Statistics Sweden admits that the agency cannot tell the exact number of Sweden s population as its surveys only register tax-paying citizens and do not cover illegal immigrants.

According to Statistics Sweden s (SCB) report, there are currently around 10.35 million citizens living in the country. However, even the agency admits that this figure can be far from accurate. SCB does not gather population data through physical or postal census but relies on the Swedish Tax Agency s population register, which does not include non-tax-paying populations in Sweden.

Population statistics only include those with a registered place of residence and does not cover those without a registered address, Marie Lideus, head of the agency s population statistics unit recently said.

The problem is posed by an ever-growing population living „outside society.” On the one hand, they are young people who are registered at their parents home address but have already moved because they are studying in another city. On the other hand, statistics are more seriously distorted by the number of illegal migrants as it is not known how many people are staying in the country illegally, registered perhaps under different names. In January, the Swedish police arrested an immigrant who had been wanted for ten crimes. Tracking him was extremely difficult as he was using seven different identities.

Authorities are currently considering door-to-door physical census as it is rather difficult to establish the number of residents in some „vulnerable areas.” The tax agency estimates that around 119 thousand residents are registered at the wrong address and there are even more people who are not registered at all.