53 people has been shot dead in Sweden this year. It is the second highest ever, after 2022 when 63 people were shot to death. That was six times more than in Denmark (4), Norway (4) and Finland (2) combined.
This year, TT’s compilation shows that the number of firearm murders in neighboring countries has almost halved up to and including 21 December. Two people have been shot dead in Denmark, two in Norway and two in Finland – one of which as a result of a suspected hunting accident.
Firearm murders in Sweden are thus nine times more this year than in the rest of the Nordic countries combined. Concerns are now growing there that the so-called “Swedish condition” – an accepted concept and political bat in all three countries – will spill over the borders.
Swedish involvement
In Denmark, Swedish gang criminals have both murdered and been murdered in recent years. In one of this year’s fatal shootings, a Swedish 18-year-old is suspected of having held the weapon.
In Finland, the police, with Swedish help, uncovered large-scale drug smuggling from Sweden during the year, orchestrated by Swedish criminal networks.
The presidential candidate and former foreign minister Pekka Haavisto recently, in an interview with TT, singled out Swedish gang crime as an important issue for Finland.
– We should pay much more attention to this issue, said Haavisto, favorite tipped in next year’s election.
In Norway, the police state that Swedish criminal networks are active throughout the country and are hired to carry out serious violent crimes in Norway. During the autumn, the construction of a joint police station on the Swedish-Norwegian border began.
Most murders per capita
Looking at the deadly violence as a whole, a partly different picture emerges.
In pure numbers, Sweden suffered between 108 and 124 cases of fatal violence per year between 2018 and 2022, the most in the Nordic region. In terms of population, however, fatal violence is significantly more common in Finland with an average of 1.47 cases per 100,000 inhabitants during the period according to official statistics compiled by U.N.
The corresponding figure in Sweden was 1.1. in Denmark 0.86 and in Norway 0.53. Our western neighbor is among the countries in the world with the absolute lowest murder rate.
Norway also stands out in terms of the high proportion of women among the victims. According to the UN, they make up half, according to the Norwegian police’s own figures, they were even in the majority between 2018 and 2022. In Sweden, the proportion was 23, in Finland 27 and in Denmark 38 percent.