Refugee immigration and public finances in Sweden

Abstract

This study estimates the fiscal cost of refugee immigration. This is done by calculating the total value of economic resources that are redistributed through the public sector in Sweden in 2007 to the population of immigrants who once arrived in the country as refugees or their family members. The total redistribution corresponds to 1.0% of Swedish GDP in the same year. Four-fifths of it is due to lower public per-capita revenues from refugees compared with the total population, and one-fifth is due to higher per-capita public costs associated with refugees.