*The Afro Swedish community is celebrated on this date, declared National Day in Sweden in 1750. African Suedes include naturalized citizens and Swedish residents born in Africa. As of 2018, 219,914 people in Sweden were born in Africa. African immigrants have lived in Sweden since the 17th century, but in very few numbers. In 1900, there were 79 Africans in Sweden, of which 5, all South Africans, were citizens.
One of the early documented Africans in Sweden was Gustav Badin, a Black court servant and diarist, originally a slave and butler of the Queen of Sweden, Louisa Ulrika, and later Princess Sophia Albertine of Sweden. Badin was not the only African Swede during the 18th century. There were blacks in the royal regiments; one was the trumpeter Richard Abramsson born in the US. Most of the descendants of the African servants faced poverty in Sweden.
In the 1880s, a circus performer named John Hood moved from the US to Sweden. It is unclear if John Hood was of complete African descent or was part European. Hood was the great-great-grandfather of Frederik Reinfeldt, who was prime minister of Sweden from 2006-2014. With either 1/16 or 1/32 African blood, Reinfeldt was the first head of state in any European country to be known to have black ancestry.
In the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, immigration from Africa increased, often due to civil wars. Swedish statistical data show that the African-born population grew from 596 in 1960 to 4,149 in 1970, 10,025 in 1980, 27,343 in 1990, 55,138 in 2000, and 103,077 in 2009.
Population size
Swedish national statistics collect data on country of birth, citizenship, and parents' citizenship, but not on ethnicity or parents' country of birth. According to Statistics Sweden, as of 2016, there are 110,758 citizens of African nations residing in Sweden. Of these citizens, the largest groups were born in Somalia (63,853), Eritrea (35,142), Ethiopia (17,944), Morocco (9,945), Egypt (6,807), Gambia (5,055), and Nigeria (5,027). Of these individuals, the largest groups were those holding citizenship from Somalia (41,335), Eritrea (32,099), Ethiopia (6,225), Nigeria (3,440), Egypt (3,359), Morocco (3,099), and Gambia (1,971).
Adoption
White Swedish families have been adopting children from Ethiopia since 1969. Between 1969 and 2005, 1,015 Ethiopian children found new parents in Sweden. The interest in adopting children from Africa has been increasing, with the number of children adopted from South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, and Madagascar. News anchor Katarina Sandström, TV comedian Marika Carlsson, and restaurateur and celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson are three well-known Swedes adopted from Ethiopia. Television sports journalist David Fjäll is another well-known Swedish person adopted from Africa.
