In 2024, total expenditures on social protection increased by SEK 72 billion, which corresponds to 4.2 percent, compared to 2023. Total expenditures for social protection amounted to SEK 1 777 billion in 2024.

Increased expenditures on pensions

The largest expenditure item was the elderly, which amounted to 45.6 percent of social benefits in 2024. Expenditures on the elderly increased by SEK
34 billion between 2023 and 2024. Old age pension, which is the largest item of expenditure on old age, increased by 5.5 percent. Pensions increased largely due to increases made in connection with rising inflation in 2024, as they did the year before.

Expenditure on short-term sick leave decreased

Expenditures on health and medical care, the second largest expenditure item, increased by SEK 15.7 billion. Expenditures on both Inpatient and Outpatient care increased, with shares at 5.0 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively.

Expenditures on Paid sick leave increased by 2.7 percent. Expenses can be divided into short-term and long-term sick leave. The expenses increased for long-term sick leave, while the expenses for short-term sick leave during days 1-14 of the employer-paid sick pay period decreased.

Expenditures on accommodation increased

Expenditures on family and children increased by SEK 4.4 billion between 2023 and 2024. Cash benefits amounted to SEK 69 billion, a small increase compared to 2023. Birth grants and Family or child allowance are examples of items included in cash benefits.

Benefits in kind accounted for almost the entire increase, and expenditure for the item comprising accommodation made up the largest share, at 11.7 percent.

Increased expenditures on disability pensions and accommodation

Expenditures on disability continued to increase and amounted to SEK 167 billion in 2024. Between 2023 and 2024 the increase was SEK 9.6 billion. Cash benefits in the form of disability pension increased by 11.2 percent. Among the benefits in kind, all items saw an increase in 2024. The item comprising Accommodation increased the most by 5.6 percent.

Expenditure on full employment benefits increased

In 2024, total expenditures on unemployment increased by 7.4 billion compared to 2023. Among the cash benefits, the item comprising Full unemployment benefit increased by 39.7 percent, due to the higher unemployment rate in 2024 compared to the previous year. Other cash benefits saw smaller increases. Expenditures on benefits in kind decreased compared to 2023. The item comprising Employment agency and counselling saw the largest decrease by 13.7 percent. 

International comparisons 2023

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 close to the EU average. This was also the case in 2023 when Sweden had a share of GDP at 27.9 percent, in comparison to EU-27, which had a share of GDP at 27.8 percent.

In 2023, France had the highest level of expenditure on social protection as a share of GDP, at 33.8 percent. Among the Nordic countries, Finland had the largest share at 31.8 percent of GDP, while Norway had the smallest share at 24.9 percent of GDP. Ireland was the EU country with the smallest share, 12.6 percent.

 Database - Eurostat (europa.eu)

Net expenditure

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 2024, excluding administration costs, fell from 27.3 percent including tax to 24.6 percent excluding tax.