ORLANDO, Fla. – Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt hit back at President Donald Trump's false statement in Melbourne on Saturday about a terrorist attack in the European nation that did not happen.
Bildt cited Orange County crime rates in his response to the president, writing on Twitter that there were approximately 50 percent more homicides in Orange County Florida, not far from where Trump was speaking, than in all of Sweden.
"You look at what's happening last night in Sweden," Trump said Saturday at the Melbourne International Airport. "Sweden, who would believe this? Sweden."
Sweden has a population of about 9.8 million people compared to Orange County's roughly 1.2 million.
Viral claim by @carlbildt comparing Sweden, Orlando homicides rates Mostly True https://t.co/XUclqEXvVj pic.twitter.com/NjTrSxCJAB
— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) February 23, 2017
Researchers at Politifact crunched the numbers and found that over a 10-year period, Orange County's murder rate was significantly higher than Sweden's.
In 2015, Orange County's homicide rate was about 4.3 homicides for every 100,000 people compared to Sweden's rate of 1.13 homicides for every 100,000 people, according to the report.
Politifact rated Bildt's tweet "mostly true."
The original tweet has been retweeted more than 22,000 times and received more than 43,000 likes.