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Comment by dont__panic | Hacker News Reader

Do you have any links or additional information about the "crime-ridden suburbs"? As an American, I was really surprised to hear that another country has the opposite issue we seem to have: crime-ridden cities (particularly since Covid-19 started wiping out businesses and foot traffic in many city centers). I'm really curious why Sweden has more crime in the suburbs, and would love to learn more!

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It's not really 'Suburbs' in the way the word seems to be used in the US. In Swedish the word suburb (förort) tends to more refer to the areas just outside city limits with large cheap housing projects. Saying you are from 'förorten' implies you grew up in an impoverished area. Much like saying you are from "the projects" in the US.

All these crime-ridden suburbs are within 20-30ish minutes easy public transport to the city center.

Basically think these sorts of buildings: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Hammarku...

rather than these sorts of buildings: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Su...

Sweden has a huge problem with violence in their suburbs: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/26/fatal-shooting...

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/03/world/europe/sweden-crime...

Sweden quite simply took way more poor migrants (many of them for humanitarian reasons) from developing world than it could effectively integrate, and that failed integration resulted in hopelessness, high crime and unemployment in these communities. Most of them ended up living in cheap apartment blocks located in suburbs while more well-off people started avoiding these areas, and that's why those suburbs are the bad areas.

Obviously you also have also suburbs with villas where richer people live and little crime. Sweden at this point is a highly segregated society.

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