Friday, July 11, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

Here are the richest and poorest areas in Sweden

Published 26 January 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Djursholm in Stockholm.
1 minute read

The gap between Sweden’s richest and poorest is still significant, although it has narrowed somewhat, according to Statistics Sweden (SCB). Djursholm tops the list of the wealthiest areas, while the student-dense area of Flogsta ranks at the bottom.

Sweden’s economic standard declined for the second consecutive year in 2023, according to SCB’s latest figures. The median income amounted to just over €26,000. Meanwhile, the proportion of people living in “relative poverty” decreased slightly, and the gap between the richest and poorest shrank for the first time in many years.

SCB’s statistics also include figures on Swedes’ net incomes, which EFN Finansmagasinet has analyzed at the municipal level. Southern Djursholm ranks at the top with a net income of just under €172,000. It is followed by northern Djursholm and several other exclusive areas in Stockholm. Eight of the ten municipalities with the highest economic standards in 2023 are located in the capital region.

At the bottom of the list is the student-dense area of Västra Flogsta in Uppsala, where the average net income is around €11,000. Other areas with low incomes include student areas and immigrant-dense neighborhoods such as Rosengård in Malmö, Kronogården in Trollhättan, and Tjärna Ängar in Borlänge.

Highest incomes at municipal level

Average net income in EUR

  • Danderyd: 85,149
  • Lidingö: 54,467
  • Vellinge: 44,651
  • Täby: 43,886
  • Nacka: 43,491

Lowest income at municipal level

Average net income in EUR

  • Högsby: 22,621
  • Ljusnarsberg: 22,646
  • Filipstad: 22,691
  • Överkalix: 22,596
  • Munkfors: 23,159

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Green Party economist: Good that fewer children are born in Sweden

The exaggerated climate crisis

Published today 11:36
– By Editorial Staff
The Green Party politician Lennart Olsen sees children as an unnecessary burden on the economy and the environment.
2 minute read

That fewer children are born in Sweden is only good for the environment, argues Green Party (Miljöpartiet) politician Lennart Olsen. Children and young people also cost more than older people, who can still work at higher ages if the pension age is raised, he adds.

Olsen writes in a debate article in the Bonnier publication Dagens Nyheter that people should view positively the fact that Swedes are not reproducing themselves.

“What’s needed here is a reversed perspective, where lower birth rates and eventually decreasing population should be welcomed to reduce the exploitation of the earth’s ecosystems“.

The Green Party member believes that the Swedish government’s investigation aimed at proposing measures to raise the very low birth rates in Sweden is “misguided”. He argues that the state can save money from fewer children being born.

“For the state’s and municipal sector’s economy, children and young people are a much greater expense than the elderly. This is because virtually all people between 0 and 20 years old cost a lot of money in the form of preschool, school, higher education, parental insurance, child allowance and more“, Olsen explains his thesis and argues that older people also won’t need as much pension if the retirement age is raised further.

Above all, the Green Party economist sees the possibility that fewer Swedish children will lead to a better climate in the long term.

“The positive effects of such a development can then also take effect and lead to reduced pressure on the earth’s ecosystems“, writes Olsen.

Olsen represents a so-called neo-Malthusian line, an ideological movement that strives for reduced population and strongly influences the climate alarmist movement.

Nvidia becomes first company to reach four trillion dollars in market value

The future of AI

Published yesterday 19:46
– By Editorial Staff
NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang presents DGX Spark – the world's smallest AI supercomputer.
2 minute read

Graphics card giant Nvidia made history on Wednesday when the company became the first publicly traded company ever to exceed four trillion dollars in market value. The milestone was reached when the stock rose to $164.42 during trading on July 9.

The California-based tech company has experienced a meteoric rise driven by its dominant position in AI chip manufacturing. Over the past five years, the stock has risen by a full 1,460 percent, while this year’s increase stands at nearly 18 percent.

Nvidia’s success is based on the company’s near-monopolistic control over the market for AI processors. The company’s GPU chips form the backbone of machine learning, data centers, and large language models like ChatGPT.

The company’s chips have become indispensable for tech giants Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet, all of which are investing billions in AI infrastructure. This has made Nvidia one of the main winners in the ongoing AI revolution.

Jensen Huang’s wealth explodes

The stock surge has had a dramatic impact on co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang’s personal wealth. According to Bloomberg estimates, his net worth is now $142 billion, an increase of more than $25 billion this year alone.

Huang owns approximately 3.5 percent of Nvidia, making him the company’s largest individual shareholder. The wealth increase places him among the world’s ten richest people, with his fortune closely tied to Nvidia’s stock price.

Heaviest weight in S&P 500

Nvidia now has the highest weighting in the broad US stock index S&P 500, having surpassed both Apple and Microsoft. The breakthrough has led to optimism for continued growth, with some analysts predicting that the market value could rise further.

Loop Capital’s Ananda Baruah sees Nvidia at the “forefront” of the next “golden wave” for generative AI and estimates that the company could reach a market value of over six trillion dollars within a few years.

Nvidia’s historic success reflects the broader AI euphoria that has gripped financial markets, where investors are betting that artificial intelligence will reshape the entire economy over the coming decades.

Sweden’s Christian Democrats call for tax relief for families with children

Published yesterday 7:08
– By Editorial Staff
1 minute read

Swedish families with children should receive tax relief, according to the same model as Hungary. This is proposed by Christian Democrat leader Ebba Busch.

The catastrophically low birth rate has recently become a topic of discussion even among Swedish politicians. Childbirth in Sweden is at historically low levels. During 2023, an average of 1.43 children were born per woman – the lowest figure ever recorded. The standing solution advocated among Swedish politicians has been to bring foreigners to Sweden to replace the population.

The leader of the Christian Democrats Ebba Busch proposes on this theme to follow the Hungarian model, where families with children receive significant tax relief that increases for each child. The principle is to make it easier for one or later both parents to support themselves through work instead of benefits.

If current birth rate trends continue in Sweden, each new generation will be approximately 30 percent smaller than the previous one, which means major consequences including for the labor market and welfare system when fewer people of working age must support a growing elderly population.

 

Almost total halt for imported berry pickers in Sweden

Published 8 July 2025
– By Editorial Staff
2 minute read

The Swedish Migration Agency has rejected almost all applications for berry pickers for 2025. As recently as 2023, 5,000 permits were granted.

Citing years of indications that employment conditions in the berry industry are not being upheld, the Migration Agency has granted only 89 permits for berry picking this year. A total of 2,397 applications for berry pickers have been received for 2025.

Last year, the Migration Agency rejected all applications for berry pickers, but 1,272 applications were subsequently approved after court review.

The Migration Agency has also this year assessed that workers in the berry industry risk not having their employment conditions met. Therefore, the agency has decided to reject most of the applications for Thai berry pickers, says Hanna Geurtsen, Deputy Project Manager for Work Permits at the Migration Agency, in a press release.

This year, the Migration Agency explains, all employers active in berry picking have chosen to apply for permits via the EU’s Seasonal Workers Directive. The difference when applying for a work permit as a seasonal worker, compared with the national main track for work permits, is among other things that the berry pickers this year are directly employed by a company in Sweden and not via a foreign staffing agency.

It’s partly about having an employment contract signed by both parties and that the employment conditions must be in line with Swedish collective agreements. For the majority of the applications received this year, these requirements have not been met, says Hanna Geurtsen.

The berry companies that have been rejected have the possibility to appeal these decisions in court, the agency adds in its press release.

Number of berry picking permits granted by the Migration Agency in recent years:

2025: 89
2024: 0 (1,272 were approved after court review)
2023: 5,372
2022: 6,594
2021: 5,175

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