Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1942, Page 72

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LE NORD
other States which have a considerable Swedish population, New
York heads the list with 61,000. Then follows California with
42,000, Massachusetts with 37,000, Washington with 34,000,
Connecticut with 18,000, Pennsylvania with 16,000, New Jersey
with 13,000, and Oregon with 11,000. The State in which the
Swedish element is relatively strongest is Minnesota, where it con-
stitutes 3.5 per cent. of the total population. Then follows Wash-
ington with 2.2 per cent., Illinois with 1.5 per cent., North
Dakota with 1.2 per cent., Connecticut, Montana, and Oregon
with 1.1 per cent. each, and Nebraska with 1.0 per cent.
The number of American-born Swedes shown by the census
was, of course, greatest in the States which had most Swedish-born
inhabitants. The census shows, however, certain deviations due
to differences in the period of immigration in the various States,
different rates of reproduction for rural and urban districts, and
inter-State migration. The greatest number of Swedes of the
second generation was found in Minnesota (180,000), Illinois
(150,000), California (62,000), New York (60,000), Michigan
(45,000), Massachusetts (44,000), Washington (43,000), Iowa
(41,000), Wisconsin (38,000), and Nebraska (36,000).
The aggregate Swedish population of the first and second
generations in the principal states are: Minnesota (271,000), II-
linois (261,000), New York (122,000), California (104,000),
Massachusetts (81,000), Washington (77,000), Michigan (69,000),
Iowa and Wisconsin (57,000 each), and Nebraska (50,000).
The greatest Swedish settlements proper are situated in the
State of Minnesota, where the scenery and economic conditions
are largely similar to those of Sweden. This is also the part of
the country where Swedish feeling has been preserved to the
greatest extent, which is due to the fact that a good deal of
Swedish group settlement has taken place there, so that Swedish
culture there is more concentrated than in many other districts
where the Swedish element may be larger, but is more scattered.
In the latter type of district, Americanization proceeds at a more
rapid pace, and this is of course especially the case in the towns.
A few figures may serve to give an idea of the distribution
of the Swedish population in other respects. Of those recorded
in the census of 1930 as born in Sweden, 408,000, or 69 per
cent. lived in the towns. Of the remainder, 99,000, or 17 per
cent. were agriculturists, while 89,000 resided in rural districts
without being engaged in agriculture. Of the second generation,