Indicator history

The connection between the school results of children in year nine and the area in which they live was investigated in the report Statistics Sweden, Demographic Reports 2007:2, Children, segregated housing and school results, (http://www.scb.se/statistik/_publikationer/le0102_2006a01_br_be51st0702.pdf. The research showed that it is more common that children living in areas with a large proportion of children with foreign background do not qualify for upper secondary school compared to children living in other housing areas.

However, the  study does not fully address the question of why children who live in areas which have a large proportion of children with foreign background are at greater risk of receiving grades that do not qualify them for upper secondary school.

The results also show that many Swedish cities, both large and small, are characterised by segregated housing arrangements. Slightly over 40 percent of children with a foreign background in Sweden are concentrated in 310 of the country's almost 8 000 housing areas (homogenous housing area, or SAMS area). At least half of all children in these areas have a foreign background. At the same time, more than 50 per cent of children with Swedish background live in areas where hardly any children with foreign background at all.

Slightly over 40 percent of all children with foreign background live in ten municipalities. At the same time, nearly 40 percent of all Sweden's municipalities have hardly any children with foreign background at all (0–5 percent).

Source:

school results (SCB, Demografiska rapporter 2007:2, Barn, boendesegregation och skolresultat), http://www.scb.se/statistik/_publikationer/le0102_2006a01_br_be51st0702.pdf (accessed 2012-03-11).