(edit title) 'Sweden world's most expensive country': index Options

[The Local]

Sweden's status as a country with high quality living standards for its residents has been questioned in a newly published index, which claims it is the most costly country in the world to live in.

Branded as a country where quality of life is key, Sweden often ranks among the top ten in country ratings which take both living costs and benefits into consideration. For the last two years Sweden has been placed 7th in the UN Human Development Index.

However, the recently released Quality of Life index 2010 by International Living magazine puts Sweden's reputation as an oasis of fine living into doubt, placing it in 30th place out of the 200 countries listed.

243 words remaining. Click to read the full article.

[Nemesis]

Brilliant sources of information, the world bank, economics and government agencies. No wonder the USA is such a mess. Thats like asking a rapist for a reference for one of his victims.
Who ever compiled the data for that list has obviously never been outside the United States and watches way to much fox news.
Some suggestions to all americans who want to know about outside the USA.
Apply for a passport.
Once the passport arrives, book a thing called a flight to another country.
Visit that country without looking for a fox news opinion regarding the country.
Maybe then you not only would get a more accurate opinion, but one or two of you might even open your minds a bit.
Bloody idiots.

[craicen]

This is spot on. The amount of money required for a high quality of life; going out to eat, to pubs, on vacations, and doing just about anything besides sitting at home wasting away; is well above what it what cost to do these things in other Western countries if you factor in the actual take home pay that Swedes have. Sweden is for all but the elite a third world country in reguards to lifestyle for the majority. Hell even in third world countries the average person can enjoy more of the simple pleasures of life that are regulated out of reach in Sweden.

[Keith #5083]

Clearly the 'research' persons for this article did not wish to buy a house, purchase bensin, eat pizza or a few incidental things like that. Equally, health costs were,presumably, not factored in to the equation - as they have not been for 40+million american citizens!
I find it amazing that a young American visitor to us just 4 years ago (a student) totally could not believe the minimum normal wage her for building site labourers. He thought himself extremely lucky if he could get $5 an hour.
I would also be interested to see the comments of any Norwegians writing here. To suggest to folk from Oslo that Swedish food,alcohol,tobacco,bensin,property,health care cost contibutions, child care...etc.etc.etc. is more expensive than Norway is beyond laughable.

[Uncle]

Nemesis - you again overdosed yourself with the Che Guevara a la Qaddafi cocktail? You gotta stop drinking that crap.
It is possible to calculate the buying power of an average citizen of a country while being the most powerful economy in the world! Can you imagine? In SPITE that the US is so evil, it can ACTUALLY calculate economical situation of others! Actually they are the best in the world at doing it. Especially if the entire West in the form of the World Bank is supporting the research.
Because you see, everyone would listen to Sudan IF Sudan would issue such an index, but Sudan is a bit busy producing machetes for internal use. Of course if Iran would make a living cost estimates, we would look into it, but it does not. It is slightly overworked with all of these cute demonstrations of thousands and raping thousands in prisons...
So unfortunately we must listen to the Big Devil that actually HAS the tools to issue such an estimate... Hopefully North Korea will issue a TRUE report soon...
Bloody idiot.

[krigeren]

What has always fueled the Swedish system are high levels of exports and low unemployment. A fair share of industry and the attached exports have left. Unemployment is so high, and the society so embarrassed about it, they lie about actual figures (counting those who are unemployed but seeking work as employed). Therefore, the fuel that feeds the socialist system is just not there hence, many of its appendages exist its just the supply or resources to them has dwindled.
I talk to Swedes all the time who would agree with the system here crumbling. The system peaked in about 1975. Until then there was a great relationship between a small handfull of industrialists and the government. The government was good at doing what governments do (building roads for example) so the industrialists could put their products on trucks to ship out.
However, there has been a disconnect. For example, in the early 1990's a new wave of "industrialists" knowledge workers pushed the government to lay down fiber across the whole country. With that infrastructure Sweden would have had great tech advantages in IT. The government did not do it. Examples such as this abound.
The politicians don't really have the answers. They are still mired in ideas from the 1930's of "liberal", "conservative", "socialist" thinking which only offer dogmatic fairy tale solutions to real world issues that require a practical approach. In fact, the Socialists still say make government bigger to make more jobs but they forget its exports that pay for those jobs...really sad...Sweden used to be an industrial powerhouse and a great nation...the politicians are still stuck in old ways of thinking and need to adapt to change so the people stop suffering...from lack of opportunity and possibilities.

[entry]

"Our primary source in this category is the U.S. State Department’s Index of Overseas Living Costs, used to compute cost-of-living allowances for a Western-style of liv ... (show full quote)

"Our primary source in this category is the U.S. State Department’s Index of Overseas Living Costs, used to compute cost-of-living allowances for a Western-style of living in various countries. We also consider each country’s income tax rates." full article. ... (hide full quote)

There is clearly an error. Sweden should push for a correction. The US State Department Cost of Living Adjustment index(COLA) shows pretty much what you would expect for Sweden.

Here are the US State Department COLA PDFs:

COLA Index Jan 2009

COLA Index Jan 2010

This is just a simple data entry mistake.

[Regor]

Nemesis, you should check your sources before you come up with your conclusions! Try international living.com and do an unbiased survey of whom their reporters are AND WHERE THEY LIVE. I have been reading their web site and their mailings on and off for a number of years and i have found that their articles and information packages are a lot more believable and accurate then what you can glean from local Chambers of Commerce or other national information sources.
Being a natural born Swede, living overseas and visiting often over the last 50 years, there is no doubt that Sweden is one of the most expensive places to visit. Years ago I sat down with my brother-in-law and tried to figure out the differences in living cost between USA and Sweden. Things like the socialized medicine, schooling cost, house and property taxes, local, state and federal taxes, etc., were included -- and that messed up any and all attempts of coming up with a true value! Consencus was that visiting and short time living was considerably higher in Sweden and it probably goes without saying that the Swedish taxes were considerably higher. Looking at personal income tax alone came up with a number that indicated that I would pay a bit more than double my US taxes in Sweden, based not on exchange rates, but on actual cost of living for a month in each country.

[jag2009]

In my opinion I don't agree with this.
Sweden's property is cheaper to buy than most european countries. Sweden has a free education system where as the UK for example pay £3000 a year in tuition fees. London is more expensive than Stockholm, with a population of sweden (near enough).
Poor research... Another crap article... one minute the best place is to live in France then it will be Australia, its just crap. But you can't tell me Stockholm is more expensive to live that any of the big counties/towns of london.

[Renfeh Hguh]

@Nemesis
You fool... it is much better that they have no passport and travel to Las Vegas if they want to see "the world"
The "zero" is clearly a load of bullcrap. There might be credibility to the figure if there were countries like Norway in single digits or in the teens, but there is no one else even close.

[Mb 65]

London is much cheaper than Stockholm. House prices are higher in England but that is all. When my friends and relations visit me in the summer they cannot believe the prices here. Just before Christmas i bought a Philips electric razor in London and it was 1300kr cheaper plus i got £10 off my next purchase. With the money i saved on just books and the razor paid for 2 nights in a 5 star hotel.

[slickscott]

I am too lazy to read all the comments but why IS sweden expensive to live in????? Of all the countries in the world why would this place be expensive????? Tell me? Does this country have neat places to see? Nice sturdy houses that are overlooking beautiful scenery? How are Swedes able to live in such an expensive country??? What skills do they have? I keep hearing that these people continually score low on Science and Math tests??? So I dont know how this small cold azz country can be expensive to live in!!!!!!!!!!

[Kaethar]

Thanks to all of the expats for getting offended on our behalf. :D But it's not necessary. Why should we care what some American magazine thinks of us? We only care about international rankings. ;)
It even said here:
According to information from the International Living website the figure relates to: a guide to how much it will cost you to live in a style comparable to—or better than—the standard of living you're likely enjoying in the U.S.
So basically this is a guide on how to live a extravagant American lifestyle in Sweden. Americans have the second largest ecological footprint in the world (after the UAE). If everyone lived like Americans we'd need more than 9 planets to sustain our lifestyle.
So thanks but no thanks. We don't want that kind of American in Sweden anyway. ;)

[StockholmSam]

Nemesis, you rail against "bloody idiot" Americans and suggest we travel in order to open our minds. How ironic that you are the most prolific (and villified) poster on The Local, a newspaper written in English targeted at expats who are resistant to assimilating the local Swedish culture. Perhaps instead of wasting your life glued to the Local, reading every article and being the first to post, you should spend some time reading articles in Swedish and responding to those.
Bloody idiot.

[entry]

LEGO® products were cheaper this summer in the USA than here in Sweden I had to check that out for my sister-in-law. You would think that a Danish product would be cheaper here in Sweden. H&M items were about the same as confirmed by the teenager.

Anyways as I stated in my above post the Cost of living Index that the article claims to use indicates that Sweden is not even close to the most expensive country.

US State Department COLA Index Jan 2010
http://tinyurl.com/ydg9jtf