Social security in Sweden 2023 (corrected 2025-04-28)
Expenditures on social protection as a share of GDP remained largely unchanged in 2023
Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2025-03-31 8.00
Social protection expenditures as a share of GDP remained unchanged between 2022 and 2023, with shares at 27.5 percent respectively. Social protection expenditures in current prices increased, but less compared to the increase of GDP.
Correction 2025-04-28
Data have been corrected regarding expenditures on cash benefits within the Old Age function, and thereby the total expenditures have also been corrected.
In 2023, total expenditures on social protection increased by SEK 98 billion, which corresponds to 6.1 percent. The corresponding increase between 2021 and 2022 was 5.1 percent. Total expenditures for social protection amounted to SEK 1 711 billion in 2023.
Expenditure on the elderly was the largest expenditure item
The largest expenditure item was the elderly, which amounted to 45.3 percent of social benefits in 2023. Expenditures on the elderly increased by SEK 43 billion, an increase of 5.9 percent between 2022 and 2023. Old age pension, which is the largest item of expenditure on old age, increased by SEK 31 billion, which corresponds to 5.7 percent.
Health care
Expenditures on health and medical care, the second largest expenditure item, increased by SEK 33.7 billion, which corresponds to 7.4 percent. Expenditures on both inpatient and outpatient care increased, by 10 percent each. Expenditures for Direct provision of pharmaceutical products – which is a part of outpatient care – increased by SEK 2.7 billion, corresponding to 8.1 percent.
Expenditures on paid sick leave amounted to SEK 89.7 billion, a decrease by SEK 2,6 billion, corresponding to 2.8 percent. The decrease was partly due to the cessation of certain benefits introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2023.
Family/Children
Expenditures on family and children increased by SEK 7.6 billion, corresponding to an increase of 4.7 percent between 2022 and 2023. Cash benefits amounted to SEK 69 billion, a small decrease compared to 2022. Birth grants and Family or child allowance are examples of items included in cash benefits.
Benefits in kind increased in total in 2023 and amounted to SEK 100 billion. The largest item comprising Child care for preschool children increased by SEK 4.2 billion and amounted to SEK 62 billion.
Disability
In 2023, expenditures on disability increased by SEK 11.4 billion, which corresponds to 7.8 percent. Cash benefits in the form of disability pension increased by SEK 4.2 billion, corresponding to 11.5 percent. Among the benefits in kind, all items saw an increase in 2023. The item comprising Accommodation increased the most by SEK 3.5 billion, which corresponds to 9.1 percent. Total expenditures on disability amounted to SEK 158 billion in 2023.
Unemployment
In 2023, total expenditures on unemployment increased by 0.3 billion or 0.8 percent, compared to 2022. Total expenditures on Unemployment amounted to SEK 42 billion. Among the cash benefits, the item comprising Full unemployment benefit increased by SEK 0.7 billion, while expenditures on Vocational training allowance decreased by SEK 1.1 billion. Expenditures on benefits in kind remained more or less the same compared to 2022 and amounted to SEK 11.6 billion in 2023.
Social exclusion
Expenditures on social exclusion saw a small decrease by SEK 0.2 billion between 2022 and 2023. Total expenditures on social exclusion amounted to SEK 29.2 billion. The item comprising Treatment of substance abusers increased by SEK 0.7 billion, corresponding to 8.4 percent. Expenditures on Accommodation and Social assistance etc., decreased by just under SEK 0.4 billion each.
| Function | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Sickness/Health care | 358 504 | 376 044 | 414 854 | 434 639 | 452 108 | 485 762 |
| 2. Disability | 135 594 | 135 334 | 134 360 | 136 161 | 146 389 | 157 832 |
| 3. Old Age | 591 908 | 612 459 | 641 268 | 667 053 | 719 547 | 762 058 |
| 4. Survivors | 12 767 | 12 412 | 12 050 | 11 458 | 11 058 | 10 766 |
| 5. Family/Children | 148 449 | 153 246 | 153 507 | 156 698 | 161 563 | 169 149 |
| 6. Unemployment | 37 777 | 36 258 | 50 007 | 50 978 | 41 794 | 42 115 |
| 7. Housing | 19 168 | 19 043 | 20 858 | 20 682 | 21 596 | 23 858 |
| 8. Social exclusion nec. | 39 786 | 34 930 | 31 292 | 29 425 | 29 384 | 29 226 |
| Expenditures for social protection benefits | 1 343 953 | 1 379 726 | 1 458 196 | 1 507 094 | 1 583 439 | 1 680 766 |
| As a % of GDP | 28 | 27.4 | 29 | 27.6 | 27 | 27.1 |
| Administration costs/Other expenditures | 27 032 | 27 603 | 27 960 | 27 051 | 29 154 | 30 223 |
| Social protection expenditure | 1 370 985 | 1 407 329 | 1 486 156 | 1 534 145 | 1 612 593 | 1 710 989 |
| As a % of GDP | 28.6 | 28 | 29.6 | 28.1 | 27.5 | 27.5 |
International comparisons 2022
In the early 1990s, Sweden had the highest level of social protection expenditure in relation to GDP compared with other countries in the EU. In recent years, Sweden’s expenditures have been just below the EU average. This was also the case in 2022 when Sweden had a share of GDP at 27.2 percent, in comparison to EU-27, which had a share of GDP at 28.0 percent.
In 2022, France had the highest level of expenditure on social protection as a share of GDP, at 34.0 percent. Austria had the second highest levels of expenditure on social protection, at 30.4 percent of GDP, followed by Finland and Germany at just above 30 percent of GDP. Among the rest of the Nordic countries, Denmark had a share at 28.1 percent, followed by Iceland and Norway with shares at 25.8 percent and 20.5 percent of GDP respectively. Ireland was the EU country with the smallest share, 11.4 percent.
Database - Eurostat (europa.eu)
The different taxation regulations pose a problem for international comparisons. Some countries regulate taxes on certain benefits, while others do not. In addition, some benefits in certain countries consist of tax deductions, while other countries pay the benefit directly. Slightly more than half of the social protection benefits in Sweden are cash benefits. Most of these cash benefits are taxable. If taxation is taken into account, the percentage of GDP from benefits in 2023, excluding administration costs, fell from 26.9 percent including tax to 24.3 percent excluding tax.
More information
More information is available on Statistics Sweden’s website on http://www.scb.se/nr0110-EN.
This data is also available in a database on Eurostat’s website under Population and social conditions – Social protection.
Definitions and explanations
Social protection is defined as all services from public or private organisations with the purpose of reducing the burden on households and individuals from specific risks or meeting specific needs. A prerequisite is that these services do not require a return of services and that they are not based on individual arrangements. The benefits may be either in cash or in kind.
The statistics are affected by the fact that the National Accounts have been revised following a benchmark revision of the time series. This affects both the data basis for the calculations in ESSPROS and the comparison with total GDP. The data in ESSPROS have been revised for the reference years 2010-2022, while total GDP has been revised for the entire time series 1993-2022. Revisions for ESSPROS with reference years 1993-2009 will be published no later than June 30, 2025, on scb.se
Feel free to use the facts from this statistical news but remember to state Source: Statistics Sweden.