What are some differences between Germany and Sweden? | A Comparison of Sweden and Germany 

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It´s always fun listening to you. There are so many Americans who moved to Germany and compares USA vs Germany on you tube so it was so fun hearing your wersion of comparing how it is comparing Sweden vs Germany. It would be nice if you did more of those. And when it comes to glögg we have inherith that tradition of moulded wine from germany during the hansa period.

The way I taught my kids on money was to have a stash of cash at home and give them allowance and gifts from that. And then they can either pay with that in the shop OR, more convenient, I pay in the shop with my card and my kids pay me with their cash. Then they see how much they have spent and understand that there isn't an infinite amount of money or that you can buy anything you want.

I spoke to a friend about the smoking the other day. 10-15 years ago it was alot more common with people smoking outdoors.

You mentioned at the beginning about the big difference between Germany and Sweden regarding cigarette smoke, that in Germany you smoked everywhere outdoors and how that bothered you, and then in Sweden people snuff more and there is no disturbing cigarette smoke in Sweden. Keep in mind that the EU has banned snus in all other countries but not in Sweden. It should be the other way around, snuffing is allowed but smoking is prohibited. Because think how much of the dangerous cigarette smoke that you, your children and your husband inhaled and which is dangerous to health. This is allowed according to the EU. But when you, your children and husband go out of the house in Sweden and you come across snuffers, you will not get anything dangerous in your bodies from the snuffer BUT this health is prohibited in the whole EU except then Sweden. So I mean that the EU does not care about the health of its citizens. Then I have to mention what you didn't mention regarding smoking in Sweden and that it is forbidden in many places to smoke outdoors. So it also means that you see fewer people in Sweden smoking outdoors, as well as the successful investment the state has had in influencing young people not to start smoking.

I love that Sweden has more of a focus on being healthy and not bothering others. Also, regarding the cash, I can't really explain it, but Sweden feels like a place you can trust more easily than other countries. I'm not surprised that some people were willing to try the chip in the skin thing there.

I'm Swedish and I've never heard about anyone putting a chip in their hand in real life. The only time I've ever heard about it is in that widely circulated news story from a few years ago.

Swedish snus saves lives.

I regulary travel to Ethiopia and US for family and business. As you say in Sweden where I live I hardly use cash. There could go 6 months without using cash, since I use cards and Swish (Mobile payments). When I go to Ethiopia 95% is cash. Most small local shops doesn’t take cards at all. Mainly only bigger hotels and international or bigger shops can handle cards. US is somewhere in the middle.

Hey Ulrike! Same as for many others, your videos gave me so much value and information. As a creator myself (not this account if you are wondering), I know how hard it is to keep this work up - you are doing a great job. Thank you for that! I have binged quite some of your videos because also I am considering to move to Sweden. As of now I live in Austria and are self-employed. My goal is it to ultimately buy a house in Sweden and move my company there. Many questions have already been answered by your videos or other sites I found online. However I am still a bit struggling with the timeline of how I should approach things. My biggest headache is the "Personnummer". As far as I understand, I need it for everything (opening company, bank account, etc.) but I can only get it when I already live in Sweden, right?! So how do I make my initial move to Sweden work out? As of now the only way I see is to rent first in order to have an address, then get a personnummer and from there on get a bank account and register a business. But is it so easy to rent something, if I don't have a personnummer or even a Swedish bank account? At last, do you have any experience with banks giving mortgages to self-employed people (or owners of limited companies, like yours, because that would be what I am going for as well)? Specially, would they grant mortgages to me if I only provide my Austrian tax returns? Sorry, for my many questions and long message. I am aware that at the end I need to start contacting banks, etc. anyways - but if you have some experience, I would appreciate it greatly! Danke für deine tollen Videos und deine Zeit!

Swedes are (relatively speaking) very trusting of the government, municipalities and institutions in general because we trust that they have our best at heart. There are a lot of historical reasons for that. It's something that is almost unique for Sweden specifically, but also for the Nordics in general. That trust has spilled over on for example banks and with the advent of BankID together with Swish (which are both run by the banks!) it is the perfect storm for getting like 90% penetration for digital payments. I haven't used cash other then very occationally for ten years or more. Up until then I *only* used cash even though I had a debit card with credit on it for decades. Tragically, this trust is now waning more and more since immigrants from broken and corrupt regimes from all over the world where trust in the government institutions is non-existent (and corruption rampant) are coming here and bringing their distrust with them. It's one of those things that is hard to understand and is very unique to our culture. Why would you trust anyone outside of you own immediate family. Really?

The comments here talk more about similarities between Sweden & Germany than differences, in the sense that both people focus on petty matters and both people care so much about alcoholic beverages, notwithstanding the fact that things are organised differently in each country. In my own experience, the biggest difference is that Germany, as a State, is super-bureaucratic, following more or less the same patterns as Greece, my home counry, renown for its nightmarish bureaucracy, where Sweden is probably the least bureaucratic place that I have even been to. Also, the Swedish "uppfostran" to never bother and not invade others is quite unique and I miss it when I travel to other countries. However, with mass immigration in recent decades, the "new Swedes" now dominating city life in places like Stockholm, that fine principle is for ever gone, I am afraid...

Yeaha.. comparisons is fun, at best its include history/religion/social norms/politics/traditions.. and a lot more! And the culprit is.. its dont matter that much if one comes from US/UK/EU/any other place in the world.. if one is educated/bilingual/three lingual, one can fit in, in sweden and have a nice life.. if one adapt.. kinda knowing how ones neighbours mindset is!

I got myself into a bit of trouble in Germany a few years ago, because I embarked on a cable ferry without cash. 🙂 Part of the reason was that cable ferries in Sweden are nearly always free, so I just assumed they would be free in Germany too. I might have mentioned it before, but snus has gone thorough a bit of an image change in recent decades. Nowadays the portion bagged snuff dominates almost entirely, and it's used by all sorts of people. 30 years ago, this was not the case, the dominant type was the loose stuff that you carefully shape into a little ball before you insert it under your upper lip. In school, it was typically the "tough" guys in the back of the classroom that used it, and the main users were working-class men. A woman using it would probably get questions about her sexuality.

Like Sweden, Denmark are also cashless. Then bus companies tried to ban cash. That was too much for the government, very fast a law was implemented, that all business shall accept "the Kings Coin". I have 200 kr in my phone case for emergency. The note have now taken residents there for the 4th year. I simply can't remember when I used cash last time. I know an elderly grandma, she also uses her phone for payment. She learned it from her grand children. Even our roadside honour system is electronic payment. We pay with MobilePay, where the Swedes use Swish. BTW, that's the reason the Danish 1000 kr note will be taken out of circulation. Only criminals use it. So if you are a Swedish criminal, and have a Danish 1000 kr note, take a trip to DK and use it. Be smart, don't tell the other criminals. 🙂

Is it easy or possible if an eu citizen want to move to Germany from Sweden with non eu spouse citizen who holding short term visa and want to settle in Germany

Mam I'm studying master's in Data Science in UK 🇬🇧 I wanted to move to Sweden to do Software Job and Mam do you advise me to choose Sweden for work and settle for Long term mam 🙏 UK vs Sweden which country you suggest me to settle Life Long Mam 🙏🙏🙏

I think the impression about the beers is wrong. In Germany, the consumption of non-alcoholic beer has increased sharply to three times. German brands are currently leading the world. 700 out of 7,000 brands are now alcohol-free. Younger people in particular drink it much more than before. Actually, you can now buy non-alcoholic beer everywhere. Also regional ones, such as Kölsch, Pils or wheat beer. Also in pubs and restaurants.

I LOVE always your presentations!!! So true about the credit/cash issues twixt Germany and Sweden. I live in California (with close relations in both Sweden and Germany) but prefer my credit card for details on paper each month. Tips, I pay in cash as people seem to appreciate. Being chipped? NO WAY. No one regulates the information properly so I respect your German family as my own feels the same way. Systembolaget is a good and bad. Fortunately, they deal with alcoholism the best they can. This is my trade (Japanese sake) and I worked with the System for years. I have much admiration but must add that Finland's ALKO is far superior on all accounts. Both Sweden and Germany are dear to me so I love your talks and wish you and your family a wonderful New Year with new experience, laughter, and health :)

You really can't compare snus and cigarettes in terms if health effects, it's ALOT less harmful. So, it's better for you AND others, if you need nicotine at all that is.

I wouldn't want a chip under the skin, not with such purpose, imagine all possible consequences that could come with it. I remember attending some markets in a small town here in Sweden over five years ago. I know that some people, not necessarily vendors had card scanners that could read nearby passing peoples credit cards, just if they had activated a "blip"-scan function on their card. The function recieved a somewhat backlash because of this as the scammers usually withdrew smaller sums continuously to make it not as apparent. Allthough most swedish banks covered up the lost money and gave a payback (ofc exceptions) to the card owners.

Aldrig hört talas om någon som har ett chip.

I hope you like living here because i like germany better than the rest of eu 😂 ordnung 🍾👍

are you a past alcoholic?