Medical Graduates Per 100,000 Population (2017): 11.5
Nursing Graduates Per 100,000 Population (2017): 39.2
Percent Share of Foreign-Trained Doctors (2017): 34.8%
Percent Share of Foreign-Trained Nurses (2017): 3.0%

Source: OECD (2019), Health at a Glance 2019: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/4dd50c09-en.

“The Swedish Government has primary responsibility for public funding of higher education institutions. Sweden has no tuition fees for Swedish citizens and for citizens of the EU/EEA and Switzerland, and it can provide financial support (through study grants and study loans) to students to cover for their living expenses if a a minimum performance level in the number of credits achieved. Non-Swedish residents are normally eligible for financial support if they moved to Sweden for a different reason than study.”

Source: OECD (2015), Education Policy Outlook: Sweden.

“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.

“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.

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

Page last updated May 18, 2021 by Doug McVay, Editor.