Income mobility 2000–2022
Highest income mobility among the young
Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2025-06-26 8.00
There are differences in income mobility across age groups. Mobility is highest among the youngest, aged 20–29. The oldest group, aged 80 and above, has the lowest income mobility, In the oldest age group, there is no difference in income mobility between women and men.
In a new report, Statistics Sweden (SCB) provides an overview of income mobility in Sweden during the 2000s.
When analysing income distribution, it is most often the distribution of income over a single year that is used. A person's income level may remain stable over time, but it can also vary due to temporary events or life circumstances such as studies, unemployment, illness, childbirth, and large capital gains. Analyses of income distribution or poverty that are based solely on income during a specific year may therefore fail to capture the full picture. By studying the income of the same individuals over a longer period using a longitudinal approach, analyses of income distribution can be complemented and broadened.
According to the results in the report, income mobility varies between age groups. The highest income mobility is found in the youngest age group, aged 20–29. The lowest income mobility is found in the oldest group, aged 80 and above. When capital gains are excluded, income mobility decreases across all age groups. However, the reduction is relatively small in the youngest group, as shown in the table below.
– Age has a significant impact on income mobility. Younger individuals have greater opportunities to influence their income, for example by transitioning from studies to employment. For older individuals, who typically rely on pensions as their main source of income, it is more difficult to influence their income, although it is possible through, for instance, larger capital gains, says Daniel Kruse at Statistics Sweden (SCB).
| 2017/2022 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20-29 years | 30-49 years | 50-64 years | 65-79 years | 80- years | ||
| net income including capital gains/losses | ||||||
| everyone | 22.0 | 36.1 | 36.7 | 43.1 | 56.9 | |
| women | 20.8 | 32.9 | 35.3 | 43.9 | 56.9 | |
| men | 23.1 | 39.1 | 38.2 | 42.1 | 56.9 | |
| net income excluding capital gains/losses | ||||||
| everyone | 22.2 | 37.2 | 37.8 | 45.4 | 61.3 | |
| women | 21.0 | 33.8 | 36.4 | 46.3 | 60.8 | |
| men | 23.4 | 40.5 | 39.2 | 44.5 | 62.0 | |
Women have higher income mobility than men
Overall, income mobility is higher among women than among men. The average share of women who remained in the same income group in both 2017 and 2022 was 34.7 percent, while the corresponding figure for men was 37 percent over the most recent six-year period.
Individuals who change income group most often move to a group close to their original one. The pattern of income mobility primarily occurring between neighbouring income groups applies to all income levels, for both women and men.
| 2022 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decile 1 | Decile 2 | Decile 3 | Decile 4 | Decile 5 | Decile 6 | Decile 7 | Decile 8 | Decile 9 | Decile 10 | IM | |
| Decile 1 | 52.5 | 13.1 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 6.1 | 4.3 | 2.9 | 1.9 | 1.2 | 1.3 | |
| Decile 2 | 22.4 | 41.8 | 12.8 | 7.2 | 5.4 | 3.9 | 2.6 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 1.2 | |
| Decile 3 | 8.5 | 24.2 | 35.5 | 10.7 | 7.3 | 5.2 | 3.6 | 2.3 | 1.3 | 1.4 | |
| Decile 4 | 7.1 | 11.3 | 19.4 | 25.9 | 14.3 | 8.9 | 5.7 | 3.7 | 2.1 | 1.7 | |
| Decile 5 | 4.3 | 6.5 | 10.0 | 20.3 | 26.0 | 14.6 | 8.5 | 5.1 | 2.8 | 1.9 | |
| Decile 6 | 2.6 | 3.8 | 6.1 | 11.2 | 21.2 | 25.2 | 14.9 | 8.4 | 4.2 | 2.4 | |
| Decile 7 | 1.9 | 2.5 | 4.1 | 7.3 | 10.8 | 20.0 | 25.6 | 16.5 | 7.8 | 3.5 | |
| Decile 8 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 2.8 | 4.9 | 6.5 | 9.5 | 19.1 | 29.7 | 18.0 | 6.3 | |
| Decile 9 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 1.8 | 3.1 | 3.9 | 5.0 | 7.7 | 19.1 | 38.8 | 18.0 | |
| Decile 10 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 4.0 | 5.1 | 7.5 | 17.7 | 50.0 | |
| IM | 34.7 | ||||||||||
| 2022 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decile 1 | Decile 2 | Decile 3 | Decile 4 | Decile 5 | Decile 6 | Decile 7 | Decile 8 | Decile 9 | Decile 10 | IM | |
| Decile 1 | 45.0 | 11.7 | 7.6 | 8.7 | 7.5 | 6.2 | 5.0 | 3.7 | 2.5 | 2.3 | |
| Decile 2 | 20.2 | 38.0 | 12.0 | 7.5 | 6.3 | 5.3 | 4.3 | 3.1 | 1.9 | 1.4 | |
| Decile 3 | 8.4 | 19.4 | 37.3 | 10.6 | 6.7 | 5.5 | 4.6 | 3.5 | 2.2 | 1.8 | |
| Decile 4 | 6.4 | 7.7 | 19.3 | 30.7 | 11.8 | 8.1 | 6.2 | 4.6 | 2.8 | 2.3 | |
| Decile 5 | 4.7 | 5.0 | 8.5 | 18.7 | 24.6 | 14.8 | 10.3 | 6.9 | 3.9 | 2.7 | |
| Decile 6 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 4.7 | 9.5 | 19.1 | 24.8 | 16.6 | 10.6 | 5.7 | 3.1 | |
| Decile 7 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 2.9 | 5.7 | 9.4 | 20.2 | 26.8 | 17.6 | 9.3 | 4.3 | |
| Decile 8 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 2.0 | 3.7 | 5.3 | 9.2 | 21.0 | 30.0 | 19.0 | 7.4 | |
| Decile 9 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 2.2 | 3.0 | 4.3 | 7.5 | 19.3 | 40.4 | 20.1 | |
| Decile 10 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.6 | 6.5 | 17.6 | 62.3 | |
| IM | 37.0 | ||||||||||
Definitions and explanations
Income mobility: Income mobility describes how individuals' positions within the income distribution change over time.
Decile: The population is divided into ten groups of equal size sorted by rising income. For example, a person in the first decile belongs to the ten percent of the population with the lowest incomes, and a person in the tenth decile belongs to the ten percent of the population with the highest incomes.
Start year and end year refers to the first and last year of each period. The individuals may be in other decile groups in the years between the start year and end year.
Immobility Mean: Immobility Mean (IM) is defined as the share of people (%) found in the same income group at the start and end of the period. This means that IM will be 100 if there is no mobility (i.e. all persons stay in the same income group at the start and the end of the period), and it will take the value 0 if all persons change income group during the period.
Net income: Net income is the sum of all taxable and tax-free income minus taxes and negative transfers. The income is both including and excluding capital gains/losses, that is, the gain/loss arising from a sale (realization) of assets, for example, stocks, mutual funds or real estate. The difference between net income and disposable income is that disposable income refers to household income. Net income shows the individual´s income, that is what the individual contributes to the household´s disposable income.
Feel free to use the facts from this statistical news but remember to state Source: Statistics Sweden.