Sweden is the No 1 country for affordability, safety and overall quality of life

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/17/best-countries-quality-of-life-us-news-world-report.html

by bedobi • 3 years ago

4 4 3 years ago

bedobi2• 3 years ago

As someone who grew up in Sweden, allow me to push back pretty hard on some of this :)

"the cost of living in Sweden is, on average, 20.9% lower than in the United States, while renting is 57.5% lower"

Maybe in USD terms, but within the local context, and frankly compared to other European countries, Sweden is not cheap, in fact it's incredibly expensive, and any savings you eke out will not be worth much abroad

"Sweden is well known for its free healthcare"

The healthcare is public and universal but mediocre at best - unless you get optional private addons, you're extremely lucky to get any care at all, whether at the ER or waiting in line for elective surgeries etc etc

The higher education, gender equality, generous parental leave systems etc etc are undeniably great and well functioning, and there's no arguing with the life expectancy figures

But I don't understand how Sweden can score well in Politically Stable or Safe - it's neither of those things

Add in the extremely long, dark winters and not-that-great weather even in summer, a culture of social isolation and more and all in all while it has its ups it's far from the most liveable place in the world IMO

that said I love these studies because they're always food for thought - what are HackerNews most livable places in the world?

MattGaiser• 3 years ago

Which countries would you say beat Sweden in these areas?

As this argument appears in Canada as well when it is top ranked in livability and people point to Sweden as the country trouncing us.

People think we don’t have a stable government and that our healthcare system is uniquely bad and that Canada is abnormally expensive.

One piece of evidence in favour of Sweden’s relative affordability (at least from Canada’s perspective) is that young people haven’t stopped moving out on their own [0].

[0]https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php...

bedobi2• 3 years ago

Japan and Australia have vastly better healthcare (esp the public healthcare), safety, political stability, housing markets and climate.

Australia also has better purchasing power, Japan about the same as Sweden. (=poor)

Both fare worse in higher education, gender equality, generous parental leave systems.

I'd imagine Canada is similar to Australia, beating Sweden overall. But it depends on what you value.

JumpinJack_Cash• 3 years ago

The wheel has stopped spinning long ago in Sweden.

Jumps and falls in social class are almost impossible. More generally it seems like the global South is the only place where the wheel is still spinning.

Sweden is the No 1 country for affordability, safety and overall quality of life

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