Mentally retarded children and young people in Sweden. Integration into society: the progress in the last decade.

The services for the mentally retarded follow the principle of normalization, with integration as the most important means towards achieving this goal. A total of 0.44% of the population are mentally retarded. This number is decreasing. Only 23% of these are midly mentally retarded. The number living in different forms of institutions, is given by age and grade of retardation as well as the number of integrated school classes, and the changes in these respects since 1970 are described.