Why americans love sweden

Sweden sees winter temperatures ranging from 0 °C 32 °F in the south to °C 5 °F in the north, with snow covering the country for up to days of the year in the north Norrland , down to around 60 days of the year in the south Götaland. And despite a generally cool climate, you are at least pretty likely to get a nice and warm-ish summer wherever in Sweden you are, with summer average max temperatures around 23 °C 73 °F in July and plenty of daylight to go around because of its proximity to the polar circle. Sweden is the home of multiple high-tech and bio-chem hubs around the country, with especially Lund, Karlskoga, and Stockholm offering a wealth of interesting career opportunities, many aimed towards international employees. Sweden, as opposed to many other places in the world, has public policies which actually make it easier to have kids and to care for your offspring. Restaurants of all kinds are generally very family-friendly and are happy to make your experience as a guest and a parent better and smoother by providing high chairs, special entertainment or drawing stuff, special discounted kid meals, etc.

Parents who have to stay home from work and care for sick kids get automatic compensation in much the same way you do when you take parental leave days. I know from experience how difficult it can be dealing with bureaucracy in the US, and when I moved back home to Sweden it was such a breath of fresh air when most aspects of the bureaucratic process were pretty smooth with lots of helpful assistance along the way. It starts with how helpful Swedish consulate employees are and how clearly they explain the process to migrate from the US to Sweden, and flows through most aspects of everyday bureaucracy like taxes, parental leave pay, educational system, etc. Bureaucracy is just surprisingly reasonable for the most part in Sweden, and more than once have I been guided helpfully and patiently through things like parental leave and getting paid while caring for a sick child as in a cold, tummy ache, or whatever. There is a strong culture of transparency and so-called insyn into public work of all kinds but also the world of private business in Sweden.

All information regarding public operations including tax data is considered public information in Sweden, which usually means citizens of Sweden can request it online and get a copy sent to you i. That also means that anyone can request information on how much their neighbor makes per year, or financial records of any business that is paying taxes in Sweden, setting the bar for transparency quite high when it comes to financial dealings a big plus in my book. Sweden has been at the forefront of LGBTQ rights globally speaking and ranks 5th in the world in the Spartacus Gay Index which scientifically measures and ranks how gay-friendly countries around the world are yearly since Sweden has been at the forefront of gender equality and the fight against income inequality between the genders since women were allowed to vote in and up until today as the fight continues. That said, Sweden as a whole along with the rest of the world still has plenty of work to do to close the gender gap, but there is at least constant progress being made in the right direction.

This freedom of movement makes outdoor excursions especially liberating, and gives everyone access to true wilderness for free. There are huge areas that are very sparsely populated in Sweden, especially in the north Norrland. And with over 90 lakes and 3 kilometers 1 miles of coastlines, there are plenty of remote spots where one can take in nature undisturbed.

There is less hierarchy in Sweden than there is in the US

Sweden is the largest Nordic country and is uniquely located in-between the other three large Nordic countries Denmark, Norway and Finland , and provides great access to all three countries. Sweden has had among the highest fertility rates in Europe for a while, with a Total Fertility Rate of 1. A high but not too high! Here are the top 12 developed countries as defined by the UN with the highest fertility rate in No country is perfect, but Sweden comes pretty close to being completely free of corruption, ranking 3rd in the world in the Corruption Perceptions Index higher means less corrupt. This is no doubt tied to a strong culture of transparency in society in general, that even trickles through the corporate and political worlds that usually see very little of this internationally speaking. For the bigger cities, this means fewer cars, less noise pollution, and much cleaner air in general, which we can see in the European Commissions Quality of Life survey that ranks Malmö third most populous city in Sweden as the second most quiet city out of 83 major European cities.

I’m an American living in Sweden. Here’s why I came to embrace the higher taxes. - Vox

Houses in Sweden are mostly built to last, and at least need to be able to handle the harsh Swedish winter. After having lived in cities such as Sydney, Los Angeles and San Francisco, I can personally attest to a higher quality of housing in general, and lower-cost housing in particular, likely as a necessity due to the harsher climate. In most aspects of society, Sweden follows the science and generally trusts the work and research of scientists from the many top-tier universities. We can see this in how many scientific articles are published in Sweden, ranking 5th globally in the number of published scientific papers per capita for , placing it just below Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, and Australia. Even in the recent pandemic, the Swedish approach was mostly guided by scientists in Folkhälsomyndigheten Swedish Department of Health , as opposed to politicians which was the case in most other western democracies. As we can see there are many different reasons why people choose to move to Sweden, with many of them representing stark differences from countries such as the US and the UK, and some that offer similar circumstances as well.

Of course, there is no shortage of reasons why people choose NOT to move to Sweden as well, so make sure you do your own research and look at both sides of the coin before making a decision. I love living in Sweden and my American better half agrees that our life as a family is much easier and more enjoyable in Sweden vs. That said, there are many things we both miss from the states. Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest Nordic resources, insights, tips, hidden gems, and much more. He left Sweden at 19 to explore the world, and stayed abroad for almost 8 years—during which he backpacked, worked every job there was, earned a degree from UC Berkeley, and met the future mother of his children.

Why Move To Sweden? 26 Reasons From Actual Expats

He ultimately returned to his native Malmö with his love, where they now have 3 Swedish-American boys eager to explore the world. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Previous post. Next post. Skip to content My American better half and I moved from the US to Sweden when my US visa expired, and although we had to move out of necessity, we have discovered plenty of other reasons why one might want to make this move. Life in Gamla Väster, Malmö, Sweden.

20 things to know before moving |

Believe it or not, the average Swede makes a significantly larger salary than the average North American. Most Swedish households include two working parents, which can, on average, generate more income per home. Furthermore, Swedes are good at prioritizing their physical and mental well-being and making smart psychological choices. As just a couple of examples, Sweden has an official holiday to engage in sporting activities, and many households have a country home that they use when they want to get out of the city and enjoy nature. I have also found them to be more self-aware, direct and honest than many other cultures. This word is uniquely Swedish, and a direct translation does not exist in the English language , which is the best evidence of the purity of its genesis. For example, you can have a lagom number of meatballs, live in a lagom apartment and have your heating set at a lagom temperature. Furthermore, I have witnessed and elicited the Swedish distaste for either excessive confidence, braggadocious behavior or conspicuous material consumption.

So, perhaps my fellow Americans should consider putting their U. Who knows? Emily is an American from New York who has spent the last 3 years in Sweden. I accept the Privacy Policy.