International marriages end sooner

These, and many more, fascinating nuggets of knowledge - some more useful than others - will be presented on Wednesday by Statistics Sweden in its report, Sweden's Population 2004.

The publication, which paints a numerically precise picture of Swedes, will be available on Wednesday morning, but the organisation has already released a sneak preview to whet the appetites of the country's stats lovers.

Sweden's population increased by 35,722 people in 2004, and the total broke the 9 million barrier for the first time.

Marriages which came to an end in 2004 had an average length of 13 years for couples where both partners were from the same country and just 10 years where the partners were born in different countries.

During the 20th century the proportion of the population under the age of 10 has fallen from 22% (1905) to 11% (2004).

For mothers living in Sweden, fertility is highest among those born in Africa, at 2.7 children per woman.

The average life expectancy for women was 82.7 years while for men it rose to 78.4 years in 2004.

An average Swede moves home eleven times in his or her lifetime.

The number of asylum seekers declined dramatically during 2004. In total, 23,161 people sought asylum in Sweden in 2004, a fall of 26% compared to the previous year.

Of Sweden's population of 9,011,392 people, 16% had a foreign background.

Every year around 1,600 people are adopted, of which two thirds are born abroad.

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