Proud and prosperous Sweden, with its famously generous welfare system and abundance of green energy, should – in theory – be better equipped than most European countries to bear a battering from the continent’s cost of living crisis.
In terms of GDP per capita, it is the EU’s fifth-richest member state. Natural gas accounts for only 2% of its energy, insulating it from the worst economic ravages of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Poverty is far below the European average.
