Sweden edition

Stockholm illustrates growing wealth divide

Published: 9 May 11 09:32 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/33660/20110509/

The divide between Sweden's wealthiest and poorest areas is increasing, according to new statistics, which also reveal that nearly all of the 100 wealthiest areas can be found in Stockholm.

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Of Sweden's 100 wealthiest areas, 96 are located in Stockholm County, according to new figures from Statistics Sweden (SCB) and compiled at the request of Sveriges Radio (SR).

In addition, 21 of the 100 poorest areas are also located in and around the Swedish capital.

The income difference between the poorest and wealthiest areas has also increased.

In the 100 postal codes where people earned the most in 2009, monthly incomes averaged 22,000 ($3,500) kronor more than they were ten years ago.

Meanwhile, monthly incomes only increased by an average of 2,000 kronor in Sweden's 100 poorest areas during the same time period.

"Firstly, societal divisions have increased. That leads to an increase in housing segregation," Bo Malmberg, a professor of cultural geography at Stockholm University, told SR.

"Where you see this most clearly is in the big cities like Stockolm; that's where the high earners go. And the reason is that it's here where the market is largest and you can earn really big money."

According to Malmberg, the rich have a "strong tendency to stick together", leading them to live in the midst of other wealthy residents.

Twenty of Sweden's 100 wealthiest postal codes can be found in the Stockholm suburb of Bromma where most residents between 30 and 64-years-old earn around 50,000 kronor per month.

According to Bromma estate agent Mikael All, it's "not possible" to buy a family home for less than 9 million kronor.

TT/The Local/dl (news@thelocal.se)

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10:16 May 9, 2011 by zircon

I love it when you talk dirty... (Movie Sabrina)

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11:25 May 9, 2011 by johnny1939

Nothing unusual w/ this situation. It is like any large city in the world some areas are more affluent than others. The "rich" stick together? Silly! should they go and live in a poorer area? You usually live in the best place that you can afford. I cannot see anything strange in this at all and it doesn't even warrant the paper to write about.

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12:11 May 9, 2011 by djmarko

yep exactly, take central London for example, the super rich live there, they have a lot in common, there will be no resentments due to how wealthy your neighbour is, a wealthy person is not likely to live in an area where low income people live, happens all round the world, unless Sweden are trying hard not to create a social class division

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14:00 May 9, 2011 by Syftfel

This is classic lefty, leninist, propaganda of the kind you will read in SSUs and in aftonbladets announcements. While it is reasonable to expect equal opportunity for all, it is NOT reasonable to expect that end result is the same. Nor would it be fair to have "forced equalization" in a democracy. No one, save for a few hard nosed, unionized, social dems, is looking for the Erich Honecker style proletarian paradise, SSU and aftonbladet notwithstanding. There will, and should, be differences. This is how the wheels are greased in our capitalist society. Let us read the above story without concluding that we must raise taxes. Let us also remember that the party of palme has for decades taught people that one does not have to work to accomplish things. The State(capital 'S') will take care of everything. We can not all live in a villa in Bromma.

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14:38 May 9, 2011 by farnoxo

family home for 9 million SEK in one of the most prestigeous areas on Stockholm - not bad! In London 9 million SEK would buy you a toilet in Mayfair!

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15:10 May 9, 2011 by ooh456

@farnoxo Yeah but Mayfair isn't a frozen wasteland 7 months per year

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17:08 May 9, 2011 by Great Scott

@Syftfel

You talk like a ring wing neo conservative old woman, where in hell does it mention anything about "This is classic lefty, leninist, propaganda of the kind you will read in SSUs and in aftonbladets announcements".

Are you paranoid or something, your arrogance and way of talk, causes more concern than any "lefty or leninist" as you call them.

Are you frightened that someone might need your help in some way, e.g. when the welfare society has collapsed because of greed.

You know there's a breaking point to everything, and normal people will only tolerate so much. When this happens they hunt down the worshipers of the cause and make them pay.

It was greed that caused communism, it was greed that made unions and it was greed ironically that bought welfare states about. You have to do something you have never done before, learn about a fair society.

Why do you think house prices are going up in a "frozen wasteland" as ooh456 put it, because of greed?

And that is what this article is about.

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17:20 May 9, 2011 by Syftfel

@Great Scott: I'm glad I could set your loins on fire. But thank you for proving my point. I stand by every word I wrote in my previous entry. You seem to have fetched your vernacular from SSUs invective. Good show!

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17:29 May 9, 2011 by Great Scott

@Syftfel

Your arrogance still prevails, let's hope you can master the act of escape when the time comes.

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#10

18:42 May 9, 2011 by Syftfel

@Great Scott: I wasn't going to reply, but you give me such juicy, socialist, tid bits, akthough the issue was what's referred as the "divide" between Bromma and Rinkeby, that I could not resist. I truly hope that many people read our little interchange, so that they can witness, first hand, clear evidence of how the left, when it does not get what it wants, always threatens with violence. Why should I have to "escape"? And when what "time comes"? Because I have a diverging opinion from that of the verminous, treatcherous, social dems?

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#11

21:55 May 9, 2011 by swedejane

Me thinks Syftfel doth protesteth too much. Hey dude, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar...and, believe it or not, sometimes people can have a rational viewpoint that isn't "lefty," "socialist," "communist," or whatever other pejorative you want to use to beat your chest and wrap yourself in your Captain America Free-Market speedo. Verminous? Treacherous? Come on...geez.

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#12

22:02 May 9, 2011 by Tanskalainen

Strange name for the wealthiest neighborhood. "Broma" means "joke" in Spanish.

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#13

22:22 May 9, 2011 by expatinsweden

@Syftfel: Well said "how the left, when it does not get what it wants, always threatens with violence". Some leftists can't seem to digest the idea that their wonderful ideology of equality lasted about 70 years. If it is too good to be true, then it is.

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#14

08:59 May 10, 2011 by Great Scott

@Syftfel

What's all this nonsense of "clear evidence of how the left, when it does not get what it wants, always threatens with violence", this is typical coming from the right wing. Trying to make themselves look innocent when they are the real wolves in sheep's clothing. What waffle you talk, no one is threatening you, you are purely being given advice. You need to look back in history of the right wing, they don't make threats, they just carry out acts of violence. Take Mosley or KKK e.g., and now we see this bunch of idiots that call themselves the Tea Party, start worrying if this lot get into power.

When the right wing doesn't like something they throw their dummies out of their prams and start waffling on childishly about lefties, communists, Leninist, parasites or Marxists.

What you don't understand is that the right wing intend to make themselves richer and the poor poorer. The right wing wants to abolish the welfare state, sell off all public owned utilities. Money raised would then be given to the rich in tax breaks.

A social divide is a right wing dream, so they can pitch the poor against the rich and in turn making the poor look like the bad guys. People like you then fall for this garbage.

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#15

11:17 May 10, 2011 by eppie

@syftel

Waht are you whining on about. Nowhere does it say the situation is bad. It just says how the situation is. Maybe a useless bit of information, but propaganda?

You probably also think bin laden is still alive and living in rinkeby.

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#16

14:06 May 10, 2011 by karex

I agree w/ comments 2 & 3. It's not just big cities that have segregated living sections, this happens in EVERY city. It just more apparent in the big cities. I lived in a small town which had it's "nice" and "not so nice" neighborhoods. And I don't think that the wealthier people "like to stick together". People simply are attracted to a nice-looking area with nice-looking housing. The nicer, the more expensive and those who can afford it buy them. It's not because wealthy Mr. Smith wants to live close to wealthy Mr. Jones, but their tastes in dwellings and locations are probably alike and so are their pocketbooks...

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#17

14:54 May 10, 2011 by cogito

We need to decrease the gap between rich and poor. Everyone in Sweden should be equally poor.

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#18

16:14 May 12, 2011 by philster61

How much tax do they rich not pay?

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#19

17:40 May 13, 2011 by here for the summer

Why does the local write stories like this ? What exactly is the point ?

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#20

12:51 May 21, 2011 by Marc the Texan

I think the problem is similar to London and New York. Lots of wealthy foreigners want a pied-a-terre and are able to afford lots of square meters even if they aren't full time residents. These wealthy folks are making their money in low tax countries while enjoying the social and cultural fruits of Stockholm when the mood strikes them. They enjoy a disproportionate amount of the limited space available, thus forcing workaday Swedes into smaller quarters for higher rents. When you are a high tax country with porous borders and a generous safety net, the global rich and the global poor will play both ends against the middle. Sweden is economically pretty flat amongst working people and is taken advantage of by rich and poor foreigners alike because it expects the rest of the world to follow the same principles that Sweden follows. A losing policy since there are more rich and poor people in the world who are happy to take a piece of Sweden than Sweden has people.

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