Arabs in Sweden are citizens and residents of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

who emigrated from nations in the

Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

. They represent 5.3% of the total population of the country. About a quarter of Arabs in Sweden are Christians. Uppsala Mosque

Migration history

Many of the Arabs in Sweden are migrants from

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

and

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. In September 2013, Swedish migration authorities ruled that all Syrian asylum seekers will be granted permanent residency in light of the worsening conflict in Syria.

is the first EU-country to make this offer. The decision means that the roughly 8,000 Syrians who have

temporary residency In Canada, temporary residency () applies to those who are not Canadian citizens but are legally in Canada for a temporary purpose, including international students, foreign workers, and tourists. Whereas " Permanent Residence" (PR) is a requ ...

in Sweden will now be able to stay in the country permanently. They will also have the right to bring their families to Sweden. While Malek Laesker, vice-chair of the Syrian Arabian Cultural Association of Sweden, welcomed the decision, he also warned it could create issues. "The fact that Sweden is the first country to open its arms is both positive and negative," he told the

TT news agency TT News Agency (Swedish: TT Nyhetsbyrån or simply TT; formerly ''Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå'' until 2013, translates to ''The newspaper's telegram bureau'') is a Swedish news agency, the largest in Scandinavia, owned jointly by the country's new ...

, explaining that it may be a boon for the growing

people-smuggling People smuggling (also called human smuggling), under U.S. law, is "the facilitation, transportation, attempted transportation or illegal entry of a person or persons across an international border, in violation of one or more countries' laws, ...

market.

Notable people

Film, television and acting

Malik Bendjelloul Malik Bendjelloul (14 September 1977 – 13 May 2014) was a Swedish documentary filmmaker, journalist and actor.Rohter, Larry (20 July 2012)Retrieved 26 February 2013.Mohamed Said (actor) Mohamed Said (12 May 1987 – 11 January 2024) was a Swedish actor. He lived in Huddinge Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the ...

, actor of Iraqi origin *

Tarik Saleh Tarik Saleh (; born 28 January 1972) is a Swedish television producer, animator, publisher, journalist, and film director. He was born in Stockholm to a Swedish mother and an Egyptian father. He is most known for his Cairo-trilogy starring Fa ...

, film director of Egyptian descent *

Said Legue William Legue (born 4 May 1982) is a Swedish actor and script writer of Moroccan ancestry. Actor William Legue is a former soccer player who by an incident slipped into an acting career after an injury. Since his first appearance on screen 200 ...

, actor and script writer of Moroccan origin

Musicians

Salem Al Fakir Lars Salem Al Fakir (; born 27 October 1981) is a Swedish musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He regularly collaborates with Vincent Pontare as the songwriting and production duo Vargas and Lagola. Together, they have worked with ma ...

, Grammy Award-winning singer of Syrian origin *

Rabih Jaber Rabih Jaber (in Arabic ربيع جابر) (full name Rabih Mahmoud Jaber; born 5 August 1987, in Lebanon), also known by his simply Rabih is a Swedish singer of Lebanese origin. He is a former participant of Swedish Idol 2009, where he finished in ...

, singer of Lebanese origin, also part of

Rebound! Rebound! was a Swedish boyband pop duo established in 2010. Rebound! (written many times as REbound!) was made up of Rabih Jaber and Eddie Razaz, two contestants in Swedish ''Idol''. The band was dissolved in April 2011 after three hits, in ...

with Eddie Razaz *

Josef Johansson Josef Johansson (born 10 June 1993) is a Tunisian-Swedish pop singer and songwriter. Born in Tunisia where he began singing as a young singer at age 6, he was raised in Gothenburg, Sweden. He later moved to Stockholm and appeared in a number of r ...

, pop singer of Tunisian origin *

Leila K Laila El Khalifi (; born 6 September 1971) better known by her stage name Leila K, is a Swedish Eurodance singer and rapper of Moroccan descent. Early life El Khalifi's parents decided to send her to a school in Morocco, but she did not fit int ...

, singer and rapper of Moroccan descent *

Loreen Lorine Zineb Nora Talhaoui (born 16 October 1983), known professionally as Loreen (), is a Swedish singer and songwriter. Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest, Representing Sweden, she won the Eurovision Song Contest in Eurovision Song Conte ...

, singer of Moroccan-Berber descentAuer, Josefin
KP: Loreen KP11 2011
kpwebben.nu. Retrieved 10 March 2012. *

Maher Zain Maher Zain (; born 16 July 1981) is a Lebanon, Lebanese-Sweden, Swedish Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter and music producer. He released his debut album ''Thank You Allah'', an internationally successful album produced by Awakening Reco ...

, singer and songwriter of Lebanese origin *

RedOne Nadir Khayat (, Latn, ar, Nādir Ḵayyāṭ; born 9 April 1972), also known as RedOne, is a Moroccan-Swedish record producer, record executive, singer and songwriter. He has worked in production for high-profile recording artists including La ...

, songwriter and music producer of Moroccan origin *

Rami Yacoub Rami Yacoub (born 17 January 1975), also known by the mononym Rami, is a Palestinian-Swedish record producer and songwriter and former member of the songwriting/production houses Cheiron Studios and Maratone. Yacoub collaborated extensively wi ...

, songwriter and music producer of Palestinian origin

Sports

Nabil Bahoui Nabil Bahoui (; ; born 5 February 1991) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a forward for Allsvenskan club IF Brommapojkarna. Club career IF Brommapojkarna In 2008, Bahoui joined the main team of IF Brommapojkarna. Where he wa ...

, footballer of Moroccan origin *

Nadir Benchenaa Nadir Mohamed Benchenaa (born February 2, 1984, in Stockholm) is a Swedish footballer of Algerian origin. He is a currently a free agent. Career Benchenaa started his career at Hammarby IF before joining Stade Rennais in June 2000 for 2.8million ...

, footballer of Algerian origin * Dalil Benyahia, footballer of Algerian descent * Louay Chanko, footballer of Syrian origin *

Jimmy Durmaz Jakup Jimmy Durmaz (born 22 March 1989) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Etimesgut Belediyespor. He began his career at BK Forward and moved in 2008 to Malmö FF, where he won the Allsvenskan title in 2010. ...

, footballer of Syrian-Turkish origin * Seif Kadhim, footballer of Iraqi origin * Oliver Kass Kawo, footballer of Syrian origin * Mohammed Ali Khan, footballer of Lebanese origin * George Moussan, footballer of Syrian origin *

Christer Youssef Christer Youssef (; born 1 December 1987) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primar ...

, footballer of Syrian origin * Gabriel Ozkan

Others

* Modhir Ahmed, visual artist of Iraqi origin *

Mahmoud Aldebe Mahmoud Jamil al-Debe (, born 10 August 1954) is the chairman of the Muslim Association of Sweden (SMF). He was previously vice chairman of the Muslim Council of Sweden, an umbrella organization with the Muslim Association of Sweden as one of its ...

, of the Muslim association of Jordanian descent * Nadia Jebril, journalist and television presenter of Palestinian origin * Osama Krayem, suspected terrorist of Syrian origin *

Fida al-Sayed Fidaaldin Al-Sayed Issa (), born January 15, 1985, is a Syrian political activist who lives in Eskilstuna, Sweden. Fida is the chairman of the ''Youth Coalition of March 15'' and former spokesperson for the Facebook page ''"The Syrian Revolution"' ...

, political activist of Syrian descent * Djamal Mahmoud, poet and psychiatrist of Syrian origin

References

External source

Dialogue and openness - Sweden in the UN Security Council
Ethnic groups in Sweden Middle Eastern diaspora in Sweden Muslim communities in Europe {{Africa-ethno-group-stub