which scandinavian country has the highest per capita income? how is scandinavia so properous overall?

Question

i've always been fascinated with scandinavia and the nordic countries. are they prosperous because they are very tolerant? what is the secret to their success?

Answer 1

Norway has the highest GNP of the Scandinavian countries, I would suggest largely because of the oil industry.

All the Nordic economies perform well as you rightly say.

In a nutshell, it is because of three factors,

1. The amount of investment the Scandinavian governments put into the education programmes

2. The amount of investment the Scandinavian governments put into the welfare state

3. High investment in technology, research and development

On average, the Nordic countries outperform the Anglo-Saxon ones on most measures of economic performance. Poverty rates are much lower there, and national income per working-age population is on average higher. Unemployment rates are roughly the same in both groups, just slightly higher in the Nordic countries. The budget situation is stronger in the Nordic group, with larger surpluses as a share of GDP.

The Nordic countries maintain their dynamism despite high taxation in several ways. Most important, they spend lavishly on research and development and higher education. All of them, but especially Sweden and Finland, have taken to the sweeping revolution in information and communications technology and leveraged it to gain global competitiveness. Sweden now spends nearly 4 percent of GDP on R&D, the highest ratio in the world today. On average, the Nordic nations spend 3 percent of GDP on R&D, compared with around 2 percent in the English-speaking nations.

The Nordic states have also worked to keep social expenditures compatible with an open, competitive, market-based economic system. Tax rates on capital are relatively low. Labor market policies pay low-skilled and otherwise difficult-to-employ individuals to work in the service sector, in key quality-of-life areas such as child care, health, and support for the elderly and disabled.

The results for the households at the bottom of the income distribution are astoundingly good, especially in contrast to the mean-spirited neglect that now passes for American social policy. The U.S. spends less than almost all rich countries on social services for the poor and disabled, and it gets what it pays for: the highest poverty rate among the rich countries and an exploding prison population. Actually, by shunning public spending on health, the U.S. gets much less than it pays for, because its dependence on private health care has led to a ramshackle system that yields mediocre results at very high costs.

Answer 2

I'm from Sweden myself and just want to add that we also have some of the highest taxes in the world, over 50%. People complain about the taxes, but you could almost say that we take free dental care and free university education for granted.

In for instance the U.S. (where I currently live) there seems to be more focus on getting as much money from your salary into your own pocket, and then paying for things yourself.

Also, the Swedish economy is not as good as it appears. The actual unemployment is a lot higher than official figures show, which could be a reason our government was voted out in september and the opposition took over. Also, in my oppinion high schools do not encourage students to apply for university as much as they should.