The welfare system in Sweden

 

The welfare system in Sweden

 

Sweden is famous for its social welfare system which is modeled by many countries. The welfare system is based on the government income and social development, it has a tight relationship with people’s living standard. Next is a brief analysis about this system.

 

The welfare in Sweden is defined as financial security in the case of illness, old age and for the family; social services; health care; promotion of health and children's rights; individual help for persons with disabilities and coordination of the national disability policies



education spending 1995-2012, 2005=100

About the education, most of the responsibility for education rests with local municipalities. The majority of the education budget is financed by local taxes, and approximately half of the municipal budget is spent on education.

 

 

Most elderly care is funded by municipal taxes and government grants. In 2010, the total cost of elderly care in Sweden was SEK 95.9 billion (USD 14.0 billion, EUR 10.7 billion), but only 3 per cent of the cost was financed by patient charges. Health care costs paid by the elderly themselves are subsidized and based on specified rate schedules.

There is no doubt that the welfare system is of great benefit to the Sweden people. However, it is not as good as we see. Despite a few excellent social policies, the redistributive goal of the social security system is failing, with increasing portions of benefits going to relatively well-off families instead of the poorest. Besides, it’s a big deal for government to maintain the high level expenditure on the welfare. It is not easy under this economic circumstance.