Sweden: Behind the myth of the lagom utopia

Sweden is considered one of the most progressive and liberal countries in the world. It is considered one of the happiest. A number of reports, statistics and lists support this.

 

Sweden tops the lists of the most progressive countries

 

According to the Freedom in the World 2017 report, the Freedom House’s annual report on political rights and civil liberties, Sweden received the maximum score and topped the list.

 

When MoveHub compiled a list of the most liberal countries, Sweden ranked 3^rd. This list was based on data from three sources:

• the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2016,
• the 2016 Social Progress Index report
• and Yale’s Environmental Performance Index 2016.

Only Iceland and Finland ranked higher (1^st and 2^nd respectively).

 

According to the most recent State of World Liberty Index, Sweden ranked 5^th; once again the country tied with Norway and Finland, as well as with Luxembourg. Only New Zealand, Switzerland, Canada and Australia ranked higher.

 

Yet, the recent general election on the 9^th of September casts doubt on these stats. The recent rise of the Sweden Democrats, a far-right anti-immigration party, left us wondering what happened to the much-celebrated progressive and liberal values of the Swedish society.

 

Is Sweden not as progressive as it used to be? Or as it is portrayed to be?

 

 

And how about happiness?

 

Sweden among the happiest places on Earth

 

According to the United Nations’ World Happiness Report published yearly, the five Nordic countries are thought to be among the happiest in the world. In 2018, Finland came first, followed by Norway, Denmark and Iceland. Sweden came 9th. Even though it did not rank as high as the rest of Scandinavia, Sweden still ranked high on a global level. These rankings consider six key variables associated with happiness: income, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, trust and generosity. They’re therefore largely based on people’s subjective experience of happiness, well-being and quality of life.

 

Following the international success of the Danish concept of Hygge, the Swedish word ‘lagom’ recently made it to our dictionaries. Best described as ‘not too little, not too much, but just enough’, lagom has been heralded as ‘the Swedish art of balanced living’ or ‘the Swedish secret of living well’.

 

Sweden in the shadow of happiness

 

“In the Shadow of Happiness”, a recent report published by the Nordic Council of Ministers, confirms what we all suspected: nothing is as perfect as it seems and not all Scandinavians are immune to unhappiness.

 

As mentioned in this report, “in international happiness research there is considerable consensus on distinguishing between three dimensions of subjective well-being”. These include:

1. life evaluation (i.e. how happy or satisfied one is with life in general),
2. affect (how happy they currently feel),
3. and eudaimonia (how meaningful they perceive their life to be).

The first dimension is the most frequently used, and is also the one used in this report. People were asked to evaluate their life satisfaction, and according to their responses, they were grouped into one of three categories: thriving, struggling or suffering.

 

According to the findings of the report, a significant proportion (12.3%) of the Nordic population is either struggling or suffering. The largest proportion was found in Sweden (14.9%), and the smallest in Denmark (8.1%). Quite surprisingly, it was found that the highest percentages were in the 18-23 and the 80+ age groups. This challenges a common pattern in happiness research, where subjective well-being and quality of life follows a U-shaped form when measured over a lifespan and plotted on a graph (youth and old age being the happiest times in our lives).

 

Looking at the gender differences, it appears that young women are more likely to be struggling than young men. The situation may be worse in Sweden; however, the gender difference is the most marked in Iceland, where we also find the highest percentage of young women who feel depressed (9.2%).

 

On the contrary, there are no differences in the happiness levels between those living in the cities and in the countryside. However, the ethnic minorities appear to be less happy than the rest of the population.

 

Happiness and life circumstances

 

Another interesting finding is that the life circumstances most closely associated with struggling or suffering were poor general health, followed by poor mental health, inequality of income, unemployment and limited social contact. It is worth noting here that in the United Kingdom, USA and Australia, it is poor mental (rather than general) health that is most often associated with unhappiness, whereas in low-income countries it is inequality of income.

 

Nordic women report unhappiness and poor health more often than men, yet the life expectancy of Nordic men is lower than that of women. This correlation between unhappiness and poor health is not surprising, as it is widely known that chronic physical illness significantly affects one’s quality of life.

 

Happiness worldwide

 

Let’s move now away from Scandinavia and have a closer look at the correlation between unhappiness and adverse life circumstances. The million-dollar question is whether adverse life circumstances are the cause or the consequence of unhappiness. What is the cause and what is the effect? Research evidence suggests that there is a bi-directional association between these two variables. Perhaps it is easy to understand how adversity (e.g. poor health, poverty, unemployment, social isolation) predisposes to and perpetuates unhappiness; at the same time we now know that unhappiness can contribute to poor health (e.g. chronic stress leading to chronic inflammation), as well as other adverse life circumstances. On a global level, therefore, it comes as no surprise that low-income countries tend to rank at the bottom of the World Happiness Report.

 

 

Let’s not forget the three dimensions of subjective well-being and happiness mentioned earlier. In The Little Book of Lykke: The Danish Search for the World’s Happiest People Meik Wiking, CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, discusses the challenges in measuring happiness, and distinguishes between its three dimensions.

 

In The Blue Zones of Happiness: Lessons from the World’s Happiest People Dan Buettner also explores these three dimensions (or strands) in three different countries, which are often heralded as the world’s happiest places: Denmark, Costa Rica and Singapore. He explains how the Danes score high on the purpose strand, as well as the pleasure (experienced happiness) and pride (evaluative happiness) ones. Even though Buettner’s strands do not exactly correspond with Wiking’s dimensions, it is clear that his definition of happiness is also a multi-dimensional one.

 

As a Psychiatrist, I have learned through years of observing and interviewing people (not always with a diagnosable mental illness) that happiness is not a given, but a skill that can be learned regardless of one’s external world, or the country where one lives.

 

Alex

(the Traveling Psychiatrist)

 

This post was largely based on my post “The Happiest Places On Earth Are Not That Happy” published on the Psychiatry Pitstop blog on the 5th of September 2018. It has been revised following Sweden’s general election on the 9^th of September 2018.

 

Further reading

 

The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia

 

Michael Booth explores the secrets to Scandinavian success and happiness, but also sheds light on the darker corners of Nordic societies, where taboos, parochialism and extremism flourish.

 

Lagom: The Swedish Art of Balanced Living

 

Linnea Dunne, a Swedish writer now living in Dublin, Ireland, writes about work-life balance and environmentally conscious living, both aspects of a lagom lifestyle. She shares tips on how to achieve it, as well as a few recipes ideal for the famous fika (coffee break the Swedish way).

 

Lagom: The Swedish Secret of Living Well

 

Lola Åkerström, a Nigerian writer and photographer who previously lived in America and now lives in Sweden, describes lagom as ‘a way of living that promotes happiness and celebrates fairness, moderation and being satisfied with what you’ve got’. In her book, Åkerström often compares and contrasts lagom to the Law of Jante, a set of ten rules that appears in Aksel Sandemose’s novel ‘A Fugitive Crosses His Tracks’.

 

The Girl in the Woods

Camilla Läckberg’s tenth novel is set in her hometown Fjällbacka, a small town on the western coast of Sweden. The main story takes place in the present day, but there is also a parallel story taking place in the 17^th century. Sometimes called the Swedish Agatha Christie, Läckberg goes beyond crime story-telling; she also discusses current political issues, such as immigration and the recent rise of nationalism and fascism in her country, whilst at the same time exploring the Swedish psyche.

 

For a full list of Läckberg’s novels, check out my recent post ‘Crime & Fjords: 9 Scandinavian writers you should read’.

 

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