Real poverty exists in Sweden today, even though those who live in poverty or are vulnerable rarely refer to themselves as poor.
A report by Sveriges Stadsmissioner (Sweden's City Missions) shows that as many as two thirds (62 percent) of its 200,000 basic interventions are about feeding the hungry. Together with material and economic support that makes up four out of five interventions aimed at people's most basic needs such as food and clothing.
Among those suffering the most are people who have been on benefits for a long time. According to the National Board of Health and Welfare benefits are meant to offer temporary support but far from everyone is able to get back on their feet. The board's statistics show that around a third of those who receive financial assistance receive it for longer periods of time, and the proportion has increased in recent years. The City Mission meets people who have lived on benefits for five, ten or fifteen years.
Another very vulnerable group are those we call unhelped citizens. Those who are entitled to support, but who for various reasons do not get it. It could be that you end up in between different parts of the public system (for example sickness benefits or employment benefits), that poor mental health makes you unable to navigate Swedish bureaucracy, or that you have simply lost your trust in social services after too many misunderstandings. This group is often invisble in official statistics. City Mission workers meet them and help to meet their acute need for food and clothes, and offer support to help reestablish their contact with authorities.
The inability to tackle poverty possibly stems from the lack of a relevant definition of poverty for Swedish conditions. The debate, when it is debated, is often based on the international measure of "absolute poverty" for those living on less than two dollars a day – something which is barely enough to pay for a bottle of water in Sweden. Or, the concept of "relative poverty" is used, that is an income below 60 percent of the median income. The concept is sometimes ridiculed in Sweden, and it is said it is not "real" poverty. This despite the EU statistical body Eurostat calling this level of income "risk of poverty". According to Eurostat's most recent statistics, 16 percent of Sweden's population are at risk of poverty. That's 1.5 million people!
Many of the people who contact the country's city missions are far below this limit. This invisible group, who hide in between the established definitions, does not match the image the Swedish government wants to present abroad. When the government last summer published its first Agenda 2030 report it established that "absolute poverty does not exist in Sweden today" and that "the public social security system creates security for everyone and counteracts financial vulnerability". These claims do not reflect the reality seen by Sweden's City Missions.
https://www.thelocal.se/20171107/opinion-yes-real-poverty-exists-in-sweden-but-it-has-been-made-invisible
A report by Sveriges Stadsmissioner (Sweden's City Missions) shows that as many as two thirds (62 percent) of its 200,000 basic interventions are about feeding the hungry. Together with material and economic support that makes up four out of five interventions aimed at people's most basic needs such as food and clothing.
Among those suffering the most are people who have been on benefits for a long time. According to the National Board of Health and Welfare benefits are meant to offer temporary support but far from everyone is able to get back on their feet. The board's statistics show that around a third of those who receive financial assistance receive it for longer periods of time, and the proportion has increased in recent years. The City Mission meets people who have lived on benefits for five, ten or fifteen years.
Another very vulnerable group are those we call unhelped citizens. Those who are entitled to support, but who for various reasons do not get it. It could be that you end up in between different parts of the public system (for example sickness benefits or employment benefits), that poor mental health makes you unable to navigate Swedish bureaucracy, or that you have simply lost your trust in social services after too many misunderstandings. This group is often invisble in official statistics. City Mission workers meet them and help to meet their acute need for food and clothes, and offer support to help reestablish their contact with authorities.
The inability to tackle poverty possibly stems from the lack of a relevant definition of poverty for Swedish conditions. The debate, when it is debated, is often based on the international measure of "absolute poverty" for those living on less than two dollars a day – something which is barely enough to pay for a bottle of water in Sweden. Or, the concept of "relative poverty" is used, that is an income below 60 percent of the median income. The concept is sometimes ridiculed in Sweden, and it is said it is not "real" poverty. This despite the EU statistical body Eurostat calling this level of income "risk of poverty". According to Eurostat's most recent statistics, 16 percent of Sweden's population are at risk of poverty. That's 1.5 million people!
Many of the people who contact the country's city missions are far below this limit. This invisible group, who hide in between the established definitions, does not match the image the Swedish government wants to present abroad. When the government last summer published its first Agenda 2030 report it established that "absolute poverty does not exist in Sweden today" and that "the public social security system creates security for everyone and counteracts financial vulnerability". These claims do not reflect the reality seen by Sweden's City Missions.
https://www.thelocal.se/20171107/opinion-yes-real-poverty-exists-in-sweden-but-it-has-been-made-invisible
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