The changing Sweden's regional pattern and its context

Regional disparities and spatial inequality are typical topics studied by geography. Sweden is one of the most homogeneous and egalitarian countries in the world. Simultaneously, it is characteristic for its very low regional disparities and thus it is an important and interesting subject for studying. The main goal of this thesis is to examine changes in a regional pattern from the beginning of the 1990s and to analyse an impact of structural changes (deindustrialization and tertiarization) and globalization (through activities of transnational corporations) on regional disparities. In the thesis socioeconomic and demographic indicators and quantitative statistics are used to analyse a development of regional disparities in Sweden and to examine a broader context of this development. The main finding of the thesis is a disproportional growth of metropolitan regions (mainly Stockholm). Share of metropolitan regions on population and socioeconomic activities is increasing and it is characterized by dynamic development which is intensified by high specialisation, major valued-adding activities, knowledge-based economy and localisation of transnational corporations. Regional variability is slowly increasing and disproportional growth of metropolitan regions contributes to this development. Thus the..