The percentage of persons who were at persistent risk of poverty varies widely between different groups. Among children below 10 years, the proportion is about 14 percent and among those over 80 years the proportion is 22 percent. In the ages 45–60 years, the proportion is 7 percent.

One in five foreign born persons were at risk of poverty, while among Swedish born persons, this proportion was 7 percent.

Among foreign born persons, there are also major differences between regions of birth. One in three people born in Africa was at persistent risk of poverty and among people born in Asia the corresponding figure was one in four. Among people born in Europe, this percentage was around 15 percent. The differences between people born in a Nordic country and people born in the rest of Europe are minor.

Persistent risk of poverty is generally less common among foreign born persons who have lived in Sweden for a long time compared with those who have lived in Sweden a shorter period of time. Among persons who have lived in Sweden for more than 20 years and are born in Africa or Asia, 18 percent had a persistently low income.

Among foreign born children living in Sweden, more than 40 percent were at persistent risk of poverty, compared with 6 percent among children born in Sweden and who have two Swedish born parents.
Gainfully employed persons are seldom at persistent risk of poverty; the proportion in this group was 2 percent, while one in four people not gainfully employed, such as students, unemployed persons and ill persons, were at persistent risk of poverty.

Danderyd and Vaxholm municipalities had the lowest persistent at-risk-of-poverty rate in 2019, at about 3 percent. The persistent at-risk-of-poverty rate was higher than 14 percent in approximately 50 out of Sweden’s 290 municipalities.