3 ms·

The excess mortality for the past few years in Sweden: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/excess-mortality-raw-death-count?country=~SWE https://ourworldindata.

The excess mortality for the past few years in Sweden: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/excess-mortality-raw-death-count?country=~SWE https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/excess-mortality-raw-deat... Better than most, not as good as some. Certainly not the catastrophe predicted by some.

ambicapter 5y ago
I think they benefit from their relatively low pop density.
- shadilay 5y ago
  Nearly 90% of Sweden lives in high population density urban environments. https://www.statista.com/statistics/455935/urbanization-in-sweden/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/455935/urbanization-in-s...
  - robocat 5y ago
    More than half of Swedish households are single-person https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20190821-why-so-many-young-swedes-live-alone https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20190821-why-so-many-yo...
cygx 5y ago
With hindsight, there's certainly a discussion to be had about the Covid response of any European country that experienced significant excess mortality in April 2020, because it didn't have to be that way. There may be extenuating circumstances in some instances, but in case of Sweden, I'm not sure what they would be. As far as I can see, policy makers rolled the dice and lost (assuming preservation of life is the metric of choice) - though that failure becomes less significant as time goes on and the fraction representing initial excess mortality starts shrinking...
kybernetikos 5y ago
It really depends who you're comparing with. If you're comparing with high population countries with lots of neighbors / travel links, then they did great. If you're comparing with literally any of their neighbors, then they did really really badly. Their excess mortality was around 1000 per million (i.e. around 10,000 more people dead than expected), while Denmark, Finland and Norway were much much less.
- nivenkos 5y ago
  > comparing with high population countries with lots of neighbors / travel links, then they did great. Sweden _is_ one of those countries when compared to its neighbours though. Denmark, Finland and Norway have nowhere near the same levels of international travel, immigration and urban population.

ambicapter 5y ago

I think they benefit from their relatively low pop density.

shadilay 5y ago
Nearly 90% of Sweden lives in high population density urban environments. https://www.statista.com/statistics/455935/urbanization-in-sweden/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/455935/urbanization-in-s...
- robocat 5y ago
  More than half of Swedish households are single-person https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20190821-why-so-many-young-swedes-live-alone https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20190821-why-so-many-yo...

cygx 5y ago

With hindsight, there's certainly a discussion to be had about the Covid response of any European country that experienced significant excess mortality in April 2020, because it didn't have to be that way. There may be extenuating circumstances in some instances, but in case of Sweden, I'm not sure what they would be. As far as I can see, policy makers rolled the dice and lost (assuming preservation of life is the metric of choice) - though that failure becomes less significant as time goes on and the fraction representing initial excess mortality starts shrinking...

kybernetikos 5y ago

It really depends who you're comparing with. If you're comparing with high population countries with lots of neighbors / travel links, then they did great. If you're comparing with literally any of their neighbors, then they did really really badly. Their excess mortality was around 1000 per million (i.e. around 10,000 more people dead than expected), while Denmark, Finland and Norway were much much less.

nivenkos 5y ago
> comparing with high population countries with lots of neighbors / travel links, then they did great. Sweden _is_ one of those countries when compared to its neighbours though. Denmark, Finland and Norway have nowhere near the same levels of international travel, immigration and urban population.