The Swedish flag at the end of the rainbow
This post will convince you to move to Sweden, even if you fear high taxes, hate the cold and dark, detest Abba and herring, and tremble with the thought of “Swedish socialism“.
10 reasons why you should move to Sweden.
1. Swedish benefits are the best in the world.
Five weeks paid vacation to start. More if you’re older or work for the government.
480 days of paid parental leave = Happy Kids = Good society
Parents get a total of 480 parental days for each child. For most of those days you’ll earn 80% of a salary of up to roughly $45,000 per year, which in Sweden is very good money. Parents have time to bond with their children — one reason why Sweden was recently ranked the best place in the world to grow up.
Cheap daycare, unlimited sick days and free healthcare, need I go on?
2. High taxes aren’t high if you are getting your money’s worth.
I don’t think taxes are too high in Sweden. Yes, if you are a billionaire, like IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad, then you are going to pay a lot of taxes, which is why he moved to Switzerland in 1976.
Even Americans agree the progressive tax system in Sweden is just. A recent poll shows Americans prefer the Swedish system, they just don’t know it.
My income tax is 30%, which is normal by Swedish standards.
Sweden does have a 25% value added tax or consumption tax. That’s high, which is why Swedes go shopping like crazy when they are in the US.
But look at how much I get.
There is universal healthcare in Sweden. You don’t pay anything unless you have to go to the doctor. In that case, you pay a small amount per visit. Last year, I went to see a back surgeon and I paid around $40. For a normal visit to a clinic if you get sick, you’ll pay around $20. For kids under 18, you pay nothing. That’s right, nothing!
Daycare is heavily subsidized. It costs about $120 a month, but you get a monthly child benefit from the government which covers those costs. So basically daycare is free.
And, oh yeah, University is free.
Overall, I am happy with the taxes I pay in Sweden because I get a lot back. I’d rather skip paying the middle man for the essential services, which in the US tends to be huge corporations like insurance and pharmaceutical companies. No thanks, leave them out, I’d rather pay direct to the government.
Want more details on all the Swedish benefits? Check out Sweden.se, an invaluable website that describes all the Swedish benefits in detail.
3. It is cold and dark and then sunny and perfect
Honestly, I didn’t like the cold and dark when I moved here, and I’m not sure I like it now. But the extreme weather doesn’t slow Swedes down at all.
They’re out and about all winter long. They cross-country and downhill ski, ice skate, play hockey, take walks, run, sled, drink coffee, and even put their babies outside to sleep in their carriages. I was amazed the first time I saw it, but it’s true. They say it’s good for them. My kids do it too.
The summer is incredible.
The sun rises before you wake up and sets after you go to bed. If you work until 5 pm, you’ll have 5-6 hours of sun after work. That’s quality time for swimming, kayaking, walking, or picknicking — practically a professional sport here.
Celebrations like Midsummer’s Eve and the August Crayfish party (Even Will Ferrell loves crayfish parties…and Swedish sex habits) are the perfect way to salute the sun.
4. The people are beautiful and they dress well.
OK, this statement is subjective, but I’ve yet to hear anyone challenge it. Do you dare?
5. Sweden is a great place for women
If it’s good for women, it’s good for everyone. This Marie Claire article, reports that women thrive in Sweden, citing a 2005 report from the World Economic Forum that named Sweden the “most advanced country” for women.
6. Get green
If one of the most comprehensive public transportation systems in the world sound good to you, move to Sweden. Trains and buses go everywhere, from the big cities to small skiing villages like Åre in the Swedish mountains.
Take my family as an example. We are a family of four, with two children, and we don’t have a car, even though we live in a suburb. Can you do that where you live?
Stockholm was named Europe’s first Green Capital in 2010. Among the reasons cited by the European Union are the city’s successful 25% cut in emissions since 1990, large number of green areas, and the city’s ambitious goal to be independent of fossil fuels by 2050.
All throughout Sweden the air is clean, there is tons of nature and the water is perfect for drinking and swimming.
7. Transparent politics
Sweden always ranks among the top countries in the world in transparency with low levels of corruption. Yes, politicians are still politicians, but in Sweden they are less shady.
8. Strong, independent media
This is the main factor ensuring reason #7 remains on the list. I’ve seen TV shows, both investigative reporting and documentaries, on Swedish public TV that never in a million years would be shown on American public or network TV — maybe not even on cable.
The Swedish media does its job. Journalists cover the important stories, know they should and aren’t afraid to. This, in turn, creates an educated population and a transparent government.
9. You are in Europe
Close to all the other European countries. That means weekend trips, skiing in the Alps, drinking Pinot Noir and savoring fresh mozzarella in Italy, touring the museums of Paris, and anything else you can think of.
10. Will Ferrell is practically a Swede
He is married to one and comes to Sweden for a good part of the summer. Watch the film.
Did I miss any?
I´m not sure everyone´s a winner in our system though. Im not sure I am, but maybe i will in the long run?
Im a healthy, well educated 33yo married man with no kids, both me and my wife have full time jobs.
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I have no use of the free healthcare neither does my wife, we are just contributing with my money so the people who smoke all their life and catch cancer can get proper free healthcare.
Since we dont have any kids we wont get any parental leave or use free day care, we just pay our taxes so that those who have kids get higher quality of their lifes.
We dont have good public transportation where we live, we need and have two cars. Taxes related to owning a car in Sweden vs US is enormous i think. A new VOLVO is about $30000 more expensive here? Swedish gasprices is more than twice the price in the US. The annual car tax, do you even have that in the US?
Since we both work we dont use the “a-kassa”(free money for enemployed, 80% of your previous income) or expensive education programs that unemployed use.
We pay a high income tax.
We pay the 25% value added tax or consumption tax on almost everything we buy.
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We did go to university.
I have 5 weeks of vacation. On the other hand its not tax money that pay my vacation.
My wife, who is a teacher, have 9weeks in the summer, three weeks around christmas, one(two?) week in the spring and som days off in the autumn (teachers might be the explanaition to the 33 instead of 25days?), on the other hand she works 45h/week with a low salary. Her entire job is depending on tax money though.
Hopefully we´ll have kids one day.
You´ll never know about your health, there might be an accident and you never now about cancer.
I´m very happy “Alliansen” won the election and i hope that they will continue lower taxes. I dont want to transform Sweden into USA but our taxes is way to high i think. Im also very happy that 90% of our tax money is spent on Swedish welfare instead of a war. I support the US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, but i cant understand how the US taxpayers accept that so much of their money is being spent on wars? Why dont spend the money on their kids instead?
Hi, Im Swedish and have been living here my entire life. I’m studying economics at the moment and just wanted to add that smokers pay more than they should. they contribute with more tax then the healthcare of smokers costs. Count on it and you will see. tobacco and alcohol are actually “good” for the rest of the country’s economy. thats why i smile when i see a smoker. “thanks for paying a part of my tax”…then, you say you dont get anything from the tax you pay. “you are both health and dont need healthcare”. so am I but last monday i was in an accident and had to go by ambulance to hospital and do surgery since i lost all my sensibility in my hand. then im really, really glad i didnt have to pay all the cost. especially since it wasnt my fault that i was hurt. thanks. hope this changed your view on tax a little…
no mention about the extremely difficult to learn language …
maybe that will be in the ten reasons not to move to Sweden post:-)
Extremely difficult?! I would say Swedish is the easiest language to learn out of all the other European languages. Who is to blame that English is a piece of cake? If there is something that I would add to the reasons to move to Sweden is that Swedes are actually very good at speaking English, and are extremely nice to foreigners.
please, come to Romania to see how is everything, we also pay taxes, but we pay for everything else, you can always move to another country if you don’t like yours:(
I agree with you. I think that Sweden is a great place to live. I have been here for almost a year and yes, there are things that annoy me at times – that happens wherever you live – but I think that Swedes make the most of everything they have. If winter throws a bucketload of snow at you, then ski down it. Why not?!!
Thanks for the post!
That’s probably the last place on earth I would want to move to. A place that makes the rich and the most talented people run away. A matriarchy and a sponger’s paradise, great. The freer places, like Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong, are a lot more attractive to me. Then again I’m not a woman with children. But if I had children, I would want them to be responsible and not depend on the state.
A socialist society can be made to look good but it usually fails in the long term, making its people poor.
Life isn’t valued in money you dog.
it s a bullshit country !!! nothing special , cold people and cold country ,,
to get all the best 10 things you have to run like a crazy
at the end if you don t speak the language it will be a nightmare ,,
most of the swedes are racist in nature even if they don t show it to you because not more that they will pay a fine for it
no jobs , most of the young people are jobless its the one of the first rate in europe almost 20 %.
15000 living in copenhagen
35000 living in oslo
so the wedges suck , in some places like restaurants they pay only 25 kroner per hour
if you don t speak swedish , don t ever think about coming to sweden
it will take more than a year to learn , the language schools suck a lot
at the end sweden work a lot about its image , in reality its not how it looks ,
thanks guys