More than 13 500 foreign controlled enterprises in Sweden

Foreign control of enterprises increased in Sweden with 775 enterprises in 2009. This increase means that there are more than 13 500 foreign controlled enterprises in Sweden. The number of employees in the foreign controlled enterprises increased with 4 843 persons, which was a smaller increase compared to last year’s investigation. In total, there was 13 636 foreign controlled enterprises with 625 564 employees in 2009.

Norwegian ownership increases

For the fourth year in a row Norway was the country that accounted for the largest increase of foreign controlled enterprises in Sweden. The increase of Norwegian ownership between 2008 and 2009 was 113 enterprises. The next largest increase had Luxemburg with 108 enterprises. Norway is the country that controls the largest amount of enterprises in Sweden (2 098 enterprises), followed by and Denmark (1 424 enterprises) and United Kingdom (1 419 enterprises). The biggest controlling country with regard to the number of employees is USA with 99 074 employees. United Kingdom and Finland follow next with 78 693 and 62 487 employees, respectively.

Foreign ownership is concentrated to the big city regions

Foreign ownership is continued to be concentrated to the big city regions. Out of the total number of foreign owned establishments in Sweden, 34 percent were located in Stockholm county, 16 percent in Västra Götaland county and 14 percent in Skåne county. The largest increase also occurred in these counties. In Stockholm, Västra Götaland's and Skåne counties, the number increased with 472, 147 and 142 establishments, respectively.

A few large enterprises provide most employment

Of the foreign controlled enterprises in 2009, 87 percent were small with fewer than 50 employees in Sweden. These enterprises, however, accounted only for 12 per cent of employees in foreign controlled enterprises. Large enterprises with 250 or more employees accounted for 3 per cent of all foreign controlled enterprises, but their share of employment was 65 per cent of all employees in foreign controlled enterprises. This has remained largely unchanged compared to previous years. The smaller foreign controlled enterprises had a larger proportion of their employees within the service sector compared to the large foreign controlled enterprises, which were more evenly distributed between manufacturing industry and the service sector.