04/10/2004 10:11:41 am
Read This, UNDP and Newsweek! Sweden is sometimes regarded as one of the best countries in the world when it comes to living standards and prosperity. True, Sweden is a good country in many ways and has improved its macro-economic framework during the last 15 years or so. Unfortunately, the rosiest pictures seem more like wishful thinking when one regards statistics. Here are some facts, compiled by my colleague Fredrik Segerfeldt: Since ten years, the number of companies decreases with, on average, 10 a day. None of Sweden′s 50 largest companies was started after 1970. Of a population of 9 million, only just above 3 million go to work on an average working-day. The Government Social Insurance Office supports 26 per cent of the population. Sweden has lost 100 000 jobs in the industry in three years; if that continues, Swedish industry will have zero employees in the year 2033. In 1999, Sweden was no 4 in the international investment league, in 2002 it had fallen to no 27.