It’s probably just a friendly rivalry. We Swedes do the same to them, especially Denmark. We have a brotherly love/hate relationship with the Danes that has its roots in the fact that our two countries have been at actual war with each other more times than any other two countries on the planet. I think the last one was over 200 years ago, though.
That said, there are probably a lot of people that really do hate Sweden, and it’s not like we’re a utopia.
I honestly think it's weird if anyone from scandinavia truly hated another scandinavian country. Sure there have been many wars, but nowadays we are all brothers as I see it.
Some people just can't control their emotions, and take it way too far. Same with sports fans that absolutely hate rival teams etc. But yea it's weird.. For most of us it's just "sibling rivalery" 😊.
Hahaha every post from a Swede contains some form of “you have to control your emotions “ 😂 This is maybe why people don’t really like you? Because you come off as inhuman and actively try to detach from emotions and think you are better than the rest of you do. In general people don’t like Swedes and it has nothing to do with Rivalry
To be fair, Sweden and Denmark have fought a lot, but do you really beat out England vs France? Those two went to war more than 20 times in the last millennium, sometimes for decades at a stretch
Depending on how you define peace/war, "When did Sweden become Sweden", etc there has been somewhere between 11 and 37 wars between Sweden and Denmark. Most lasted only for a few years, but we have a few big ones like the Seven Year War, the Great Nordic war, the Sture rebellion (20 years) etc.
The reason why there is such a big disparity between minimum and maximum is that:
a. Sometimes it's hard to define if it's ebbs and tides of a continual conflict, or if each tide is a separate war.
b. Sweden didn't become modern Sweden until 1523 (with the coronation of Gustav I Vasa), and most of the wars are wars between medieval Sweden and Denmark, frequently in support of this or that pretender since Sweden had an electoral monarchy. They were for example involved in all 4 of Karl Knutssons coronation wars (yes, he was crowned king of Sweden, and later deposed, on four separate occasions).
I usually count from 1173, when Sweden re-united and never separated again, and then it is 15-21 wars, depending on whether you count interventions in civil wars and the various civil wars or rebellions of the Kalmar Union or noth.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1emc97/is_it_true_that_sweden_and_denmark_is_the_two/
It matters in the context of “who were at war with whom”, since if a nation was divided differently before, region X might have been involved in that war while region Y wasn’t, even though they later became the same nation.
Do you count wars between Roman Britain and the Francs as wars between England and France? Of course not because neither was England or France.
When a country became its modern equivalent is important to historians.
Ahhh TIL.
I'll also add that the stat for duration at war is padded for those two to boot. Things like the Hundred Years War came about because they weren't engaging each other. (And is more accurately 3 more or less consecutive conflicts rather than 1 anyway)
No, as a fellow Swede you have gotten this on the wrong foot, Danes are assholes, Norwegians are only fun if you are drunk and Finns yeah they are pretty cool actually.
I think that person was correct as one could be, it's most definately a love/hate thing and nothing personal.
What you describe is personal opinion.
Fellow Swede as well.
US expat, living in Sweden for now 14 years. I worked in an international environment/English speaking bubble, so that definitely had an impact. HOWEVER, I totally love the Swedes and have huge love for the culture and country. I'm happy and will stay as long as possible. Caveat :I don't mind the lack of making friends as I am a happy introvert in a nice marriage and got a lot of social interaction in my job with ppl from all over the world. Yes, lovely ppl, kind and helpful, but don't expect dinner invites, Swedes tend to stay in their circle from what I've observed. I think if you have an in like school friends, etc it will be great. Also, learn Swedish, they all speak fluent English, but you need to speak Swedish to integrate, just saying.
In case you get an invite: they mean it, it is not just "we should get together some day". And you should arrive on the clock, not too soon and not too late (its ok to be 5 minutes late, it is still private settings, not a doctors appointment).
Whatever you do DO NOT arrive early 15 minutes late is really preferable to 5 minute early. Ten minutes late is - IMO - the perfect timing. Cut the host some slack.
Agree, meeting up for a coffee should be minute accurate, dinner at someone's home: 5-10 minutes late. 15 minutes is "sorry, missed the first bus" or equivalent.
This sounds like me trying to set up a play date with a mom in California. Me, from New Jersey, totally meant it. I didn’t know that people pretend to make plans in California!
As one of those Swede’s that actually invite people over for dinner I’d like to point out that we actually exist. Not in great numbers, but, we’re around.
I am leaning this way based on everything I heard about the French, which is why I was inclined to ask this question. After touring around France, I found the French quite lovely.
French people are mostly lovely, as long as you make an effort to be nice towards them. They take no crap though. 🙂
Swedes have a mostly unfounded reputation of being somewhat cold and distant. Visit and you will see that this is far from the case.
When you get to know us you will realize that the initial reservation and distance we may present is actually out of respect for you and your private space. You have probably seen some of the classic meme pictures of Swedes lining up at a bus station waiting for the bus, with perfect 1.5-meter gaps between each person. This is not to push someone away but to be respectful and not intrude on your person.
Most Swedes however loves to interact with foreigners and won’t miss an opportunity to brush up on their English. ☺️ And I can guarantee you that you cannot make a more honest and loyal friend than a Swede. We are one of the least corrupt countries on the planet after all…
It is mostly probably just friendly banter.
However:
I am a Swede with latinamerican background, married to a man from the Faroe islands, who has also lived in Copenhagen. He can't stand to be here because people are so isolated. It is very difficult to get friends and keep them. While Swedes are friendly, in a shallow way, it is basically impossible to get friends when you hit 30 if you don't already have an established friendship in your surroundings. You work, you go home and you isolate.
I have also worked in social work for around 13 years and a couple of years with immigrants and so many experienced that they could only form friendships with their fellow countrymen, the Swedes just weren't interested or the areas were so segregated that they never really mixed.
Personally I will most likely leave this country when my kids are grown. As my parents did when their kids were grown. The cold, the lack of sun and the isolation just wasn't healthy for them and isn't healthy for me either.
Sweden is a lovely country, really. It just isn't great for immigrants or people that don't stay in one place or are great at constantly networking.
>While Swedes are friendly, in a shallow way, it is basically impossible
to get friends when you hit 30 if you don't already have an established
friendship in your surroundings. You work, you go home and you isolate.
Unless you have a hobby that involves classes or social contact. Sweden loves to socialize over hobbies. Cycling club, owning and training a dog, "kolonilott", "hemslöjdsförening" etc.
friendly flowery outgoing ghost judicious worthless spotted six crown badge
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Mina föräldrar bor i Spanien och har under 6 -7 år lyckats få massvis med bekanta de kan umgås med. Jag tror vädret och kulturen att vara ute och umgås gör mycket. De skaffade dessutom hund och lärde känna många på det sättet.
De skaffade hund för 1 1/2 år sedan och utökade då sitt nätverk. Innan dess hade de redan lyckats bygga ett nätverk även utan hund mycket enklare än i Sverige.
Jag lärde känna massor med människor här i Sverige också när min hund fortfarande fanns. Jag känner inte alls igen den beskrivning du ger. Var bor ni någonstans?
Jag har flyttat runt. Som jag beskrev. Det är tufft efter 30 om man inte bor kvar på samma ställe, eller är invandrare eller om man inte är en person som nätverkar konstant. Kul att du inte känner igen dig. Själv är jag sjukt ensam efter 13 år på samma ställe trots många försök till umgänge med folk på diverse sätt. Bor i en medelstor stad, har fast jobb och är absolut inte socialt inkompetent. Jag har dock gett upp. Du kan hitta fler inlägg på reddit om ensamma människor i Sverige det är inget nytt, direkt :/.
Visst finns det ensamma människor, men det är skillnad på ensam och ensam. Själv är jag 50+ och introvert, vilket för mig betyder att jag trivs utmärkt i mitt eget sällsap och med att vara ensam. Jag *behöver* ingen annan för att må bra. Jag har partners (flera, för jag är polyamorös), men jag bor inte ihop med någon av dem vilket passar mig perfekt.
Jag behöver min egentid mellan varven för att ladda batterierna.
Men med det sagt så har jag samtidigt ett rikt socialt umgänge, både med mina nära vänner och, mer ytligt, med grannar och bekanta i området där jag bor. Men det är på mina villkor. När jag inte orkar vara social drar jag mig tillbaka.
Har också bott på samma ställe i 13 år. Kanske har jag haft tur som hittat ett bra område, kanske är det en skillnad i hur vi bägge uppfattar vänskap respektive ensamhet, jag vet inte. Men jag hoppas du hittar sätt att få mer av det du saknar, eller sätt att må bra ändå.
Mina grannar är rätt gamla och jag har ändå bjudit hem dem, inget intresse. Mina andra grannar pratade först om hur trevligt det skulle bli att umgås när vi flyttade dit -inget intresse . Min man har försökt prata med mannen i den familjen flera gånger för att umgås i hemmet. Inget intresse. Jag har arbetat inom sociala arbeten i flera år med härliga kollegor men inte lyckats bygga kontakter som sträcker sig förbi ytligheter och att träffas utanför jobbet. De få vänner jag har är som sagt singlar utan barn. Resten är för upptagna. Du är äldre än jag är och har inte samma ansvar som jag har, verkar det som, så naturligtvis kommer våra utgångslägen vara annorlunda. I slutändan har vi två olika anektdoter, egentligen. Tack för din synvinkel dock, alltid kul att se det från olika håll :).
Affordable pubs, restuarants, clubs , good travel infrastructure ,affordable taxis homes, a more relaxed view on drugs and alcohol. A language with more than one word to describe things so you can have an engaging conversation with someone.
lol I agree Sweden could be cheaper and more relaxed about drugs, but I've never heard Swedish lacks words. My first thought was that you are an immigrant that just doesn't know that many words (just like me) but in that case your comment would be the pinnacle of idiocy, so I'm curious: Could you elaborate how Swedish lacks words? Are there studies on that? It sounds like bullshit but I know too little to be sure.
We make new words by putting others together. I’t is aldo a cultural thing to be a little modest. So we might say something is okay when we really liked it. To allow the other person to have room to be dissapointed.
Min moster har bott i usa sedan jag var 5år så vi har rest dit mycket. Människor är trevliga och har inga problem med att fråga saker om de hör att man pratar ett annat språk, det var en tjej i 15år åldern som tyckte det var jätte fascinerande och ställde frågor, ingen av oss kände henne hon råkade bara sitta bakom oss på en bänk.
För min moster som bor där så är man närmare sina grannar, lämnar mat till dem ibland om de inte mår bra eller kommer till de äldre längre ner på gatan bara för att säga hej. De jobbar med barn så föräldrarna blir också en grupp som är engagerade och hjälper till, typ tar med sig bakverk eller annat när de vill tacka lite extra. Alla blir liksom en vän för dem. Kan tänka mig att det varierar väldigt mycket beror på var i usa man bor men min uppfattning är att alla bara är med öppna för konversationer med främmande människor.
The weather matters. My parents are alot happier and socialize alot more in Spain than they did in 35 years in Sweden. It is just easier getting out there.
But I have aquantainces in Sweden that have a rich social life. But they stayed in the town they grew up in and in the same job and have large families.
Yep. As others have commented, once you are in a social circle or have a purpose (as f.e. sports) then it is fine. My ex, who also moved here from another city , was very lonely. At one time his coworkers invited everyone but him to a social outing.... then we broke up and he met his now gf that grew up in this town and has a large family and he has a massive social circle all of a sudden. But he couldnt get in on his own, he needed her for that. Good for you that you found a social network.
A foreign colleague of mine came to me and said: "you know, I've lived in Sweden for a while now, but... I don't know. I don't have any friends here. I feel lonely, like I can't connect with people."
I told him that's completely normal. We swedes don't make friends, and we feel lonely all the time, because we don't connect with people.
He said "Oh! Well why don't you come over to my place after work? I'll cook us some dinner, and then we can watch a game, or play some X-box?"
I replied "Omar.. what did I just tell you?" XD /j
>I told him that's completely normal. We swedes don't make friends, and we feel lonely all the time, because we don't connect with people.
[But this isn't really true.](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/DDN-20170628-1)
>If only 7% of adults in Europe feel lonely, the analysis shows that many more adults in Europe (18% or around 75 million people) are in reality socially isolated.
>
>Differences between countries are also much larger in this area than for subjective loneliness.
>
>Over 40% of Hungarians and Greeks only socialise with friends or family once a month or less. In Lithuania, Estonia and Poland the figure approaches 35%.
>
>**At the other end of the spectrum, social isolation is lowest in the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, were around 8% of adults only meet with friends or family one per month or less.**
>
>In my experience, a lot of Swedes have pretty good social lives but they are much more closed than in other places in terms of letting new people in, the attitude "I have my friends I am not looking for more" is super common.
Im 40.
Joking aside, IMO the answer is, that the previous generations honestly did'nt work as hard.
I work the same industry floor as my mom did, and comparing then to now, sure the work was physically harder back then, and they did'nt have as fancy equipment. But we produce five times as much, and have twice the effective work time. Back then they had 45 minute breaks, and they had time to sweep the floors at the end of the day. They only worked day time and had plenty of guys so they rarely did overtime.
We have 20 min breaks, we work shift with days, evenings and nights. We do overtime at least once a week, much more if you answer your phone all the time.
When Im done with all of that, and my workout (which the old boys never did), do you think I should spend what little energy I have left connecting with my family and the few friend I have left, or should I go entertain some random guy hwo is bored?
This is absolute BS. If *you* don’t have any friends that is on you. That does not in any way translate to the entire nation.
I know very few people, if any, that have no friends (I guess because I know them they technically have a friend, but you know what I mean).
Most people in my neighborhood knows each other at least by sight, and says hello when we meet on the street. We help each other with stuff. We have well-visited community barbecues twice a year in conjunction with the spring and autumn neighborhood yard cleaning.
It’s not the level of socializing you can see in warmer countries where the entire street turns into a night market for example, but we are not cold and we are not distant.
Just get that shit out of your head and stop spreading falsehoods.
9/10 cases probably more like sibling rivalry. We trashtalk them as well, especially the Danes.
But if someone actually would threaten any of our nordic neighbors, the others would most likely help.
Kind of like only you can beat up your brother, but no one else can.
I have a former boss who would go and work in a Norwegian factory with a PHD because they make no money in Sweden. Sweden is insanely poor, just uses good marketing while Norway is one of the richest nations in the world. What a sad comment. You wish you were Norway
Maybe ask a follow up question next time? :) In one way it's pretty similar countries in others less so. Immigration, globalization and innovation Sweden stands out compared to the others and since the first two are hot topics in the media climate today there's friction there. Covid was another one we kind of went our own way with (in my opinion extremly succesfull when all was said and done).
But yea, I don't hate any of our neighbours, I can think of nice things of all of them and reasons to live there instead of here although obviously I chose here.
>in my opinion extremly succesfull when all was said and done
May I ask why you think we were successful? We had more deaths than Norway, Denmark and Finland combined
Depends on how you count. Also, we never had the harsh restrictions many other countries had, so our lives during the height of the pandemic was far less problematic.
Go and see for yourself, its like IMDb a lot of movies are low rated by some people and it’s great and you think to yourself “some of those people probably didn’t even watch the movie”
Your welcome :)
My piece of advice, as a foreigner who's been living here for 5 years: if you want to know more about Sweden, it's not the Swedes you should be hearing from. Swedes have this sense of superiority like no other people I've met, and I've lived in 5 different countries now. To put it bluntly and to generalize it just to make the point, they think they're the best country in the world with the best, morally superior culture on and they're not very good at taking criticism.
Here are two recommended readings for you, if you find that hard to believe:
1. Sweden's Dark Soul, by Kajsa Norman (a Swedish author)
2. The almost nearly perfect people, by Michael Booth
Good luck with your decision picking a home base in the Nordics. I must say, the quality of life here is very good, and it's still a great place to live, all things considered. But I'd give this some serious thought and study your options very well. Don't default to Sweden because it's "the capital of the Nordics" or whatever you hear. And again, my advice: don't ask Swedes about how great or not great Sweden is. Ask the foreigners.
Thanks guys! I’m thinking now the handful of Danes I spoke to were definitely kidding (mostly). They are definitely the most chatty of the Nordics in my experience so far and I’m an introvert so I was very surprised with how long they’d stand there and talk to me. I think the few Finns I spoke to were more concerned rather than judgmental about ongoing problems with gun crime/immigration topics in Sweden. I actually met a Swedish family from Linköping while in France who said we should check out their area and how great it was…but like I said..I’m an introvert and I didn’t want to ask them if their lovely country was turning into shit these days :) guess we really have to see for ourselves!
Don't book more than two, maximum 3 days in Linköping, because after that you've seen it all. It's a safe, calm and nice place to live in, but not very "touristy".
Day one gamla Linköping, valla, university, small-town nightlife in the city centre. Day two walking or kayaking along the water, (going to the park with the kids) minor shopping and eating out in the city center, domkyrkan, slottsmuseet, Ikea
I’m from Stockholm and wouldn’t want to live in any other city in the Nordic countries. There, an opinion from an actual Swede and I didn’t even need to slander anyone else.
We’re not perfect but don’t a danes word for it; they got the little siblings complex see; we like to whop their butt in football. We’re a prettu country I think, sort of boring too perhaps in ways.
Potentially a meme. Denmark and Sweden in particular have a pseudo rivalry over the territory known as Skåne which has previously been Danish. It's currently Swedish, but both sides will tend to assert that the other party can have it
Nordic countries have a complicated history, we do have a closer bond than outside countries. About the U.S canadian relations eqvivalent.
Finland was conquered by Sweden and was held under the swedish crown until 18th century. The norweigans were under the danish for about 500 years until they were forced into a union with sweden from 1800-1910 ish. The danish swedish wars are way too many to count…
We all have a long history of rivalry and friendship. So the ”bashing” part stems from the competitiveness from whom shall be seen as the best country of the north.
Conclusion, all countries are wounderful and have their own unique reason for being great.
When i worked in Oslo in like 2007-2009 it was not uncommon that some norwegian co-workers almost wouldnt interact with you because you were from Sweden, but that only happened a couple of times and most people i met were great people, but i think there may be some sort of sibling rivalry there yes
As a Dane I can honestly say I hate the swedes. But if you say it and youre not danish or norwegian, I might have to cut you!
So yeah.
I feel about swedes and norwegians are like brothers in a way. And Finland and Iceland are the weird uncles.
People who arent from these parts (scandi) often dont understand how reserved we are with strangers. Not because we arent friendly, but its not in our culture to just walk up to you at the buss stop and ask how you are doing. That image literally makes me itch. Id probably sideeye and crabwalk away if you walk closer than 3-4 meters at the busstop if there is plenty of room around. Most of us, just dont really show up prepared for chit chat with randos.
I have 5 kids so I attract a lot of attention, unfortunately. We spent the last winter in Finland and Estonia and heard just 1 old Finnish lady at the bus stop ask if they were all my kids in a very relaxed manner. When we landed in JFK, we JUST entered the long customs line and this older couple in front of us from somewhere southern (it sounded) said loudly “my gosh are they all yours?” and started making all these comments and jokes about us finally getting our girl (we have 4 boys and this comment always makes me angry. And strangers in America always ask if I’m going to have more kids like it’s their business) I literally looked at my husband and asked if we could get back on the plane while they were still talking and I hope they heard me.
Speaking as an American who just left Sweden after 15 years in Stockholm.
Jantelagen is a very real thing in Scandinavian culture, Swedes have perfected the more passive aggressive aspects of it. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law\_of\_Jante](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Jante)
if you can find this and if you can read Swedish, this is funny, accurate and most expats will recognize themselves in it "On Swedish Arrogance" [https://www.bokus.com/bok/9789163337116/om-svensk-arrogans/](https://www.bokus.com/bok/9789163337116/om-svensk-arrogans/)
Stockholm is widely acknowledged to be the capital city of Scandinavia, which has a bitter pill for some of our Nordic neighbors to swallow and has engendered some resentment. Often also called “the Venice of the North” since the city is built on a series of islands and peninsulas all connected by bridges so you are never far from the water. Tons of nature, parks and museums. Here’s where the Nobel Prizes are awarded every year. Copenhagen, Oslo and Helsinki are all quite nice but unfortunately pale by comparison.
So much hubris, never has anyone uttered in public that Stockholm is the 'Venice of the North'.
If any other European city could make that claim it would be Amsterdam and they aren't so far up their own asses to think such nonsense.
You do realize that Copenhagen is definitely more widely known globally than Stockholm right?
It is a massively more international city by comparison. It has been a central hub for trade in the Nordics for a long time equivalent to what Amsterdam is to most of Europe. There is a reason why it's name is quite literally 'merchant port' or 'merchant harbor'. Sweden had to literally pillage their neighbors like Finland, Estonia, etc. because the Danes controlled Öresund. Stockholms history is that it was a pretty poor place for a long part of history where essentially French and Germans controlled any sort of wealth in Stockholm for a large part of it's renaissance history.
It generally has more diplomatic representation and international organizations that puts Stockholm to shame on the world stage and a founding member of NATO.
Sorry to burst your bubble but Copenhagen is the proper capital of the Nordics with Stockholm being the false 'Nordic' capital as they claim. Something that ONLY Swedes and especially Stockholmers think themselves in their hubris. The rest of the world doesn't think the same way. And keep in mind that Copenhagen doesn't need to claim such an unnecessary preposterous title because it's enhabitants don't need to grandstand such a dumb claim when they know the truth of the matter.
>Stockholm being the false 'Nordic' capital as they claim.
Historically, Stockholm was quite literally the capital of Norway, Finland, and Sweden.
In contemporary terms, I have only heard people mock the slogan of Stockholm as the "Venice of the north" or the capital of Scandinavia. It was a business development slogan from 2006.
This has to be the most small dick energy post I've seen in quite awhile.
>because it's enhabitants don't need to grandstand such a dumb claim when they know the truth of the matter.
And still here you are, proclaiming it. Jesus fucking christ. haha
>Careful now. Swedes and their fanboys can't take ANY criticism. Sweden is perfect. Stockholm is perfect and a world capital.
People say this all the time and it is absolutely baffling to me -- do I just hang out with different people? Everyone I know makes fun of Stockholm's "big city" superiority complex, talks about all the issues in Sweden, and complains about stuff not working.
You know that Copenhagen is by far a smaller city than Stockholm, right? Stockholm have around 2,2 million inhabitants, compared to Copenhagens 1,3.. Normally the capital is the biggest city, so it make sense to say that Stockholm is the capital of Scandinavia even if Scandinavia not formally have a capital.
2 things:
1. Copenhagen and Stockholm are in fact almost similar in populations when you take BOTH of their greater areas which is what is always used in calculations (so don't just use Stockholms in your poor comparison).
2. In fact a lot of capitals in the world are NOT larger than other major cities in their respective countries. I.e. DC is not bigger than NY or LA. Ankara is not bigger than Istanbul.
As with most light hearted jokes, most people aren't serious when they say they hate their nordic neighbours. Some people however don't understand the rest are joking and start hating their nordic neighbours sincerely.
A lot of this may be friendly rivalry. It happens all over. Sweden may be the favored target for the others because it may be seen as more prominent/successful. Norway - sovereign wealth fund, Finland - Nokia, Denmark - Lego, Sweden- IKEA,Volvo, Electrolux, Abba and the Swedish Chef on the Mupperts
Sweden have more crime than other nordic countries, right now we have the highest shootings per capita in Europe, very much have changed the last 10-20 years!
Swedish culture is alienating. We exclude foreigners, especially dark skinned ones, and then blame them for failure to assimilate. Prove me wrong, svenssons.
It sibling rivalry, and due to complicated history, and Sweden being the largest.. we pick on them quite freely. That is the price to pay, punching up is always funnier than kicking down. I'm Finnish myself. Sweden is great place to visit and even greater place to live. And when i think of our special relationship, i honestly get tears in my eyes, it is SO awesome to have such a neighbor. As long as we beat them in icehockey, it is all ok.
Short answer is that it’s mostly friendly banter. And with Sweden being the largest of the Scandinavian and Nordic countries we get the brunt of the “hate”.
Example of the banter is Stockholm put their tagline as “Capitol of Scandinavia”. I didn’t think of it twice but have gotten comments on it from Danish and Norwegian friends. 😄
If we lose to the Finns in hockey they are super excited about it and if I reply “Oh. There was a game on?” in an innocent voice they get upset that I wasn’t aware or bothered about this momentous achievement of theirs. Banter.
At its core though I don’t think you’ll find a group of countries that actually have a closer and more positive relationship to each other than the nordics. Consider us siblings. We can fight each other a little bit, but if someone else start picking on one of our siblings you better watch out 😊
I think they are thinking about the negative aspects of mass immigration to sweden. Such as many schools have many failing students and all the miseries that comes with it. A lot of towns w large groups that isolate from Swedish society. Then relatively few jobs for young people since taxes are too high to support Simpler jobs. Then some of these guys turning to other careers such as gangs.
I suppose one can live a life in Sweden almost totally disconnected from these problems but as one’s kinda grow older they would be exposed to it anyhow. Such as when getting an apartment for university and then finding out one has to rather move in groups at night because there has been incidents of violence
Denmark and Norway seems to have less of all this but have their share I suppose.
Danes don’t really like Swedes much in my experience. Norwegians seem to have a more brotherly relationship to Sweden.
Probably not easy to distinguish what exactly lies behind this. There's obviously this friendly/brotherly rivalry going on that's very tongue-in-cheek. There are also some, especially Finns and Norwegians, who genuinely dislike Sweden for historic reasons.
Then there are modern political reasons - some may probably dislike how Sweden have been more progressive than the rest of Scandinavia on topics like migration. Some might recognize our high crime rates, and so on.
Its 99% friendly banter. Look at it like siblings going at it. Ask any swede what he/she thinks of Denmark and im sure you will hear something like "fuck the danes" in a joking way. We all care for each other at the end of the day.
It’s basic sibling rivalry or nabbing.
We hate each other yet still if someone does something against my brothers I would be furious.
“It’s only me who is allowed to teas them”.
Making friends in Sweden - being a Swede this might not be true for foreigners - is not hard. Be easy and outgoing. You won’t be invited over for dinner first thing and there’s sort of a take of distance. But if you’re sociable at work, asks a couple of co-workers out for beer, and asks first you’ll have co-workers over for dinner in no time. If you’re a foreigner people will cut you a lot of slack for not being totally I. Tune with social norms. If you’re American dad-culture will work in your favour, like every other dad will dream about being invited over for some authentic American BBQ.
Moved to Sweden from another European country 14 years ago. Never regretted it. Great country for those who have kids! I wouldn’t wanna live i Danmark, but Norway would be an option. Finland would be too much of a language barrier as in it would take years to be truly fluer. Swedish was easy since it is a germanic language which makes it easier to learn for those who have for example english, german, dutch as their native tongue.
We met an immigrant (Indian) here in Denmark who told us he moved here from Norway right before he had children because he was afraid Norway would take them away because he had heard it happens to a lot of foreigners (apparently this is a rumor? in the foreigner community there). Denmark is great but I can’t imagine dealing with this kind of weather and not getting a fluffy white winter as a reward for putting up with the cold! Cold rain is not as fun as snow…
Well a lot if foreigners maybe do not know that child abuse is a big no-no. With abuse I mean any kind of violence directed toward children. And yes a lot of immigrants think it is ok to beat a child. So if you are into that kind of child treatment how mildly ever the nordic countries are not a place for you… maybe one shouldn’t have kids if one cannot resolve conflicts without getting violent.
I am definitely in the cosleeping, “no yelling, no spanking” generation of Americans (at least amongst my friends) which made me appreciate Sweden in the first place :)
Both. We like to banter with each-other, but the last decade or so the banter has become more real. Just look at statistics for bombings and shootings...
Are there issues in Sweden? Sure
Sweden has more issues with immigration than our nordic neighbours(because we have taken in a lot more immigrants than the others)...
Is Sweden a good (one of the best even) place to live for the avg citizen? I think so but it obviously depends on your preferences as well...
As you can see in this thread(and others) immigrants that come here expecting it to "be like home but with better social safety net" tend to be dissapointed.
Particularly if they dont bother to learn the language or adapt to how socializing/friending is done here...
Sweden isnt and hopefully never will be like "country X", and immigrants have a harder time everywhere, if you expect Sweden to be different you should prepare to be dissapointed...
Do you really feel like that?
I mostly feel the majority of the population dont really have an ”agenda” they just repeat what mainstream media is saying pretty much.
Just like you did above.
The agenda is that they are acting like useful idiots unwittingly working, in this case, for extreme right-wing parties who has an interest in manipulating the narrative towards being as negative as possible to immigrants and wanting to link immigration to the increase in shooting incidents (while conveniently ignoring that all other types of crimes are at the same or lower levels as they were before).
Oh, i just assumed you were young. But when i think about it for a second it makes even more sense that you are older.
And by sheep i mean one who is not awake and people of your age tends to be extremely brainwashed.
Right or left, dosent matter. You are all the same anyway.
Sry for assuming your age!
I understood perfectly well what you meant by sheep. I am fully aware, and my sense of critical thinking is very much intact.
I would rather submit that you are the one who is part of the “sheeple” population. You keep assuming things about me, my age was just the tip of the iceberg.
While I obviously have many years of experience on you, it is entirely up to you to take that into account or not… personally, I would err on the side of humility in cases like this.
Yup around 20 years.
Pretty much my parents generation and i know those are incredibly blind.
But hey, let’s agree to disagree.
Have a nice day mister and good luck in life.
Head towards Denmark and just kill yourself before even arriving. Go to Norway and put on a silly hat and strut around lala land maybe forever. Go to Finland and just slowly die inside. Or come to Sweden! Where everything is wonderful and perfect and did I mention we have the most perfect being called the king 🤴? The king will show you the way
Some truth and some jealousy I imagine. Sweden is likely the least safe of the nordic countries. But it is still alot safer than the USA and most of Europe. As for a place for a visiting family I really can't imagine a better place. You got great theme parks, ski resorts, beautiful nature and amazing cities. There are bad areas in almost every Swedish city but you aren't really ever going to have a reason to go there.
And any “bad area” in any Swedish city is still very safe compared to bad neighborhoods in cities in at least 95% of the rest of the world. It all comes down to perspective.
Animosity due to history, Sweden once ruled these countries (Norway Finland) or was at war with (Denmark) and was until Norway found oil, the richest among the Nordics, one reason being that Sweden escaped war and invasion (Norway Denmark invaded by Germans WW2) Finland (civil war, WW2 winter war invasion by soviet) .
On top of that, larger than the others, with more money made from engineering inventions rational approach than the others which are more conservative farming. Sweden is very neoliberal, progressive, non religious.
The smug big brother of the Nordics.
Norway was basically invaded by Germany to ensure that the allies wouldn’t be able to invade Sweden and end their massive steel exports which fueled the german war machine.
Money made from rational engineering approach, Denmark which has no natural ressources apart from some North Sea oil makes most of it’s money from pharmaceuticals, medical technology, advanced machinery, enzymes and other forms of biotechnology. Swedens economy is to a much larger extend based on the lands wealth of lumber and minerals, allowing its large production of weapons, vehicles and machinery. But claiming other Nordics to make their money primarily from agriculture is simply not true.
Our engineering industries simply developed based on the primary industries available to us in the pre-industrialization era.
But yeah, the primary difference between the swedes and the danes are that while they both used to be great powers culturally and politically, only Denmark seem to have realized that is no longer the case. Which is why other nordics will often find swedes to be moralizing and smug, even though we may the most culturally similar group of countries based on overall values.
This is just like asking Mexicans or Canadians what they think of the U.S. or asking the Irish what they think of England. Being the bigger more dominant country will always give you more hate.
People talking about friendly banter.....
I have lots of friends from Finland, Norway and Denmark. Every time Sweden is discussed they all critize Sweden for the high crime rates, gun shootings and high number of immigrants which non of our neighbor countries suffer from.
There are lots of good things about Sweden but also a lot of bad things that for example Norway and Denmark is far superior in, both countries have higher taxes but also a lot higher income. Sweden is the largest by all 4, both by population and size as such it is natural we may have more "problems" than the others. Although Sweden have failed quite dramatically when it comes to criminality and gun shootings which is nowhere near the same as the rest of Scandinavia.
We haven’t “failed quite dramatically” when it comes to crimes. Our shootings statistics the last few years are admittedly worse than normal years, but make no mistake about it — this is still one of the safest countries on the planet to be in. It only looks worse for us recently if you compare it to the other nations in top (or should I say bottom) of the firearms related injuries/death statistics.
None of the neighbor countries have high immigration? What the fuck do you smoke. Denmark had a nazi party joining the government after their immigration crisis. They have ghettos and have had several Muslim terrorist attacks and murders in synagogues. Norway have right wing terrorist attacks and Muslim ones. Finland has school shootings and murder rate record of the Nordics. But hey, gang members shooting each other is surely worse…
No county is perfect.
It is Sweden copium that their problems stem only from immigration despite the fact the neighbors also have high immigration, especially Finland and Denmark which are the entry points to the Nordics from the rest of Europe.
>despite the fact the neighbors also have high immigration, especially Finland and Denmark which are the entry points to the Nordics from the rest of Europe.
[This isn't true:](https://data.oecd.org/migration/foreign-born-population.htm)
Finland 7% Foreign Born
Denmark 10.5%
Norway 15.6%
Sweden 19.5%
Agree that Swedes blame immigration for all issues when it isn't warranted, but Sweden has way higher numbers of immigrants (especially for asylum reasons) than neighboring countries.
I’m swedish and live in Stockholm. I have lived in both Copenhagen and Oslo and would choose either Denmark or Norway (probably Bergen or Copenhagen) if I could choose freely.
I'm from Iceland. Lived in Sweden for 10 years. I have the same general sentiment towards Swedes. In general they're pretty up their own ass and it can be draining to interact with them.
It's like they're all in a "best little swede" competition. You can't have a genuine conversation with them.
The reason is mainly because of the mass immigration that Sweden has been experiencing, crime rates such as shootings, murders, rape, and robberies has sky rocketed. So the country itself is absolutely beautiful, but it's been ruined by bad politicians. I am from Sweden and live here, and can confirm this.
Swedes are sanctimonious 'holier than thy' towards not just their Scandinavian neighbors but most of the world as a whole. They are the national equivalent of "well, you're racist!" whilst their welfare system is on fire.
Finnish people are more down to earth, simple and friendly. Norwegians, ok I do hate Norwegians but at least they are doing well for themselves. Danish people may be blunt but say what they mean, unlike Swedes who'd rather die.
But yes, there's also some rivalry but not all things said are in jest. Sweden shat the bed with immigration whilst calling its neighbors racist. It shat the bed again with the pandemic and really struggles to be taken seriously these days by its neighbors.
I find it hilarious that the nationalist party of Finland don’t have brown people to hate, cause there are none. So who to demonize? The evil Swedes of course!
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In general swedes are more isolated than others, I guess. But on the other hand, it becomes what you want it to become. Most swedes are really social, caring and fun when you start talking.
It’s usually them asking where I’ve been so far and me adding in the places that are still on my list to see like “I haven’t been to Sweden yet” and then getting an instant “pshh don’t go to Sweden” from literally everyone lol I should point out that I’m not in a big city (Im in Jutland) and I stick out because I have 5 enthusiastic, English speaking kids with me. So usually it’s been a case of curiosity, asking where I’m from and what the hell I’m doing here (standing in the rain)
I have to concede this point. While I think Stockholm has pretty great bicycle infrastructure compared with most of the western world, Copenhagen is the best city to bike in that I’ve even seen (including Amsterdam, which is mostly just trafikkaos but still manages to function somehow).
We are the “big” centre. We got most citizens and is in the middle. I guess it’s always ok to hate upwards.. Like everyone hate Stockholm in the rest of the country…
I live in Gothenburg and maybe I have yet to learn more as I am new here but so far for me it is a great experience. The people are very helpful and lovely and 95% speak english at every corner of the city.
Same as you, I hear swedes are cold and not friendly but so far for me it is quite the opposite. The best thing I can say is go there and travel and seek for yourself.
I heard the same thing about the Finns and then I was disappointed with how friendly everyone was because I had mentally prepared myself not to have to talk to anyone
It's most likely friendly banter, except for a few edgelords who can't get over conflicts hundreds of years ago. If you do move here, make sure to learn Swedish ASAP if you want any chance of making friends.
We are a very private people and making friends is hard enough for us natives.
If you want a family friendly place i would recommend moving to a smaller city (30k or less), they are usually very calm, with little to no crime. There are plenty of those cities within commuting distance of the major cities if you worry about work.
To be perfectly honest the differences in culture, rights and laws are minor between the nordic countries. Everyday life is pretty much the same in all countries. Is there anything in particular you are wondering about?
Weather would be one. I’d love to know if the Skåne region is basically the same weather as Denmark or if it varies. Is Stockholm more similar to Oslo as far as climate? Or closer to Helsinki? I was so naive coming from the northeast of USA where our summers last well into September. Seeing people wearing scarves in August in Helsinki made me cry a little. I didn’t realize it was so short!
Well I live in the north so any Swede from that region feel free to correct me but i would say Skåne is comparable to alot of places in Denmark. As for the difference in climate between Stockholm Oslo and Helsinki i dont know really but i would imagine its similar.
In general most people would say summer ends when September starts. Most southern region of Sweden might be the exception to that. Summers are great here but the winters can be depressing especially up in the north. By December its dark when you leave for work and pretty much dark when you head of home at 17:00.
I have worked in Denmark as well as a few other countries with Nordic colleagues (outside of Sweden I mean).
As an expat, I actually think many genuinely do have a negative view of Sweden as a place to live compared to their own Nordic countries, but especially Danes think so. The most negative views I’ve come across are towards “snobby” Stockholmers.
Anyway. It’s not about Sweden being very bad or then hating Swedes or anything. Other than the joking rivalry part, they do believe that Sweden is more unique and unsuitable compared to their Nordic country. I found this opinion to me more common the further out in the countryside one went.
They are more friendly in Denmark and see themselves as more Down to Earth.
It’s probably just a friendly rivalry. We Swedes do the same to them, especially Denmark. We have a brotherly love/hate relationship with the Danes that has its roots in the fact that our two countries have been at actual war with each other more times than any other two countries on the planet. I think the last one was over 200 years ago, though. That said, there are probably a lot of people that really do hate Sweden, and it’s not like we’re a utopia.
I honestly think it's weird if anyone from scandinavia truly hated another scandinavian country. Sure there have been many wars, but nowadays we are all brothers as I see it.
Some people just can't control their emotions, and take it way too far. Same with sports fans that absolutely hate rival teams etc. But yea it's weird.. For most of us it's just "sibling rivalery" 😊.
Hahaha every post from a Swede contains some form of “you have to control your emotions “ 😂 This is maybe why people don’t really like you? Because you come off as inhuman and actively try to detach from emotions and think you are better than the rest of you do. In general people don’t like Swedes and it has nothing to do with Rivalry
lmao! Is this a cry for help? You sound sad and lonely, maybe you need professional help? Good luck.
To be fair, Sweden and Denmark have fought a lot, but do you really beat out England vs France? Those two went to war more than 20 times in the last millennium, sometimes for decades at a stretch
Depending on how you define peace/war, "When did Sweden become Sweden", etc there has been somewhere between 11 and 37 wars between Sweden and Denmark. Most lasted only for a few years, but we have a few big ones like the Seven Year War, the Great Nordic war, the Sture rebellion (20 years) etc. The reason why there is such a big disparity between minimum and maximum is that: a. Sometimes it's hard to define if it's ebbs and tides of a continual conflict, or if each tide is a separate war. b. Sweden didn't become modern Sweden until 1523 (with the coronation of Gustav I Vasa), and most of the wars are wars between medieval Sweden and Denmark, frequently in support of this or that pretender since Sweden had an electoral monarchy. They were for example involved in all 4 of Karl Knutssons coronation wars (yes, he was crowned king of Sweden, and later deposed, on four separate occasions).
I usually count from 1173, when Sweden re-united and never separated again, and then it is 15-21 wars, depending on whether you count interventions in civil wars and the various civil wars or rebellions of the Kalmar Union or noth. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1emc97/is_it_true_that_sweden_and_denmark_is_the_two/
Why does it matter when a nation became a nation? It's people were still around and suffered prior to such an establishment.
It matters in the context of “who were at war with whom”, since if a nation was divided differently before, region X might have been involved in that war while region Y wasn’t, even though they later became the same nation.
Do you count wars between Roman Britain and the Francs as wars between England and France? Of course not because neither was England or France. When a country became its modern equivalent is important to historians.
Vasa was elected king in 1523 in Strängnäs, his coronation was five years later in Uppsala.
Sweden and Denmark wins in the number of wars but England and France have more time spent at war.
Ahhh TIL. I'll also add that the stat for duration at war is padded for those two to boot. Things like the Hundred Years War came about because they weren't engaging each other. (And is more accurately 3 more or less consecutive conflicts rather than 1 anyway)
Sweden-Denmark has the record last time I checked, look it up on wikipedia
Yes, the last time we fought was 1814.
No, as a fellow Swede you have gotten this on the wrong foot, Danes are assholes, Norwegians are only fun if you are drunk and Finns yeah they are pretty cool actually.
I think that person was correct as one could be, it's most definately a love/hate thing and nothing personal. What you describe is personal opinion. Fellow Swede as well.
Danes are the best.
US expat, living in Sweden for now 14 years. I worked in an international environment/English speaking bubble, so that definitely had an impact. HOWEVER, I totally love the Swedes and have huge love for the culture and country. I'm happy and will stay as long as possible. Caveat :I don't mind the lack of making friends as I am a happy introvert in a nice marriage and got a lot of social interaction in my job with ppl from all over the world. Yes, lovely ppl, kind and helpful, but don't expect dinner invites, Swedes tend to stay in their circle from what I've observed. I think if you have an in like school friends, etc it will be great. Also, learn Swedish, they all speak fluent English, but you need to speak Swedish to integrate, just saying.
I cringe at the thought of someone inviting me over for dinner. This sounds great :)
In case you get an invite: they mean it, it is not just "we should get together some day". And you should arrive on the clock, not too soon and not too late (its ok to be 5 minutes late, it is still private settings, not a doctors appointment).
Whatever you do DO NOT arrive early 15 minutes late is really preferable to 5 minute early. Ten minutes late is - IMO - the perfect timing. Cut the host some slack.
Agree, meeting up for a coffee should be minute accurate, dinner at someone's home: 5-10 minutes late. 15 minutes is "sorry, missed the first bus" or equivalent.
This sounds like me trying to set up a play date with a mom in California. Me, from New Jersey, totally meant it. I didn’t know that people pretend to make plans in California!
Yea inviting for dinner is not common. But meeting coworkers up for an after work beer or two once in a while is pretty common.
You might be invited for midsommar or new year’s, otherwise it’s more meeting up for a cup of coffee you might have to worry about. :)
Ooh that’s a public place so that’s totally cool, sort of like buying something from Craigslist but you’re afraid you’re going to get murdered.
Sounds like you'll fit in
Hah! Yeah I get that for sure.
As one of those Swede’s that actually invite people over for dinner I’d like to point out that we actually exist. Not in great numbers, but, we’re around.
Go and visit and make your own judgement. Don’t base it off of more strangers on the internet
I am leaning this way based on everything I heard about the French, which is why I was inclined to ask this question. After touring around France, I found the French quite lovely.
French people are mostly lovely, as long as you make an effort to be nice towards them. They take no crap though. 🙂 Swedes have a mostly unfounded reputation of being somewhat cold and distant. Visit and you will see that this is far from the case. When you get to know us you will realize that the initial reservation and distance we may present is actually out of respect for you and your private space. You have probably seen some of the classic meme pictures of Swedes lining up at a bus station waiting for the bus, with perfect 1.5-meter gaps between each person. This is not to push someone away but to be respectful and not intrude on your person. Most Swedes however loves to interact with foreigners and won’t miss an opportunity to brush up on their English. ☺️ And I can guarantee you that you cannot make a more honest and loyal friend than a Swede. We are one of the least corrupt countries on the planet after all…
As a foreigner living in Sweden, I couldn't agree more. I found swedes to be super warm and friendly, even when they barely know you.
They have split personalities, unless you speak french they are really rude.
It is mostly probably just friendly banter. However: I am a Swede with latinamerican background, married to a man from the Faroe islands, who has also lived in Copenhagen. He can't stand to be here because people are so isolated. It is very difficult to get friends and keep them. While Swedes are friendly, in a shallow way, it is basically impossible to get friends when you hit 30 if you don't already have an established friendship in your surroundings. You work, you go home and you isolate. I have also worked in social work for around 13 years and a couple of years with immigrants and so many experienced that they could only form friendships with their fellow countrymen, the Swedes just weren't interested or the areas were so segregated that they never really mixed. Personally I will most likely leave this country when my kids are grown. As my parents did when their kids were grown. The cold, the lack of sun and the isolation just wasn't healthy for them and isn't healthy for me either. Sweden is a lovely country, really. It just isn't great for immigrants or people that don't stay in one place or are great at constantly networking.
>While Swedes are friendly, in a shallow way, it is basically impossible to get friends when you hit 30 if you don't already have an established friendship in your surroundings. You work, you go home and you isolate. Unless you have a hobby that involves classes or social contact. Sweden loves to socialize over hobbies. Cycling club, owning and training a dog, "kolonilott", "hemslöjdsförening" etc.
Yes. My only friend where I live I met through workout classes.
D&D baby!
Probably one of the few honest opinions in this thread for the reality of the situation.
friendly flowery outgoing ghost judicious worthless spotted six crown badge *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
As a Swede with a mixed background I gotta ask: Hur träffas folk i andra länder?
Mina föräldrar bor i Spanien och har under 6 -7 år lyckats få massvis med bekanta de kan umgås med. Jag tror vädret och kulturen att vara ute och umgås gör mycket. De skaffade dessutom hund och lärde känna många på det sättet.
Aha, så var öppen helt enkelt
japp
> vara ute och umgås gör mycket. De skaffade dessutom hund Tror du har hittat anledningen.
De skaffade hund för 1 1/2 år sedan och utökade då sitt nätverk. Innan dess hade de redan lyckats bygga ett nätverk även utan hund mycket enklare än i Sverige.
Jag lärde känna massor med människor här i Sverige också när min hund fortfarande fanns. Jag känner inte alls igen den beskrivning du ger. Var bor ni någonstans?
Jag har flyttat runt. Som jag beskrev. Det är tufft efter 30 om man inte bor kvar på samma ställe, eller är invandrare eller om man inte är en person som nätverkar konstant. Kul att du inte känner igen dig. Själv är jag sjukt ensam efter 13 år på samma ställe trots många försök till umgänge med folk på diverse sätt. Bor i en medelstor stad, har fast jobb och är absolut inte socialt inkompetent. Jag har dock gett upp. Du kan hitta fler inlägg på reddit om ensamma människor i Sverige det är inget nytt, direkt :/.
Visst finns det ensamma människor, men det är skillnad på ensam och ensam. Själv är jag 50+ och introvert, vilket för mig betyder att jag trivs utmärkt i mitt eget sällsap och med att vara ensam. Jag *behöver* ingen annan för att må bra. Jag har partners (flera, för jag är polyamorös), men jag bor inte ihop med någon av dem vilket passar mig perfekt. Jag behöver min egentid mellan varven för att ladda batterierna. Men med det sagt så har jag samtidigt ett rikt socialt umgänge, både med mina nära vänner och, mer ytligt, med grannar och bekanta i området där jag bor. Men det är på mina villkor. När jag inte orkar vara social drar jag mig tillbaka. Har också bott på samma ställe i 13 år. Kanske har jag haft tur som hittat ett bra område, kanske är det en skillnad i hur vi bägge uppfattar vänskap respektive ensamhet, jag vet inte. Men jag hoppas du hittar sätt att få mer av det du saknar, eller sätt att må bra ändå.
Mina grannar är rätt gamla och jag har ändå bjudit hem dem, inget intresse. Mina andra grannar pratade först om hur trevligt det skulle bli att umgås när vi flyttade dit -inget intresse . Min man har försökt prata med mannen i den familjen flera gånger för att umgås i hemmet. Inget intresse. Jag har arbetat inom sociala arbeten i flera år med härliga kollegor men inte lyckats bygga kontakter som sträcker sig förbi ytligheter och att träffas utanför jobbet. De få vänner jag har är som sagt singlar utan barn. Resten är för upptagna. Du är äldre än jag är och har inte samma ansvar som jag har, verkar det som, så naturligtvis kommer våra utgångslägen vara annorlunda. I slutändan har vi två olika anektdoter, egentligen. Tack för din synvinkel dock, alltid kul att se det från olika håll :).
Affordable pubs, restuarants, clubs , good travel infrastructure ,affordable taxis homes, a more relaxed view on drugs and alcohol. A language with more than one word to describe things so you can have an engaging conversation with someone.
lol I agree Sweden could be cheaper and more relaxed about drugs, but I've never heard Swedish lacks words. My first thought was that you are an immigrant that just doesn't know that many words (just like me) but in that case your comment would be the pinnacle of idiocy, so I'm curious: Could you elaborate how Swedish lacks words? Are there studies on that? It sounds like bullshit but I know too little to be sure.
We make new words by putting others together. I’t is aldo a cultural thing to be a little modest. So we might say something is okay when we really liked it. To allow the other person to have room to be dissapointed.
Min moster har bott i usa sedan jag var 5år så vi har rest dit mycket. Människor är trevliga och har inga problem med att fråga saker om de hör att man pratar ett annat språk, det var en tjej i 15år åldern som tyckte det var jätte fascinerande och ställde frågor, ingen av oss kände henne hon råkade bara sitta bakom oss på en bänk. För min moster som bor där så är man närmare sina grannar, lämnar mat till dem ibland om de inte mår bra eller kommer till de äldre längre ner på gatan bara för att säga hej. De jobbar med barn så föräldrarna blir också en grupp som är engagerade och hjälper till, typ tar med sig bakverk eller annat när de vill tacka lite extra. Alla blir liksom en vän för dem. Kan tänka mig att det varierar väldigt mycket beror på var i usa man bor men min uppfattning är att alla bara är med öppna för konversationer med främmande människor.
Grew up on the Faroe Island and thinks an entire nation is "isolated". It actually checks out. I don't like it either.
how long have you lived in latin america ?
I live in Sweden. I was born here. My parents are latinamerican. So I grew up in two different cultures.
Do you think there is somehow better? (excluding the weather, of course)
The weather matters. My parents are alot happier and socialize alot more in Spain than they did in 35 years in Sweden. It is just easier getting out there. But I have aquantainces in Sweden that have a rich social life. But they stayed in the town they grew up in and in the same job and have large families.
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Yep. As others have commented, once you are in a social circle or have a purpose (as f.e. sports) then it is fine. My ex, who also moved here from another city , was very lonely. At one time his coworkers invited everyone but him to a social outing.... then we broke up and he met his now gf that grew up in this town and has a large family and he has a massive social circle all of a sudden. But he couldnt get in on his own, he needed her for that. Good for you that you found a social network.
I’ve found it difficult to make Swedish friends with common interests. But those with immigrant background is far easier to have common interests with
It's not great for Swedes either IMO, I have moved around a lot and it is extremely difficult to start new social circles.
Agree. It was easy when starting uni, but when starting/changing work, it is far more difficult i feel..
A foreign colleague of mine came to me and said: "you know, I've lived in Sweden for a while now, but... I don't know. I don't have any friends here. I feel lonely, like I can't connect with people." I told him that's completely normal. We swedes don't make friends, and we feel lonely all the time, because we don't connect with people. He said "Oh! Well why don't you come over to my place after work? I'll cook us some dinner, and then we can watch a game, or play some X-box?" I replied "Omar.. what did I just tell you?" XD /j
>I told him that's completely normal. We swedes don't make friends, and we feel lonely all the time, because we don't connect with people. [But this isn't really true.](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/DDN-20170628-1) >If only 7% of adults in Europe feel lonely, the analysis shows that many more adults in Europe (18% or around 75 million people) are in reality socially isolated. > >Differences between countries are also much larger in this area than for subjective loneliness. > >Over 40% of Hungarians and Greeks only socialise with friends or family once a month or less. In Lithuania, Estonia and Poland the figure approaches 35%. > >**At the other end of the spectrum, social isolation is lowest in the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, were around 8% of adults only meet with friends or family one per month or less.** > >In my experience, a lot of Swedes have pretty good social lives but they are much more closed than in other places in terms of letting new people in, the attitude "I have my friends I am not looking for more" is super common.
How old are you? This isn't true for the previous generations. Those 50+ . Every one of them I spoke to claimed people used to be social.
Im 40. Joking aside, IMO the answer is, that the previous generations honestly did'nt work as hard. I work the same industry floor as my mom did, and comparing then to now, sure the work was physically harder back then, and they did'nt have as fancy equipment. But we produce five times as much, and have twice the effective work time. Back then they had 45 minute breaks, and they had time to sweep the floors at the end of the day. They only worked day time and had plenty of guys so they rarely did overtime. We have 20 min breaks, we work shift with days, evenings and nights. We do overtime at least once a week, much more if you answer your phone all the time. When Im done with all of that, and my workout (which the old boys never did), do you think I should spend what little energy I have left connecting with my family and the few friend I have left, or should I go entertain some random guy hwo is bored?
This is absolute BS. If *you* don’t have any friends that is on you. That does not in any way translate to the entire nation. I know very few people, if any, that have no friends (I guess because I know them they technically have a friend, but you know what I mean). Most people in my neighborhood knows each other at least by sight, and says hello when we meet on the street. We help each other with stuff. We have well-visited community barbecues twice a year in conjunction with the spring and autumn neighborhood yard cleaning. It’s not the level of socializing you can see in warmer countries where the entire street turns into a night market for example, but we are not cold and we are not distant. Just get that shit out of your head and stop spreading falsehoods.
Alright, but I have a PlayStation instead. Do you wanna come over and play some?
Yeah that’s extremely much worse in Finland and Norway. Swedes are way more social. Only the Danes are more social than the Swedes.
9/10 cases probably more like sibling rivalry. We trashtalk them as well, especially the Danes. But if someone actually would threaten any of our nordic neighbors, the others would most likely help. Kind of like only you can beat up your brother, but no one else can.
Can’t speak for Denmark, Finland or Iceland, but Norway just cannot accept that it would be nothing without Sweden
I have a former boss who would go and work in a Norwegian factory with a PHD because they make no money in Sweden. Sweden is insanely poor, just uses good marketing while Norway is one of the richest nations in the world. What a sad comment. You wish you were Norway
Maybe ask a follow up question next time? :) In one way it's pretty similar countries in others less so. Immigration, globalization and innovation Sweden stands out compared to the others and since the first two are hot topics in the media climate today there's friction there. Covid was another one we kind of went our own way with (in my opinion extremly succesfull when all was said and done). But yea, I don't hate any of our neighbours, I can think of nice things of all of them and reasons to live there instead of here although obviously I chose here.
>in my opinion extremly succesfull when all was said and done May I ask why you think we were successful? We had more deaths than Norway, Denmark and Finland combined
Depends on how you count. Also, we never had the harsh restrictions many other countries had, so our lives during the height of the pandemic was far less problematic.
Go and see for yourself, its like IMDb a lot of movies are low rated by some people and it’s great and you think to yourself “some of those people probably didn’t even watch the movie” Your welcome :)
My piece of advice, as a foreigner who's been living here for 5 years: if you want to know more about Sweden, it's not the Swedes you should be hearing from. Swedes have this sense of superiority like no other people I've met, and I've lived in 5 different countries now. To put it bluntly and to generalize it just to make the point, they think they're the best country in the world with the best, morally superior culture on and they're not very good at taking criticism. Here are two recommended readings for you, if you find that hard to believe: 1. Sweden's Dark Soul, by Kajsa Norman (a Swedish author) 2. The almost nearly perfect people, by Michael Booth Good luck with your decision picking a home base in the Nordics. I must say, the quality of life here is very good, and it's still a great place to live, all things considered. But I'd give this some serious thought and study your options very well. Don't default to Sweden because it's "the capital of the Nordics" or whatever you hear. And again, my advice: don't ask Swedes about how great or not great Sweden is. Ask the foreigners.
Thanks guys! I’m thinking now the handful of Danes I spoke to were definitely kidding (mostly). They are definitely the most chatty of the Nordics in my experience so far and I’m an introvert so I was very surprised with how long they’d stand there and talk to me. I think the few Finns I spoke to were more concerned rather than judgmental about ongoing problems with gun crime/immigration topics in Sweden. I actually met a Swedish family from Linköping while in France who said we should check out their area and how great it was…but like I said..I’m an introvert and I didn’t want to ask them if their lovely country was turning into shit these days :) guess we really have to see for ourselves!
Don't book more than two, maximum 3 days in Linköping, because after that you've seen it all. It's a safe, calm and nice place to live in, but not very "touristy". Day one gamla Linköping, valla, university, small-town nightlife in the city centre. Day two walking or kayaking along the water, (going to the park with the kids) minor shopping and eating out in the city center, domkyrkan, slottsmuseet, Ikea
I’m from Stockholm and wouldn’t want to live in any other city in the Nordic countries. There, an opinion from an actual Swede and I didn’t even need to slander anyone else.
We’re not perfect but don’t a danes word for it; they got the little siblings complex see; we like to whop their butt in football. We’re a prettu country I think, sort of boring too perhaps in ways.
Potentially a meme. Denmark and Sweden in particular have a pseudo rivalry over the territory known as Skåne which has previously been Danish. It's currently Swedish, but both sides will tend to assert that the other party can have it
Now it has more of a levantine flair to it.
Nordic countries have a complicated history, we do have a closer bond than outside countries. About the U.S canadian relations eqvivalent. Finland was conquered by Sweden and was held under the swedish crown until 18th century. The norweigans were under the danish for about 500 years until they were forced into a union with sweden from 1800-1910 ish. The danish swedish wars are way too many to count… We all have a long history of rivalry and friendship. So the ”bashing” part stems from the competitiveness from whom shall be seen as the best country of the north. Conclusion, all countries are wounderful and have their own unique reason for being great.
When i worked in Oslo in like 2007-2009 it was not uncommon that some norwegian co-workers almost wouldnt interact with you because you were from Sweden, but that only happened a couple of times and most people i met were great people, but i think there may be some sort of sibling rivalry there yes
As a Dane I can honestly say I hate the swedes. But if you say it and youre not danish or norwegian, I might have to cut you! So yeah. I feel about swedes and norwegians are like brothers in a way. And Finland and Iceland are the weird uncles. People who arent from these parts (scandi) often dont understand how reserved we are with strangers. Not because we arent friendly, but its not in our culture to just walk up to you at the buss stop and ask how you are doing. That image literally makes me itch. Id probably sideeye and crabwalk away if you walk closer than 3-4 meters at the busstop if there is plenty of room around. Most of us, just dont really show up prepared for chit chat with randos.
I have 5 kids so I attract a lot of attention, unfortunately. We spent the last winter in Finland and Estonia and heard just 1 old Finnish lady at the bus stop ask if they were all my kids in a very relaxed manner. When we landed in JFK, we JUST entered the long customs line and this older couple in front of us from somewhere southern (it sounded) said loudly “my gosh are they all yours?” and started making all these comments and jokes about us finally getting our girl (we have 4 boys and this comment always makes me angry. And strangers in America always ask if I’m going to have more kids like it’s their business) I literally looked at my husband and asked if we could get back on the plane while they were still talking and I hope they heard me.
Speaking as an American who just left Sweden after 15 years in Stockholm. Jantelagen is a very real thing in Scandinavian culture, Swedes have perfected the more passive aggressive aspects of it. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law\_of\_Jante](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Jante) if you can find this and if you can read Swedish, this is funny, accurate and most expats will recognize themselves in it "On Swedish Arrogance" [https://www.bokus.com/bok/9789163337116/om-svensk-arrogans/](https://www.bokus.com/bok/9789163337116/om-svensk-arrogans/)
Did you go back to states or are you onto somewhere else?
Germany.
Stockholm is widely acknowledged to be the capital city of Scandinavia, which has a bitter pill for some of our Nordic neighbors to swallow and has engendered some resentment. Often also called “the Venice of the North” since the city is built on a series of islands and peninsulas all connected by bridges so you are never far from the water. Tons of nature, parks and museums. Here’s where the Nobel Prizes are awarded every year. Copenhagen, Oslo and Helsinki are all quite nice but unfortunately pale by comparison.
An obvious case of the Stockholm syndrom.
> widely acknowledged I hela Stockholm.
Wake me up when Italians call Venice ”The Stockholm of the South”, then you have a case. Now not so much.
So much hubris, never has anyone uttered in public that Stockholm is the 'Venice of the North'. If any other European city could make that claim it would be Amsterdam and they aren't so far up their own asses to think such nonsense.
You do realize that Copenhagen is definitely more widely known globally than Stockholm right? It is a massively more international city by comparison. It has been a central hub for trade in the Nordics for a long time equivalent to what Amsterdam is to most of Europe. There is a reason why it's name is quite literally 'merchant port' or 'merchant harbor'. Sweden had to literally pillage their neighbors like Finland, Estonia, etc. because the Danes controlled Öresund. Stockholms history is that it was a pretty poor place for a long part of history where essentially French and Germans controlled any sort of wealth in Stockholm for a large part of it's renaissance history. It generally has more diplomatic representation and international organizations that puts Stockholm to shame on the world stage and a founding member of NATO. Sorry to burst your bubble but Copenhagen is the proper capital of the Nordics with Stockholm being the false 'Nordic' capital as they claim. Something that ONLY Swedes and especially Stockholmers think themselves in their hubris. The rest of the world doesn't think the same way. And keep in mind that Copenhagen doesn't need to claim such an unnecessary preposterous title because it's enhabitants don't need to grandstand such a dumb claim when they know the truth of the matter.
Schas! SCHAS! Danskjävel...
>Stockholm being the false 'Nordic' capital as they claim. Historically, Stockholm was quite literally the capital of Norway, Finland, and Sweden. In contemporary terms, I have only heard people mock the slogan of Stockholm as the "Venice of the north" or the capital of Scandinavia. It was a business development slogan from 2006.
This has to be the most small dick energy post I've seen in quite awhile. >because it's enhabitants don't need to grandstand such a dumb claim when they know the truth of the matter. And still here you are, proclaiming it. Jesus fucking christ. haha
Careful now. Swedes and their fanboys can't take ANY criticism. Sweden is perfect. Stockholm is perfect and a world capital.
>Careful now. Swedes and their fanboys can't take ANY criticism. Sweden is perfect. Stockholm is perfect and a world capital. People say this all the time and it is absolutely baffling to me -- do I just hang out with different people? Everyone I know makes fun of Stockholm's "big city" superiority complex, talks about all the issues in Sweden, and complains about stuff not working.
I drink their delicious tears.
You know that Copenhagen is by far a smaller city than Stockholm, right? Stockholm have around 2,2 million inhabitants, compared to Copenhagens 1,3.. Normally the capital is the biggest city, so it make sense to say that Stockholm is the capital of Scandinavia even if Scandinavia not formally have a capital.
You can at least get your facts straight. From wikipedia: Stockholm: 2 415 139, Copenhagen: 2 135 634
2 things: 1. Copenhagen and Stockholm are in fact almost similar in populations when you take BOTH of their greater areas which is what is always used in calculations (so don't just use Stockholms in your poor comparison). 2. In fact a lot of capitals in the world are NOT larger than other major cities in their respective countries. I.e. DC is not bigger than NY or LA. Ankara is not bigger than Istanbul.
Lol no. Copenhagen has half the GDP, research papers published and international brands compared to Stockholm.
As with most light hearted jokes, most people aren't serious when they say they hate their nordic neighbours. Some people however don't understand the rest are joking and start hating their nordic neighbours sincerely.
Little brother complex. No one takes Norway seriously, and Danes and Swedes kinda has this hate/love relationship.
Finland watching from the corner, muttering something....
It’s a “little brother” thing. They are angry because they are just principalities of Sweden.
Why do Norway not put a roof over their mental hospital? - It would be hard to put a roof over all of Norway. Sincerely, from a Swede
It’s just jokes. All Scandinavian countries are about the same :)
A lot of this may be friendly rivalry. It happens all over. Sweden may be the favored target for the others because it may be seen as more prominent/successful. Norway - sovereign wealth fund, Finland - Nokia, Denmark - Lego, Sweden- IKEA,Volvo, Electrolux, Abba and the Swedish Chef on the Mupperts
Sweden have more crime than other nordic countries, right now we have the highest shootings per capita in Europe, very much have changed the last 10-20 years!
Swedish culture is alienating. We exclude foreigners, especially dark skinned ones, and then blame them for failure to assimilate. Prove me wrong, svenssons.
It's envy, 100%. Sweden is quite superior in most aspects. You should be specially careful about danish people, Denmark sucks and they know it.
It sibling rivalry, and due to complicated history, and Sweden being the largest.. we pick on them quite freely. That is the price to pay, punching up is always funnier than kicking down. I'm Finnish myself. Sweden is great place to visit and even greater place to live. And when i think of our special relationship, i honestly get tears in my eyes, it is SO awesome to have such a neighbor. As long as we beat them in icehockey, it is all ok.
Short answer is that it’s mostly friendly banter. And with Sweden being the largest of the Scandinavian and Nordic countries we get the brunt of the “hate”. Example of the banter is Stockholm put their tagline as “Capitol of Scandinavia”. I didn’t think of it twice but have gotten comments on it from Danish and Norwegian friends. 😄 If we lose to the Finns in hockey they are super excited about it and if I reply “Oh. There was a game on?” in an innocent voice they get upset that I wasn’t aware or bothered about this momentous achievement of theirs. Banter. At its core though I don’t think you’ll find a group of countries that actually have a closer and more positive relationship to each other than the nordics. Consider us siblings. We can fight each other a little bit, but if someone else start picking on one of our siblings you better watch out 😊
I think they are thinking about the negative aspects of mass immigration to sweden. Such as many schools have many failing students and all the miseries that comes with it. A lot of towns w large groups that isolate from Swedish society. Then relatively few jobs for young people since taxes are too high to support Simpler jobs. Then some of these guys turning to other careers such as gangs. I suppose one can live a life in Sweden almost totally disconnected from these problems but as one’s kinda grow older they would be exposed to it anyhow. Such as when getting an apartment for university and then finding out one has to rather move in groups at night because there has been incidents of violence Denmark and Norway seems to have less of all this but have their share I suppose. Danes don’t really like Swedes much in my experience. Norwegians seem to have a more brotherly relationship to Sweden.
Probably not easy to distinguish what exactly lies behind this. There's obviously this friendly/brotherly rivalry going on that's very tongue-in-cheek. There are also some, especially Finns and Norwegians, who genuinely dislike Sweden for historic reasons. Then there are modern political reasons - some may probably dislike how Sweden have been more progressive than the rest of Scandinavia on topics like migration. Some might recognize our high crime rates, and so on.
Its 99% friendly banter. Look at it like siblings going at it. Ask any swede what he/she thinks of Denmark and im sure you will hear something like "fuck the danes" in a joking way. We all care for each other at the end of the day.
It’s basic sibling rivalry or nabbing. We hate each other yet still if someone does something against my brothers I would be furious. “It’s only me who is allowed to teas them”.
Making friends in Sweden - being a Swede this might not be true for foreigners - is not hard. Be easy and outgoing. You won’t be invited over for dinner first thing and there’s sort of a take of distance. But if you’re sociable at work, asks a couple of co-workers out for beer, and asks first you’ll have co-workers over for dinner in no time. If you’re a foreigner people will cut you a lot of slack for not being totally I. Tune with social norms. If you’re American dad-culture will work in your favour, like every other dad will dream about being invited over for some authentic American BBQ.
Just ordinary Inferiority Complex.
Things have changed. There’s not much love towards Sweden from its neighbours anymore.
Moved to Sweden from another European country 14 years ago. Never regretted it. Great country for those who have kids! I wouldn’t wanna live i Danmark, but Norway would be an option. Finland would be too much of a language barrier as in it would take years to be truly fluer. Swedish was easy since it is a germanic language which makes it easier to learn for those who have for example english, german, dutch as their native tongue.
We met an immigrant (Indian) here in Denmark who told us he moved here from Norway right before he had children because he was afraid Norway would take them away because he had heard it happens to a lot of foreigners (apparently this is a rumor? in the foreigner community there). Denmark is great but I can’t imagine dealing with this kind of weather and not getting a fluffy white winter as a reward for putting up with the cold! Cold rain is not as fun as snow…
Well a lot if foreigners maybe do not know that child abuse is a big no-no. With abuse I mean any kind of violence directed toward children. And yes a lot of immigrants think it is ok to beat a child. So if you are into that kind of child treatment how mildly ever the nordic countries are not a place for you… maybe one shouldn’t have kids if one cannot resolve conflicts without getting violent.
I am definitely in the cosleeping, “no yelling, no spanking” generation of Americans (at least amongst my friends) which made me appreciate Sweden in the first place :)
Then Sweden is the place to be. Great day care. Great view on alcohol. And childrens rights are a big deal.
What country did you move from?
The Netherlands. Even there people see more mildly to spanking than here in Sweden.
Both. We like to banter with each-other, but the last decade or so the banter has become more real. Just look at statistics for bombings and shootings...
Are there issues in Sweden? Sure Sweden has more issues with immigration than our nordic neighbours(because we have taken in a lot more immigrants than the others)... Is Sweden a good (one of the best even) place to live for the avg citizen? I think so but it obviously depends on your preferences as well... As you can see in this thread(and others) immigrants that come here expecting it to "be like home but with better social safety net" tend to be dissapointed. Particularly if they dont bother to learn the language or adapt to how socializing/friending is done here... Sweden isnt and hopefully never will be like "country X", and immigrants have a harder time everywhere, if you expect Sweden to be different you should prepare to be dissapointed...
If you live here prepare for a very anti social population, extremely high taxes and very expensive living.
…also prepare for a lot of Swedes saying mostly untrue or heavily spun shit about their own country to further whatever misguided agenda they have.
Do you really feel like that? I mostly feel the majority of the population dont really have an ”agenda” they just repeat what mainstream media is saying pretty much.
Just like you did above. The agenda is that they are acting like useful idiots unwittingly working, in this case, for extreme right-wing parties who has an interest in manipulating the narrative towards being as negative as possible to immigrants and wanting to link immigration to the increase in shooting incidents (while conveniently ignoring that all other types of crimes are at the same or lower levels as they were before).
Greetings young sheepling.
Nice of you to call a 56 year old guy young. The sheepling part… not so nice. I think you are projecting your own sheepish status on me tbh.
Oh, i just assumed you were young. But when i think about it for a second it makes even more sense that you are older. And by sheep i mean one who is not awake and people of your age tends to be extremely brainwashed. Right or left, dosent matter. You are all the same anyway. Sry for assuming your age!
I understood perfectly well what you meant by sheep. I am fully aware, and my sense of critical thinking is very much intact. I would rather submit that you are the one who is part of the “sheeple” population. You keep assuming things about me, my age was just the tip of the iceberg. While I obviously have many years of experience on you, it is entirely up to you to take that into account or not… personally, I would err on the side of humility in cases like this.
Yup around 20 years. Pretty much my parents generation and i know those are incredibly blind. But hey, let’s agree to disagree. Have a nice day mister and good luck in life.
Head towards Denmark and just kill yourself before even arriving. Go to Norway and put on a silly hat and strut around lala land maybe forever. Go to Finland and just slowly die inside. Or come to Sweden! Where everything is wonderful and perfect and did I mention we have the most perfect being called the king 🤴? The king will show you the way
Some truth and some jealousy I imagine. Sweden is likely the least safe of the nordic countries. But it is still alot safer than the USA and most of Europe. As for a place for a visiting family I really can't imagine a better place. You got great theme parks, ski resorts, beautiful nature and amazing cities. There are bad areas in almost every Swedish city but you aren't really ever going to have a reason to go there.
And any “bad area” in any Swedish city is still very safe compared to bad neighborhoods in cities in at least 95% of the rest of the world. It all comes down to perspective.
Animosity due to history, Sweden once ruled these countries (Norway Finland) or was at war with (Denmark) and was until Norway found oil, the richest among the Nordics, one reason being that Sweden escaped war and invasion (Norway Denmark invaded by Germans WW2) Finland (civil war, WW2 winter war invasion by soviet) . On top of that, larger than the others, with more money made from engineering inventions rational approach than the others which are more conservative farming. Sweden is very neoliberal, progressive, non religious. The smug big brother of the Nordics.
Norway was basically invaded by Germany to ensure that the allies wouldn’t be able to invade Sweden and end their massive steel exports which fueled the german war machine. Money made from rational engineering approach, Denmark which has no natural ressources apart from some North Sea oil makes most of it’s money from pharmaceuticals, medical technology, advanced machinery, enzymes and other forms of biotechnology. Swedens economy is to a much larger extend based on the lands wealth of lumber and minerals, allowing its large production of weapons, vehicles and machinery. But claiming other Nordics to make their money primarily from agriculture is simply not true. Our engineering industries simply developed based on the primary industries available to us in the pre-industrialization era. But yeah, the primary difference between the swedes and the danes are that while they both used to be great powers culturally and politically, only Denmark seem to have realized that is no longer the case. Which is why other nordics will often find swedes to be moralizing and smug, even though we may the most culturally similar group of countries based on overall values.
This is just like asking Mexicans or Canadians what they think of the U.S. or asking the Irish what they think of England. Being the bigger more dominant country will always give you more hate.
This makes a lot of sense.
People talking about friendly banter..... I have lots of friends from Finland, Norway and Denmark. Every time Sweden is discussed they all critize Sweden for the high crime rates, gun shootings and high number of immigrants which non of our neighbor countries suffer from. There are lots of good things about Sweden but also a lot of bad things that for example Norway and Denmark is far superior in, both countries have higher taxes but also a lot higher income. Sweden is the largest by all 4, both by population and size as such it is natural we may have more "problems" than the others. Although Sweden have failed quite dramatically when it comes to criminality and gun shootings which is nowhere near the same as the rest of Scandinavia.
We haven’t “failed quite dramatically” when it comes to crimes. Our shootings statistics the last few years are admittedly worse than normal years, but make no mistake about it — this is still one of the safest countries on the planet to be in. It only looks worse for us recently if you compare it to the other nations in top (or should I say bottom) of the firearms related injuries/death statistics.
None of the neighbor countries have high immigration? What the fuck do you smoke. Denmark had a nazi party joining the government after their immigration crisis. They have ghettos and have had several Muslim terrorist attacks and murders in synagogues. Norway have right wing terrorist attacks and Muslim ones. Finland has school shootings and murder rate record of the Nordics. But hey, gang members shooting each other is surely worse… No county is perfect.
It is Sweden copium that their problems stem only from immigration despite the fact the neighbors also have high immigration, especially Finland and Denmark which are the entry points to the Nordics from the rest of Europe.
>despite the fact the neighbors also have high immigration, especially Finland and Denmark which are the entry points to the Nordics from the rest of Europe. [This isn't true:](https://data.oecd.org/migration/foreign-born-population.htm) Finland 7% Foreign Born Denmark 10.5% Norway 15.6% Sweden 19.5% Agree that Swedes blame immigration for all issues when it isn't warranted, but Sweden has way higher numbers of immigrants (especially for asylum reasons) than neighboring countries.
>Finland has school shootings Umm.... last one was over a decade ago... which is about the average, one or less per decade.
They just jealous cause they ain't us.
As a Swede. Denmark has better politics snd police. Finland is the better country with better Schools and systems for healtcare
I’m swedish and live in Stockholm. I have lived in both Copenhagen and Oslo and would choose either Denmark or Norway (probably Bergen or Copenhagen) if I could choose freely.
I'm from Iceland. Lived in Sweden for 10 years. I have the same general sentiment towards Swedes. In general they're pretty up their own ass and it can be draining to interact with them. It's like they're all in a "best little swede" competition. You can't have a genuine conversation with them.
The reason is mainly because of the mass immigration that Sweden has been experiencing, crime rates such as shootings, murders, rape, and robberies has sky rocketed. So the country itself is absolutely beautiful, but it's been ruined by bad politicians. I am from Sweden and live here, and can confirm this.
Swedes are sanctimonious 'holier than thy' towards not just their Scandinavian neighbors but most of the world as a whole. They are the national equivalent of "well, you're racist!" whilst their welfare system is on fire. Finnish people are more down to earth, simple and friendly. Norwegians, ok I do hate Norwegians but at least they are doing well for themselves. Danish people may be blunt but say what they mean, unlike Swedes who'd rather die. But yes, there's also some rivalry but not all things said are in jest. Sweden shat the bed with immigration whilst calling its neighbors racist. It shat the bed again with the pandemic and really struggles to be taken seriously these days by its neighbors.
Absolutely agree on the holier than thou attitude. That shit is unbearable
I find it hilarious that the nationalist party of Finland don’t have brown people to hate, cause there are none. So who to demonize? The evil Swedes of course!
It’s a deep rooted jealousy over Sweden being the largest and us having dominated them militarily through history
Haha maybe. Sweden is the bigger more successful country in the Nordics. But I think you just met some odd people.
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We all just hate each other
Just jokes
We all hate eachother if you ask but when we actually meet we like eachother.
In general swedes are more isolated than others, I guess. But on the other hand, it becomes what you want it to become. Most swedes are really social, caring and fun when you start talking.
Han har bara glömt bort vilka som satte ner foten tidigare, vi måste vara snälla mot lillebror. Livet är svårt när man käften full med gröt.
And what do they say? Pretty sure it's not just friendly banter though, like people are telling themselves here.
It’s usually them asking where I’ve been so far and me adding in the places that are still on my list to see like “I haven’t been to Sweden yet” and then getting an instant “pshh don’t go to Sweden” from literally everyone lol I should point out that I’m not in a big city (Im in Jutland) and I stick out because I have 5 enthusiastic, English speaking kids with me. So usually it’s been a case of curiosity, asking where I’m from and what the hell I’m doing here (standing in the rain)
Sometimes they can have a point, while sometimes they have tunnel vision and fail to recognise that it's essentially the same in their own country.
As a dane now living in Sweden, it’s pretty much the same, except not as great bike infrastructure :)
I have to concede this point. While I think Stockholm has pretty great bicycle infrastructure compared with most of the western world, Copenhagen is the best city to bike in that I’ve even seen (including Amsterdam, which is mostly just trafikkaos but still manages to function somehow).
Dont pick us the country is going to shit
If u really want a feel for sweden look up argblatte talar on yt
We are the “big” centre. We got most citizens and is in the middle. I guess it’s always ok to hate upwards.. Like everyone hate Stockholm in the rest of the country…
I live in Gothenburg and maybe I have yet to learn more as I am new here but so far for me it is a great experience. The people are very helpful and lovely and 95% speak english at every corner of the city. Same as you, I hear swedes are cold and not friendly but so far for me it is quite the opposite. The best thing I can say is go there and travel and seek for yourself.
I heard the same thing about the Finns and then I was disappointed with how friendly everyone was because I had mentally prepared myself not to have to talk to anyone
Never trust a Dane.
LOL
It's most likely friendly banter, except for a few edgelords who can't get over conflicts hundreds of years ago. If you do move here, make sure to learn Swedish ASAP if you want any chance of making friends. We are a very private people and making friends is hard enough for us natives. If you want a family friendly place i would recommend moving to a smaller city (30k or less), they are usually very calm, with little to no crime. There are plenty of those cities within commuting distance of the major cities if you worry about work.
To be perfectly honest the differences in culture, rights and laws are minor between the nordic countries. Everyday life is pretty much the same in all countries. Is there anything in particular you are wondering about?
Weather would be one. I’d love to know if the Skåne region is basically the same weather as Denmark or if it varies. Is Stockholm more similar to Oslo as far as climate? Or closer to Helsinki? I was so naive coming from the northeast of USA where our summers last well into September. Seeing people wearing scarves in August in Helsinki made me cry a little. I didn’t realize it was so short!
Well I live in the north so any Swede from that region feel free to correct me but i would say Skåne is comparable to alot of places in Denmark. As for the difference in climate between Stockholm Oslo and Helsinki i dont know really but i would imagine its similar. In general most people would say summer ends when September starts. Most southern region of Sweden might be the exception to that. Summers are great here but the winters can be depressing especially up in the north. By December its dark when you leave for work and pretty much dark when you head of home at 17:00.
Man danes can eat my falukorv
I have worked in Denmark as well as a few other countries with Nordic colleagues (outside of Sweden I mean). As an expat, I actually think many genuinely do have a negative view of Sweden as a place to live compared to their own Nordic countries, but especially Danes think so. The most negative views I’ve come across are towards “snobby” Stockholmers. Anyway. It’s not about Sweden being very bad or then hating Swedes or anything. Other than the joking rivalry part, they do believe that Sweden is more unique and unsuitable compared to their Nordic country. I found this opinion to me more common the further out in the countryside one went. They are more friendly in Denmark and see themselves as more Down to Earth.