Social welfare in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

is made up of several organizations and systems dealing with

welfare Welfare may refer to: Philosophy *Well-being (happiness, prosperity, or flourishing) of a person or group * Utility in utilitarianism * Value in value theory Economics * Utility, a general term for individual well-being in economics and decision ...

. It is mostly funded by taxes, and executed by the

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, pu ...

on all levels of government as well as private organizations. It can be separated into three parts falling under three different ministries. Social welfare is the responsibility of the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs. Education is the responsibility of the Ministry of Education and Research. The labour market is the responsibility of the Ministry of Employment.

History

The modern Swedish welfare system was preceded by the

poor relief In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of hel ...

organized by the

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden () is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.5 million members at year end 2023, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden, the largest List ...

. This was formalized in the Beggar Law of 1642, and became mandatory in the

Civil Code of 1734 The Civil Code of 1734 ( Swedish: ''1734 års lag''), was a code of law passed by the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates in 1734, and put in effect after it had been ratified by Frederick I of Sweden 23 January 1736. It became the foundation of the lat ...

, when each parish was required to have an

almshouse An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) is charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the Middle Ages. They were often built for the poor of a locality, for those who had held ce ...

. This system was changed with the Poor Law of 1847, when the first national poor care system separate from the church was organized: a mandatory public poor care relief fund financed by the public was established in each parish (after 1862

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

), managed by a public Board of directors for poor relief, and the church was no longer directly involved (though the parish vicar was always to be given a place in the board), transforming the poor care from the church to the state. In the reformed Poor Law of 1871, however, the criteria of whom was eligible to receive benefits was severely restricted to include only orphans, the aged and the invalids, and in parallel, the system was complemented by old customs such as ''

rotegång ('walk the parish') or ('walk around') was a historical form of care for the poor in the history of Sweden to support the very poorest in the peasant community. was practiced in the Swedish countryside already in the Middle Ages to care for tho ...

'',

child auction Child auction (, ) was a historical practice in Sweden and Finland during the 19th and early 20th centuries, in which orphan and poor children were boarded out in auctions. The name ''auction'', however, does not refer to actual slave auctions, as ...

, ''

fattigauktion ('poor auction'), was a historical practice within Swedish poor relief during the 19th century, in which paupers were auctioned off to a bidder among the parishioners willing to house them in exchange for the lowest amount of money for their ke ...

'' and by private charity (foremost the local '' Fruntimmers-skyddsförening''). This system was in place until 1918. In the 19th century, private sick benefit societies were started, and in 1891, they became regulated and subsidized. The Liberal Party government passed the National Pension Act in 1913 to provide security for the aged and in 1934 the private unemployment societies were regulated and subsidized in a way similar to the sick benefit societies. The Poor Care law of 1918 replaced the law of 1871, transformed the old fashion poor care law to a more humane modern social welfare system and abolished a number of old outdated customs, such as ''

'',

Child auction Child auction (, ) was a historical practice in Sweden and Finland during the 19th and early 20th centuries, in which orphan and poor children were boarded out in auctions. The name ''auction'', however, does not refer to actual slave auctions, as ...

and ''

'', and transformed the old poor houses to retirement homes. The final transformation of the old poor care system to a modern social welfare system was the Social Help Law of 1956 (''Lagen (1956:2) om socialhjälp'') In 1961 the private sick benefit societies were replaced with county-level public insurance societies who also handled pensions. The independent and mostly union-run unemployment benefit societies has been more centrally regulated and levels are now regulated by the government.

Social welfare

The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs is responsible for welfare. This is defined as social security in the case of illness, old age and for the family; social services;

health care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

; promotion of health and children's rights; individual help for persons with disabilities and coordination of the national disability policies.

Health care

Sweden's entire population has equal access to the public health care services. The Swedish

system is publicly funded and run by the

county councils A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Australia In the Australian state of New South Wales, county council (New South Wales), co ...

. The health care system in Sweden is financed primarily through taxes levied by county councils and municipalities. The health care providers of the public system are generally owned by the county councils, although the managing of the hospitals is often done by private companies after a

public tender Government procurement or public procurement is the purchase of goods, works (construction) or services by the state, such as by a government agency or a state-owned enterprise. In 2019, public procurement accounted for approximately 12% of GDP ...

. During the last decade several county councils have started using a

Fee-for-service Fee-for-service (FFS) is a payment model where services are unbundled and paid for separately. In health care, it gives an incentive for physicians to provide more treatments because payment is dependent on the quantity of care, rather than qualit ...

system for primary health care under the name "VårdVal". Dental care is not quite as subsidized as other health care, and the dentists decide on their own treatment prices.

Elderly care

Elderly care Elderly care, or simply eldercare (also known in parts of the English-speaking world as aged care), serves the needs of old adults. It encompasses assisted living, adult daycare, long-term care, nursing homes (often called residential care), ...

in Sweden is the responsibility of the local municipalities. There are both

retirement home A retirement home – sometimes called an old people's home, old folks' home, or old age home, although ''old people's home'' can also refer to a nursing home – or rest home, is a multi-residence housing facility intended for the elderly. Ty ...

s as well as

home care Homecare (home care, in-home care, care at home), also known as domiciliary care, personal care, community care, or social care, is health care or supportive care provided in the individual home where the patient or client is living, generally focu ...

, with home care on the rise.

Social security

The Swedish social security is mainly handled by the

Swedish Social Insurance Agency The Swedish Social Insurance Agency (, ) is a government agency that administers social insurance in Sweden. Responsibilities Among other the agency is responsible for administering the following benefits. * Immigrant support and allowances ( ...

and encompasses many separate benefits. The major ones are: * "Barnbidrag": Monetary support for children up to 16 (support also available for older students) * "Föräldrapenning": Benefits to be able to be home from work to take care of their children for up to 480 days per child. It also includes special benefits to care about sick and disabled children. * "Bostadsbidrag": Housing allowances for anyone who otherwise can't afford housing. * "Sjukpenning", "Sjukersättning", "Aktivitetsersättning" and "Handikappersättning": Benefits if you are ill or disabled and can't work. * "Arbetslöshetsersättning": Benefits for unemployed (time limited to 300 days, five days a week, which means 60 weeks) * "Ålderspension", "Garantipension": Benefits for those who have retired. * "Försörjningsstöd": Benefits for anyone (and their children) who otherwise can't get a reasonable standard of living. This is given out purely on a need-basis and handled by each

's social service.

Welfare fraud

In its 2017, police stated that

welfare fraud Welfare fraud is the act of illegally using state welfare systems by knowingly withholding or giving information to obtain more funds than would otherwise be allocated. This article deals with welfare fraud in various countries of the world, and ...

was prevalent in vulnerable areas, where benefits administered by

Swedish Public Employment Service The Swedish Public Employment Service () is a Swedish government agency organized under the Ministry of Employment mainly responsible for the public employment service in Sweden and the implementation of labour market policies. Roles The a ...

and the

were targeted. Police had identified resident registry figures that had been manipulated: for instance, 2% of all apartments in Rinkeby had between 10 and 30 persons registered as residents, which led to an inflated number of people receiving welfare benefits. The tolerance of fraud of the social welfare system generally decreases with high unemployment and low economic growth. A 1998 study stated that that tendency also applied to Sweden.

Education

Education is the responsibility of the Ministry of Education and Research. Education responsibilities includes pre-school and child care for school children as well as adult education. Education, including any university degree, is free in Sweden.

Labour market

The labour market policies fall under the responsibilities of the Ministry of Employment. The responsibilities considered to be a part of the welfare system includes unemployment benefits, activation benefits, employment services, employment programs, job and development guarantees, starter jobs, and the European Social Fund. Sweden has state-supported union unemployment funds.Anders Kjellberg and Christian Lyhne Ibse
"Attacks on union organizing: Reversible and irreversible changes to the Ghent-systems in Sweden and Denmark"
in Trine Pernille Larsen and Anna Ilsøe (eds.)(2016) ''Den Danske Model set udefra (The Danish Model Inside Out) - komparative perspektiver på dansk arbejdsmarkedsregulering'', Copenhagen: Jurist- og Økonomforbundets Forlag (pp.279-302)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swedish welfare system Social security in Sweden