From the GDP per capita adjusted by PPP you're right, there's not that huge a difference betweeen them (52k vs. 38k): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_coun

From the GDP per capita adjusted by PPP you're right, there's not that huge a difference betweeen them (52k vs. 38k): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_... Whereas the nominal GDP per capita is huge (84k vs. 49k in Sweden and 47k in the US) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomin... So yes, $84,000 is nice, but it's much much nicer in Sweden than in Norway in terms of what you can buy with it