SwedPop Receives Funding from the Swedish Research Council for Infrastructure of National Interest

The national research infrastructure SwedPop has been granted funding from the Swedish Research Council (VR). SwedPop collects and disseminates historical population data from several major databases. Umeå University is the grant administrator for SwedPop, and the Demographic Database at UMU is one of the infrastructure’s nodes. SwedPop’s application covered just over SEK 44 million, distributed across six national nodes for the period 2027–2030.

“SwedPop’s continued funding from VR means the infrastructure can be further developed and expanded. The new funds will allow new large datasets to be digitized and made available for research,” says Elisabeth Engberg, director of the infrastructure.

SWEDPOP AS INFRASTRUCTURE
From 2027 onward, SwedPop will include the Parish register databases at the Demographic Database, the Scanian Economic-Demographic Database (SEDD), the Gothenburg Population Panel (GOPP), ATLASS – Automated Transcription and Linkage of Archival School Data from Sweden, SweCens, Rotemannen, the Swedish Death Index, and Emiweb.

Together, these databases contain and provide coherent information about the Swedish population over nearly three centuries. Data from various socioeconomic environments are represented, including both urban and rural areas. The data encompass a wide range of demographic and socioeconomic variables, enabling research into numerous current questions of great societal relevance.

“With data from SwedPop, researchers can, for example, study how social and economic living conditions have been shaped and changed over time and improve our understanding of how differences in health, life expectancy, economy, and education arise within a population,” says Elisabeth Engberg.

NEW INITIATIVES WITHIN THE INFRASTRUCTURE
With the new VR funding, the infrastructure will be further developed with the ambition of achieving national coverage. During the period 2027–2030, AI-based methods will be implemented and used to create a national research register of the Swedish population from approximately 1895–1968, including information on birth, schooling, marriage, and causes of death.

“Such a register will significantly enhance SwedPop’s scientific value and become an invaluable resource for population-based research for many years ahead,” says Elisabeth Engberg.