5 Social Problems in Sweden. Nobody is perfect

Scandinavian countries like Sweden seem like a great example of how the political, economic, and social systems should work, and the people have a carefree life with no social problems.

In fact, there are problems like in any other place in the world.

So, here are the 5 immigration and social problems in Sweden.

Most Refugees Per Capita

The refugees. Sweden was the country in Europe taking the most refugees per capita among all European countries during the immigrant crisis of 2015.

It was taking 10000 newcomers every week (now, the numbers are much lower, there were a bit over 20 000 asylum applications in 2018). Like in other countries in Europe, especially Germany, this issue was confronted with resistance.

There are many people from one side, who completely support the Swedish immigrant policy and many people from the other, who are against it and see big immigration problems in Sweden.

It spread to the political parties. The Swedes are rather nationalistic, so there have appeared numerous supporters of a far-right party called the Sweden Democrats.

Sweden was very altruistic in giving the refugees good chances to start a second life, it was also one of the few countries paying social benefits to the immigrants.

It included a one-time help with finding accommodation + about 250 Euros per person, and in case of providing the person in an asylum, the help with a stable place to live, unemployment benefit and some other social benefits. That’s what led to such a high number of immigrants in the country.

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Not everybody gets a high wage

I found out that the minimum hourly wage here is not that high (8 Euros comparing to German’s 9 with higher prices than in Germany). But, not everybody gets even the minimum.

Many immigrants work here even for 5 Euros per hour, which is nothing here, some work illegally doing a hard job that the Swedes would never do.

Moreover, many Slavs here earn money on small theft, if you regard a whole bag of food a small theft. Even if a guard sees that they are stealing, he won’t do anything, he will just order to put the things back, and the thieves will simply go to the next shop (based on several stories from locals both immigrants and Sweden-born).

In an Arab owned shop, they will beat you for that, but the kind Swedes will do nothing. Also true is that with the desire to be tolerant in some Western countries, minorities have more rights than majorities. If an immigrant starts quarreling with a local, the police will be on the side of the first one.

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Drugs are easy to get

In Sweden, like in many other western countries, drug selling is very developed. In Sweden, like in France, Belgium, and Holland, it is not a problem to get almost any kind of drugs. They are mostly sold by immigrants in the central places of Stockholm.

Immigrants make some places dangerous

Mehmet Kaplan, Minister for Housing and Urban Development in Sweden

The Swedes say that they have a high level of immigrant integration into the society, which you can vividly see in the city center: social advertising with immigrants, the government is trying to make people loyal to them. It seems that they are right.

But, there are still 2-3 districts in Stockholm, where even the police are afraid to go. Most of the population there are immigrants living in their communes getting social benefits, enjoying life and as entertainment, throwing bricks to the police cars. Such immigration problems in Sweden are felt more and more.

Too much bureaucracy

The famous Swedish administration is no less bureaucratic than in many other European countries. Most of the beautiful buildings in the center, on 2-3 islands, and also in different places, farther from the center of Stockholm are the administration buildings where the Swedes are engaged in monotonous work, complaining later how difficult is their work for the pennies (around 6,5 thousand euros a month) often working a 6-hour working day.

It was my list of the social and immigration problems in Sweden that I noticed. There are probably more, but it was what I found out during my short stay. You can also read about the character of the Swedes or about tips to travel on a budget on my blog.