The aim of this study is to investigate spatial mobility over time. Research on 'new mobilities' suggests increasing movement of individuals, technology, and information. By contrast, studies of internal migration report declining spatial mobility in recent decades. Using longitudinal register data from Sweden, we calculate annual order-specific migration rates to investigate the spatial mobility of young adults over the last three decades. We standardize mobility rates for educational enrolment, educational level, family status, and place of residence to determine how much changes in individuals' life domains explain changes in mobility. Young adults' migration rates increased significantly in the 1990s; although all order-specific migration rates increased, first migration rates increased the most. Changes in population composition, particularly increased enrolment in higher education, accounted for much of the elevated spatial mobility in the 1990s. The analysis supports neither ever increasing mobility nor a long-term rise in rootedness among young adults in Sweden.

n this article, we combine the extensive literature on the analysis of life-course trajectories as sequences with the literature on causal inference and propose a new matching approach to investigate the causal effect of the timing of life-course events on subsequent outcomes. Our matching approach takes into account pre-event confounders that are both time-independent and time-dependent as well as life-course trajectories. After matching, treated and control individuals can be compared using standard statistical tests or regression models. We apply our approach to the study of the consequences of the age at retirement on subsequent health outcomes, using a unique data set from Swedish administrative registers. Once selectivity in the timing of retirement is taken into account, effects on hospitalization are small, while early retirement has negative effects on survival. Our approach also allows for heterogeneous treatment effects. We show that the effects of early retirement differ according to preretirement income, with higher income individuals tending to benefit from early retirement, while the opposite is true for individuals with lower income.

As a result of the ongoing urbanization trend in many countries, most rural and peripheral areas are suffering from depopulation and out-migration. Nevertheless, some rural areas are experiencing a net in-flow of older migrants. One explanation mentioned is that people own second homes that are converted into permanent homes in later life. However, this description has rarely been tested empirically. Rather, it has been described as residual for migration into rural areas. Three hypotheses have been put forward in relation to second homes as a trigger for migration in later life. The first is that second-home owners are less inclined to move but utilize their second home more as a substitute for permanent amenity migration. The second is that owners are more likely to move as they have the opportunity to move permanently to their second home, while the third is that second-home owners would be more likely to downsize from their permanent home and make housing adjustments. This study attempts to answer the question if second-home ownership triggers migration in later life and if it is a matter of housing adjustment or converting a second home into a permanent home. This is performed by analysing microdata covering all individuals in Sweden in the 55–70-years age range in the 1999–2008 period. Results support the hypothesis that second-home ownership triggers migration in later life and, by so doing, imply that a life course perspective is valuable for our understanding of migration in later life and that not only permanent migration but also experiences of temporary mobility are relevant for migration biographies.

Based on longitudinal data from national Swedish registers, family life courses dynamics for all women born 1935 in Sweden are explored for the period 1990-2006. Focusing primarily on the existence and geographical proximity to parents, children and grandchildren, assuming that the family life courses affect the life situation as well as strategic decisions, this longitudinal study uses a holistic approach, analysing how different types of family life courses are associated with socio-economic conditions as well as with the timing of retirement. The primary task was not to identify the causal determinants of work life exit, but rather to unfold how retirement transition is entwined into the different types of family life courses, whereby retirement and family ageing are different sides of a multifaceted transition period. By using sequence analysis, the family life courses were structured into sequences and durations of states and different family life course categories were identified.

The sequence analyses reveal a complex relation between retirement decisions and having family members around. Early retirement was associated with a category with few relatives but also with a category with two younger generations present, while we found no strong association with early retirement for categories in which the old generation was around for a longer period. Late retirement was associated with belonging to categories characterized by late family formation and having children at home. These differences in retirement behaviour were also significant when controlling for education level, marital status and type of region in a Cox regression.

Regional variations in access to local family networks has implications for future care burdens in different regions as well as the living conditions for both older and younger generations. The geographical distance between family members is a long-term consequence of accumulated migration and non-migration undertaken by the individual as well as other family members. This study contributes to this subject through offering a description of regional disparities in the access to local family networks among 60-year olds in Sweden. Additionally, this paper aims to analyse this pattern as an outcome of long-distance migration processes. The empirical study is based on Swedish register data, with a focus on 60-year olds in Sweden, linking them to their adult children, siblings and parents as well as in-laws. The dataset includes total population, where it is possible to identify family networks in their geographical context on various geographic scales, down to a neighbourhood level. As expected, results indicate that families in metropolitan areas are the most concentrated geographically while the left behind parent, embedded in a local network in their own and older generation, is a small category in urban areas but quite common in some rural municipalities. It is also shown that access to local family networks not only varies on a broad rural–urban scale but also locally, between neighbourhoods within metropolitan areas.

Rural restructuring has established itself in recent years as a popular area for research. However, the empirical findings are contested and criticism has been raised against its one-sided focus on agriculture and the British countryside. Drawing on Swedish longitudinal register data from three cohorts, we argue that there is empirical support for a restructuring process in rural areas. However, changes in agriculture are largely irrelevant considering the general picture – instead, it is the rise and fall of manufacturing and rural public sector employment, along with the recent growth of urban service sector employment, that comprise the contemporary economic restructuring of rural areas. We conclude that the contemporary restructuring in rural areas should be separated from a previous restructuring which went from agriculture to manufacturing.

There are considerable regional differences when it comes to age composition, as rural areas are ageing more rapidly as a result of age-selective migration. Eras of urbanization and counter-urbanization are also making their mark on migration patterns from a long-term perspective. The current generation approaching retirement age in Sweden is a generation of urbanization, thereby constituting a potential for return migration, especially to some rural regions many people of this generation left decades ago. The aim of this paper is to compare rates of return migration in municipalities in Sweden in order to identify regions where return migration is particularly important, and also to identify which regions are the most attractive for return migration. The empirical study is based on Swedish register data, and the results indicate that the rate of return migration varies considerably between regions; some are more attractive for return migration, yet return migrants might be most significant in the regions that attract few other migrants. Another conclusion is that the regions that lost a greater share of this generation on account of previous migration often fail to attract return migrants.

Sweden, with a particular focus on Latvia. Two historical turns in the BalticStates’ recent history have contributed to an out-migration from the region—the restoration of independence in the early 1990s and accession to the EuropeanUnion (EU) in 2004. Although these events were considered positive asthey meant “open” borders for Baltic State citizens, lately the out-migrationfrom Latvia has increased. Likewise, the global economic crisis that started in2008 and the consequential unemployment draw attention to emerging patternsand the composition of emigrants to several destinations, but in this caseparticularly to Sweden. After the EU expansion Sweden did not receive as manyEastern European migrants as was expected at the time, but recent trends revealthat there has been a steady increase in the migration flow since then. TheNordic countries as a potential destination initially lacked pioneer migrants toestablish social support networks that would attract newcomers, but this is nowchanging; statistics for 2010 show that the number of Baltic State immigrantsin Sweden has grown significantly since 2008. With the economic recessionand unemployment in Latvia in 2009, 2010 had even higher emigration activitythan in 2004 just after the country’s accession to the EU. Nordic countriesemerge as welcoming destinations to recent migrants, who state that the proximityto their home country and the labour market opportunities are the mainattraction but also that a positive view of Sweden and the Swedes plays a part.Contemporary trends of migration from the Baltic States and especially Latviaunder conditions of economic downturn lead to emerging pattern of migrationsystems between Latvia and Sweden, combining a mixture of motives and diversityof the people involved in migration chains.

During the last twenty-five years, housing policy in Sweden has radically changed. Once forming a pillar of the comprehensive welfare system, abbreviated the “Swedish model,” neoliberal housing politics have established market-governed housing provision with a minimum of state engagement. This shift has had consequences on the social geography of housing conditions. The research reported here analyzes social geographic change in Sweden's three largest cities—Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö—between 1986 and 2001, relating observed patterns of gentrification and filtering to cycles of accumulation and to neoliberalization of housing policies. First, we outline the neoliberalization of Swedish housing policies. We then present an empirical analysis of gentrification and filtering in the three cities, spanning two boom periods (1986–1991, 1996–2001) and a bust period (1991–1996). The data reveal social geographic polarization manifested in the growth of supergentrification and low-income filtering. The analysis also introduces the concept of ordinary gentrification, supporting the move in gentrification research toward a broad generic conception of the process. Political reforms after 2001 are summarized and we argue that these underlie the continued increase in inequality and that the social geographic polarization mapped between 1986 and 2001 has probably intensified during this decade.