Geographical Trajectories of Refugees in Sweden: Uncovering Patterns and Drivers of Inter-Regional (Im)mobility

Abstract

Abstract Many countries actively seek to disperse refugees to counteract residential segregation or/and take measures to attract and retain international migrants in smaller communities to mitigate or reverse population decline. This study explores the regional distribution and inter-regional mobility among refugees in Sweden. It uses individual-level register data to follow two cohorts for 8 years after their arrival in Sweden, distinguishing between refugees subject to a placement policy in the 1990s and recent cohorts that either had arranged their own housing or had been assigned housing. It uses sequence analysis and multinomial logit regression to analyse regional trajectories, and event history analysis to examine mobility determinants. The results indicate that most refugees remained in the same type of region throughout the period. A significant proportion of refugees with assigned housing in large city or small city/rural regions stayed there over a long period, suggesting that refugee settlement policies have long-lasting consequences.