Happy Nations #7: Sweden

Here is how Sweden compares to the United States in each of the six factors for Happiness:

GDP: 1.920 v 1.982
Social Support: 1.204 v 1.182
Healthy Life Expectancy: 0.803 v 0.628
Freedom to Make Life Choices: 0.724 v 0.574
Generosity: 0.218 v 0.220
Perceptions of Corruption: 0.512 v 0.177

Our second Scandinavian country shows its dominance. It is slightly behind in GDP but streaking ahead in perceptions of corruption.

Other Scoring Systems

Sweden edges ahead of Norway in many categories. Of course, Sweden’s enterprise conditions hold it back in some of the rankings, but that is not of significant concern to me.

Health Care

Healthcare in Sweden is decentralized. Responsibility lies with the regional councils and, in some cases, local councils or municipal governments.

Sweden ranks #21 in quality of healthcare and #10 in Global Health Security.

The Swedes complain about privatization and cost versus quality of care. However, the overall system is effective and positive.

Climate

Stockholm is the capital of Sweden and has a quarter of the country’s population. The two largest cities are Malmö and Gothenburg, which are further south with slightly warmer temperatures.

Stockholm is very similar to Oslo, Norway. However, there is less rain and significantly less snow, and Stockholm is closer to St. Louis instead of Syracuse.

Cost of Living

Sweden is less expensive to live in than the United States.

When we compare Saint Louis, MO, to Stockholm, we see that it will cost 1.9% less to live in Stockholm.

Language

Swedish is the official language of Sweden. However, 80% of Swedes speak English; Sweden is the #8 country in English proficiency.

Acceptance of Others

Sweden reports one of the highest percentages of native-born people interacting at least once a week with immigrants, either in the workplace (48%) or neighboring Swedes (59%).

This study shows that Swedes’ attitudes toward immigration and ethnic diversity have become more positive. However, attitudes are still negative compared to the results before 2016. The refugee influx in 2015 seems to have affected the current trends.

Sweden appears to be above the EU average for favorable treatment of LGBT+ individuals.

Moving Feasibility

A residence permit is required if you stay over 90 days in Sweden.

The only residence permit that may apply to us is “starting a business.” Non-Europeans must have a work permit to live in Sweden. To get a work permit, you must first have a job offer.

Conclusion

Sweden and Norway are very similar and, unfortunately, may be difficult to move to if we were willing to endure the weather.