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Sweden: Income Inequality (Rich-Poor Gap)

An editorial snapshot of country living conditions with trend, regional spread, and context links.

Sweden

Latest value

· 2025

4.58 Ratio

EU 4.73 · -0.2 pp vs Europe

European ranking

17 / 30

Up 3 positions compared with previous year

Population

10.6M

Country population · 2025

What this indicator measures

Measures the ratio between the total equivalised disposable income received by the highest-income 20% of the population and that received by the lowest-income 20%. A ratio of 5 means the top fifth receives five times as much income as the bottom fifth.

Lower values generally represent a more favorable situation.

Data source: Eurostat Income quintile share ratio S80/S20 ilc_di11

Explore this indicator

Regional map

· 2025 · 8 regions

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Internal regions

Comparison of values across the country's regions for this indicator.

  1. 1

    Stockholm

    +17.90

    5.40

  2. 2

    Östra Mellansverige

    +0.44

    4.60

  3. 3

    Sydsverige

    -1.75

    4.50

  4. 4

    Västsverige

    -3.93

    4.40

  5. 5

    Norra Mellansverige

    -10.48

    4.10

  6. 6

    Småland med öarna

    -14.85

    3.90

  7. 7

    Övre Norrland

    -21.40

    3.60

  8. 8

    Mellersta Norrland

    -23.58

    3.50

More context on this indicator

At a glance

Sweden performs more favourably than the European benchmark on Income quintile share ratio S80/S20, with a moderate gap. The trend context points to confirmed deterioration. The wider topic context points to broader relative strength. Regional evidence also shows internal variation.

European comparison in Sweden

In Sweden, S80/S20 ratio is noticeably better than the European benchmark: 4.58 versus 4.73 in 2025, with a gap of 0.15 in the ratio.

Recent trend

In Sweden, the medium-term pattern shows deterioration: the value moved from 4.12 in 2020 to 4.58 in 2025. The latest step, from 4.34 in 2024 to 4.58 in 2025, confirms the deterioration. The recent signal is stronger than the primary one.

Regional differences in Sweden

In Sweden, regional values for S80/S20 ratio are relatively close. Across 8 comparable regions, Stockholm records the highest value (5.4) and Mellersta Norrland the lowest (3.5), a gap of 1.9 in the ratio.

Reading within the topic

In Sweden, the evidence for Income & Purchasing Power leans towards relatively favourable performance compared with Europe, without a clear pressure signal dominating the picture. Material recent changes among related indicators lean towards deterioration and warrant monitoring.