The downside of Sweden is the dark and cold weather, and that something like 1 out of 10 accidents is a collision with a moose (now you know why Saabs and Volvos were built so ruggedly for crash protection!). It really depends on your bent, their taxes are very high being a European social democracy, but then again you also don’t have to worry about some of the things you do here, like healthcare if you lose your job for example. Having seen more then a few Swedish tourists running around NYC, there also is the people, too lol (obviously, not all Swedes are tall and gorgeous, but seems like at least some are (M and F I will add…) …
@busdriver11 I’m surprised you’d consider you higher ed free, as you were locked into service to compensate for it and I bet your kids’ education cost you some $$.
I was shocked at the menu prices the first time I was there but they aren’t all that different from here. Tax is included in the price you see on the menu and there is no tipping since the servers make a living wage. If you add tax and tip here how much does that beer cost? Of course, it depends on the beer…
One thing I would hate is that all the alcohol is sold at official government stores and they are not exactly on every corner. You have to take a number and ask a person for whatever you want and most of it is held in a back room. I’d probably drink a lot less!
In Germany there was an excellent vocational education system, so there were good options for people who didn’t want to go to college. I do remember the Swedish kids when I studied in Germany in college would all go nuts about the easy access to alcohol. I don’t know what the tax rate was in Germany because the tax system was so simple you didn’t do any calculations. I filled out a one page form - which basically gave me a break for a long commute and they figured out the rest. I do know that on a post-doc salary and beginning architect salary we felt very comfortably off. We had no trouble eating out whenever we wanted to or traveling.
If that’s the price within the last 5 years, that’s about par for the course for some of the more expensive bars in the NYC area and usually more for the higher-end import/craft beers rather than the watery American beers like Bud-Light.
If the same holds in Sweden, especially if even the lowest-end beers are better than the low-end beers in the US, doesn’t sound too bad. Now if it is for the lowest-end watery crappy beer, then you have a good point.
That was the price about 7-8 years ago, when my husband visited. Knowing him, it was a smaller pub. I can’t imagine what a beer costs now.
I didn’t consider it an onerous sacrifice, it was something I wanted to do. And I was locked into seven years for pilot training, not for the scholarship. I would have gone into the AF whether they would have given me a scholarship or not. We did get paid a decent amount of money, got fantastic training, and an opportunity to travel the world and get a good job afterwards. Until the very end, I did not feel that I was forced to stay locked into service that I didn’t want to be doing.
Now my kids education is another story. However, the sickening amount of money we spent on all those private schools was by our own choice.
One problem with Sweden involves divorce and single parenting, which there is a lot of. My sister and her H divorced, at his insistence, when their youngest was only about 5. There is no child support like we have here. Maybe they are assuming that because of the day care and medical care there that it’s not needed. But when you consider food, clothing and shelter it certainly is needed! My sister moved into a small apartment with their children, and her ex eventually sold their old house and bought a bigger one, with a pool! It was quite striking.
No decent child support? That’s kind of shocking, I would have expected otherwise.
Maybe @greenwitch’s sister had some unique circumstances or things have changed since then?
From wiki:
In Sweden a parent not living with their child should pay “underhållsbidrag”, since parents are obliged to support for their children. The amount should be agreed on by the parents, with consideration taken for the economic need of the child and the economic situation of both parents. This may be in the form of a contract or simply an agreement. With joint custody where the child lives with each parents roughly half of the time no child support needs to be paid. The amount agreed on is adjusted for inflation each year (though it has been raised by 0% some years).
If the parent supposed to pay child support doesn’t pay (or doesn’t pay in time), the child may receive “underhållsstöd” from Försäkringskassan. This includes if the parent pays less than 1273 SEK per month and doesn’t provide equivalent support some other way. The parent not living with the child should repay the amount paid as far as his/her income allows this, and may have to pay interest on the debt to Försäkringskassan.
The support belongs to the child, but is paid to the parent. It is paid until the child turns 18. For a child that is still in high school or equivalent, the support may be extended until the child turns 21, and after 18 it is given to the child directly.[1]
For international cases, see Försäkringskassan’s website and “Convention on the Recovery Abroad of Maintenance” in Swedish law, and relevant EU treaty (in Swedish).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_support_by_country
Försäkringskassan = the Swedish Social Insurance Agency
https://thinkprogress.org/the-brilliant-idea-from-europe-that-could-revolutionize-child-support-dd3416db9bfb#.8n3ftv78g
“The best model is likely to be found in Europe. As of 2010, all European countries except the Netherlands guaranteed child support payments to custodial parents even if the noncustodial parent couldn’t pay or could only pay part. Sweden goes even further and has a guaranteed assistance program in which all custodial parents get a child support payment from the government no matter what, and the government then collects what it can from the noncustodial ones. Such a system seems to work — 95 percent of these parents get child support payments. This system “gets you a guaranteed minimum benefit whatever the nonresident father can pay,” explained Irwin Garfinkel, a professor of social work at Columbia University.”
This is just from the top hits on a google search “child support Sweden”
Sweden also just reinstated a draft, so YMMV.
PS I am going to Sweden in a couple months and am fully expecting it to be awesome!!
Report back on the experience, @soccerguy315. Business or pleasure? I hope to go in the coming year.
And let us know what beer prices are like and ask about child support. 
You don’t need to ask about rape statistics. 
I have a friend who lives in Sweden in the second most “prestigious” area of Stockholm. For two scientists to be able to afford a $1M condo back in the day when it was only that much, the pay must have been OK.
@soccerguy315, Stockholm is awesome.
And please be specific as to the brand/quality of beers on offer at given price points. 
Yes, I think soccerguy needs to do a beer experiment and report back to us. Maybe he can get government funding.
Curious about prices? Here is a pretty fancy place with a view… I highly recommend.
Click on “menyer” - the prices are in Swedish krona (divide by about 9). Includes tax and tips.
Actually, @BunsenBurner, I would have thought the prices would have been higher. Not cheap but not as crazy as I would have thought for a nice place, view included. Some of the set menus seem pretty reasonable, especially since it includes the VAT.
And don’t forget the 20% tip. 
We had a dinner for 3 to celebrate kid’s 25th there, and that was under $200, bottle of wine included.
Nice! How long ago were you there and did you visit places other than Stockholm?