15 Things You Didn’t Know About Sweden

this is travel tuesdays every tuesday we present you with another incredible country today we're looking at 15 things you didn't know about sweden welcome to alux.com the place where future billionaires come to get inspired hello alexers welcome back to a new video brought to you by our team here at alox.com today we're talking about a very fascinating country that literally embodies the scandinavian dream that of course is the kingdom of sweden with a population of less than 10 million people sweden is the third largest country in the european union based on its territory it is still officially a kingdom although the royal family has a mostly symbolic power in the state although most people know it for being the land of vikings in the past we have to thank sweden for many innovative inventions and frankly a very sustainable lifestyle as an example if you're new here welcome be sure to subscribe and follow us on instagram at alux we hope you'll enjoy and learn new things from this 15 things you didn't know about sweden video number one swedes pay a lot of taxes sweden is notorious for having one of the highest tax rates in the world which would normally be considered bad especially in the u.s the current tax rate is 51.4 percent of the gdp and the country uses a progressive income tax rating system for example if you earn more than 72 543 dollars per year 31 goes to income tax and your employer also has to pay 25 for social fees however swedes love this about their country so much so that a tax is called a scat which means treasure in swedish that is because they receive free education including zero university taxes and health care since 27 of taxes are invested in these areas police and the military get only 5 while 42 goes to social security number 2 swedish fathers get a lot of days off for parental leave having a child is stressful enough and a lot of that stress is finding time off work to care for a newborn not to mention that normally government policies favor maternity leave meaning that new fathers usually get to spend less time with the children well certainly the swedish government thinks that this is not okay sweden is also a big promoter of gender equality and currently gives 480 days off work to new parents that can split it however they like to care for their child actually the country was the first to allow families to divide the leave and 390 days of that are subsidized with taxpayer money number three stockholm is one of the greenest cities in the world sweden is big on ecology so big in fact that its capital stockholm was the first to receive the european green capital award which is given by the european union it also means that the capital is one of the cleanest cities worldwide giving us an example of what real sustainable living looks like for example these buses are fueled with methane from sewage systems instead of oil and the recycling rate of the whole city is around 90 percent there are also a lot of parks and they've even managed to redevelop an area that was once a toxic industrial site called hammerbee shustad it now has more than 25 000 people living there who use car sharing live in green buildings and benefit from high-tech waste management systems it's also said that stockholm will cease using fossil fuel by 2050. number four sweden is a world leader in terms of innovation you wouldn't know it today but sweden used to be one of the poorest countries in europe just 100 years ago it all changed when the country started investing heavily in its infrastructure and of course in its people sweden has less than 10 million people but ranks among the highest in terms of global innovation the stable political climate high quality education and promotion of creative ideas has given the world quite a few successful companies astrazeneca electrolux skype spotify ikea just to name a few of the world famous businesses that are swedish the country is literally driving world innovation and we want to know what they'll come up with next number five the h m magnate is the richest person in sweden with a net worth of 16.4 billion dollars everyone knows h m but few people know the company is actually swedish the first store was opened in 1947 by erling pearson and since became a global fashion empire airling's son stefan is now sweden's richest person with a net worth of 16.4 billion us dollars as of 2018. he's now the chairman of h m lives in stockholm and has founded the mentor foundation a non-profit that helps young people who are struggling with substance abuse issues the persons like to keep business in the family since his son carl johan has taken over as the ceo of h m in 2009 number six sweden lost out on an 85 billion dollar deal with norway sweden has a great economy and is one of the happiest countries in the world however its neighbor norway is way better off and it's all thanks to the oil norway is insanely rich because of its oil and gas resources which make up 22 percent of the country's gdp it is of course one of the highest in the world but in the 1970s they had mostly no idea how much oil they actually had and proposed an agreement that went like this they would give oil concessions to sweden in exchange for lumber and 40 of volvo the biggest swedish company at the time volvo shareholders however rejected the proposal in 1979 and the deal fell through big time that same deal would have been worth 85 billion dollars today ironically volvo sold in 2014 for just 1.5 billion number seven the nobel prize for literature is in jeopardy each year the prestigious swedish academy awards the highly coveted nobel prize to the most valuable scientists writers economists and great thinkers of the world it has had its series of controversial events in the past but this year they will not award a nobel prize for literature since a shocking scandal has taken over the academy it turns out that several women have accused jean-claude a photographer and husband of a swedish academy member of sexual assault what's more he abused his status several times in the past to reveal the names of nobel prize winners prior to the official announcement the permanent secretary sarah danias has even resigned from her position following the scandal it seems that arnaud is no stranger to controversy in 2006 he reportedly groped swedish crown princess victoria at a formal event according to some news publications number eight drinking alcohol is highly regulated by the swedish government this is something that most people find shocking about sweden it's a free country in all respects but actually has rules in place that promote certain behaviors for its citizens in the 19th century it was legal to make your own alcohol at home and apparently swedes drank a lot so much so that moderate society started to appear and nowadays you can actually buy alcohol in supermarkets well only drinks that contain 3.5 percent alcohol at most so if you want to throw a party you would normally go to a system bulaget the state-owned liquor store oh and you can't purchase it if you're not 20 years old as a consequence system bulget is one of the world's biggest buyers of spirits and other alcoholic beverages number nine sweden and finland fight overwear santa claus lives on a lighter note did you know that santa claus lives in sweden or no was it finland believe it or not this is a debate that the two countries have and the results are inconclusive that is because lapland the magical northern territory of the northern lights amazing sights and reindeer is actually divided between the northern parts of both countries finland also has the santa claus village which you can find santa's main post office and other attractions but according to swedish researchers it makes more sense for santa to be in sweden the geography department at the swedish university has used satellite images to calculate what would be the mean center of the global population based on that a swedish town called joke mok would be the best location for gift distribution purposes number 10 ikea is the world's most profitable furniture company don't lie you definitely have a piece of furniture in your home that you've assembled yourself and most likely it's an ikea product the company was founded by then 17 year old ingvar kamprad in 1947 and has won over the world with its scandinavian chic designs in 2016 alone the company had a revenue of 35 billion euro or 41 billion dollars kamprad was also the richest swedish person and probably the richest in the country's history as well with an estimated net worth of 58 billion dollars before his death in january of 2018. want to find out some more about ikea we've got you covered elixers make sure to watch our 15 things you didn't know about ikea video number 11. swedes invented a green fitness craze swedish people enjoy working out in nature and saving the environment so it was only a matter of time before this happened apparently what you have to do is jog but also pick up litter on your way and it's called plogging the trend has even started to spread to other countries as well bloggers use the hashtag plogging on instagram to promote this new type of workout apparently they have succeeded in gathering communities of people all over the world that are committed to having a cleaner environment so maybe next time you put on your running shoes you might want to pick up that annoying plastic bottle on the sidewalk as well number two sweden's national food obsessions are not so swedish another thing that sweden is known for is its relative openness to receive and integrate immigrants swedes enjoy fica a tradition that says you should take at least one break period per day to enjoy coffee and eating swedish meatballs for lunch however the meatball recipe has come under scrutiny lately since they are well not so swedish the recipe was brought from turkey which was then known as the ottoman empire in the 18th century by king charles xii it was subsequently integrated in with a local cuisine along with a taste for really strong coffee the president of the turkish corporation for coordination agency went on to say that ikea should not sell the famous meatballs as if they were a swedish dish number 13. it's illegal to spank children in sweden a pretty worrying statistic says that 80 percent of americans have admitted to hitting their young children according to cnn in fact it's not quite illegal to punish children in that manner at all in the u.s there are two camps the one that's against corporal punishment and the one that says it's okay to spank children from time to time sweden however was the first country to ban this type of punishment considering it abuse nowadays swedish parents rarely hit children in any way and their example has been followed by around 30 countries schools are also places where corporal punishment is prohibited and it really seems to be working out great for them the whole philosophy is that children should be disciplined gently hitting will only break trust between child and carer and that will lead to long-term negative effects such as behavioral problems number 14. abba is sweden's most beloved export at the height of their fame abba was second only to carmaker volvo as the biggest swedish export the band was so famous that it sold around 500 million records and were the biggest best-selling artists for the non-english speaking world as swedes this is a huge deal since they topped the charts in the 70s in the uk ireland canada and of course the us and apparently what makes this band still insanely popular is the fact they're relatable sweet lyrics and music that was inspired by swedish folk songs and bands like the beatles and the beach boys what's more the four members have decided to reunite after a 35-year hiatus and will release new music in december 2018. number 15 the three-point seat belt is a swedish invention we have a lot to thank sweden for abba skype spotify the pacemaker hiv tracker and of course the seat belt we take it for granted but back in the day it wasn't a requirement for cars or at least it was less efficient during collisions safety engineer niece bolin was working in 1959 for carmaker volvo when he invented the three-point v-shaped seat belt that is specially created to protect people during an accident thankfully volvo had made an open patent which means that every car manufacturer had the right to use the design free of charge make no mistake every car in the world uses it nowadays and it probably has saved around 1 million lives so far according to britain's royal society for the prevention of accidents now that was all for today alexers but before you go we're curious to know what you think does free education lead to a more innovative society like sweden has please leave your answer in the comments and as a thank you as always for sticking with us until the end we have another fascinating bonus fact about sweden just for you number 16 sweden has to import trash sweden has a garbage problem and it's not what you think in fact sweden has run out of trash for recycling and so has to ask for help from other countries to power its recycling plants so how did they end up with this situation well it turns out they are so environmentally conscious they have a pretty heavy taxation system for fossil fuels and powers half of its electricity from renewable materials since other countries like the uk have bans on landfills they prefer to send it to sweden instead of paying the fine for garbage but at the end of the day their recycling system is so good they will surely be the first country to stop using oil products and welcome the new era of cleaner energy sources hopefully we'll learn from them sooner rather than later thank you for spending some time with us eh luxer make sure to subscribe so you never miss a video if you want more we hand-picked these videos you might enjoy or head over to alox.com for the best in fine living content on the planet be a part of the largest community of luxury enthusiasts in the world and tell your story

Channel: Alux.com

Views: 835,106

Keywords: Alux, Alux.com, fine living, new life, most expensive, billionaire lifestyle, sweden, sweden facts, sweden's richest person, h&m founder, ikea founder, ingvar kamprad, sweden travel, living in sweden, sweden expensive, sweden vs norway, sweden santa claus, swedish companies, swedish girls, sweden taxes, sweden laws

Id: lHMcPMTuajw

Length: 15min 40sec (940 seconds)

Published: Tue May 29 2018