Sweden is globally known for its high taxes and strong commitment to social equality. However, the country has also transformed into a “paradise” for Europe’s super-rich.
On the island of Lidingö, you can find a mix of traditional red and yellow wooden houses perched on rocky cliffs, alongside large minimalist white mansions with floor-to-ceiling windows. Less than half an hour’s drive from central Stockholm, this is one of Sweden’s most affluent neighborhoods.
Entrepreneur Konrad Bergström turns on the light in his wine cellar, revealing his 3,000 bottles of wine. “I like French Bordeaux,” he says with a bright smile. His home also boasts an outdoor pool, a gym lined with reindeer leather, and a converted nightclub workshop featuring a large metal urinal.
“I have many musician friends, so we play a lot here,” explains Bergström. He made his fortune founding several companies, including one specializing in headphones and speakers, and this is just one of four properties he owns in Sweden and Spain.
While such a lifestyle is not unexpected for a successful entrepreneur, what stands out is the growing number of people in Sweden achieving levels of wealth comparable to or exceeding Bergström’s, in a country renowned for its left-leaning public policies.
Although a right-wing coalition is currently in power, Sweden has predominantly been governed by social-democratic administrations over the last century, promoting equitable economic growth through progressive tax policies.
Yet, over the past three decades, Sweden has experienced a boom in super-rich individuals.
In 1996, only 28 people in the country had a net worth exceeding 1 billion Swedish kronor (equivalent to about $91 million at the time), according to a list by the former Swedish business magazine Veckans Affärer. Most of these fortunes came from families with long-standing generational wealth.
By 2021, however, the number of Swedish billionaires had grown to 542, according to a similar analysis by the daily newspaper Aftonbladet. This small segment of the population amassed wealth equivalent to the country’s GDP.
With a population of just 10 million, Sweden also has one of the highest per capita concentrations of billionaires in the world. Forbes, in its 2024 list of the world’s richest, included 43 Swedes with fortunes exceeding $1 billion.
This equates to about four billionaires per million inhabitants, compared to approximately two per million in the United States, which leads with 813 billionaires but has a much larger population of over 342 million people.
Andreas Cervenka, journalist for Aftonbladet and author of the book Greedy Sweden, which explores the steady rise of Sweden’s super-rich, notes, “The phenomenon was only noticed after it had already happened.” In Stockholm, however, the wealth is visible to the naked eye, highlighting the stark contrast between the super-rich in certain areas of the Swedish capital and the less privileged in others, Cervenka adds.
One of the main drivers behind Sweden’s new super-rich is the country’s thriving tech scene, which has earned the reputation of being Europe’s Silicon Valley. Over the past two decades, more than 40 Swedish startups have become “unicorns,” companies valued at over $1 billion.
Companies like Skype and Spotify originated in Sweden, as did gaming giants King and Mojang. More recent success stories include fintech firm Tink, acquired by Visa for around $2 billion during the pandemic, health tech company Kry, and electric scooter firm Voi.
Entrepreneur Ola Ahlvarsson, at the Epicenter — a coworking space with a vast glass atrium — credits this success to the 1990s, when a reduction in taxes on home computers in Sweden accelerated connectivity.
He also highlights a strong culture of collaboration among startups, where successful entrepreneurs often mentor and invest in the next generation of tech companies.
Moreover, Sweden’s market size makes it ideal for testing, with limited costs and low risks for brands or initiatives. As Ahlvarsson puts it: “If you want to test something, you can do it here.”
Andreas Cervenka points to another crucial factor: monetary policies that, he argues, have turned Sweden into a haven for the super-rich. Historically low interest rates since the early 2010s encouraged cheap borrowing, leading to significant investments in property and tech startups, which skyrocketed in value.
Cervenka highlights that the substantial rise in multimillionaires is largely due to asset inflation. Although the wealthiest individuals are taxed at more than 50% of their personal income, he argues that both right- and left-wing governments have adjusted certain taxes to favor the wealthy.
In the 2000s, Sweden abolished wealth and inheritance taxes, and the rates for capital gains and dividends (income from stocks and shareholder payments) are significantly lower than income tax rates.
Additionally, corporate tax rates have dropped from around 30% in the 1990s to roughly 20%, slightly below the European average.
Cervenka notes that “it’s no longer necessary to leave Sweden if you’re a billionaire today. In fact, some billionaires are moving here.”
Back on Lidingö island, Konrad Bergström agrees that Sweden has “a very favorable tax system for those starting companies.” He emphasizes that his wealth has a positive impact, as his businesses and properties create jobs for others.
“We have a nanny, a gardener, and a cleaner. This also creates more jobs. So we shouldn’t forget how we are building society,” he explains.
Bergström also points out that wealthy entrepreneurs and venture capitalists in Sweden are increasingly reinvesting their money into “impact” startups, which aim to improve society or the environment.
In 2023, 74% of all venture capital funding for Swedish startups went to impact companies, the highest percentage in the EU and far above the European average of 35%, according to data from Dealroom, a platform mapping startup information.
Niklas Adalberth, co-founder of the payment platform Klarna, is perhaps the country’s most prominent impact investor. In 2017, he allocated $130 million of his fortune to launch the Norrsken Foundation, which supports and invests in impact-driven companies.
“I don’t have the typical billionaire habits, like owning a yacht or a private jet,” Adalberth says. “This is my recipe for happiness.”
However, some argue that Sweden is losing a complex public debate about multimillionaire wealth, one that goes beyond how entrepreneurs spend their fortunes.
A recent survey by Örebro University revealed that the media’s portrayal of Sweden’s multimillionaires tends to be predominantly positive and rarely contextualizes their wealth within the country’s changing economic policies.
Axel Vikström, a social communication researcher, states: “As long as the super-rich are seen as embodying neoliberal ideals like hard work, calculated risk-taking, and entrepreneurship, the underlying inequality will go unchallenged.”
Andreas Cervenka adds that debates about taxing the super-rich are less intense in Sweden compared to other Western countries, such as the United States.
“This is a paradox. One would think that, given our reputation as a socialist country, this would be crucial,” he says. “I think it has to do with the ‘winner-takes-all’ mentality that’s becoming more prevalent in Sweden. The idea that if you play your cards right, you can become a billionaire… And that’s a significant shift in the Swedish mindset.”
Sweden’s wealth lists underscore that the country’s riches remain predominantly in the hands of white men, despite a significant immigrant population and decades of gender equality policies.
Lola Akinmade, a novelist and entrepreneur of Nigerian-Swedish origin, comments: “Yes, this is a place where people can generate new money, create new wealth, but it’s still a very closed environment, with different standards for who gets support for their ideas.”
She notes: “Sweden is an incredible country that leads in many ways, but there are still many people left out of the system.”
