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Sweden’s pensions system ranked fifth best in the world

An international analysis has concluded that Sweden's pensions system is one of the five best in the world – but there is plenty of room for improvement.

Published: 23 October 2019 10:39 CEST
Sweden's pensions system ranked fifth best in the world
Sweden's age of retirement is set to rise. Photo: Henrik Montgomery/TT

The annual Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index placed the Swedish pensions system behind the Netherlands, its Scandinavian neighbour Denmark, Australia and Finland.

It was placed in the B category, “a system that has a sound structure, with many good features, but has some areas for improvement that differentiates it from an A-grade system”.

The Netherlands and Denmark were the only countries out of 37 included in the final report that were awarded an A grade, with each receiving scores of over 80.

Sweden's index value meanwhile dropped from 72.5 in 2018 to 72.3 this year, but the report stated this was mainly due to updated UN data and a fall in real economic growth reported by the IMF.

The value was divided into three sub-indices: adequacy (benefits, system design, savings, tax support, home ownership and growth assets), sustainability (pension coverage, total assets, contributions, demography, government debt and economic growth) and integrity (regulation, governance, protection, communication and operating costs). Sweden received a B grade in the former two and an A grade in the latter.

The report suggested the Swedish pensions system could be improved by:

  • Further increasing the state pension age to better reflect increasing life expectancy
  • Ensuring that all employees can make contributions into employer sponsored plans
  • Reintroducing tax incentives for individual contributions
  • Introducing arrangements to protect all the pension interests of both parties in a divorce

The easiest way to understand how the Swedish pension works is breaking it down into three parts. There are three different sources: the state, your employer and yourself.

Overall, the amount you receive will depend on factors such as your salary, your other benefits, how long you work in Sweden, when you start collecting your pension, how your occupational pension scheme is structured, and how much you save in private funds. Read more about how the Swedish pension works here.

EDITOR'S PICKS:

You can choose to start taking your Swedish state pension at any time after the age of 61, or after 62 from next year according to a new parliamentary decision. The so-called guarantee pension for people on a low income is today paid out from the age of 65, although this is also set to rise over the next few years.

You have the right to keep working until the age of 67 (this is also set to rise), but in theory you can keep working and earning towards your pension for many years after this, as long as your employer agrees to it.

Other countries in the B bracket were for example Canada, Chile and Germany, while countries such as the UK, US and France received a C+ grade and for example India, China and Japan received only a D grade.

You can read the Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index report in full here. The index is a collaboration between the government, industry and academia in the Australian state of Victoria.

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COST OF LIVING

Cost of living: How expensive is Sweden compared to a year ago?

Those living in Sweden have no doubt noticed that things have become a lot more expensive over the past year – but just how much more expensive is life in Sweden than a year ago?

Published: 10 August 2023 15:21 CEST
Updated: 3 September 2023 08:02 CEST
Cost of living: How expensive is Sweden compared to a year ago?

How much does fuel cost?

This depends on what kind of fuel you use – a litre of ethanol for example costs around half that of HVO100, a renewable alternative to diesel. All the prices listed below were the average price on August 10th, 2023.

For those using petrol, specifically Bensin 95 (unleaded petrol), the price per litre on August 10th was 20.89 kronor, compared to 19.33 kronor per litre a year ago.

The price of ethanol, also sold under the name E85, has remained relatively stable over the past year, standing at 15.10 kronor per litre on August 10th, compared with 15.87 kronor per litre in August 2022.

Diesel prices are a bit higher at 24.36 kronor per litre in August 2023, up from 22.91 last year.

Finally, the price of HVO100 is around 30.67 kronor per litre this month, up from 28.87 in 2022.

What about energy prices?

Energy prices are in general lower in summer than winter, especially given the wet and dreary summer Sweden has had, which has been good news for wind and hydropower.

The most recent figures available are from July 2023, and prices vary depending on which energy price zone you live in. All prices here are rörliga or variable monthly rates – not hourly rates – and they don’t include VAT, so the actual amount on your energy bill will be higher.

We’ve used prices from Vattenfall, one of Sweden’s largest energy producers.

Energy zone 1 – the cheapest energy zone – is in the far north of Sweden, and it includes Norrbotten county and part of Västerbotten county.

Prices in zone 1 last month were around 47.93 öre per kilowatt hour, higher than the 31.61 öre per kWh consumers in energy zone 1 paid last year.

Energy zone 2 is slightly further south, and it includes Jämtland county, Västernorrland county, and parts of Gävleborg and Västerbotten counties.

Prices here were similar at 47.95 öre per kWh in July compared to 31.64 öre per kWh in 2022.

Energy zone 3 covers central Sweden, encompassing Stockholm and Gothenburg, as well as Stockholm county, Södermanland county, Uppsala county, Värmland county, Västmanland county, Örebro county, Östergötland county, Dalarna county, and parts of Halland, Kalmar, Jönköping, Västra Götaland, and Gävleborg counties.

Here, prices were extremely high at this time last year – a whopping 100.89 öre per kWh in July 2022 – although the figures for this year are much lower at 48.66 öre per kWh.

Energy zone 4 – the most expensive zone – includes Malmö, Skåne, Blekinge, Kronoberg, and parts of Kalmar, Halland, Jönköping and Västra Götaland counties.

In July year, users in this zone were paying an eye-watering 137.58 öre per kWh, with this year’s figures a much more reasonable 52.78 öre per kWh.

There’s also some good news for Swedish households this autumn as prices are not expected to be anywhere near the levels seen last year, mainly due to water reservoirs (crucial for hydropower) being well-filled by the recent rain, and also due to well-stocked gas reservoirs in the rest of Europe cutting the continent’s reliance on Russian gas.

Of course, this may change, especially if the war in Ukraine worsens, but for now at least, it seems like Sweden is in for a cheaper winter on the energy front this year than in 2022.

How are property prices faring?

Over the past three months, the average price of an apartment in a housing cooperative – a bostadsrätt – was 43,608 kronor per square metre, according to Svensk Mäklarstatistik, an organisation that keeps data on the real estate market.

The average sales price of apartments across the country over the same period was 2,787,000 kronor, with prices highest in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö, and lower elsewhere.

When it comes to the price of detached homes or villor over the past three months, sales prices have been lower, at 30,100 kronor per square metre, although the average sales price was higher, at 3,714,000 kronor.

Compared to last year, apartment prices are down 2.4 percent from 43,092 kronor per square metre and an average sales price of 2,767,000 kronor. The decrease is even larger for detached houses, which have gone down 10.2 percent in value in the past 12 months from a price per square metre of 29,547 kronor and an average sales price of 3,689,000 kronor.

Of course, that doesn’t say much about how much housing costs have increased for the average person in Sweden.

The Financial Supervisory Authority’s most recent report on housing costs for mortgage holders in Sweden is from March 2023, and it indicates that households in Sweden spend on average 12 percent of their income on interest rate payments, which is 2 percent higher than in 2022, and also the highest figure measured by the authority since records began in 2012.

The key interest rate has increased by 0.75 percentage points since March 2023, so this number is now likely higher.

This does not take into account the cost of paying off a loan – amortering – with government regulations stipulating that households must repay between 0 and 3 percent of the total value of the loan per year, depending on how large their loan is in comparison to their yearly income, and how large their cash deposit was in relation to their mortgage.

In terms of rental properties, the Swedish Tenants’ Association which is responsible for negotiating first-hand rentals, has agreed rent hikes of around 4 percent, on average, compared with last year.

For people in second-hand rentals, landlords are able to set prices at a level which covers their own mortgage costs – so it is likely that prices have gone up in line with increased interest rates for property owners.

How much have food prices gone up?

It’s difficult to say in kronor how much food prices have increased, as your food shop depends so much on the exact products you usually buy.

Instead, we can look at the general percentage increase of a number of items across all the largest chains, which is exactly what food price comparison site Matpriskollen has done.

According to the site’s statistics, food prices went up by 0.2 percent month-on-month in July. Price hikes were recorded on 20 percent of the 43,000 items measured, while 9 percent of products decreased in price. The majority of products – 71 percent – stayed the same price in July.

On a yearly basis, food prices have increased by 9.5 percent. Looking back to January 2022, when prices first started going up, the price of food has gone up by a whopping 21.6 percent.

So, how much more expensive is it to live in Sweden than it was a year ago?

The best way to look at this is by using the figures for inflation, collected by Statistics Sweden. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the standard measure for inflation in Sweden, which measures the average change in prices paid by consumers over a set period of time.

Figures for July or August have not yet been released, but the most recent CPI figures in June indicate that Sweden became 9.3 percent more expensive between June 2022 and June 2023.

CPIF inflation – the consumer price index with a fixed interest rate – is slightly lower, with an increase of 6.4 percent between June 2022 and June 2023.

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