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"If we want to succeed with integration, first we need to understand where the migrants [in Sweden] are located, which values and social norms they have, and whether they even want to integrate – we call this subjective integration," Bi Puranen, Senior Research Fellow at Institute for Futures Studies which carried out the Migrant World Values survey, told The Local.
A majority of those questioned (57 percent) in the survey, which was carried out on the request of the Swedish government, reported feeling 'very at home' in Sweden. A further 32 percent felt 'quite at home' and only six percent didn't feel at home at all. Almost as many (55 percent) felt at home in the specific municipality they were living in.
When these responses were broken down by nationality, people from Somalia felt most at home, followed by those in Eritrea and Turkey (only seven countries had enough respondents to be included individually: Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq, Somalia, Iran and Turkey). The majority of respondents came from Middle Eastern and North African countries, while around one fifth were from Sub-Saharan Africa, and others came from South Asia, South East Asia and East Asia, and from Central and Eastern Europe.
On average, people originally from Somalia also felt most satisfied with their life, followed by those from Eritrea and Iran.
For nearly three decades, values and social norms around the world have been measured by the World Values Survey, in which Sweden is an outlier. On the 'cultural map' created by these surveys, Sweden lies far removed from the countries of origin of many migrants in Sweden today, such as Iraq and Turkey.
Puranen explained that in the World Values Survey and two other major surveys (the European Values Study and the European Social Survey) carried out since 1981, only a tiny proportion of interviewees in Western countries have been Muslims who have moved to those countries (including Western European countries, North America, Australia and New Zealand) from overseas.
"It's a democratic issue that we should have a better representation of these groups," said Puranen, explaining the motivation for the study, which focused primarily on Muslim migrants.
Around 6,500 non-EU migrants living in 54 municipalities, from Piteå in the north to Vellinge at the southern tip of Sweden, answered questions about their personal values and how they felt in Sweden. The survey included people who had moved to Sweden for a variety of reasons: more than half or 52 percent had arrived as refugees, while 37 percent moved to join a partner in Sweden and eight percent moved for work.
Most of those questioned felt equally proud of Sweden and their home countries, with 72 percent saying they were proud to be Swedish and 77 percent proud to be from their country of origin.
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Photo: Ola Ericson/imagebank.sweden.se
Most of the people surveyed had a positive view of their experience in Sweden when compared to their experiences in their home country, for example in relation to economic conditions, housing, healthcare, and social life.
Areas where many said they had experienced an improvement in Sweden compared to their home country also included opportunities for education and freedom of speech.
Puranen said she found the high level of feeling at home in Sweden interesting, but was also surprised by the fact this was higher among lower-educated people and the elderly. One possible reason for this is that Sweden's welfare state affords more opportunities such as highly subsidized healthcare to people with a lower level of education or in old age.
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In general, survey respondents said they were satisfied with their level of contact with both their home culture and Swedish culture, reporting that they were able to practice their own religion and speak their native langRead More – Source
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