To the strictest Lutherans, they're dismissed as 'djävulens kalsonger', the Devil's underwear. But even the most secular Swedes seem strangely averse to curtains. Richard Orange investigates this puzzling Swedish phenomenon.
Learn Swedish. Get a personnummer. Go cashless. Moving to a new country means going through a series of 'firsts'. The Local's reader Alexander de Nerée writes about some of the challenges, quirks and adventures he has faced since moving to Sweden.
More than one million Europeans have obtained the new EU Covid health certificate being rolled out in each country to unlock travel within the bloc, the European Commission said on Tuesday.
Despite ongoing travel restrictions, extra costs and uncertainty over new Covid variants, international residents living across Europe vow to travel abroad this summer. For most it is the need to see family that motivates them.
Everyone in Sweden has a right to receive the Covid-19 vaccine when their age or risk group is eligible, but after several of The Local's readers reported facing obstacles when lacking a Swedish identity number, we raised the issue with Swedish authorities.
On June 1st, Sweden rolled out the first step of its five-step plan to lift the country’s coronavirus restrictions and recommendations. Here’s what changes this month.
Sweden on Friday extended the entry ban for non-EU travellers through the summer, but lifted a requirement to show a negative Covid test for visitors from the Nordics.
Sweden is the only country in Europe where the number of deadly shootings has increased substantially since the start of the century, a new report by the country's National Council on Crime Prevention (Brå) shows.
Few things agitate the anti-immigration right like the idea that Swedish customs, values and traditions are being undermined (or even replaced) due to the arrival of immigrants from “Other” parts of the world, writes Christian Christensen.
Over the 14 months since the Covid-19 crisis began to affect daily life in Sweden, both the pandemic and the national response have revealed some important things about Sweden and the Swedes, writes The Local contributor Chiara Milford.
What's the worst social offence you could commit in Sweden? How do Swedish people react when they run into each other on the street? These are some of the cultural quirks TikTok marketer Liam Kalevi delves into in a series of viral videos.
Swedish agencies and associations, including trade unions and the Migration Agency, have weighed in on government proposals to overhaul the work permit system.
The so-called cordon sanitaire that long barred the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats from real political influence is now well and truly gone. The Local spoke to the party's leader Jimmie Åkesson about how he thinks he can now change Swedish politics and policies around migration.
The Swedish armed forces have been ramping up their military exercises in recent years to face a "deteriorated" security situation. But residents in the west coast archipelago say the growing presence of troops in the islands makes their home feel almost like a "war zone".
Learn Swedish. Get a personnummer. Go cashless. Moving to a new country means going through a series of 'firsts'. The Local's reader Alexander de Nerée writes about some of the challenges, quirks and adventures he has faced since moving to Sweden.
Sweden-founded furniture giant Ikea aims to be climate positive by 2030. In ten years, all products must be made from renewable or recycled materials and designed to be reused, resold or recycled. A store in Eskilstuna is trying to find out what works – and what doesn't.
Translator and small business owner Miles Avison tells The Local how he fell through the gaps of Covid-19 government support, being asked to return the money he was paid.
The Swedish government has submitted its plans to overhaul Sweden’s migration laws to parliament. If approved, the changes are set to come into force this summer.
After years of increasingly violent gang crime in Malmö, the southern Swedish city was faced with little choice but to try something new. Here's how police, city officials, organisations and members of the public worked together to sharply reduce the number of shootings.
