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Share of foreign-trained doctors, 2021: 30.2%
Medical graduates per 100,000 population, 2021: 14.2
Practicing nurses per 1,000 population, 2021: 10.7
Share of foreign-trained nurses, 2021: 3.5%
Nursing graduates per 100,000 population, 2021: 44.1

Source: OECD (2023), Health at a Glance 2023: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, doi.org/10.1787/7a7afb35-en.

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“Entering tertiary education often means costs for students and their families, in terms of tuition
fees, foregone earnings and living expenses, although they may also receive financial support to
help them afford it. However, public policies on tuition fees and financial support for students differ
greatly across countries. In Sweden, no tuition fees are combined with high levels of financial
support for students. Public institutions do not charge tuition fees for national students.”

Source: OECD (2022), “Sweden”, in Education at a Glance 2022: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris.
doi.org/10.1787/dc0f9e92-en.

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“OECD countries have different approaches to providing financial support to students enrolled in
tertiary education, but in general countries with the highest level of public transfers to the private
sector are those that also tend to have the highest tuition fees. In six OECD countries and other
participants, including Sweden, at least 80% of national students receive public financial support
in the form of student loans, scholarships or grants. In another six countries and other participants,
less than 25% of students receive financial support. In these countries, public financial support is
targeted on selected groups of students, such as those from socio-economically disadvantaged
families.”

Source: OECD (2022), “Sweden”, in Education at a Glance 2022: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris.
doi.org/10.1787/dc0f9e92-en.

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“In Finland and Sweden, students from outside the EU/EEA are charged about USD 13,000 per year for master’s programmes in public institutions, while no tuition fees are applied to national (or EU/EEA) students.”

Source: OECD (2022), Education at a Glance 2022: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, doi.org/10.1787/3197152b-en.

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“Tuition fees for short-cycle tertiary programmes in public institutions are generally lower than for bachelor’s programmes. They are free of charge in Denmark, France, Spain, Sweden and Türkiye and amount to less than half the tuition fees for bachelor’s programmes in Chile and the United States, where they cost less than USD 3,800 per year.”

Source: OECD (2022), Education at a Glance 2022: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, doi.org/10.1787/3197152b-en.

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“The 5½ year undergraduate medical programme in Sweden is offered by seven universities, one of which is only starting in 2011. In all, approximately 1.570 students are accepted yearly. This should be related to a population of approximately 9 millions.”

Source: Stefan Lindgren, Thomas Brännström, Eric Hanse, Torbjörn Ledin, Gunnar Nilsson, Stellan Sandler, Ulf Tidefelt & Jakob Donnér (2011), Medical education in Sweden, Medical Teacher, 33:10, 798-803, DOI: 10.3109/0142159X.2011.570816.

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“Sweden has successfully increased the scope of practice of nurses in primary care, for example by setting up nurse consultations in lieu of GP consultations, helping to address the low supply of GPs and allowing registered nurses with additional training and sufficient experience to prescribe some medicines. In addition, some specialist nurses provide care to diabetes patients and support them in self-managing their condition. In hospital, registered nurses with specific expertise in geriatrics are able to assess the health and long-term care needs of older people arriving in emergency departments.

“However, the number of such advanced practice nurses and specialist nurses remains limited, and the number of new graduates with an advanced nursing degree and specialty training has fallen since 2005. In January 2019, the government announced a renewed effort to train more advanced practice and specialist nurses to improve timely access to care.”

Source: OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2019), Sweden: Country Health Profile 2019, State of Health in the EU, OECD Publishing, Paris/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels.

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World Health Systems Facts is a project of the Real Reporting Foundation. We provide reliable statistics and other data from authoritative sources regarding health systems and policies in the US and sixteen other nations.

Page last updated March 16, 2025 by Doug McVay, Editor.