Young talents: They are Sweden’s most attractive cities

The survey was conducted by the Stockholm-based company Future Place Leadership, whose business idea is to help cities attract talent.

The Talent City Index Sweden report is based on survey responses from the survey company Cint’s panels, 2136 people, in the age group described as most likely to move, and it lists 50 city regions.

The respondents have or have started an education in economics, IT/data specialist, health and care, to literary scholar, social scientist, engineer, natural scientist or lawyer. Most have academic degrees.

Gothenburg tops as the country’s most attractive city, just ahead of Stockholm. The fact that Gothenburg beats Stockholm is explained in the report by the “security aspect”. In addition, Gothenburg is perceived “as a city where values ​​and community are valued more highly than in Stockholm, which can create a more welcoming atmosphere.”

Social scientists put the capital before Gothenburg, other professional groups reason the opposite.

According to a press release from Business Region Gothenburg, Stockholmers are looking for a new place of residence mainly for the sake of security. In that case, they would ideally move to Gothenburg, followed by Uppsala. Gothenburgers prefer Stockholm if a move is in question.

Gotland and Visby come in sixth place, and are particularly praised among teachers and those who work in IT and care.

In the category of high risk of reducing the population in the next five years, Blekinge is at the top, with Malmö close behind.

Among the 20 cities at the bottom of the attractiveness list are five on the Norrland coast: Umeå, Skellefteå, Sundsvall and Örnsköldsvik “underperform in relation to their size”, they write, pointing to the mentioned need to get 100,000 new residents to cope with the large industrial establishments.

For the groups of self-employed and freelancers, smaller municipalities are described as more interesting, and here Gotland, Falkenberg, Enköping and Eskilstuna are mentioned, while managers look for Stockholm and Gothenburg, which in that respect share first place.