Sweden's Success Story

Jonathan Power of IHT writes:

"..a recent report by the United Nations showed, that if you factor in not just national income, but the longevity of its people, low infant mortality and high levels of education, Sweden is probably the most successful country in the world.

Moreover, a new study by Professor Richard Florida, of Carnegie Mellon University, which measures the kind of creativity most useful to business - talent, technology and tolerance - puts Sweden at No. 1 in Europe and ahead of the United States. In the future, Florida argues, this means that Sweden will become a "talent magnet" for the world's most purposeful workers.
neighboring island of Gotland, when visitors come from all over Sweden just to walk quietly around in medieval dress.

Sweden has more multinational corporations per head than any other country and, despite its socialism, state-owned enterprises barely exist. Sweden has pioneered private competition in a range of endeavors from railways to hospital management and schools. Immigrants have been welcomed generously. Sweden is the only country in Europe not to insist on some years of transition before the workers of the new eastern members of the Union are granted the right to free movement"

On the combined Human Development Index of the U.N. Development Programme, Norway and Sweden ranked first and second in 2004 out of 175 countries.