4 ms·

If Sweden would have been a US state, it would have been the poorest of them all. At least that was true a few years ago. EDIT: I only had links in Swedish to

If Sweden would have been a US state, it would have been the poorest of them all. At least that was true a few years ago. EDIT: I only had links in Swedish to sources, but here's one in English: http://www.shsweb.fi/forum/1/28783/28785/ http://www.shsweb.fi/forum/1/28783/28785/ Another: http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2007/11/sweden-mississippi-if-sweden-joined-us.html http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2007/11/sweden-mississippi-if-sw... But do note that Sweden has seen a very strong growth the last year while the US has slowed somewhat. EDIT 2: for those downvoting, see my response below.

m_eiman 16y ago
Source?
david927 16y ago
List of richest countries (IMF): #7 : Sweden #9 : United States Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29_per_capita http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nom... I hate to reduce this to numbers, especially GDP per capita which is even more of a joke, but in any sensible form of measurement, Sweden has been richer than the US for a long time.
- erikstarck 16y ago
  Wow, thanks, I didn't know that Sweden had passed the US (edit: it hasn't see link below). This must have happened the last 4-5 years. Still, the links in my previous post are about purchasing power, not GDP/capita. But you're right, they are at least much closer now. Actually, this is pretty good news for the US, because Sweden was in a terrible mess in the mid 90s but managed to clean things up in a relatively short time (less than a decade). Of course, the US economy is much, much larger, but it's worth noting that things can get better rapidly once you're on the right track again. EDIT: here's a graph from 2009 showing GDP/capita where Sweden is still far behind the US: http://www.ekonomifakta.se/en/Facts-and-figures/Economy/Economic-growth/GDP-per-capita-/ http://www.ekonomifakta.se/en/Facts-and-figures/Economy/Econ... EDIT: purchasing power adjusted figures: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_... Sweden still far behind the US.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
- beefman 16y ago
  No. Sweden ranks above the U.S. on 2 of the 3 lists on this page, and as it explains, a more sensible list would be based on PPP. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_capita http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP... Here, Sweden is above the U.S. on 0 out of 3 lists. Perhaps an even better list is PPP per hour worked http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_hour_worked http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP... Sweden is below the U.S. on 1 of 1 lists. Perhaps an even more sensible list would be one showing U.S. States individually, since EU nations are generally comparable in size and population to individual States. As of 2009, only Luxembourg and the UAE exceeded Connecticut in PPP GDP/capita (only the former exceeded the District of Columbia). Luxembourg is a tax haven, and the UAE is an oil nation.
  - david927 16y ago
    Sweden ranks above the US on the most current list on that page. The other two lists are older data. Also, size and population don't figure in to the comparison. You have to divide by population or the result is that the richest countries are countries like China and India, and the poorest are countries like Monaco and Luxembourg. And that's silly. If you can choose portions of countries, such as a state, it's too hard not to cherry-pick. PPP seems like a good idea. It was devised to reflect that ten dollar buys a giant meal in Kiev but barely a BigMac in Zurich. But once you research it you'll find PPP seems specifically formulated to make Americans feel better about themselves. The basket of goods used to compose PPP is so American-centric that instead of de-skewing the results, it skews them further. The result is a joke. But to be fair, it's easy to agree to disagree on this. Which country is richer is impossible to quantify in a meaningful way because it has to take into account quality of life, and being qualitative, will change per person.
    - beefman 16y ago
      >You have to divide by population All the comparisons I mentioned do. >once you research it you'll find PPP seems specifically formulated to make Americans feel better about themselves Oh? >Which country is richer is impossible to quantify in a meaningful way because it has to take into account quality of life, and being qualitative, will change per person. I was responding to your post, in which you asserted that Sweden is richer.

m_eiman 16y ago

Source?

david927 16y ago

List of richest countries (IMF): #7 : Sweden #9 : United States Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29_per_capita http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nom... I hate to reduce this to numbers, especially GDP per capita which is even more of a joke, but in any sensible form of measurement, Sweden has been richer than the US for a long time.

erikstarck 16y ago
Wow, thanks, I didn't know that Sweden had passed the US (edit: it hasn't see link below). This must have happened the last 4-5 years. Still, the links in my previous post are about purchasing power, not GDP/capita. But you're right, they are at least much closer now. Actually, this is pretty good news for the US, because Sweden was in a terrible mess in the mid 90s but managed to clean things up in a relatively short time (less than a decade). Of course, the US economy is much, much larger, but it's worth noting that things can get better rapidly once you're on the right track again. EDIT: here's a graph from 2009 showing GDP/capita where Sweden is still far behind the US: http://www.ekonomifakta.se/en/Facts-and-figures/Economy/Economic-growth/GDP-per-capita-/ http://www.ekonomifakta.se/en/Facts-and-figures/Economy/Econ... EDIT: purchasing power adjusted figures: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_... Sweden still far behind the US.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
beefman 16y ago
No. Sweden ranks above the U.S. on 2 of the 3 lists on this page, and as it explains, a more sensible list would be based on PPP. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_capita http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP... Here, Sweden is above the U.S. on 0 out of 3 lists. Perhaps an even better list is PPP per hour worked http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_hour_worked http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP... Sweden is below the U.S. on 1 of 1 lists. Perhaps an even more sensible list would be one showing U.S. States individually, since EU nations are generally comparable in size and population to individual States. As of 2009, only Luxembourg and the UAE exceeded Connecticut in PPP GDP/capita (only the former exceeded the District of Columbia). Luxembourg is a tax haven, and the UAE is an oil nation.
- david927 16y ago
  Sweden ranks above the US on the most current list on that page. The other two lists are older data. Also, size and population don't figure in to the comparison. You have to divide by population or the result is that the richest countries are countries like China and India, and the poorest are countries like Monaco and Luxembourg. And that's silly. If you can choose portions of countries, such as a state, it's too hard not to cherry-pick. PPP seems like a good idea. It was devised to reflect that ten dollar buys a giant meal in Kiev but barely a BigMac in Zurich. But once you research it you'll find PPP seems specifically formulated to make Americans feel better about themselves. The basket of goods used to compose PPP is so American-centric that instead of de-skewing the results, it skews them further. The result is a joke. But to be fair, it's easy to agree to disagree on this. Which country is richer is impossible to quantify in a meaningful way because it has to take into account quality of life, and being qualitative, will change per person.
  - beefman 16y ago
    >You have to divide by population All the comparisons I mentioned do. >once you research it you'll find PPP seems specifically formulated to make Americans feel better about themselves Oh? >Which country is richer is impossible to quantify in a meaningful way because it has to take into account quality of life, and being qualitative, will change per person. I was responding to your post, in which you asserted that Sweden is richer.