A family consisting of a man, woman and two children dressed in ski gear and wearing alpine skis. Ski lift and a cabin behind them. — The Anderssons probably go skiing on the children’s winter holiday, since skiing is one of the top ten most popular sports in Sweden. Stock photo (the people in the photo might not be called Andersson): Anna Hållams/imagebank.sweden.se

The average Anderssons

Here is a fictive Swedish family, based purely on statistics. Meet the Anderssons.

Statistically, the Anderssons are a very average Swedish family: mother, father, daughter and son. The mum is called Maria, a name she shares with many other women in Sweden. Her husband is called Karl, an equally typical male name. Maria works as a teacher and Karl as software developer, both among the most common jobs in Sweden.

The average Swedish woman has 1.52 children. For pragmatic reasons, we’ll give Maria and Karl an extra 0.48 child, to make them two: a 10-year-old daughter called Alice and a 6-year-old son, William.

A Swedish family with working parents

When Alice and William were born, their mum Maria was on parental leave for ten months and then their dad Karl for eight months. After that, both parents went back to work and the children attended nursery school, just like 86 per cent of Swedish children between 1 and 5.

The Swedish parental leave system was made gender-neutral in 1974 to make it possible for both parents to combine work and family life. Today’s parental leave entitlement is 480 days for each child, which the parents can divide between them as they wish – apart from 90 days that are reserved for each parent. Statistics show that dads in Sweden take about 30 per cent of the parental leave days.

William, who is 6, has just left nursery school for pre-school class, or 'year 0' as it’s also called in Sweden, while Alice is in year 4 of school.

Living & working in Sweden

How many Marias are there in Sweden?

Statistics Sweden’s name search tool helps you find out how many people are called what in Sweden.

The average household

Maria and Karl are married, just like around a third of Swedes. But many couples also live together without being married, for which there is a special, slightly odd name: sambo.

So, what’s a typical Swedish household? Well, there are a roughly 4.9 million households in Sweden. The most common type is the single household, with close to 2.3 million adults living without another adult – 15 per cent of them with children*. Then there are 2.2 million households where two adults live together as a married couple or as sambos – roughly half of them with children, half of them without. The remaining households are collective, multigenerational, and so on.

If we look at how many people live in the different types of household, the most common type is the one that the Anderssons represent: two adults living together with children.

But Swedes also split up and move apart. Between 20,000 and 25,000 Swedes get divorced every year. For children of separated or divorced parents, it is common to live half the time with one parent, half the time with the other – often on a weekly basis.

* ‘Children’ here means children of any age who live together with at least one of their parents.

The Swedish school system

These are the different levels of schooling in Sweden:

Nursery school: ages 1 to 5
Compulsory school, years 0–9: ages 6 to 16
Upper secondary school (non-compulsory), gymnasium: ages 16 to 19

School and higher education

In Sweden everyone has a right to education, and the Swedish Education Act mandates ten years of compulsory schooling. William’s pre-school year is the first of the ten years.

Looking at the education level among Swedes between 25 and 64 years old, 89 per cent have continued from compulsory school to non-compulsory upper secondary school, gymnasiet (the equivalent of British sixth form or American high school).

In the same group, 45 per cent have continued studying after gymnasiet, and 30 per cent have finished at least three years of higher education.

Law, medicine, social work, psychology and economics are among the most popular programmes at Swedish universities.

Access to ‘daddy leave’ means that this is a common sight in Sweden. Photo: Magnus Liam Karlsson/imagebank.sweden.se

A man outside is holding the hands of a young boy learning to walk. The father in an average Swedish family will take paternity leave. — Access to ‘daddy leave’ means that this is a common sight in Sweden. Photo: Magnus Liam Karlsson/imagebank.sweden.se

Swedish schoolchildren are entitled to meals during the day. It's even written into the school law. Photo: Lena Granefelt/imagebank.sweden.se

Children sitting at a table eating. A Swedish family can rely on their children getting fed at school. — Swedish schoolchildren are entitled to meals during the day. It's even written into the school law. Photo: Lena Granefelt/imagebank.sweden.se

Thirty per cent of Swedes between 25 and 64 have finished three years of higher education or more – some here, at Lund University. Photo: Aline Lessner/imagebank.sweden.se

A big old building in front of an open space, with trees on each side. — Thirty per cent of Swedes between 25 and 64 have finished three years of higher education or more – some here, at Lund University. Photo: Aline Lessner/imagebank.sweden.se

Teacher is one of the most common jobs among women in Sweden. Photo: Sofia Sabel/imagebank.sweden.se

A woman is writing on a whiteboard. — Teacher is one of the most common jobs among women in Sweden. Photo: Sofia Sabel/imagebank.sweden.se

Many men in Sweden work as software and system developers. Photo: Melker Dahlstrand/imagebank.sweden.se

Working life

The overall employment rate among 15- to 74-year-olds in Sweden is 68.8% – 65.9% for women and 71.6% for men, acccording to official data from Statistics Sweden (SCB).*

Around 70 per cent of jobs can be found in the private sector, and 30 per cent in the public sector. A standard Swedish working week is 40 hours – 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. The minimum holiday entitlement is 25 days.

In our average Swedish family, Karl Andersson – a statistically typical Swedish man – works as a software developer, which earns him SEK 51,200 per month, or SEK 614,400 per year. Maria Andersson’s primary teacher’s salary is SEK 38,000 per month, or SEK 456,000 per year.

The salary figures are from Statistics Sweden’s salary search tool, and before taxes. Municipal taxes vary a lot depending on where you live but average around 32 per cent. For those with an annual salary above 598,500 SEK, there is also a state tax of 20 per cent on the exceeding part.

The following are some of the jobs that are in high demand in Sweden: midwife, civil engineer, nursery school/preschool teacher, nurse, doctor, teacher, software and system developer, specialist nurse, dentist, and system analyst and IT architect.

*Please note that these employment rate figures are continuously updated and might differ somewhat from the chart figures below, which are based on data from the International Labour Organization (ILO) from 2022 and include women of any age older than 15.

Chart showing the employment rate for women 15+ in Sweden vs. other EU countries. Sweden is number four.

How much do Swedes earn?

Use Statistics Sweden’s salary search tool to find out the average Swedish salaries for different professions.

Average monthly cost of living in Sweden

Below is an attempt to give a general idea of cost levels in Sweden. The examples are the average costs for all of Sweden, but actual costs vary considerably depending on where you live. Housing is excluded, because the prices for accommodation vary so much over the country that an average would be misleading. Prices are in Swedish krona (SEK).

If you're single

Food: 3,420
Clothing: 670
Hygiene, medical care: 730
Sport and leisure: 690
Local transport: 900
Unemployment insurance: 140
Home insurance: 130
Electricity: 860
TV, telephony, internet: 1,760
Cleaning, washing etc.: 130
Car: 3,050
Total monthly costs: SEK 12,520

Source: Institutet för Privatekonomi/Swedbank (link in Swedish; last update: 2023)

Last updated on 6 November 2023

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