It's funny how we see prices differently depending on where we come from. Norwegians often travel to Sweden to buy candy and alcohol because it's so cheap 😅
The Norwegians go to Sweden to buy alcohol as it is so cheap here. The Swedes go to Denmark to buy it as it is so cheap there. The Danes go to Germany because it is so cheap _there_! Or at least, this was the pre-pandemic pattern...
Yet I want meat prizes to be even more expensive. Shave down production of meat in order to drive down the number of wasted food and push the prizes up! /A Swedish Guy
@@SocietyFilth I don’t think that would fix the food waste problem. The stores all provide a huge selection weekly, and most supermarkets are part of a chain, they don’t make many local choices and lose customers if they don’t have what you’re looking for, even if ypu only eat meat 3 times a week. The waste is not what households throw away but all the expired goods in retail. Doing the general supermarket transition decades ago, to American style (everything in one store) IS the problem. Of you look at countries with separate butcher shops and bakeries, fishstores etc, I expect there’s a real difference. The problem is Americans work so much they don’t have time to spend doing all those errands, and as for Swedes, they value their free time so much they wouldn’t agree to those old-school systems either. A tiny convenience store in Sweden provides around 2-300 various possible sandwhich toppings alone (regardless of meat, dairy or veg). Add the meat and poultry section to that, and you see the problem. If people got their meat from a local specialty store there would be more regulated stock and variation of what was available and not, weekly. The idea of constant choice of a zillion goods everywhere is one of the biggest problems I think. It’s not like Italy where there’s extended family and retired folks in the same household sharing the errands. My two cents.
Regarding the cost of meats, and chicken in particular, there are number of things to consider. First is that the quality of the meat is by far better in Sweden than it is in the US. Sweden also has the lowest allowable levels of antibiotics used in livestock production of any country in the world from my readings. That is a huge thing if you know anything about commercial livestock production. Sweden also has much higher requirements for the living environment for their livestock and that raises the costs of raising the animals. I grew up on a farm north of Seattle and we raise cattle, pigs and chickens. Our products were all organic long before "organic" was a thing. We may have been poor by most standards, but the one thing we could count on was that every bit of our food was homegrown and absolutely healthy. Our family is very food oriented and we understand the value of the quality of food and how it contributes my ancestor's longevity. I believe that the meat products in Sweden, when compared to what is available in the US, is a bargain if you care about your health and the health and well being of the animals raised for our consumption. A good value is not only based on low prices. Think of Walmart on this point. There is a vast distinction between 'cheap' and 'inexpensive.' Meat in Sweden is really inexpensive while most meats in the US are 'cheap.'
Yes, that could be true, however, I live in Spain and the quality of meat here it’s one of the best and for 1kg of chicken youll be paying less than 5€, so taking that, Swedish meat it’s just expensive.
@@danielusoltsev9912 I'm sorry, but you're wrong. Spain has one of the highest usage rates of antibiotics in animal production in Europe. Only Cyprus is worse. Spain uses 30 times more antibiotics for animal production than Sweden. And chicken is usually the worst when it comes to antibiotics.
The plastic bag cost is an EU-thing. And the expensive meat and chicken is because it's not ok to use antibiotics, and the animals need to live a higher standard than most non EU countries. And the high restaurant cost is because people need to have a good salary, paid vacation and so on. But it's one of the lowest paying jobs in Sweden. So everything is more expensive, but most people do get a high quality life out of it. But yeah, I'm a full time student and sometimes I wish the living cost would be cheaper. So I really try to think of all the good that comes out of it 😅
Its not just higher stardards for the animals but the workers of meat processing. In US many of the big meat states the companies have lobbied things so that even if a person is crippled because of work related injury they might not get any compensation unless they sing away all their rights or they can fight a years long legal battle.
The question is not why it’s “so expensive” here in Sweden. The question is why and how it is so cheap(!) in the US. Take the meat for example - what have those animals gone through in life for you to be able to buy that meat for that low cost? I can tell you - they don’t have the same life standards as the animals do here in Sweden. Nor are the animals here treated with a lot of antibiotics or stuff like that. You can eat your meat and feel good about it here - can you really do that in the US thinking about what that animal went through to end up on your plate and knowing that you might become immune to antibiotics when consuming it constantly? As for the plastic bags, I think it’s really good that the price is that high. It really makes you think - do I really need this? As you said, most people bring their own reusable bags to the store, and that’s the whole point. Not buying unnecessary things that will go to waist - especially plastic. In order to save our planet.
While it's true what you're saying, even products that I buy such as Beyond Meat products (no animals invovled) are more expensive in Sweden- it cost me over 60kr for 500g for 'vegan meat'. Here's a crazy story to think about: Just the other day I went in to ICA to buy a bottle of water as a prop for a video. It cost me 14 kr. When we came outside, there was a man trying to raise money to support hungry children in Africa. He asked us, 'how much do you think it costs to provide food, shelter, and education for a child in Africa for one entire day?' The answer was only 7kr! So for the amount I paid for that bottle of water in Sweden, it could support the entire daily costs for 2 children in another continent. That to me is truly mindblowing!
@@StefanThyron I think you’re missing the nuance in your comparison, just like a lot of people are pointing out in the comments. Costs (“helped” by tax rates) is often related to guided behaviour. For example, the cost of plastic bags ONLY came about because of the initiative to reduce the use of plastic. Plastic in general and bags in particular causes a big impact on environment and wild life, ultimately causing issues to our own well-being. Your communication through this video cause damage because people will focus on the “wrong” issue; yes certain behaviour and purchased items are more expensive in Sweden compared to elsewhere, largely driven by the style of national fiscal policy, which includes responsibility and wellbeing for future generations.
Don't fall for that lie, that the animals have a good life here in Sweden. Just because they might have it sligthly better in some aspects doesn't mean that they get to live a good, species-specific life. Take for example pigs and chickens, most of them never gets to be outside rooting and scratching. They also have very little space to move around. For example, a chicken has less than an a4 paper to live on because they live so crowded. Fishes that are farmed also have very little space. Dairy cows repeatedly gets forcibly impregnated and their calf taken away from them, which causes both her and her calf distress. Lantbrukarnas riksförbund, an organisation that are representing farmers, now wants to abolish the grazing requirement. It's all about profit. Even in cases where an animal gets to live a good life she/he ultimately gets murdered, many painfully (pigs are for example gassed to unconsciousness, which is higly aversive, before getting a knife slit across their throat). We don't need to eat animals and products from them. We can't justify eating them by sensory pleasure, culture, tradition and habit. Please be kind - be vegan! At last, eating a plant-based diet is the single biggest thing you can do to reduce your environmental impact.
It's all about taxes actually. Government wants more of our moneys to put in theirs and their friends pockets. No one is taking responsability, and you'll see that down to citycouncil level workers. Here we build for 300 million SEK, only to sell 20 years later for 4 million SEK. We buy equipment worth 2 million SEK only to sell to friend of a politian 4 years later for 10k. This is happening on every level of our society. We really need to drain the swamp in Sweden. Remember, we used to have MORE of everything with a much higher standard, for a lot less. Ofc young and dumb will experience this aswell as things only get worse with time. They will say the same thing eventually.
Plastic bags are actually more environment friendly than those other reusable bags people buy, if you reuse the plastic bags as long as they last that is.
Is it though? It definitely depends how healthy you are and your genes, a lifetime of 60%+ taxation to get those for "free" you are paying much more than you would if you paid only when you use them in a lifetime unless you have a lot of health issues.
@@Ripcraze Yes, it is. The total tax burden in Sweden is high, but you cannot attribute all of it to health care. There are many other aspects that our taxes cover beyond that, including free education, a safety net in case our lives go completely upside down, good roads and public transit, and so much more. As to costs, when I was living in the US, I was paying about $10-15k/year in medical expenses. This includes insurance premiums as a small business, along with routine medical visits for normal issues (illness, etc.). Without an insurance industry trying to make profits in the middle, our health care costs overall are less than comparable total costs in the US. But due to the differences in approaches and how it is paid for, it is almost an apples to oranges comparison. One thing is for sure: US healthcare is cheap, unless you get very sick or have an accident. Then you can go bankrupt. Even with insurance.
@@evalindqvist1253 Konstigt nog så har vi inte så stora lån skillnader mellan studenter i USA och Sverige. Och våran skola kostar inte 10k dollar på år men ändå snittar amerikanarna bara en del högre studentlån..
You probably know why plastic bags are so expensive in Sweden, environmental policy. The same applies to car fuel = Environmental policy. Alcohol prices = Social policy. Meat prices, no genetically modified meat farms with poor animal husbandry. Restaurant visiting staff have exorbitant salaries with at least 5 weeks of paid vacation and a range of other benefits, they are not dependent on tips. Of course it is interesting to hear the differences, but you should probably address the background.
Krister Forsman. Not true about the meat. Swedish animal farming is not as good as many would like to think. A life of suffering and exploitation no matter how you look at it. Maby not as extrem as in the US, but still sick beyond imagination.
Jag håller med dig om man ser till att höga priser är tänkt att förändra beteenden. Men jag börjar bli cynisk när det gäller höga priser/smyhöjningar på plastpåsar, drivmedel, alkohol, vägtullar, parkeringsböter, buss/tunnelbana i stockholm, tobak etc. Enorma skatteintäkter på ett enkelt sätt men vad blir resultatet i förhållande till vad det höga priset är tänkt att påverka? Väldigt lite skulle jag säga. Vore det inte rimligt om den markanta skatteökningen av t ex plastpåsar just gick till miljöförbättrande åtgärder? Det kanske resulterar i ett par laddstolpar här och där eller en breddad trottoar för cyklister på en kortare sträcka men i övrigt är det ett enkelt sätt för staten att få in mer skatt som definitivt inte går till det som det borde vara tänkt för. Det borde då också kunna gå åt bägge håll. Dvs om folk inte längre vill nyttja en busslinje ja då läggs den ner. När folk inte längre betalar tv-licensen ja då slopar man den avgiften och lägger till det på skatten istället - mycket märkligt förhållningssätt.
@@revolversntulips Exemplet med buss och tv-licens haltar en del. Folk tittade ju faktist en hel del utan att betala för sig. Miljöförbättrande åtgärder genomförs ju sedan länge innan skatten på plastpåsar. Det är inte alltid konstruktivt att öronmärka skatteintekter. Dessutom så håller jag inte alls med dig vad gäller användantet av plastpåsar. Det har ju minskat rejält. Talar av om egna observationer och de undersökningar av förbrukningen som gjorts. Fast generellt så är jag ofta emot att prisa ut miljöfarligt beteende. Låginkomstagare drabbas och även glesbygdsbefolning. Ibland är förbud bättre. Bärkassarn i form av plastpåsar är ju inte något som är alldeles nödvändigt. Det är ett lätt exempel. Andra är svårare. Bensin/diesel? Vet inte.
@@kristerforsman2448 Som revolver sa så borde ju skatterna gå till rätt saker som tex miljö. Att ge dig 50000kr för att köpa en elbil som sedan laddas med el importerad från ett kolkraftverk i Polen är inte jätte logiskt skulle jag säga
@@fnudor4808 Om kommentaren var till mig så generaliserade jag. Mat har 12% moms och mycket inom kulturområdet har 6%, så du får googla bättre själv :)
@@BobRossRightHand really I have an apartment organised already. Now finding an apartment in Ireland is a major hastle but I found one really easily in göteborg to be honest. I
You should perhaps look into the different animal farming practices between the US and sweden.. might give an insight into the different price points...
Summary: "what kinda shit are you feeding your animals for there to be such cheap meats in your stores?", "public transport is not great in some parts of Sweden", "Sweden hasn't offered 'freedom' to countries in return for cheap oil" *paraphrasing ;)
While it is true the average salary is higher in the us. I would hazard to guess that the median salary in Sweden is equal or higher, as the wealth inequality is greater in the us and the so called 1% would substantially inflate the average.
@ Linus Holmström The only real metric that really shows the difference between the income of a Swede versus an American is the `disposable income` that is available at the end of the week, month or year. What I mean by that is what do you have left over for your own to spend any way you see fit. Swedes have far more than Americans by a large amount.
Generally professions that require high education are paid higher in the US. For example the median salary for a physician in the US is 206 000 dollars, while Swedish physicians make 42 000kr a month on average, which only equals 504 000kr or roughly 60 000 dollars. An American physician makes almost 4 times as much. On the other hand a fast food or supermarket-worker makes more in Sweden.
The average American lives in a 2000+ sq foot home, owns 2 cars, has a higher salary, has more disposable income, pays lower tax rates, buys cheaper groceries, pays cheaper gas, etc etc. Standard of living is much higher in the US
When / if you have children who are going through the school system, you understand the benefits of high taxes better. This is how you may get old parents, then you understand the need for elderly care and medical care. Then you might get sick yourself and see the benefit of cheap medical care, etc., etc.
@@andersmalmgren6528 swedish health system looks good on the surface.. in reality, if you get a medical problem it is almost impossible to see a doctor. Only if you have shit loads of money and go to private.
Same in the UK. Frustrating as it is, it is beneficial for the environment and many people have now stopped using them as wastefully. The alcohol pricing was interesting. In the UK our prices are between the German and Swedish ones, and maybe nearer the Swedish pricing in some cases :(
The sad thing is that Sweden isn't one the countries responsible for the plastic bags that get released in the ocean but we are "punished" for it anyway. But it's still a good thing, it makes people reuse their plastic bags or use tote bags, which I think everyone in Sweden does, everyone I know have a kitchen drawer just for plastic bags.
@@megsdaily Yeah it would, especially those countries who are dumping their trash into the ocean. It's just better overall for everyone to use reusable bags.
When going to university in southern of sweden I had to travel either 2h with car or 3,5h with public transportation (one way) so even though public transportation is good between and inside most big cities. It’s not always the case when It comes to the rest of Sweden^^
I thought southern sweden had the best public transport since it feels like most of the money for public transport goes to there. (I’m from northern sweden and take a 1h public transport to school (one way) that goes every 1-3 hours). Kinda sad to find out you guys can have just as bad when outside the cities.
I get that one-sided reporting like this has a "dramatic effect" for a YT channel, but judging from your reactions on each item I wonder if you actually understand _why_ those things are expensive in Sweden and cheap in the US? I mean, _every_ single item has more than one well defined cause for its price.
@@Funeral65 Nope, plastic bags also falls under just as the original commenter said "every single item has more than one well defined cause for its price". Sure, the government gets more money if people continues to buy these bags, which goes back into the governments founds which is used for a lot of good in this country. But the main reason is to discourage so much use of plastics, to motivate people to think twice when buying it and instead bring their own re-usable bag. And if they are encouraged enough to do so technically the government will have less income cause people change from buying bags to buying no bags and all this while moving towards a better environmental standpoint. I remember when the bags in Sweden used to cost 2 SEK (0.2 USD) then it wen't to 5 SEK (0.55 USD) and I started to question myself but not care enough to change still. But now at my local stores the price is 10 SEK (1,15 USD) and that actually made me buy a re-usable bag which I trained myself to bring to the store every time. And I'm not even a "think about the environment all the time person", I just made the logical choice to save money. Governments environment mission successful and I'm saving money, win win. It's the same strategy used in many environmental issues here. You have an electric car? Great, you charge it for free at the charging stations, you'll never have to think about another gas tax ever again and it encourages moving into the future of cars. Soda both plastic and aluminum cans have an extra cost on them? Great, you'll get that cost back if you return them to the store. At the end of each month going back to the store and "panta" (as the action of returning soda-cans is called in Sweden) for me as a single adult and getting back 100-200 SEK (12-24 USD) in your pocket, feels great for my economy and helps the environment.
@@XareSwe The thing is though, those re-usable bags have to be used thousands of times to be more environmentally friendly than a plastic bag. And Swedes were already good at re-using those before they used them as trash bags. So yes, the cloth bag is better if you use it every day for several years, And I'm talking like 7 to 10 years here. Alse lets not talk about the fact that the expensive plastic bags made people start to use small trash bags to carry their groceries in since they come in rolls of 10 - 30 for 1 or 2 crowns per bag, and those are even worse for the environment than the eco-friendly plastic bags that now cost 8 crowns. There's like 150 million tonnes of plastic in the oceans but is the Swedish plastic bag really the problem there? Meanwhile the government makes almost 3 billion crowns from the plastic bag tax a year. This isn't the first time that the government has raised the taxes on something in the name of ''public health'' and it's always about money, but ofcourse they don't say that... Even Miljöpartiet criticized the suggestion, because why raise the tax on plastic bags and not cloth or paper bags as well? It's hypocritical.
Det skulle vara roligt om du jämförde lönerna för t.ex en städare eller undersköterska i USA/Sverige om dom jobbar full arbetsvecka (40 Tim). Då kan man också jämföra vad dom får för sina pengar i respektive land.
Jag har lite vänner i USA och deras löner var inte högre. Den ene var bartender och har 8 dollar i timmen och en var florist och hon har 12 dollar i timmen och det är lägre än vi har i här i Sverige.
"I'm surprised anyone would take a car anywhere in Sweden especially since the public transportation is so good here.." ... Welcome to Norrland mate xD I grew up in Stockholm (and had the same view as you) but now I live in Norrland. Public transportation is insanely expensive and pretty much impossible if you don't live in any of the bigger cities... :(
Agreed, grew up on the countyside and public transportation wasn´t even a thing there :P and even now that i live in helsingborg i don´t use it since it´s so expensive and is never on time. Easier and cheaper to take the car and park in the center of the city when i´m going there.
I would like to add another thing which I found so expensive in Sweden is the cost of Hair cut. I do not have experience of US but if I compare it from UK then in Sweden it is twice the amount that you pay in UK for getting a normal Haircut from an average shop.
What's the source on "higher salaries in the states"? Are you perhaps looking at household income? Median salary in USA 2019 was 31 133 USD. Median salary in Sweden is 380 400 SEK, or 45 127 USD. Average salary doesn't reflect on reality, as there are so many billionaires in the US, making it a really unfair comparison.
I was referring to median, not mean. I addressed this in another video! But the statistic I saw was household income which is why you’re right and I’m wrong! Median personal income is slightly higher in Sweden
@@StefanThyron We have more single housholds in Sweden (40%). But in families usually both parents work so there are two incomes. www.boverket.se/sv/kommunernas-bostadsforsorjning/underlag-for-bostadsforsorjningen/demografisk-utveckling/hushallssammanstallning/
Plus att bussar och tunnelbana är extremt tråkigt och mycket trängsel. Jag tycker alla ska kunna ta bilen till jobbet, kommer aldrig sätta mig på en buss.
@@swedish_sadhguru3854 det blir ju väldigt trångt, långsamt och tråkigt om alla ska ta bil. Då skulle motorvägarna vara fulla till den grad att det inte längre går att ta bil
@@swedish_sadhguru3854 helt rätt. utvecklingen måste gå framåt, på 50 talet trodde man vi skulle ha flygande bilar nu men istället vill folk man ska ta bussen som nån jävla luffare!!!
You are missing that the plastic bag tax is an environmental tax to limit plastic littering. You can buy a paper bag for about 3-4 krona. The tax on alcohol is a health tax. The tax on gas is also an environmental thing as well. The meat production in the us is a industry...and much more antibiotics. The restaurants in the UK gives low wages and the service personal is relying on tips.
The problem most have is that the "environmental" tax doesn't go to the environment, giving you 50000kr to buy an electric vehicle that will be charged with electricity imported from a coal power plant in Poland isn't environmental at all.
Therefore we put tax on the plastic bags that are made from recycled or non-petrolium material and get people to buy the china made shitty petrolium based bags as trashbags instead. Because of plastic bags in the Pacific ocean ...
@@carolineklein8946 Sigh, well we don't. Instead of using environmently friendly shopping bags for the trash, we are now using worse bags that needs to be shipped in from abroad. But you keep on thinking that virtue signalling is better than real, science based, actions.
@@vikkran401 When China and India are responsible for like 90% of all pollution and climate change (if climate change is even driven by humans, which is extremely debatable). But this is the stupid modern virtue signalling West, and Sweden is the best example. "I am such a good human being because I eat less meat and don't buy plastic bags". I think this phenomenon is related to the lack of religion in Sweden, they need a new religion and "science" and "climate" is the answer.
interesting trivia regarding the price of alcohol: I visited the Laphroaig Distillery (owned by Suntory) on Islay back in 2015. The price of a bottle of 10 year old in their shop was in fact HIGHER than at Systembolaget here in Sweden! (Though that perhaps shows more what a power player the Swedish alcohol monopoly truly is on the global wine/spirit market...?)
This is why I moved abroad as a Swede. My Swedish parents never helped me buy a house and I was renting 2nd hand and couldn't save anything DESPITE being a software engineer, life shouldn't be that hard. Now I live abroad and can save lots of money while having a high quality of life. I will never go back to Sweden personally! Maybe for retirement......
I think a lot of this is standard from a lot of EU countries. I'm in Ireland and it's relatively the same. food is slightly more expensive in Sweden but the cheap rent(at least compared to Ireland) makes up for it
I keep saying this - for systembolaget do also compare the upper end of drinks. I mean compare a bottle of Bollinger or a bottle of 16yr old Lagavulin. Yes, systembolaget is more expensive at the cheap stuff, but once you hit the upper range it actually starts to become one of the cheaper places (do not underestimate what a bulk purchase in the sizes that systembolaget can do will do for the negotiation position).
Man brukar ju spara plastpåsarna man köper i kassan för att kunna återanvända när man går till affären nästa gång? Och att köpa vanliga soppåsar är ju väldigt billigt.
I would love to see a recurring “relevant happenings in Sweden” series. Not “news” in the typical sense, but stuff like major new rail lines changing, new apps or products becoming popular, current trends, etc
You could reuse bags atleast 2-3 times and after that use them as garbage bags. And Systembolaget-bags you can reuse like forever because they are too small for trash anyway.
As to Sweden’s taxes being so high; really? Stefan, we are actually paying as much or more in taxes in the US when you look at the taxes that don't show up as taxes such as the true cost of our fuel. The only metric that is of any valuable in comparing Sweden and the US come in two forms. The first is harder to define and that is the fact that overall 'life' in Sweden is better than it is in the US. I do not go into Portland very often any longer and I live 40 miles away in Sandy, Oregon. When I do go into Portland I am stunned every time by how much more homelessness we see. It is unbelievable!! You do not see that in Sweden. We are 'paying' far more for our quality of life than Swedes do. The second are of the way to measure who has the better life is to ask, "Who has the highest disposable income at the end of the week, month or year? That requires that you look at what Swedes get for the taxes they pay. If Americans were to look at their disposable income and what they get for that money, they then have to look at what it costs for Americans to buy on the open market what Swedes get for their taxes. I think you will find that if Americans paid for the same things that are include in being a Swede in the Swedish economy, you will find that Swedes are getting one hell of a deal on living in Sweden. These are just a few thoughts to consider when deciding who really has the greatest tax burden. My trip back to Sweden in 2011 was my first time back in Sweden since I first visited in 1971 when I was 20 years old. At that time, I had a chance to take a very deep look at Sweden, its political structure, its economy and its taxes. I had a chance to meet some Swedish business people and pick their brains on the issues of being in business and paying taxes. I will pose to you the same question that was presented to me for an answer. Daniel Brånby, one of the owners of Gränsfors Bruk and WoolPower asked me, “Would you rather be a rich man in a rich country or would you rather be a rich man in a poor country?” I told Daniel that it didn’t take much time to come to my conclusion. He just smiled and said, “Me too.”
Great video. You can buy paper bags instead of plastic at the store. Paper bags cost about 3-5 SEK. Alcohol and gasoline are heavily taxed first by tax and then VAT on top of that, and that is why it so expensive. Meat is expansive because of stricter regulations but it also means that Salmonella is very unusual in Sweden. Actually gasoline has three different taxes. Carbon dioxide, energy and VAT.
Hi Stefan, thanks for alot of fun and interesting videos over several years. One thing I missed about your comparison in this video was if you were comparing prices including or excluding taxes-since in Sweden taxes are always included in the price but thats not the case in the u.s. Makes for some bias.
In the US, each state has its own taxation plan. I live in the same area that Stefan does only I am on the Oregon side of the Columbia River and he is on the Washington side. Washington does have a sales tax on items, but I don't believe it is on food. Oregon has a state income tax and no sales tax. Neither system is perfect and a combination of the two would be much better. The one thing about this setup is that many Washington residents will come in to Oregon to do their purchasing so they do not have to pay the tax as they would in Washington. In this way they use both Washington and Oregon services without paying in either place.
The thing with using the grocery bag as garbage bag is that the plastic bags you buy to carry groceries is so much thicker (it’s meant to be able to hold like 20 lbs of groceries without breaking) than a garbage bag needs to be since you rarely throw heavy stuff in the regular garbage. So having reusable bags for groceries and thin plastic bags on a roll for garbage is much more efficient regarding using less plastic.
The thing you said about public transport, it's usually pretty good in the cities. But for me, as someone from the countryside of Sweden (Central Dalarna) there really aren't any public transport where I live. To get to school I either have to be there 2 hours before we start, or take the car, and to get to my part-time job after school and during weekends, there aren't any oublic transport at all. And over weekends, there are no public transport where I live whatsoever. The positive is that I will move to Linköping this fall to go to University. But what I wanted to say was basically that the car is more than necessary for people on the countryside of Sweden, therefore the gas prices affect us here a lot 😅
Hello Stefan! I made a quick check, we might calculate things differently, but here's what i found: the average yearly salary (median) i the US is 48,672 dollars, and the average (median) for Sweden is 60,184 dollars. The common saying is that in Sweden you pay around 30 % taxes, but in real life, when it comes down to "deklaration" a more realistic number is 25% taxes. Add to that that we dont have to pay for school, university, healthcare etc. it might be safe to say that in Sweden we have more to spend every month than in America. Just wanted to clear that out :) Thank you for a lovely channel!
I have lived in Sweden for over 5 years and I agree with everything you said 100%. However, consuming less alcohol, meat, and carrying groceries in my backpack or having some plastic bags with me when I go to the supermarket, and opting for public transport instead of a car has made me healthier and to treat these things as luxuries in life which they are..
And trust me, when enough people have electric cars, the government will spit y'all in the face and fuck up the electricity prices just like they did a few years ago when they said "buy diesel, it's good". And yes, petrol is destructive, but so is our electricity coming from coal power plants in Poland, and it won't get better since our stupid government wants to close our nuclear power plants. I really have no idea what they're thinking with.
@@BobRossRightHand True, we can barely run on electricity as it is, and they expect the whole country going electric on solar and wind? That's insanity.
@@Ripcraze - you are really misinformed. Do you know how much of the total electric production that was used to electric cars in Norway in 2020 (and they have a lot) - 0,5% was used to electric transportation from cars/vans. So I wouldn't say that it will be a problem in Sweden either. The problem is to get the electricity to where it is used. But I think they are on it....
Salaries are way higher in Switzerland than in Sweden. Swiss income tax is also lower than Swedish income tax, so spending your hard-earned Swedish Crowns while on vacation in Switzerland will hit hard.
Indeed, Switzerland has way better politics and not destroyed by feminism and refugees and socialism. Really envious of people who live there. You guys made a great country!
@@swedish_sadhguru3854 I am Swedish, but I lived in Switzerland for 6 years and have some insight. Being a woman myself, I can see the importance of women not only being seen as mothers and wives (the high cost for pre-schools often doesn't even make it worthwhile for women to get a paid employment). At the same time, I do see the important roll the nuclear family can play when raising children, and Swiss men often play a losing battle when it comes to child custody after a divorce. Too bad we can't cherry pick the best feature of every country. ;-)
@@annakchf7084 Yeah I agree with you. In Sweden most women think sex is more important than families, thats why they vote for parties to increase the amount of refugees...... Which is weird since Swedish men are pretty well endowed between their legs.....some of us lol. Oh well, their loss long term really.
Have you considered salary could have impact on price. In the US you have some employees that can’t live a decent life on low and I mean under the poverty line low income. Plastic bags are taxed to reduce usage and to invest in sustainable solutions. Tax on alcohol is taxed because some who can’t handle alcohol and become alcoholics, thus need more hospital service and medicines. You eat in a restaurant and staff might have a more decent salary versus the US?
Restaurant staff definitely get a better base pay, the downside is that they literally have no reason to do a good job because of that. Most if not all Americans I've heard from have said that the service in the US is way better than in Sweden because they actually have to work to get payed
@@BobRossRightHand I won't make a judgment on how good the service is compared to the US but some of how the service is done is due to culture. Fx the waiter won't come to the table as often as in the US since in the swedish/nordic culture that would be rude or looked as being annoying to intrude too often. Also maybe Sweden is similair to Denmark in that our language doesn't include as many courtesy phrases(or what it is called) as the english language, like the word "please" that is used a lot, which makes it less likely that we use the word please.
Well Swedish government didnt exclude the tax on the bio bags, so now we are about to lose the companys that develop and manufacture bags that are environment friendly. Only political party here in Sweden raising their voices against this is Sverige Demokraterna. We even have a political party called Miljö Partiet wich translates to the Environment Party, and they dont give a rats ass that enviroment friendly bags are taxed for plastic while there are no plastic in them, Only cause there is companys making them. If there were some volonters making these environment friendly bags, Miljö partiet would scream, punch and kick for them to not have this tax, and to have the goverment to pay for delopment and manufacturing also!
Right! My only experience of the US is from California and NYC and I find both good quality groceries and alcohol super expensive in the store in those places.
Meat prices in the USA have been on par with that since around 2018-2019 and got worse from 2020-2022. Only just now coming back down to 2019 prices, which $4.99/lb for chicken is pretty "normal"
@@Ripcraze As usual, the most simple minded of comparisons. What you're talking about is strictly energy required for production. There are many more aspects to consider.
Many of the things that are expensive are also bad for the climate. So if something is expensive, there is a small chance that people will buy them and instead buy something that is better for the climate, that's also cheaper.
@@StefanThyron hi Im living in Sweden and have about 600kr left after paying my bills and that is supposed to get me food, clothes, transportation and everything else and Im not sure that I agree with you saying chicken is expensive as I often use chicken I mean you can buy a whole fresh chicken for 20-30kr when its on sale and that is Swedish chicken. I can easly buy a weeks worth of food for around 100kr granted I dont live in Stockholm and there seem to be more expensive to live there but still I dont think Ive ever had an emty fridge och freezer or pentry. No matter where I lived Skövde, Vimmerby, Hällefors , Österlen(Tomelilla), Bollnäs, and more. Granted I might have had more money to use in those places but I usually never used more then 1000 per month on food and then I would go out to eat and buy stuff I didnt need like ice-cream, chips(with dip) and snacks. And a LOT of coca-cola( used to drink about 5dl-1L each day)
You said about the fact that you pay less taxes, the increased taxes in Sweden helps to maintain a good standard of living compared to most other countries. Look at the amount of people who can´t get the healthcare they need in the US simply cause they can´t afford the expensive healthinsuranses, whereas in Sweden we all contribute to that through our taxes. Also Sweden have a very low homlessness rate compared to many countries - the safety net is in place to catch/help people out of it with governmental fundings. Have a good day! :)
You cant forget that we are getting payed for study in school. In sweden as a middle school student I get 1250 kr (147,34 USD) a month. And in college you get 3 312 kr (390,39 USD) a month but then you can also take a laon by 10 928 kr (1288,09 USD) a month with an interest rate of 0,05%. So if you have a job and study at the same time you will get alot of money back from all the taxes you pay.
For anyone interested, the prices for groceire-plastic bags here in sweden, are because of enviormental issues, where alot of plastic ends up in the oceans or into the woods etc. Which is really stupid, because almost all of food are already pre-packed in plastic, which is also the real issue about the plastic that ends up in nature, cus the packageing for our food and drinks, is really the plastic that ends up in the nature, and not the plastic-groceries bags, and yet the taxes only covers the grocerie bags.. same with gasoline, most of the cost are taxes because of the enviormental issues, not for the gas itself. All the taxes we pay here in sweden, is also so that we only pay about 200:- sek for a doctors apointment (even at hospitals), we have a system were we can get payed by different kinds of contributions, (sort of like an allowences, like if you've been searching for a job for alot of months but haven''t found any, a small allowence for attending school after 9th grade etc). for exemple, if we loose our jobs, are in search for jobs and maybe need to buy a buscard etc, we can apply for grants/contributions, just because we pay all of these wierd high taxes. Plus. Alot of taxes are EU-rules, and well, swedes will be swedes, so we actually take from our tax money to help other EU countrys, or just pay an amount for something we don't need, just because all the other EU-members pay for it, just because we are dumb and want to pay so it's more equal, and we don't look loke bad guys, which actually just makes us look stupid. At the same time, it's hard to get the contributions(allowences) in sweden, cus our 'goverment' always says theres not enough money, or there's crazy rules to follow to be allowed to even take part in applying for contributions etc. So all we really do, is pay alot of taxes, just to simply, pay alot of taxes, so we can get paid, so we can pay for more taxes. Cus we already pay about 35% in pure taxfee, out of our ordinary income. well, you see my point 😅 taxes, taxes, taxes and more taxes. Once a year we also do this taxe-thing, were we either get a paper that says we will get some money back cus we've paid to much taxes that year (which they also take out taxefees from before giving back to us..😅), or we get a paper saying we haven't paid enough taxes, which means we gotta pay them more taxmoney. Yeah. Don't freakin' move to sweden. You'll pay for everyone and everything else, except for the things you actually think you're paying for 😂👐
A bit disappointed in Stefan at this point. Still surprised at these things after living here for so long now? Or just trying to drive traffic perhaps. The restaurant prices, really? At the same time the president can’t get a louse $15 minimum wage to pass? Minimum wage should be a salary one person can live on. Look up the comparison between a McDonalds worker in Denmark and the US.
San Franciscan here. Gas: $3-4.5/gal. We have a no plastic bag policy so hard to buy but it’s about .40-.80 for a paper bag, most people bring their own. Alcohol is $$ especially going out but we still have cheap beer and wine until you go to a restaurant and then it goes UP. Eating out at a midrange restaurant will probably run you $30, no alcohol, not incl tax or tip. SF sounds about like it’s closer to Sweden than Portland Oregon. Luckily the wine region is close and their are small breweries so wine/beer is still cheap. Our rents are also $$$$$ but lots of us in the city have radiators so utilities are very cheap ($10-30/month)
Electronics is way way way more expensive here. I got a huge issue with that. Increase the tax on smokes, alcohol. I want cheaper electronics lol I need my self a new graphics card 😂
But there are not graphics card to buy with all the mining going on so it doesnt matter xD they even started to buy up laptops for mining now becouse they cant get hold of graphics card.
@@johanwirf6501 normally I’m not for the death penalty, but I’ll make an exception for miners and scalpers 😂 (joking) though I think there should be long prison sentences for both 😁😈
Electronics is the same thing as the other things on his list. Poor working conditions (child labor, funding wars) and horrible for the environment. Obviously I use tech as well, but if anything it should be more expensive worldwide to make people consider the consequences of this unethical and unsustainable industry :(
@@fridapersson6284 I mean nah. Sweden can lower its taxes on them by a lot. Charge more for petrol or some other stuff or just tax the corporations higher. The big conglomerates who doesn’t pay anything in taxes due to legal loopholes
Childcare is a major difference. Raising and schooling children in Sweden costs next to nothing compared to most of the US. But if you are young, healthy, single and ready to mingle, you get less for your money (obviously depending on which specific regions you are comparing).
Remember you can't compare average monthly net salary between USA and the Scandinavian countries. A lot of services that you have to pay a premium for in the US are tax payed in Scandinavia, like healthcare, school, college and childcare. So deduct those expenses from the US net salary you come to at least the same available amount. If not higher.
Stefan, first, I am soon to be an ex-patriot. I'm waiting for the Covid-19 restrictions to lift so that I can come back to Sweden and see the property that I bought. **** Now that I've finished writing, I realize that this response grew to a much larger size than I thought it would be. **** I would disagree with you on the cost of gasoline in Sweden. Consider that in the US there are some serious hidden costs in our fuel that we do not recognize. Then consider that there is a vested interest in major industries to keep these prices low. Think about the manufacturing of goods in the US and Canada where you have low value, high weight or high volume products that you want to ship from the manufacturer to the consumer. Two products you could think of are sheetrock and lampshades. To make money you need a margin between production and shipping costs and your sales price. Several years ago, I was doing my bids for a home that I was building and was dealing with sheetrock. If you've ever worked with it, the sheets are very heavy and the cost per sheet is quite low. I began wondering where sheetrock was made and what were their biggest markets for the product. It turns out that Ontario, Canada is one of the places where they make a huge portion of the sheetrock sold in the US. At that time, the biggest market for sheetrock was Los Angeles. Can you imagine what it must cost to run a truck and double trailers from Ontario to LA? It is enormous. I could not fathom what the shipping was and how they still had a profit margin in the stuff once in arrived in LA. It is not that it couldn't be made closer to LA, but that shipping costs were so low it allowed them to ship the sheetrock about 2,500 miles and make money. This led to asking why the fuel prices here in the US were so much lower than Sweden. This was 2011 and I had just returned from Sweden where I had rented a VW diesel Jetta to do a one-week road trip. The Jetta got good fuel mileage, but imagine my shock when I fueled up and it cost me US$109.00 to fill the Jetta's tank!!! There had to be a reason. I started looking into the 'real costs' of producing fuel in the US. Now, this was at a time when we were importing a higher percentage of our fuel from foreign sources. This goes up and down over time and even with our current US production It turns out that if we add the cost of the US Military into the price of fuel, which we do not, the cost of our fuel would be as high or higher than in Sweden. There are so many important take-ways from this. These are just some random thoughts that we might want to ponder a bit more deeply. By keeping the fuel costs artificially low, manufacturers and trucking companies can ship these goods long distance and still make a profit. Probably the most insidious thing about it is that the US Military budget is paid for by all of us which means that the average citizens are subsidizing the large manufacturers. The answer to resolving this is that we SHOULD be paying more for fuel and less for our military that is used to keep the costs down. But, then again, the ultra-wealthy do not want us to upset their game with crazy ideas like paying a fair price for our fuel supply. Add to this that we are still using heating oil in so many older homes and that is adding to our costs. All the way around, we need to take a deeper dive into how the US economy is set up and who is really paying for the cheaper goods and petroleum resources. In the end it is impacting us very deeply by not adding all of these thoughts in to how it is affecting our planet. It is ALL interconnected.
The best comment I've seen on this topic in a long, long time! 👍 You are absolutely right! Everything has a price, the question is who's paying... Sometimes you have to dig really deep to find the ones paying the highest price... 😕 In the case of that cheap meat he mentioned, it's pretty straightforward. It's the animals, and the workers at the meat packing plants that pay for a huge chunk of that "cheap" meat... 😕
So if I understod you correctly. In the US you pay taxes where and a big shunk goes to the millitary. The millitary keeps the prices of fuel low so that you can by cheap fuel to your cars and trucks? So you pay taxes to get cheap fuel insed of paying taxes on fuel that could go to other things?
@@Bookwright It is a bit more complex than that. The US has a huge military budget. Part of that budget pays to keep a US presence in the middle east so that it is less likely that we will have a disruption in crude oil deliveries to the US. Yes, the US does produce much more oil domestically than it did even 10 years ago, but we still keep the military presence to be ready should there be some large shift in demand. And, this is just one of the things that keeps our fuel costs low. You would hear a lot of screaming from the average driver if the government ever did allow the fuel prices to go to their true costs plus a fair profit. It is those companies that very substantial tax benefits that allow them to pay shareholders a profit every quarter. All of those tax breaks are paid for by the general public. So, once again, the general public is paying in unseen ways for cheap fuel which really does cost them as much or more than European fuel costs that reflect the real cost of providing fuel to the end user. Again, this is a very convoluted issue. If you ever tried to look into the US tax codes you would be overwhelmed.
The reason that gasoline and plastic bags are expensive is the climate. I feel like they don’t do really much I’m America. The reason that meat is expensive is because we treat the animals good.
U have lived her for a will, but you still don't feel the social and ethical responsibility for your actions. Rights and responsibility go hand in hand.
Gasoline is certainly expensive in Sweden but the same goes for other motor related stuff as well. A 4-liter can of semi- or full synthetic motor oil will run you 60-80 US dollars. When I changed the spark plugs on my motorcycle, a friend bought them for me in the US at $10 a piece when Swedish price was $40.
In some grocery stores (natural food grocery here in Ann Arbor, MI) you cannot receive any plastic bags, and you are charged $.05 per paper bags. When I lived in Sweden, you had to bring your own cloth/string bags - no plastic bags existed. I wish they would go away...
After living two years in the US as a swede I would say that it´s maybe even more expansive to live in US than in Sweden. Just for an example, we pay 1600 dollar/month for childcare for our daughter and also around 1600 dollar/month in rent. Just does two cost add up to 3200 dollar/month. That is a lot of plastic bags..
One thing which is very cheep in Sweden due to very high competition between retailers are electronics, for example TV´s. In Sweden the prices of cars is about the same as in Germany nowadays compared to historically when many swedes bought cars from Germany. In Norway and Denmark there is a registration fee which on some cars can make the price 100% higher than in Sweden or Germany.
Säg det till det så kallade "miljöparti" som drev upp priserna på kärnkraft såpass att det inte längre är lönsamt. Då vindkraftsnurrorna stannar av när det är kallt och transporten av elektricitet från norr till söder fungerar sådär så tvingas man importera smutsig miljöfarligare elektricitet. Ironin talar för sig själv.
Jo asså kött, plast, bensin är ju dåligt för miljön, däremot är Sveriges konsumtion av dessa produkter så liten att det är konstigt att vi lägger så mycket fokus på att få bort det. Blir bara spel för galleriet så att vi ser bra ut. Hellre se till att lösa electricitetsproblemet så att vi kan sluta importera tysk ful-el.
The cheap chicken in the US is crap. They're fed antibiotics from birth, because they would die immediately of disease otherwise in those packed warehouses. The meat is then filled with water and they're dipped in chlorine. Sounds awesome. 🙄 **sarcasm** Oh, and the people processing the birds aren't allowed bathroom breaks, and are paid pennies to work like robots all day. I REALLY don't mind paying for my chicken!
The meat prices listed are very Stockholm:y, though. In my town, you can easily get minced beef for 50 kr/kg, and chicken breast for 60 kr/kg or less. I was dirt poor for a long time and I still could afford meat all the time. The trick is to not buy super-ecological pure Swedish wagyu beef in the big supermarkets, but rather go to the halal butcher shops, or look for discounts in bargain stores like Willy's. Danish pork is often dirt cheap as well, and widely available, at least in my town. Eating out is much cheaper in my town, too. You'll get a good lunch for 79 kr or less, and a really great luxury Italian pizza for 120-150.
California charges for bags. They have been discouraging single use bags for a couple of years. However due to COVID they have been waving the fee in many places.
Alright, so grocery bags in Sweden seems to be more expensive then Norwegian ones. Alcohol, meat and gas is cheaper in Sweden though. Meat is generally damaging for the environment (not to mention the whole animal rights/welfare aspect of that whole thing) So meat taxes and sugar taxes in the nordic countries is also a sin tax, just like for gas, tobacco, alcohol etc. As for restaurant prices... Europeans tend to be paid better in restaurants then Americans (since it's common for you guys to live of tips over there meaning that the prices on the menu can be cheaper, also the employees and the companies both have taxes to deal with. Labor just in general tends to end up being more expensive.
Hmm. When I was visiting Sweden in September I was actually shocked how cheap groceries were. Most items were about half what they cost here. I didn't realize we were paying for the bags but considering that I paid $13 for 5 items, that's even better. However, we didn't buy any chicken or beef, we just got some bacon and sausages. I didn't think restaurant prices were too bad, though we mostly only went out for dagens lunches. I'm more interested in how housing prices compare to the US.
I think it's expensive but not much more than the UK. Petrol is nearly £2 a litre here now. When we visited the US we found a decent restaurant was pretty expensive and we found general shopping in stores was expensive. I think in Sweden alcohol will be dearer than the UK. I will see as we plan to visit Stockholm in the spring.
The increase in price of the plastic bags in our grocery stores is such a stupid move. As you said; now most people will just have to buy other plastic bags that might not be as eco-friendly as the grocery store bags actually are - and instead of serving two purposes(and many times even more than that); bringing the food home and then use them as trash bags, people will just use "bad" bags ONCE. The increase in price should only have been for bags from non-grocery stores, because there it makes sense.
@@asalindstrom6845 att Sverige var extrema i jämförelse med många andra Europeiska länder...i England Irland t.ex är det ingen moms..och Skottland har gratis mensskydd.
@@asalindstrom6845 Om det godkänts som kultur vill säga. Jag vet inte om det fortfarande är sant men dansbandsmusik räknades visst inte som kultur av någon anledning så det blev moms på det.
@@michaelpettersson4919 det hänger på vad publiken gör skulle jag säga. Om publiken sitter still så konsumerar dom kultur =6% moms, men om publiken dansar så är det det som styr och det blir samma moms som på att betala inträde till en nattklubb =25%. Mvh Momsnörden 🤓
40 years ago our neighbours used to holiday in Austria (from Germany) and they stuffed every corner in the boot/trunk of the car with tinned food, as apparently food was expensive there.
The grocery bag thing is something that is changing in the US depending on where you live. I used to do the same as you, I'd save them for kitty litter disposal and trash can liners but in the bay area (California) most of the counties now have a law that bags aren't free, they're typically 5 cents and 10 if they are larger. now for groceries are fine I'll bring my own bags but a lot of clothing stores charge for shopping bags and that wasn't something they mentioned when they told us we'd need our own shopping bags, that one annoyed me, I don't mind pay ing but sometimes you don't have big enough bags for what you by and you're being forced to purchase them. I don't live in the bay area anymore and where I'm at now they still give plastic bags away, I was using my own until last year during the pandemic because for safety reasons they weren't allowing reusable bags. They're lifting the restrictions on that soon so I'm going back to my reusable bags but free plastic bags depends on where you're at, California is a much more liberal area than where I live now so I think that has something to do with the bags being an extra cost.
That is true. I read an article about it recently. It doesn't matter if a bag are a made of an non plastic decomposible material. If a bag LOOK like it is made of plastic, the tax applied. This is the kind of idiocies that holds environmentally friendly products away from the market.
@@michaelpettersson4919 we also got an energytax for "dirty electric" that double our electric bill regadless of what kind of energy your get your electric power from
Eating out in the US, apart from fast food outlets, is not that cheap. But it also depends on where you are. Big cities are pricey, small towns tend to be heaper. And of course, taxes vary from state to state. In bars, I find cocktails to be better value than beer and there's a great American thing called happy hour. Yes sir.
Both the plastic bags and the gaseline is an eu thing we do for the nature to minimalize the amount of pollution. Thats why they spend more money on public transport too, so that it can be more environmental (idk how that is spelled) friendly. The high price on meat is bc we dont feed the animals with antibiotics and other stuff in order to get them bigger faster and so on. Plus there is many laws on how animals must be treated and live that dosent allow the same amout of mass production. Therefore that is more expensive. I just wanted to explain!! I love ur videos
The plastic bags to hold your groceries are more durable than the ones you buy on a roll to use for trash, so it's better for the environment to buy the ones that are not made for carrying heavy groceries when you need bags for your trash.
An interesting note about the alcohol tax: because it's only based on alcohol content, price differences are diminished or sometimes even reversed when you get to the more expensive high quality liquors.
You would struggle to get a decent meal at an ok restaurant in the US for $17 unless you go with the Applebees etc A nice steak dinner with smallest size and a glass of wine can easily put you in the $60-70 range and the same goes for some Italian restaurants. Varying from state to state of course. Other said medical costs and tuition fees and I would add car insurance, house insurance, childcare and property and inheritance taxes will set you back big time in the US compare to Sweden. As my US boss would say, you have to look at net savings of two households or income in the same ballpark profession to compare. Still fun video!
I‘m glad you mentioned about Norway being more expensive than Sweden. I was an exchange student in Norway for a year in 1980. (I am Australian.) I went back to Norway 10 years ago, and I went with some Norwegians on a shopping tour to Sweden because things are cheaper in Sweden. 🤣🤣 I think it was called Nordby Shopping Centre in Strömstad near the Norwegian border. 😃
How interesting! The alcohol is actually cheaper in Sweden than in Australia where I am. Meat is about the same, maybe less than a dollar different and petrol is about 80c/L more in Sweden. Good to know I’d probably be ok if I ever moved there haha
In Ecuador most of the renowed alcohol brands are very expensive, and here minimum wage is only 400 u.s dollars a month, Jack daniels cost about 55 dollars, johnnie walker black 48 dollars, absolute vodka 28 dollars, flor de cania rum 35 dollars, so compared to the high income nordic countries have, may not be that expensive.
Plastic bags are expensive on purpose, because they're bad for the enviroment. In Denmark we get garbage bags from the state, which contains a lot less plastic.
