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Vice Blog

SWEDEN - TEA, SHOES, CALORIES, PERCENTAGES: ARE YOU POOR?

Unless meatballs and metal are currency, Sweden probably has never been the richest country in the world. But at least for a long time it's seemed like one of the not-so-poor ones, though maybe that's because we just don't know how to measure these things. We called up Joakim Palme, who used to work at the Swedish Institute for Social Welfare and has now moved on to become the director of the Institute of Future Studies. He knows a lot (a LOT) about justice, he's an overall very nice guy as well as the spitting image of his father, former Swedish prime minister Olof Palme.

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Vice: When is a person considered poor in Sweden?

Joakim Palme

: In Sweden the concept of an absolute limit for where poverty sets in doesn't exist. It's considered too complex, too relative.

How about abroad?

Historically, and in other countries, there have been and are poverty lines. For example, one study said that you needed to be able to drink tea in order to not be considered poor. This was an English study. Things such as income and economical resources have measured poverty, but as a part of the civil rights movement there have been more relative components added. Like for example, one study said that in order to not be poor you needed a pair of good shoes, because otherwise you couldn't speak in the town square or at meetings. Inclusion in society became a vital part in the concept of poverty. Another way of measuring poverty focuses on nutritional values.

Like… eating?

Yes. This study focused on the fact that if you don't have a certain intake of calories each day bad things will start happening to you. Yet another study focuses on how a low income has negative effects on your inclusion in society. Like for example, if you make too little your kids won't be able to attend gym class because you won't be able to buy them sports clothes.

What about this "Less than one dollar a day" thing I keep hearing about, what's that?

That's the UN, it's a part of their millennia goal. They want to half the amount of people who get by on one dollar, or less, every day. But the US also has more exact limits for poverty. They use a clearly defined poverty line.

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Oh I see, like their minimum wage.

Yes, but the minimum wage is actually below the poverty line.

Wow, that sucks.

Yeah. In Sweden there such an idea does not exist, that there should be an exact limit and if you're above it you're fine and if you're below it you're screwed. But there is something called the Social Welfare Principle. If you get by on less than social welfare you're poor. No one should have to though, since you'd be eligible for social welfare in that case. Another principle says that if you get by on 50% of the median salary you're poor. In the EU that's 60%. Unemployment is another thing that ups your risk of falling into poverty. The EU has set a couple of social goals that include standards on employment, pension benefits and social inclusion; those are all factors that determine poverty. But there are no sanctions for countries that fail to reach the goals.

ELIN UNNES