Downstream passage problems have been studied mainly in Europe and North America, but not so much in the rest of the world, and have focused on anadromous species, particularly salmonids. Relatively few studies have been conducted on other migratory species. Moreover, in many cases bypass facilities for downstream migrants have been implemented without evaluating their effectiveness or if effectiveness has been evaluated, it has often been shown to be low. We will provide a brief historical review of downstream bypass problems in Sweden. This is followed by a description of the Swedish situation today, with focus on several case studies that have evaluated downstream bypass efficiency in rivers of different sizes and for several different species. We have divided Swedish rehabilitation history into four periods: Fish migration and natural reproduction (pre 1900s), Fish ladders and racks with unknown function (1900-1935), The compensatory stocking and turbine passage era (1935-2000), and the modern approach of rehabilitating regulated rivers to allow natural reproduction. We will give examples of recent rehabilitation on Swedish rivers including measures such as inclined racks and bypasses/traps and guiding/skimming walls and we will present the results from their evaluation.