Why is Scandinavia less densley populated than the rest of northern Europe?

Answer 1

Scandinavia is a large area with a freezing temperature. Cold weather does not really attract many people, which is why Scandinavia is not very populated. Also, of the approximate 20 million people in Scandinavia, many live along the southern coasts, which is the warmest area.

Answer 2

Like many governments of the world, the governments of the countries which make up Scandinavia are secular and the peoples are not as consumed with religious observances as countries like the USA. Some Scandinavians go to church for rites such as weddings and funerals but maintain a careful control of their day to day lives without religion governing their morality or lifestyle.. Some Scandinavians are religious.The basis of their lifestyle choices could be based on traditional cultural attributes, a high general level of education (which drives "faith" down) and a socialized health care and social programs which tend to many daily cares and concerns.

Answer 3

Sociologists have been struggling with this one and have come up with several different answers and possibilities. These include:

1) Lack of Religious Competition: In countries like the USA, where numerous religions are competing for worshipers, religion becomes a more active part of society. Since Scandinavia was almost entirely Lutheran and the Lutheran church was state-subsidized, there was never a need to market the religion leading to disinterest.

2) Wars of Religion: Europe had numerous wars of religion, leading to people finding fault with religion in Europe to a degree not shared in areas like the USA or the Islamic World where religious conflict was much rarer. (Of course, this fails to explain why Eastern Europe is much more religious than Scandinavia, even though there have been as many religious wars.)

3) Secure Societies: Most Scandinavians are completely taken care of by the state and/or have all of their material needs met. Since World War II, there has effectively been no war or threat of war in Scandinavia, further increasing the sense of security. The kind of comfort and consolation that religion provides to the poor and immiserated in the developing world is wholly unnecessary in Scandinavia.

4) Employment of Women: It is argued that women joining the workforce led to a decrease in the religiosity as well as the religiosity of the family since women were often the more religious parent in the household.

5) Scandinavian Postnationalism: In many cases, religion becomes part of a nationalist identifier. We can see, for example, in the Balkans or Ireland that part of the Croatian identity or Irish identity is being a Catholic. This makes the religion a strong part of the local identity. As Scandinavia has ideologically moved towards a postnationalist sense, religion has become marginalized.

6) High Levels of Education: Generally speaking, the more educated a person is, the less likely that person is to be religious. Since Scandinavian countries have very high levels of education for most citizens, it should not be surprising that most Scandinavians are less religious.

7) Teaching about the History of Religions in Schools: Part of the school curriculum in most Scandinavian countries is to teach about the origins and history of religion in a scientific and archaeological way. They also teach comparative religion as opposed to just Lutheranism.

Answer 4

You don't say as compared with who. But religious belief is generally inversely related to the education standard of a country.

Answer 5

Colder climate.

Answer 6

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