Quality of life
Today, Sweden is considered one of the most highly developed societies in the world. The low inflation rate and high wages make Sweden one of the best places in Europe to live and a top destination for asylum seekers and refugees. More than 14 percent of the Swedish population is made up of immigrants. One major reason for this fact is surely the Swedish social welfare system, which provides universal health care and post-secondary education for its citizens.Although Sweden became a member of the European Union in 1995, a referendum decided against the euro area. Thus, the official Swedish currency is still the Swedish krona. The Swedish economy is one of the strongest in the world. In 2020, Sweden was among the countries in the world with the largest gross domestic product per capita, an important indicator for a country's economic well-being. In addition, Sweden's gross domestic product is estimated to increase to approximately 837 billion U.S. dollars by 2026. Most of Sweden's GDP is generated by the services sector, which includes tourism and hospitality. The automobile producer Volvo AB is the country's largest company measured by turnover.
COVID-19
Sweden received international attention for its decision not to impose a national lockdown when the coronavirus (COVID-19) hit the country in March 2020. However, the country's authorities received harsh critique after a high number of COVID-related deaths, and Sweden's number of deaths caused by COVID-19 per million inhabitants was significantly higher than in the other Nordic countries, where stronger restrictions were imposed. Despite the decision to keep the country open for a long time, the pandemic hit the Swedish economy hard. The monthly unemployment rate increased by two percentage points during the spring of 2020, the GDP fell by almost three percent in 2020, government debt increased, and over 550 businesses went bankrupt in April 2020. In October 2021, a government-sponsored commission deemed the Swedish government's response to the pandemic an "slow" and "insufficient".
