Public budgets

Sweden: public budget

What Sweden's government raised and what it spent it on, from the figures its own budget laws or a statistics office publish. Solon places every figure on the same international classification, so it can be compared with any other place.

General government, 2020

Outturn: what came in and was spent

General government: central, state and local government and social security funds together, consolidated so that money passed between them is counted once, as Eurostat's government finance statistics (ESA 2010) count it.

Amounts in USD, converted from EUR at 2020's average rate (Eurostat).

Revenue: $272.71B · 50% of GDP
Spending: $290.92B · 53.3% of GDP
Surplus (+) or deficit (−): -$18.22B · -3.3% of GDP

What the money is spent on

Sweden, 2020: spending by function, as a share of all spending

Sweden, 2020: spending by function, as a share of all spending
Row	Value (%)	Note
Social protection	38.2	$111.27B
Education	14.7	$42.79B
Health	14.1	$41.14B
Economic affairs	11.8	$34.41B
General public services	10.6	$30.77B
Recreation, culture and religion	2.9	$8.53B
Public order and safety	2.6	$7.57B
Defence	2.5	$7.39B
Housing and community amenities	1.4	$4.05B
Environmental protection	1	$3B

Social protection$111.27B

Social protection, in detail, as a share of it

Social protection, in detail, as a share of it
Row	Value (%)	Note
Old age	54.7	$60.86B
Sickness and disability	18.6	$20.71B
Family and children	12.9	$14.3B
Unemployment	6.5	$7.2B
Social exclusion n.e.c.	4.8	$5.31B
Housing	1.5	$1.71B
Survivors	1	$1.1B
Social protection n.e.c.	0.1	$69.22M
R&D Social protection	0	$13.82M

Education$42.79B

Education, in detail, as a share of it

Education, in detail, as a share of it
Row	Value (%)	Note
Pre-primary and primary education	64	$27.38B
Tertiary education	15.2	$6.51B
Secondary education	15	$6.42B
Education not definable by level	3.9	$1.67B
Education n.e.c.	1.3	$554.88M
Post-secondary non-tertiary education	0.3	$114.91M
Subsidiary services to education	0.2	$106.68M
R&D Education	0.1	$23.42M

Health$41.14B

Health, in detail, as a share of it

Health, in detail, as a share of it
Row	Value (%)	Note
Outpatient services	45.1	$18.54B
Hospital services	36.1	$14.86B
Medical products, appliances and equipment	10.3	$4.24B
Public health services	3.6	$1.47B
Health n.e.c.	2.6	$1.06B
R&D Health	2.3	$963.1M

Economic affairs$34.41B

Economic affairs, in detail, as a share of it

Economic affairs, in detail, as a share of it
Row	Value (%)	Note
Transport	56.3	$19.37B
General economic, commercial and labour affairs	36.5	$12.56B
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting	1.9	$659.28M
Mining, manufacturing and construction	1.7	$569.96M
R&D Economic affairs	1.2	$427.07M
Fuel and energy	1.2	$417.47M
Other industries	0.7	$223.76M
Communication	0.4	$129.64M
Economic affairs n.e.c.	0.1	$48.32M

General public services$30.77B

General public services, in detail, as a share of it

General public services, in detail, as a share of it
Row	Value (%)	Note
Executive and legislative organs, financial and fiscal affairs, external affairs	33.2	$10.21B
Basic research	26.8	$8.24B
Foreign economic aid	18	$5.53B
General services	14.3	$4.39B
Public debt transactions	6.8	$2.08B
General public services n.e.c.	1	$301.66M
R&D General public services	0	$2.97M
Transfers of a general character between different levels of government	0	$0

Recreation, culture and religion$8.53B

Recreation, culture and religion, in detail, as a share of it

Recreation, culture and religion, in detail, as a share of it
Row	Value (%)	Note
Recreational and sporting services	47.4	$4.05B
Cultural services	39	$3.32B
Broadcasting and publishing services	12.5	$1.06B
R&D Recreation, culture and religion	0.6	$48.77M
Recreation, culture and religion n.e.c.	0.4	$37.24M
Religious and other community services	0.2	$12.91M

Public order and safety$7.57B

Public order and safety, in detail, as a share of it

Public order and safety, in detail, as a share of it
Row	Value (%)	Note
Police services	50.9	$3.86B
Law courts	19	$1.44B
Prisons	15	$1.14B
Fire-protection services	14.2	$1.08B
Public order and safety n.e.c.	0.8	$59.17M
R&D Public order and safety	0	$0

Defence$7.39B

Defence, in detail, as a share of it

Defence, in detail, as a share of it
Row	Value (%)	Note
Military defence	84.5	$6.25B
Foreign military aid	7.4	$547.8M
Civil defence	5	$367.56M
R&D Defence	3	$222.84M
Defence n.e.c.	0.1	$5.94M

Housing and community amenities$4.05B

Housing and community amenities, in detail, as a share of it

Housing and community amenities, in detail, as a share of it
Row	Value (%)	Note
Community development	42	$1.7B
Housing development	31.6	$1.28B
Water supply	22.5	$912.05M
R&D Housing and community amenities	3.9	$159.79M
Street lighting	0	$0
Housing and community amenities n.e.c.	0	$0

Environmental protection$3B

Environmental protection, in detail, as a share of it

Environmental protection, in detail, as a share of it
Row	Value (%)	Note
Waste water management	39.3	$1.18B
Environmental protection n.e.c.	28.6	$859.51M
Waste management	24.1	$723.7M
Protection of biodiversity and landscape	5.6	$168.36M
R&D Environmental protection	1.7	$52.08M
Pollution abatement	0.7	$20.9M

Where the money comes from

Sweden, 2020: revenue by kind, as a share of all revenue

Sweden, 2020: revenue by kind, as a share of all revenue
Row	Value (%)	Note
Taxes on sales, production and imports	43.1	$117.65B
Taxes on income and wealth	36.5	$99.51B
Sales, fees and charges	8.1	$22.07B
Social contributions	6.9	$18.87B
Income from property (interest, dividends, rent)	2.9	$7.88B
Other transfers received	1.3	$3.53B
Capital transfers and taxes received	0.6	$1.64B
Subsidies received	0.6	$1.56B

Taxes on sales, production and imports$117.65B

Taxes on sales, production and imports, in detail, as a share of it

Taxes on sales, production and imports, in detail, as a share of it
Row	Value (%)	Share	Note
Not broken down, or fitting no category	57.3		$67.41B
Value added tax	42.7		$50.24B

Over the years

Sweden: revenue and spending, 1995–2025

Sweden: revenue and spending, 1995–2025
Period	Revenue (% of GDP)	Spending (% of GDP)
1,995	56.2	63.2
1,996	57.9	61
1,997	57.2	58.8
1,998	57.3	56.5
1,999	56.7	56.1
2,000	56.2	53.1
2,001	53.9	52.6
2,002	52.2	53.7
2,003	52.7	54
2,004	52.8	52.7
2,005	54.2	52.3
2,006	53.4	51.2
2,007	52.9	49.5
2,008	52.3	50.5
2,009	51.9	52.8
2,010	50.7	50.9
2,011	49.8	50.2
2,012	50.2	51.4
2,013	50.8	52.5
2,014	50	51.9
2,015	50.1	50.5
2,016	51.4	50.6
2,017	51.6	50.3
2,018	51.5	50.9
2,019	50.2	49.8
2,020	50	53.3
2,021	50.2	50.4
2,022	50.4	49.4
2,023	49.2	50.2
2,024	48.5	50
2,025	47.8

Where these figures come from

Series read from Eurostat, government finance statistics (gov_10a_main, gov_10a_exp) on 2026-11-11.

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