In 2017, the Swedish Government introduced the Measures of Welfare to monitor the country’s performance across economic, environmental, and social well-being. The Government reports annually on the Measures of Welfare in the Spring Economic Bill.
Sweden’s Measures of Welfare
Abstract
Since 2017, the Swedish Government reports annually on the Measures of Welfare in the Spring Economic Bill, which contains the Swedish Government's proposals for guidelines for economic and budgetary policy. The Measures of Welfare comprise economic, environmental, and social indicators and are used to monitor long-term social developments. The indicators were developed by Statistics Sweden and inspired in part by the Sustainable Development Goals from the United Nations Agenda 2030.
The Measures of Welfare feature 16 indicators across economic, environmental, and social well-being. Economic welfare is assessed through GDP per capita, employment rate, unemployment rate, household debt, and public debt. Environmental measures include air quality, water quality, red list index score (measuring changes in the extinction risk of species), chemical load, and greenhouse gas emissions. Finally, social indicators measure income deprivation, economic security, self-reported health status, educational attainment, interpersonal trust, and life satisfaction.
The indicators are summarised in a table tracking their evolution during the reported year, to identify areas of progress and improvement. The Measures of Well-being are monitored and coordinated by the Ministry of Finance.
The Measures of Welfare are intended to provide broad contextual information to inform budget and decision-making by monitoring Sweden’s progress in multiple dimensions of well-being.
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Sweden Ministry of Finance (2024), 2024 års ekonomiska vårproposition Prop. 2023/24:100 [Spring Economic Bill 2023/24:100], https://www.regeringen.se/rattsliga-dokument/proposition/2024/04/prop.-202324100 (accessed on 29 May 2024).
Sweden Ministry of Finance (2023), 2023 års ekonomiska vårproposition Prop. 2022/23:100 [Spring Economic Bill 2022/23:100], https://www.regeringen.se/rattsliga-dokument/proposition/2023/04/prop.-202223100 (accessed on 29 May 2024).
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Sweden Ministry of Finance (2017), Regeringens proposition 2016/17:100, Bilaga 4 Nya mått på välstånd [Government proposal 2016/17:100, Annex 4 New measures of Wellbeing], https://www.regeringen.se/contentassets/f9a7d8e112894d87b0dece44e8e40683/2017-ars-ekonomiska-varproposition-prop.-201617100 (accessed on 13 April 2023).
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OECD, How’s Life in your country? Country note: Sweden, https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/how-s-life-2024-country-notes_2603b12c-en/sweden_40e7eb9b-en.html.
OECD (2023), Economic Policy Making to Pursue Economic Welfare: OECD Report for the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, May 2023, Japan, OECD, Paris, https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2023/05/economic-policy-making-to-pursue-economic-welfare_7a77b55b/ccc5634c-en.pdf.
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