abstract–The prevalence of malocclusion was studied in 6,398 Swedish schoolchildren They were divided into two groups. Group 1 consisted of 2,664 boys and 2,795 girls in the town of Umeå. The children were examined at 7, 10 and 13 years of age. Group 2 was made up of 429 boys and 510 girls referred from the district of Västerbotten and examined only once. Dental anomalies of the permanent teeth, and space and occlusal anomalies were recorded. Of the children in Group 1 73.8% had some form of anomaly. Of these, 52.3% were occlusal anomalies, 32.6% space anomalies and 14.9% dental anomalies. Of the referred children (Group 2) 44.8% had occlusal anomalies, while space and dental anomalies were equally common (29.4% and 25.8%, respective