Title not available in English.

Abstract

It is known that the birth rates declined sharply in the first decades of this century in the most industrialized Western European nations. Governmental reaction to the so-called "population question", however, was widely different from one country to the other. It is possible to say that in Sweden the widespread anxiety concerning the fear of depopulation was channeled into "positive" measures aimed at structuring the social security system. This article analyzes the works of the two Comissions of Investigation established in Sweden to study the subject, the policies implemented, and their legacy to a welfare state which is known for providing protection "from the womb to the tomb". The text examines the nature of state intervention in the country and the way the principles put into force by the Swedish population policies became one of the pillars sustaining the "Swedish model".