Malmö: A quarter of Swedish-born students aren't seen as Swedes

Malmö: A quarter of Swedish-born students aren't seen as Swedes


More than a quarter of students born or raised in Sweden aren't seen as Swede, according to a study by Swedish newspaper Sydsvenskan of seniors in some of Malmö's gymnasium schools.

To be born or raised in Sweden doesn't mean that people treat you like a Swede.

A large ratio of youth who took their final examinations at St. Petri school, Malmö Borgar school, Malmö latin school, Rönnen's gymnasium and Klara Nya Gymnasium are treated as immigrants.

"[If] you have the wrong color and wrong name, you'll never be treated as a Swede," wrote one of the respondents.

"I'm a foreigner both in Sweden and in my homeland," answers a student who wrote he was born in Sweden.

More than 600 seniors at the  St. Petri school, Malmö Borgar school, Malmö latin school, Rönnen's gymnasium and Klara Nya Gymnasium answered Sydsvenskan's survey.  The schools have 1,041 students.  In total there are 3,000 final-year students in Malmö.

Of the 600, 551 said they were born in Sweden, or came to the country before they were 7. Here are their answers:

* 28.2% aren't treated as Swedes at all.
* 23% answered that they're treated as immigrants. 
* 5.2% are treated as something else, for example 'foreigners', 'Blatte' (non-Europeans) or 'Arabs'.
* 11.6% are treated as both immigrants and Swedes.
* 1.2% are treated as something else and Swede.
* 59% are treated as Swedes.  "I'm Polish, but I'm treated as a Swede," wrote one of them.

Source: Sydsvenskan  (Swedish)

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