Now Even Swedes Are Questioning the Welfare State
Nationalists are gaining support as more people complain about the sustainability of the cradle-to-grave system.
The road from Solleftea to Sundsvall.
Photographer: Mikael Sjoberg/Bloomberg
When the maternity ward was closed at the hospital in the Solleftea district of northern Sweden early last year, the nearest alternative was 100 kilometers (60 miles) away by road. So the local midwives decided to teach expectant parents a new skill: how to deliver a baby in a car.
As an ante-natal course for leaner times, it would have been unusual even in a cash-strapped country, let alone in one whose economy is enjoying its longest period of growth in at least four decades and whose finances are flourishing. Sweden is a nation in surplus and the government has still been raising taxes, with the top marginal rate now reaching 60 percent.