Sweden has become a better country to live in, whichever government was in charge
Score every government since 1945 on the indicators that can be measured and every one comes out positive. We live nine years longer than in 1970, die on the roads six times less often and are 2.3 times richer. Sweden also became much more unequal after the 1990s, and life satisfaction has not moved in forty years. Test it yourself below, government by government.
Showing all years 1970–2026.
1970 → 2026 in sixteen numbers
Values at the two years you choose above. Green means better, terracotta worse, grey too small to call.
Who governed, and what else happened
Fifteen governments since 1945, and the shocks, reforms and inventions of each decade
Red is Social Democratic, blue centre-right, gold the 2014–22 minority. Click a decade to open it.
Pick your years
The bar at the top follows you as you scroll, and everything that compares two years follows it.
The country, domain by domain
Hover a chart, or use the arrow keys, to read exact values and who governed that year.
One life at a time
Composites written from the statistics of their year, not real people, with the six curves that mattered most to someone in that position.
Where the numbers and the mood part ways
Four pairs: what people report on the left, the closest thing to a measurement on the right. The gaps are the useful part.
Three kinds of evidence on this page
What improved, and what did not
Money and health in one group, equality, schools, housing, safety and trust in the other.
The wallet and the society, 2006 → 2026
Right is better, left is worse. Set the years to 2006 and today and the split is stark: money, health and climate improved, while equality, schools, housing, safety and trust did not. Both blocs governed in those years.
Sweden 1970 → 2026, in numbers
Every indicator on the page. "Per year" is the rate of change, so terms of different length compare fairly, and "Fastest term" names the government that moved it quickest.
Where the numbers come from
I built this with an AI assistant, which compiled the data, drew the charts and drafted the stories. I chose the questions and checked what I could. Figures marked ≈ are interpolated, and anything before 1970 is approximate. Corrections to [email protected].