December 2, 2022

Sweden is commonly associated with meatballs made with beef, pork, allspice, and nutmeg served with lingonberry sauce and savory gravy. The northern-European country-maintained neutrality in both World Wars; being open to those prosecuted during the state of Nazi-Germany while being free from Hitler’s threat of invasion due to Germany’s dependance on Swedish iron exports (Levengood 1965). Sweden has an interesting history and has a different culture than America, particularly when it comes to the protection of their indigenous populations. The Sami partially resides in Sweden and their traditions, languages, and culture is protected by the law. In 2021, the Church of Sweden, a Lutheran-Protestant church, made a official apology the Sami people for historical abuses and is actively apologizing and discussing the future with the Sami Council (Sweden 2022). Sweden has achieved the ideal free-market capitalist system that offers substantial public welfare benefits (Central Intelligence Agency 2022). These benefits include free higher education and a child allowance that is automatically paid monthly to parents who live in Sweden, until the child is 16 years old (Försäkringskassan (Social Insurance Agency) 2022). Medical services are also free to those under 18, dental care is free for those under 23, and there is an extremely low amount that Swedes are allowed to pay out of pocket. Many services are free, such as immunizations, cancer screenings, and maternity care. In 2019, Sweden placed seventh out of 156 countries in the 2019 World Happiness Report (Sharudenko 2020). Overall, Sweden is known for being the country that is envied by third and first world nations alike. Many of the issues in America, cost of higher education, parental care, and health care costs, have been solved in Sweden. 

            While Sweden is often depicted as the ideal place to live. There are no exceptions to turbulence. In 2021, 10.2% of American households were labeled as food-insecure compared to Sweden’s 2019 2.5%. (United States Dept. of Agriculture: Economic Research Service 2022) (Macrotrends LLC 2019 ). Similarly, Swedish 2019 poverty rates were reported under 1% while the United States had a 1.5% poverty rate in 2019 (MacroTrends LLC 2019). While food insecurity is low in Sweden, there is still more than zero. Absolute poverty, which is based on extremely low income and severe lack of access to services, is non-existent in Sweden. However, there are still social and economic gaps between Swedes particularly between genders, those with disabilities, the elderly, and those with barely sufficient incomes. Currently, 15% of Swedes are impoverished as their income is only up to 60% of the national median. The number of impoverished Swedes is low due to the extensive welfare system that helps low-income households afford their basic needs (Burns 2020).

            While hunger is not a large problem in Sweden, overweightness and obesity is. Especially those 16-29 years old are increasingly becoming overweight and obese (Smart Sweden City 2022). As of 2016, over 41% of adult Swedes were obese (Global Obesity Observatory 2016 ). Also as of 2016, 70% of Swedish adults were overweight. The Public Health Agency of Sweden is working to analyze underlying factors, health-enhancing physical activity, and studies about diseases that aren’t directly transmissible. There are also correlations found between short-term education and obesity (Folkhälsomyndigheten (The Public Health Agency of Sweden) 2016 ). Working aged Swedish citizens are also likely to become burdened with providing support and social services for those who cannot work, such as children and the elderly (Central Intelligence Agency 2022). Fertility rates have been on a slight decline for the past several years which can lead to increased future dependency as younger generations won’t be able to balance out the elderly (MacroTrends LLC 2022). 

            Sweden is slightly larger than California and embodies 204,035 mi². However, only 15,303 mi² (7.5%) of the land is used for agriculture. The remaining land is mostly forest (68.7%) and transportation features, urban areas, and barren/wasteland. Within the agricultural land, there are zero permanent crops and only 979 mi² is land that is cultivated for crops and replanted after every harvest. Along with limited land to grow crops on, only 11.5% of Swedes live in rural areas (Central Intelligence Agency 2022). Of that 11.5%, only about 2% are engaged in farming. The few that choose to farm are usually older, 74% of Swedish farmers are over 50. The few Swedes that choose to maintain the small amount of agricultural land are usually growing cereal grains, which reserves about 40% of the agricultural land. which leaves a large need for imported food in order to feed the Swedish citizens Animal production, particularly dairy production, are central in Swedish agriculture as well as cereal crop production. Over 50% of farms have some sort of animal production even while strict animal welfare legislation is enacted. (European Institute of Innovation and Technology: Food 2022). Dairy is a large sector of Swedish agriculture, but there are fewer farms than ever before that carry the weight of maintaining the increased need and product yield. This has been proven difficult for the small group of dairy farmers, as milk production decreased by 16% between 1999 and 2018. High feed costs and high investment costs for medium and small farms are causes to this decrease as many farmers are left unable to afford to operate a dairy operation  (Sophie J. Krizsan 2021). 

            Sweden is often be viewed as the ideal country and admired by other countries’ citizens for their lack of controversy. But nothing is meant to be perfect, and the need to feed, clothe, and fuel the slowly increasing population of both Sweden and the rest of the world presents challenges that often start with socio-economic factors. 

Bibliography

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