Macroeconomic Country
Profiles
Edexcel Economics A
, Sweden🇸🇪
• Sweden is currently amidst a recession as
• Sweden has a current population of 10.2 the economy decreased in size by 4.6%
million making it the most inhabited during Q4 of 2022, the outlook is slightly
country in Scandinavia though 64% of the more positive as the economy is ex-
country is forest. pected to grow by 0.9% in Q3 and 1.9 in
• Its capital, Stockholm, has over 1.6 mil- Q4 of the current year. GDP is $635.7bn.
lion of these residents. • GDP per capita is currently $59,974,
• 96.72% of the population speak Swedish much more than the EU average which is
(the official language) and 53.97% also $48,900.
speak English. • The current gini coefficient of Sweden is
• It shares borders with Norway and Fin- 0.276 which stacks up well against other
land but the East coast of the country is world countries e.g the UK’s is 0.355.
along the Gulf of Bothnia making it an • This also means that the current poverty
easy place for imports and exports to be rate is just 0.6% of the population.
transported to and from. • It also has relatively low government debt
• Sweden also has a part of the E20, a being just 59% of GDP.
transport route constructed by the EU. It • The current unemployment rate is a prob-
allows people to travel from Copenhagen, lem with it being at 6.4% in Q4 of 2022
Denmark to Malmo (one of the largest but this was 1% lower than it was at the
cities in Sweden). same time a year prior.
• The large amount of forests in Sweden • Sweden’s major problem is its inflation
rate which surged to 12.3% (CPI) in De-
The Swedish economy is well placed in some aspects, but cember 2022.
the high level of inflation is at the root
of most of its economic problems. Swedish residents are experiencing a cost of living crisis simi-
lar to the one which we are experiencing in the UK as, even though inflation was 12%, housing
and utilities prices rose by 20.2% and food prices rose by 18%. This has culminated in consumer
prices rising by 2.1% in December alone, the latest increase since 1993.
It is hoped that the easing supply bottleneck as well as falling commodity and freight prices will
lead to inflation decreasing and this should increase consumer and business confidence leading
to more consumption and investment which should lead to the start of an economic recovery by
the end of 2023.
The Swedish economy could be considered paradoxical in a way. There is a large emphasis
placed on privatisation and free market competition which has seen a lot of deregulation in mar-
kets yet there is also a large welfare state which helps to redistribute incomes, hence why their
https://languageknowledge.eu/countries/sweden
https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/sweden-population/
https://jakubmarian.com/percentage-of-forest-area-by-region-in-europe/
https://www.britannica.com/place/Sweden/Economy
https://tradingeconomics.com/sweden/unemployment-rate
https://data.oecd.org/unemp/unemployment-rate.htm#indicator-chart
https://tradingeconomics.com/sweden/inflation-cpi
https://www.oecd.org/tax/tax-policy/revenue-statistics-sweden.pdf
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=SE
https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/SWE/sweden/poverty-rate
Profiles
Edexcel Economics A
, Sweden🇸🇪
• Sweden is currently amidst a recession as
• Sweden has a current population of 10.2 the economy decreased in size by 4.6%
million making it the most inhabited during Q4 of 2022, the outlook is slightly
country in Scandinavia though 64% of the more positive as the economy is ex-
country is forest. pected to grow by 0.9% in Q3 and 1.9 in
• Its capital, Stockholm, has over 1.6 mil- Q4 of the current year. GDP is $635.7bn.
lion of these residents. • GDP per capita is currently $59,974,
• 96.72% of the population speak Swedish much more than the EU average which is
(the official language) and 53.97% also $48,900.
speak English. • The current gini coefficient of Sweden is
• It shares borders with Norway and Fin- 0.276 which stacks up well against other
land but the East coast of the country is world countries e.g the UK’s is 0.355.
along the Gulf of Bothnia making it an • This also means that the current poverty
easy place for imports and exports to be rate is just 0.6% of the population.
transported to and from. • It also has relatively low government debt
• Sweden also has a part of the E20, a being just 59% of GDP.
transport route constructed by the EU. It • The current unemployment rate is a prob-
allows people to travel from Copenhagen, lem with it being at 6.4% in Q4 of 2022
Denmark to Malmo (one of the largest but this was 1% lower than it was at the
cities in Sweden). same time a year prior.
• The large amount of forests in Sweden • Sweden’s major problem is its inflation
rate which surged to 12.3% (CPI) in De-
The Swedish economy is well placed in some aspects, but cember 2022.
the high level of inflation is at the root
of most of its economic problems. Swedish residents are experiencing a cost of living crisis simi-
lar to the one which we are experiencing in the UK as, even though inflation was 12%, housing
and utilities prices rose by 20.2% and food prices rose by 18%. This has culminated in consumer
prices rising by 2.1% in December alone, the latest increase since 1993.
It is hoped that the easing supply bottleneck as well as falling commodity and freight prices will
lead to inflation decreasing and this should increase consumer and business confidence leading
to more consumption and investment which should lead to the start of an economic recovery by
the end of 2023.
The Swedish economy could be considered paradoxical in a way. There is a large emphasis
placed on privatisation and free market competition which has seen a lot of deregulation in mar-
kets yet there is also a large welfare state which helps to redistribute incomes, hence why their
https://languageknowledge.eu/countries/sweden
https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/sweden-population/
https://jakubmarian.com/percentage-of-forest-area-by-region-in-europe/
https://www.britannica.com/place/Sweden/Economy
https://tradingeconomics.com/sweden/unemployment-rate
https://data.oecd.org/unemp/unemployment-rate.htm#indicator-chart
https://tradingeconomics.com/sweden/inflation-cpi
https://www.oecd.org/tax/tax-policy/revenue-statistics-sweden.pdf
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=SE
https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/SWE/sweden/poverty-rate
