EU membership
52,7% voted for and 47,3% voted against Sweden joining the European Union in November 1994. The geographical pattern is a striking one.The yes voters had their strongholds in the towns in the south; the opposition was compact in the northern rural districts, and in all municipalities within the limits of EU’s regional development areas (!), based on extremely sparse population, a large majority voted against. It is remarkable how strongly the geographical outcome of the EU referendum reflects patterns of urbanisation, migration and non-migration, age distribution, household structure, level of education, industrial structure and occupational distribution, income and political elections. Modern Sweden is divided by opposing fields of force between town and country and between north and south.