Population aged 15 years and over rating their own health as bad or very bad, 2021: 6.4%
Population aged 15 years and over rating their own health as good or very good, by income quintile, 2021
– Highest quintile: 81.9%
– Lowest quintile: 62.8%
– Total: 72.3%
Life expectancy at birth, 2021: 83.1
Share of the population aged 65 and over, 2021: 20.0%
Share of the population aged 65 and over, 2050: 23.7%
Share of the population aged 80 and over, 2021: 5.2%
Share of the population aged 80 and over, 2050: 9.0%
Adults aged 65 and over rating their own health as good or very good, 2021: 62%
Adults aged 65 and over rating their own health as poor or very poor, by income, 2021
– Lowest quintile: 13%
– Highest quintile: 5%
– Total: 9%
Limitations in daily activities in adults aged 65 and over, 2021
– Severe Limitations: 7%
– Some Limitations: 21%
Share of adults aged 65 and over receiving long-term care, 2021: 15.7%
Estimated prevalence of dementia per 1,000 population, 2021: 14.7
Estimated prevalence of dementia per 1,000 population, 2040: 18.3
Total long-term care spending as a share of GDP, 2021: 3.4%
Long-term care workers per 100 people aged 65 and over, 2021: 11.7
Share of informal carers among the population aged 50 and over, 2019
– Daily carers: 4
– Weekly carers: 10
Share of long-term care workers who work part time or on fixed contracts, 2021
– Part-time: 50.3%
– Fixed-term contract: 26.8%
Average hourly wages of personal care workers, as a share of economy-wide average wage, 2018
– Residential (facility-based) care: 80%
– Home-based care: 78%
Long-term care beds in institutions and hospitals per 1,000 population aged 65 years and over, 2021
– Institutions: 63.9
Long-term care recipients aged 65 and over receiving care at home, 2021: 77%
Total long-term care spending by provider, 2021
– Nursing home: 58%
– Hospital: 0%
– Home care: 26%
– Households: 0%
– Social providers: 16%
– Other: 1%
Source: OECD (2023), Health at a Glance 2023: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, doi.org/10.1787/7a7afb35-en.
Formal Long-Term Care Workers (Nurses and Personal Carers) (FTE) (2020): 182,935
Formal Long-Term Care Workers (FTE) Per 100 Population Aged 65 Years and Older (2020): 8.9
Long-Term Care Recipients In Institutions Other Than Hospitals (2020): 114,174
Long-Term Care Recipients At Home (2020): 370,856
Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. OECD.Stat. Last accessed Jan. 4, 2023.
Population, Midyear 2022: 10,549,347
Population Density (Number of Persons per Square Kilometer): 25.90
Life Expectancy at Birth, 2022: 83.51
Projected Population, Midyear 2030: 11,007,228
Percentage of Total Population Aged 65 and Older, Midyear 2022: 20.25%
Projected Percentage of Total Population Aged 65 and Older, Midyear 2030: 21.84%
Projected Percentage of Total Population Aged 65 and Older, Midyear 2050: 24.76%
Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2023). Data Portal, custom data acquired via website. United Nations: New York. Accessed 12 May 2023.
“The pandemic brought increased attention to the shortcomings of the long-term care sector in Sweden. Structural issues – such as the persistent lack of staff as a result of unattractive working conditions – affect the quantity, quality and safety of long-term care services. These challenges hindered the response to the pandemic (Statens Offentliga Utredningar, 2022).
“To address these issues, a budget of EUR 452 million from Sweden’s Recovery and Resilience Plan has been allocated to improve long-term care by upskilling and training new staff.5 In addition, a national inquiry published in 2022 proposed the adoption of a special Elderly Care Act to complement the existing Social Services Act (Statens Offentliga Utredningar, 2022). The proposal aims to clarify the mission and content of elderly care and to improve quality standards and monitoring. It contains new objectives in terms of prevention and health promotion, and access to services.”
Source: OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2023), Sweden: Country Health Profile 2023, State of Health in the EU, OECD Publishing, Paris/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels.
“Sweden has an extensive formal long-term care system. In 2020, the costs of elderly care and care for people with functional impairments amounted to 2.7% and 1.5% of GDP respectively (NBHW, 2022 i,j). The majority of these costs are devoted to assistance in ordinary or special housing, focusing on activities of daily living (ADL), such as bathing, feeding and dressing, and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), such as managing transportation, shopping, meal preparation, housecleaning and managing medications.
“The responsibility for means testing, financing and organizing of long-term care services for elderly individuals and people with functional impairments lies with the municipalities. In general, receiving long-term care requires a needs-assessment, commonly assessed by the municipality by using a national guide (Individens behov i Centrum) although this is not required by law. A few services do not require a needs-assessment, such as security alarms and some basic home care. National policies promote care in ordinary housing over institutionalized care for long-term care recipients, which is in line with the overall development in health care of moving care closer to the patient.”
Source: Janlöv N, Blume S, Glenngård AH, Hanspers K, Anell A, Merkur S. Sweden: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2023; 25(3): i–198.
“The Social Services Act (see Section 2.7.2 Regulation and governance of provision) is a framework law emphasizing the right of individuals to receive social services. It specifies that individuals have the right to receive public services such as special housing or help at home according to needs at all stages of life. In 2021, 15% of the population aged 65 and older had at least one form of assistance according to the Social Services Act (326 000 people). Out of these, 24% were living in special housing and 45% received home care, which might include both ADL and IADL assistance (but not exclusively, for example, meal distribution, accompaniment and safety alarms) (NBHW, 2022i). The rest received other forms of assistance, for example, meal distribution or safety alarms. There was a proposal of a new Social Services Act in 2020, with the purpose of developing social services to become more sustainable and preventive (SOU, 2020:47).
“Children and adults with extensive functional impairments are also entitled to support under the Act Concerning Support and Service for People with Certain Functional Impairments (see Section 2.8.2 Patient choice), for example personal assistance and daily activities. In 2020, approximately 75 000 individuals received municipal support according to the Act concerning Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments, out of which 29 000 resided in special housing for adults (NBHW, 2022j).”
Source: Janlöv N, Blume S, Glenngård AH, Hanspers K, Anell A, Merkur S. Sweden: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2023; 25(3): i–198.
“The municipalities are not under any certain obligations to organize health care with freedom of choice, although they can choose to do so. The organization of municipal health care is complex and varies across the country. In general, municipal health care is provided by licensed staff such as registered nurses, physiotherapists and occupational therapists; however, the municipalities cannot employ practising physicians. Medical care from physicians is supplied by the regions, often via agreements between municipal health care or long-term care providers and regional primary care. Many residents in special housing are listed with a GP that the long-term care provider has an agreement with, but some residents may be listed with another physician or PCC. Thus, medical care to patients that receive municipality services can be provided by a large number of different PCCs and GPs, which may create coordination problems (AHCSA, 2021f). For medical needs that require specialist treatment, people with long-term care needs receive medical treatment from hospitals.
“IVO [IVO Health and Care Inspectorate (Inspektionen för vård och omsorg)] has in several audits reported serious deficiencies concerning the medical care of elderly people in special housing and that many providers lack the ability to provide these patients with good care and treatment based on individual needs (IVO, 2022). There are long-known structural deficiencies in the long-term medical care of elderly people, such as the shared responsibility between regions and municipalities that may result in insufficient access to medical competence and equipment, staffing shortages and lack of trained or licensed staff as well as deficient working conditions for staff (SOU, 2020:80; IVO, 2022). While this remains a serious issue, especially in connection with the increasing needs for staff when the proportion of elderly in the population is increasing, there have also been several recent developments in the area such as targeted national government grants to increase staffing or enable staff to receive an education with retained salary.”
Source: Janlöv N, Blume S, Glenngård AH, Hanspers K, Anell A, Merkur S. Sweden: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2023; 25(3): i–198.
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Page last updated March 31, 2025 by Doug McVay, Editor.