Over half a million Swedes can no longer afford basic necessities ━ European conservatives
With prices soaring across all sectors, likely as a result of massive government spending on covid-19 exacerbated by the economic fallout from sanctions against Russia during the war in Ukraine, an increasing number of Swedes are falling into poverty and unable to afford basic necessities.
Although absolute poverty in Sweden has decreased since the 1990s, the gap between high and low income earners continues to increase. Today, over half a million Swedes now find themselves unable to pay for the most basic expenses, with more and more people having to turn to charities in order not to starve, SvD Business reports.
When more and more Swedes end up in absolute poverty, demand for food mission stores that offer the county’s most destitute a chance to buy food donated by the grocery industry at heavily discounted prices has increased significantly.
Members of such grocery stores can buy groceries for significantly less than they otherwise could at typical grocery stores. To become a member, however, you must earn less than SEK 11,190 (€1,000) per month after tax.
Speaking about the increased demand for grocery stores, Simon Stegrud, director of The food mission, an organization that strives to provide food to those in need, told SvD: “The number of members has more than doubled in just nine months. So has the number of stores. In February we had two, but now we have five and plan to open even more.”
For Stegrud, the increase in membership has come as a result of inflation, which disproportionately affects those with less money. He told the financial newspaper that about half of the customers are families with children and poor pensioners, adding that people with an immigrant background also make up a large part of those in need.
For a single-person household in a Swedish municipality with over 75,000 inhabitants (excluding Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö), the poverty line is just over 9,500 kroner (850 euros) per month after tax. For a family of four – two parents and two children – the line is roughly 23,000 kroner (2,058 euros).
“These people live in absolute poverty. They cannot afford the most basic necessities and many of them are obviously struggling financially,” says Carina Mood, professor of sociology at Stockholm University who researches poverty in Sweden. told SvD.