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Värmland, bordering Norway in the west, has around 275,000 inhabitants. The population has shrunk by 2.5 percent in the past 25 years, while Sweden’s total population has increased by 15 percent in the same period of time. The county is experiencing urbanisation, and today one third of the population live in the Karlstad region. Young women in particular are moving away from the rural municipalities, which have lost 27 percent of their population since the early 1990s.  

Värmland’s gender equality statistics show there is less equality in most of the county’s areas compared with the rest of the country. 9.3 of company CEOs are women, and senior politicians and officials are 79 percent men and 21 percent women. Three out of 16 municipalities have a female mayor. 

Women in Värmland earn on average 55,000 kronor (€8,800) less than men. Men are more often unemployed than women, while women are more likely to work part time. 50 percent of women have higher education, compared to 23 percent of men. Värmland fathers use 24 percent of the parental leave.

(Source: Region Värmland)