and project manager at Utveckla Norrbotten, which is Region Norrbotten’s department for regional development.
20,000 new inhabitants by 2030
Stina Almkvist and her colleagues are working to attract new residents to Norrbotten in order to support the big industrial boom. By the year 2030, they expect that the region will need 20,000 new inhabitants, in the long term, as much as 50,000-100,000 new northerners may be needed.
But it is not southern Sweden that Utveckla Norrbotten is targeting in order to succeed with population growth, but the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany.
– We made an assumption that we could convert people interested in tourism and the hospitality industry to also become residents of Norrbotten and it turned out to be quite successful, says Almkvist.
What is the biggest challenge in finding new immigrants to Norrbotten in your international target group?
– No one at all. We are very attractive. The problem lies in the fact that we can’t land them because we have too few homes and it’s a national problem in Sweden today, so that’s what we’re working on.
Hear more about how Utvekkla Norrbotten handles the prejudices surrounding Norrbotten in the clip above.