Swedish News:

Not enough fruit and veggies. What keeps Swedes up at night? Record number apply to college and university. World heritage threatened on Öland. 

  • Not enough fruit and veggies
    You've heard it before, haven't you? We are not eating enough fruits and vegetables. At least Swedes aren't. Only 9 percent of all adult Swedes are. By eating enough, according to recommendations from Livsmedelsverket (the National Food Agency), you should consume half a kilo of the good stuff a day (that’s 1.1 lbs). According to Statens folkhälsoinstitut (the Swedish National Institute of Public Health), how much you eat depends on what group you belong to. “People with good economy and a long education oftentimes have better eating habits than those with shorter educations and poorer economy,” says Pia Lindeskog, director of the department for living habits at Statens folkhälsoinstitut. “This is something we see in almost all studies. It’s a class matter.” Lindeskog says those of us who eat lots of fruits and vegetables increase our ability to feel good, while also making sure common diseases are prevented. The nutrition and vitamins found in vegetables cannot be gotten by popping vitamins: “Studies show that you might get side effects if you use these pills to get the nutrients you need. So the best thing is to eat fruit and vegetables.” The number of Swedes eating the right amount of fruit and vegetables in Stockholm: 11 percent (women: 15 percent and men: 7 percent). Best are the people living in Täby and Sollentuna, where 14 percent eat the recommended amounts, and worst are the people in Norrtälje, who only eat 6 percent.

  • What keeps Swedes up at night?
    What do Swedes worry about? No, it's not the mortgage, and it's not debt that make them toss and turn at night. Instead it's unemployment and prolonged sick leave. One in every four Swedes worries their income will change because of unemployment or illness, according to a poll by Svensk fastighetsförmedling (Sweden’s largest chain of estate agents). Especially women worry. 29 percent of them express serious concern over these issues, whereas only 20 percent of men worry over the same things. And it’s mostly people in the age group 35-59 who worry; younger Swedes are not as concerned. In the age group 25-34 the greatest worry is sinking housing prices. “There are reports of a marked increase in the number of notices and rising unemployment,” says Peter Pütsep, managing director at Svensk Fastighetsförmedling in a press release. 1,022 Swedes from all over the country participated in the poll.

  • Record number apply to college and university
    A record number of applicants wanting to enter colleges and universities in Sweden has been reached, according to Verket för högskoleservice (the Swedish Agency for Higher Education Services). Meanwhile, there are fewer spots available, which means stiffer competition. In October 2012, 209,023 persons had applied for college and university for spring 2013, which is 7,000 more than a year ago, and 9,000 more than two years ago. In spite of the increasing number of applicants, the number of available spots at Swedish institutions is decreasing; next year it will decrease by 10,000.

  • World heritage threatened on Oland
    The planned wind turbines on the southern part of Oland may lead to the island losing its world heritage status. The warning comes from the Swedish department of Icomos, Unesco’s expert agency. The world heritage area Södra Öland (southern Öland) is comprised of over 56,000 hectares (138,000 acres). The plan is to put up the wind turbines right there. “To say that they (the wind turbines) would cause no apparent harm on the value of what constitutes the world heritage area would be near impossible,” writes Kerstin Westerlund Bjurström, chairwoman for Icomos in Sweden, in a letter to Mörbylånga municipality. Then again, what can you expect from an island, which is no longer an island... Sweden's second largest island, Öland, is not considered an island by the European Union