Also looking at PPP per capita (59K vs 53K), it's not that much higher. Norway, I'm not sure should count given their large oil reserves which one cannot really replicate.
7-8% is bad but not as bad as it would be elsewhere. The natural rate of unemployment is pretty high. Also, labour force participation is high, which helps.
The household debt is exclusively housing, simply because interest rates have been low for many years and mortgages in Sweden were traditionally not 30 years but rather 100 or infinite (interest rate only), and interest is deductible making it even cheaper to borrow. We also didn't see the bubble burst after the 2008 crisis, unlike many other countries, so many predict a bursting bubble now. That said, the mortgage market has tightened swiftly now, down payments have gone from 0% to 15-25, mortgages are repaid 1-2% per year etc, so the market is at least better prepared for a dip now than it would have been in 2008.
Although Sweden has a long history of giving away natural resources virtually for free to private interests, while Norway has made sure to get paid adequately, and then put that money into funds. As a result, Norway now owns 1% of all global stocks.
How? Oil is largely the reason Norway is better off than Denmark and Sweden. Norway seems to manage it's oil very well with an eye towards the long term.
Pretty much the whole damn coast has come to a screeching halt as the oil price drops. This because Everything is tied directly or indirectly to the continued extraction of oil and gas.
Anything else is a minority industry that can barely keep going because the oil export is driving the exchange rate through the roof.
This to the point that the government is fearful of doing anything major or else the exchange rate will really go out of whack.
Here is the thing, public buildings are disintegrating around us while the continued line out of the politicians is that we need to save "for future generations".
If you want to care for future generations you build, and you maintain what you build. But no, we must "save it for the future".
Damn it, we have basically turned Poland into a factory for "Norwegian" products. If you glance at a "Norwegian" chocolate bar these days it is likely to read "made in Poland".
From the perspective of swedes, we just notice the higher prices in norway. We don't consider Norway and the norwegians "rich" when we visit. The per-capita gdp doesn't translate to purchasning power.
