Comments

1. Smokey says

   April 18, 2017 at 1:47 am

   I can understand some of the xenophobia. Most immigrants are young males, which skews the gender (im)balance. Sweden now has 108 males to 100 females in the 15-19 age group, which doesn’t include last year’s record number of immigrants. Estimates suggest 123 males to 100 females. When you mix frustrated young men with religious and cultural differences, you get a breeding ground for violent extremism.

   To be honest, I’m surprised the EU has survived so long. The national differences can be insurmountable, there’s no “United States of Europe”, which can surprise many American tourists. If you think the differences between the states in the US are large, Europe will shock you.

   I wonder if the Euro will fracture into local currencies again when the EU collapses.

2. KG says

   April 18, 2017 at 4:36 am

   Smokey@1,

   And yet somehow Sweden, like every country in the EU, is considerably less violent than the USA.

   This is presumably the source of your 123:100 estimate. (108:100 is not really that far from the 105:100 ratio at birth). Note that:

   Hudson’s estimate for Sweden was calculated by adding asylum applicants in 2015 to the current population figures -- and she is provisionally assuming that all applicants will be granted residency permits. The number of those who actually receive asylum will not appear in official population statistics for another year or so.

   Note also that some unknown proportion of these “15-19 year olds” are actually older.

   I wonder if the Euro will fracture into local currencies again when the EU collapses.

   I really would value access to your crystal ball (“when the EU collapses”). Odd that it didn’t show you what will then happen to the euro. In fact, the most likely scenario for an EU collapse is some country or countries deciding to leave the eurozone, since there’s no provision for an EU member doing so, once having adopted the euro.