Stockholm one of world’s best places to live: magazine

Stockholm is the tenth best city in the world to live in, according to a list from British magazine Monocle. High living costs mean the Swedish capital has slipped from fourth place two years ago.

Published: 29 July 2016 08:01 CEST

Stockholm one of world's best places to live: magazine

Living the dream. Photo: Hasse Holmberg/TT

Stockholm’s Scandinavian neighbour Copenhagen finds itself in fourth place, with Helsinki picking up a respectable twelfth. The list is led by Tokyo, while Berlin is ranked the best city in Europe. Four German cities, but no British ones, make the 25-long list.

In the US, Portland, Oregon and Honolulu in Hawaii make the cut, whole Melbourne and Sydney were high up the list. In Canada, Vancouver placed just after Stockholm and Montreal came 25th.

Stockholm and Sweden regularly perform well in international quality of life surveys.

A survey by HSBC last year named Sweden the best country in Europe for expats, and third best in the world. It said Sweden’s work-life balance, job security, healthcare and childcare made it a great place to live – though it was the worst place for making friends, according to the survey.

Meanwhile in a cost of living ranking published in May, the Economist ranked Stockholm as cheaper to live in than Oslo, Helsinki, Frankfurt, Geneva, or Houston. A study this week also showed that Swedish taxes aren’t quite as fearsome as many suppose – at least if you’re on an average income.

However, a Eurostat survey last month showed Sweden was the second most expensive country in Europe for grocery shopping – and that was without counting the cost of alcoholic drinks.

The onset of winter will raise concerns for many in Germany about the cost of heating their homes, with memories of last year’s rocketing prices and concerns over domestic gas supply resurfacing.

But, compared to last year, the energy prices have now largely stabilised, though they are still higher than in 2021.

The stabilisation in prices is partly thanks to the government’s energy price cap which came into force earlier this year to cushion the blow of soaring energy prices by capping electricity costs at 40 cents per kilowatt-hour and natural gas at 12 cents.

The federal government plans to maintain this cap until the end of April, though this could be extended even longer, if necessary.

How high are heating costs expected to go this year?

For the current year, experts from co2online expect somewhat lower heating costs than last year.

Heating with gas, for example, is expected to be 11 percent cheaper in 2023 than in 2022, costing €1,310 per year for a flat of 70 square metres.

The cost of heating with wood pellets will drop by 17 percent to €870 per year, and heating with heating oil will cost 19 percent less and amount to €1,130.

According to co2online, the costs for heating with a heat pump will drop the most – by 20 percent to €1,1105. The reason for this, according to co2online, is a wider range of heat pump electricity tariffs.

Tax hikes in January

Starting January next year, the government will raise the value-added tax on natural gas from seven to nineteen percent.

Alongside this, the CO2 price, applicable when refuelling and heating, will also increase.

According to energy expert Thomas Engelke from the Federal Consumer Association, these increases will mean that a small single-family household with three or four people that heats with gas would then pay about €240 more per year for gas.

“That’s a lot”, he said.

Another additional cost factor to consider is that network operators also want to raise prices. However, the federal government plans to allocate €5.5 billion to cushion this increase for consumers as much as possible, so how such cost increases will ultimately affect consumers is currently hard to estimate.

Overall, it can be said that, from January, consumers will have to brace themselves for higher energy costs, even though massive increases are currently not expected.

Consumer advocate Engelke advised customers to closely examine where potential savings could be made this upcoming winter: “Those who are now signing a new gas or electricity contract should inform themselves and possibly switch. Currently, you can save a few hundred euros. It’s worth it. On the other hand, you should also try to save as much energy as possible this winter.”