2015
Left bloc · S+MP163,000 asylum seekers — Sweden's refugee crisis peaks and policy reverses.
2015 infographic: asylum peak and policy turn
AI-generated infographic using the page's 2015 anchors.
Highlights
- Refugee crisis: Sweden received 163,000 asylum applications in 2015 — the highest per capita in Europe — including around 50,000 Syrians. In November, the Löfven government introduced temporary border controls at the Øresund crossing and replaced permanent residence permits with temporary ones, marking an abrupt reversal of Sweden's historically open asylum policy.
- Trollhättan school attack: On 22 October 2015, Anton Lundin Pettersson attacked Kronan School in Trollhättan with a sword, killing three people. Police confirmed the attack was racially motivated — the deadliest hate crime in modern Swedish history.
- Måns Zelmerlöw wins Eurovision: On 23 May 2015, Måns Zelmerlöw won the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna with "Heroes" (365 points), giving Sweden its sixth Eurovision victory and its second in three years.
Events in this year
2015 2015 European Refugee Crisis — Swedish Response During autumn 2015 Sweden received roughly 163 000 asylum seekers — the largest per-capita influx in Europe — and on 24 November the Löfven I government announced a sharp U-turn from "my Europe doesn't build walls" to temporary residence permits, tightened family reunification, and the EU asylum minimum, ending Sweden's self-image as a humanitarian superpower. Crisis 2015-10-09 The Christian Democrats back a NATO application (2015) At its national convention in October 2015, the Christian Democrats decided to work for Sweden joining NATO, dropping the country's long-standing line of military non-alignment. That made them the last of the four Alliance parties to take the position. Foreign policy 2015-12-18 ID-Control Law 2015 (Lag 2015:1073) On 18 December 2015 the Riksdag passed Lag 2015:1073, authorising mandatory carrier identity checks at Sweden's southern border crossings; the law was activated on Öresund traffic on 4 January 2016, halved daily commuter flows, and converted the autumn 2015 refugee-policy U-turn into binding statute. Reform