| Summary: | Declining populations have been a problem for many rural Swedish municipalities for a long time. Citizens often move out at a young age to seek education or job opportunities elsewhere, many never to return. Some do, however, return later in life. This study aims to investigate why these internal return migrants return to remote rural municipalities in Sweden and whether their motives have changed since they left. Semi structured interviews have been conducted with return migrants in Arjeplog municipality in northern Sweden, a municipality which for many years has seen a decline in population. The result of the interviews shows, in accordance with recent studies on the subject, that the main motive for returning is social with family bonds being of particular importance. Results from the interviews also indicate that the motives for out-migration and return migration are different which can be derived from life transitions in the returnees’ lifetimes.
|
|---|