Nordic demographic vulnerability index 2019


The index shows the degree to which municipalities in the Nordic region face demographic vulnerabilities. It is based on 10 demographic indicators – five related to age structure, two related to gender balance, two related to natural population change and one to migration. For each of the indicators a threshold value has been calculated, based on which a municipality can be considered ‘at risk’ or not.

The level of vulnerability has been calculated simply by counting the number of indicators on which the municipality crosses the ‘at-risk’ threshold. Therefore, a higher number indicates a higher level of risk. It is important to bear in mind that the existence of a large number of indicators over the ‘at-risk’ threshold does not necessarily indicate a bad demographic situation but rather it simply illustrates the level of complexity of the specific demographic situation. It does however illustrate a high level of complexity in the specific demographic situation.

Blue, green and light-yellow tones indicate municipalities with lower lever (1-5) of demographic risk whereas orange and red tones indicate municipalities where the number of indicators over the at- risk threshold is higher. Most municipalities in remote areas, especially in northern Sweden and Finland have a large number of vulnerabilities, while smaller numbers can be observed in capital areas and other growing city-regions.