The demographic decline - The case of Sweden : The shrinking process in remote rural areas

Abstract: In Sweden, growing processes and shrinking processes take place simultaneously since decades. The following thesis deals especially with the decline process in the remote rural municipalities in Sweden. The central question of the thesis is: how the national and municipal level in Sweden is dealing with the demographic decline in remote rural regions. To answer this question, the thesis includes three parts. The first part is the theoretical framework the thesis. The second part analyses the measures at the national level with a focus on the national regional growth policy as a support measure and the national equalisation policy as a compensation measure. The dealing on the national process is characterized by policies to reverse the decline and to compensate the negative impacts. The third part analyses the dealing process on the municipal level. Thereby, the dealing process has more a practical nature. This shows the two selected case study of the municipalities Arjeplog and Jokkmokk. It seems very common that the Swedish municipal measures are characterized by a two-way dealing namely reverse the decline and secure the municipal basic services.