Swedish News:

Growing economy / Housing price correction / Record low / Falling unemployment / Population boom. 

  • Sweden's population reached 9 million on August 8, 2004 and 10 million on January 20, 2017. Curious about more Sweden stats? Take a quick look at Sweden here. Sweden in Swedish is "Sverige". The modern name is derived through the back-formation from an Old English word meaning "people of Swedes". The Swedish name of Sweden (Sverige) is a compound of the words Svea and RIke. Capital: Stockholm Official languages: Swedish Ethnic groups: no official statistics Demonym: Swedish-Swede Government: Unitary parliamentary representative democracy under constitutional monarchy Monarch: King Carl XVI Gustaf Prime Minister: Stefan Löfven (Social Democrat) Legislature: Riksdag Area in total: 449,964 km2 or 173,745 sq mi Currency: Swedish krona Scandinavia's other populations as of January 2017: Denmark 5,711,837 Finland 5,541,274 Norway 5,330,800 Iceland 334,303
  • Growing economy
    Sweden's economy is growing much faster than most of the rest of Europe, with high confidence levels, strong government finances and declining unemployment. Sweden also boasts some of the world’s best-capitalized banks, and the regulator has pushed through several measures to curb debt growth. The country is “resilient to a slump in house prices,” according to Anna Breman, the chief economist at Swedbank AB, the country’s largest mortgage lender.

  • "The Krona is a currency that benefits a lot by better times and reduced risk," says Johan Javéus, chief strategist at bank SEB. The strengthening of the currency risks to weaken Swedish exports but is still good for the Swedish stock market and the economy at large, according to Javéus.
  • Housing price correction ...
    Swedish households’ net wealth reportedly increased 1.3 percent during the third quarter of 2017. Meanwhile, Sweden is on the brink of the worst housing-market downturn since 2008. But with bigger financial buffers and a growing economy, experts believe everything will be fine. This is in part because the housing price correction was not caused by economic or financial distress, but by a surge in construction (initially to meet excess demand). Sweden is now a buyers’ market, with construction at its highest since the 1990s.

  • House prices reaching a record low
    Home prices are on the downturn, dropping 7.8 percent in the last three months, the steepest decline since late 2008. Swedish mortgage rates have fallen to record lows and are expected to remain low after the central bank cut rates below zero in a bid to boost inflation.

  • Falling unemployment
    Swedish unemployment is falling, with the rate at its lowest since before the 2008 crisis. Population growth, in part driven by immigration, contributes to a greater need for public investments in daycare, schools, senior care, hospitals and infrastructure.

  • Population boom
    Sweden's population reached 10 million in 2017, and is expected to grow by more than 1 million within the next 10 years. One in four people is under age 20; according to data collected in 2012, life expectancy at birth for the Swedish population is calculated at an average of 81 years: Men’s life expectancy is 78 years and women’s is 83.