Life – a user's manual Part II - Boksidan

Life – a user’s manual
Part II
Gunnar Björing
Boksidan

Life – a user’s manual
Part II
Gunnar Björing
and
Cecilia Ingard lead author and illustrator of the chapters: Games in the 1800s och Crazr children books.
Fredrik Andersson co-author to: Guide in crime.
Mats Karlsson co-author to: Il-/legal street art.
Tomas Jonsson ditto regarding: A quick lesson in languages and Crazy things in Swedish.
Mårten Steen for his contributions to: About proverbs.
We sincerely thank those who participated in the interview studies.
Translated from Swedish to Swedish English by Google translator and Gunnar Björing.
Copyright: Boksidan 2012
Box 558
146 33 Tullinge
Life – a user’s manual, part II, ISBN: 978-91-86199-69-2
Please feel free to copy this book, but please first pay the equivalent to 5 SEK to boksidan.com through Pay Pal. To
administrate the payment go to www.boksidan.com and click on the “Add to chart” icon under the picture of this
book.
2

Index
Part II
Society......................................................................................................................................................................................................................4
Il-/legal street art ................................................................................................................................................................................................4
Games in the 1800s ..........................................................................................................................................................................................16
Guide in crime ..................................................................................................................................................................................................32
Get accomodation in Stockholm....................................................................................................................................................................43
Prestige...............................................................................................................................................................................................................58
Political ideologies...........................................................................................................................................................................................69
The history of states.........................................................................................................................................................................................72
The development in Sweden during the 1900s ........................................................................................................................................ 110
Before geting old ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 130
Geography........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 131
Differences between countries.................................................................................................................................................................... 131
Economy & working life .................................................................................................................................................................................. 178
Guide in working life .................................................................................................................................................................................... 178
About getting rich ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 205
Building management at a small scale ...................................................................................................................................................... 238
Work environment ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 268
Languages........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 277
A quick lesson in languages........................................................................................................................................................................ 277
Crazy Swedish............................................................................................................................................................................................... 286
A quick lesson in writing............................................................................................................................................................................. 301
About proverbs .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 329
Leasure time ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 334
Crazy children books .................................................................................................................................................................................... 334
The history of amusements.......................................................................................................................................................................... 343
Picture art ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 374
The purpose of sports consumption ........................................................................................................................................................... 385
The purpose of pets....................................................................................................................................................................................... 391
3

Society
Il-/legal street art
The "art" that is intended to provide aesthetic dimensions to our common room in Stockholm can be illegal
or legal. The illegal ones are by some people regarded as graffiti/vandalism. But the examples on the
following pages shows that the illegal street art today is far more than just graffiti and that it sometimes
inspires the legal art of and/or further embellish this. Furthermore, the examples show that the illegal street
art, as distinct from the legal ones, are often applied to the ugliest of things or places such as the backs of
traffic signs, or under bridges.
4

”Damage” on legal art
Pustgränd
Hötorget
Flemminggatan
5

Graffitti under the bridges
Traneberg bridge
The bridge to Lilla Essingen
6

Ekelund bridge
Central bridge
7

Legal Paintings
Repslagargatan Mosebacke St:Eriksplan
Barnhusviken
Tantolunden
Flemminggatan
8

Knitted ”damage”
At slussen
Hornsgatan
9

Illegal and legal mosaics
Bridge in the
Rålambshov park
Under the bridge
to Liljeholmen
Walking path along Bergsundsstrand
10

Legal och illegal Three dimensional art
Fatbursparken
Pavement brick at Tessinparken
Roslagsgatan
11

Illegal paper art
Luntmakargatan
Tantolunden
Roslagstull
Odengatan
12

Torsgatan
Tegnérgatan
13

Gästrikegatan
14

Fatbursparken Hornsgatan Dalagatan
Kungsträdgårdsgatan Mariatorget Södra station
15

Games in the 1800s
This chapter summarizes a number of testimonies about the life in Sweden during the late 1800s.
The testimonies were collected by Nordiska Museet, with help of interviewers spread all over the country.
The interviews were carried out in the beginning of the 1930 th . The object of the interviews was to ask old
people about their memories from their childhood. The interviews used here are foremost from Jämtland
and Dalarna. But other one’s describes the same things, which indicates that they were pretty typical for the
Swedish country side at that time.
16

It may seem as if the children in the countryside in ancient times did not have much to play with. But even
then there were plenty of opportunities to have some fun. With sticks laid out on the farm land, small
children could build barns and pastures. And fir cones became cows, horses, sheep, goats, lambs and kids.
A frizz cone was a dangerous bear and flower buds could be hens.
The toys were called ”donan”.
Which was the same word as we
used for the penis, since young boy
often play with their penis.
17

When we got older, we produced more advanced toys. As arrow guns, which was very popular with our
boys. They we used for example to shoot sparrows and great tits. But if it came to light of the adults could
be plenty of beating.
Arrow guns we made of long wooden slats with a slot on top for the arrow. In order to make the arrow to
go a long way, it was very important how it was carved. Clumsy arrows did not go far. Thin and well-made
arrows, however, could go away almost like pellets from a shotgun.
18

In the spring, it was common for boysto peel the bark of sallow to make willow pipes. And its familiar
sound was a sure sign of spring. It was such a pleasure that some boys tried so early in the year that the
bark could not get off without getting destroyed. But if it was the right time and we found the appropriate
sallow, it went off fairly easily.
19

Another sound that could be heard was the noise of the wind mills. When the eagerness to make wind mills
came over us boys, you could sometimes see and hear up to a dozen mills at once. These produced a
terrible noise, who finally made one of the fathers of the village so angry that we were forbidden to put up
more.
Wind mills consisted of a long wooden tree with a tail at one end, and a propeller on the other. The mill
was installed at the top of a stick, which in turn is attached to one of the farm's outbuildings, such as a
granary or a barn. At the slightest breeze the mill turned and the propeller began to spin. What made the
nise was that around the peg that the propeller was attached to, there where a piece of thin metal that was
knuckled when the propeller was spinning.
20

At the time of potato harvesting we used to amuse ourselves by throwing potatoes buds.
We sharpened one end of a stick and putted a potato bud on it. Then we swung the stick quickly until the
knob came off and went out in the sky.
This game could entertain a long time, if it not happened that someone crashed one of the farm's window.
21

Christmas was a celebration even at that time, and on Christmas Eve we kids got wheat buns. We also got
cheese, porridge and stockfish. We did not like stockfish, but we had to taste it. And we got a beverage that
mother had brewed herself. Sometimes we had even a light on the Christmas table. And if we had a pig,
then dad slaughtered it before Christmas, so we had some fresh meat. It happened also that we got a
caramel.
After we had eaten and thanked for the food, my father read the Bible, and then we went to bed.
There were candles in the Christmas
tree, and we also did cut some beautiful
paper to put on it. In the fireplace we
had real logs. Normally there were, of
course, only small branches.
22

When we became so grown up that we could help out on the farm, there was not much time to play, except
on Sundays. Then we did a lot of different games, both indoors and outdoors.
We could take “spänntag”. Then two people sat on the floor with their backs supported against each other,
with knees pulled up high and heels pressed hard into the ground. The game was all about who could
straighten their legs. The other one then either lifted from the floor or was forced to let go with heels.
23

In other games, like "Stomp the eyes of the shoemaker," one had to be quick. Two kids stood with the asses
toward each other and with a stick between their legs, held in their hands. In front of one of them stood a
bottle. The one who was facing away from the bottle would try bump the stick on it, but the other person
would steer away so that he missed. When the former managed to bump into the bottle the roles were
altered.
24

Another game called "Draga klönhandsk" and it went on so that two kids were standing opposite each other
and grabbed each other's hands so that the nails were pushed into the other's wrists. Then they pulled. It
was very painful. I saw myself how some pulled so hard that they tore up the other's wrists very bad. It was
almost strange that no one got blood poisoning because we were usually very dirty under the fingernails.
As a rule, we washed ourselves only on Saturdays.
25

One could also "turn the knuckle." Then one of the contestants putted his fist on the table. The other struck
with his knuckles on his hand. In athe battle is was important for both to hit the opponent where it was the
most painfull, with his own hands most insensitive part. After each stroke we changed roles.
Some kids were so god at this and
their knuckles were so hard that
they carved the skin of the
opponents knuckles.
26

Sometimes we competed in agility too, like when someone sat on the floor and put a coin on the tip of the
big toe. He would then, with yhelp of his hands tomovethe foot up to the head, while he bent his head
forward until he could take the coin with his mouth.
The hard thing wasn’t to take the
coin with the mouth, instead it was
to make it stay on the toe all the
way.
27

In this game we putted three equally high chairs beside each other and one of us had to lie down on them.
He would lie to his neck and head rested on one chair, the buts on the middle, and the feet on the third.
Then he had to tmake the body totally stiff and lift the middle seat back and forth over him as many times
as possible.
28

If we happened to have a ladder we could compete in climbing on it with bare hands. The competition
began with hanging on the ladder with both hands. Then one had to move one hand quickly to the nearest
overhead pole and further up, as far as you could.
29

Many games was to deceive anyone. They could start with that all the boys who did not know the game
had to go out of the house. The rest of us putted a small stool next to a big bucket filled with ice cold water.
Then we covered both the bucket and pallet with a rag and a girl sat down on the stool. She pretended to be
a widow mourning her dead husband. Then one boy at a time came into the room and had to comfort the
poor widow. He sat then on the bucket and fell down into the cold water, which of course was very fun.
Another variation was to put a chair beside the widow. But then her hands instead were smeared with
grease and ash. When the boy then sat down next to her, she began hugging and patting his face until he
was completely black. Then we all laughed like crazy.
30

Pawn games, as "Mary's purse" were also popular. It went on so that all but one set in a circle on the floor.
That one had no place instead he went from one to another and said:
"Virgin Mary sent a purse out on the sea, and you can buy anything you want except black and white and
say what you want, but yes and no. What have you bought"
Then you had to say something and whoever asked tried with different issues to make him say any of the
banned words. If the person succeed you have to leave a deposit to him. Then, when all been asked,
everyone had to take a punishment to get the deposit back, which was the most fun part of the game.
The one that had all the deposits stood whith all of them behind his back, so that no one could see them,
took one in hand and said: What punishment the owner do to get back this thing
It was the most fun when we decide what the punishment should be.
Common punishments were, for example, to kiss a girl, bite one of
the toes, run three rounds around the cabin, or chopping timber. The
latter was done so the head of the punished was pushed hard against
the logs of the cabin and pressed downwards.
31

Guide in crime
Our punishment
Penal, punishment and non-prosecution
For certain offenses, such as speeding and alcohol smuggling, the police and customs can determine a
financial penalty on the spot. The penalty is called petty. If the offender does not accept the penalty, the
matter goes to court. Where he/she instead will get day-fines if convicted.
Other offenses end up at the prosecutor who decides whether the act is punishable by a fine in the form of a
financial penalty 1 , the prosecution should be discontinued, or whether the matter should be decided by a
court. The court, in turn, can impose fines, probation, community service, forensic psychiatry and prison.
Fines
Such a sentence is composed of a certain number of day-fines (abbreviated db) which is multiplied by a
"daily fine factor" 1 . Where a trial will sentence someone to fines the presiding "judge" asks the accused
about his or her annual income. Then the judge asks if the defendant has any debts and if he has to pay for
any children. When the court then discuss what punishment the accused shall receive, they assume that data
and look at a table or make a counting 2 which results in daily fine.
The consequence of this is that the actual amount of the fine for a crime can vary a lot. A difference of, for
example, 20 000 SEK in monthly income gives with 50 day-fines a difference in the penalty of 12 000
SEK 2 .
The accused may lye if he so wish, namely that the accused does not need promise to tell the truth (which,
however witnesses are obliged to do). Though no matter how good he is at lying, it may be difficult to do it
so well that the court believes him/her, because the prosecutor does his best to disprove it. But neither the
prosecutor nor the court is usually questioning the accuseds answers about what he earns. So it is often
better to lie about the income than about the crime.
1.
2.
= Penal fines are issued by a prosecutor. If the offender does not admit the crime and/or do not accept the
suggested penalty, the prosecutor must choose between to dismiss the charges or to take the matter to court.
To put simply daily fine factor is (Sterzel, G. 2001) = 1/1 000 x (annual income before tax (including any
premium) - the number of children at home x ½ base amount + 25-100 SEK (if the defendant has a net worth in
addition to dwelling) - 30 SEK (reduction due. to tax).
If the accused, for example, earns 360 000/year (= 30 000 SEK/month) and does not have children the day-fine=
1/1 000 x (360 000 - 0 + 0) - 30 = 330 SEK. At 50 db he gets a total fine of 15 500 SEK.
If he instead earn 120 000/year (= 10 000 SEK/month) the day-fine becomes = 90 SEK. 50 db is then instead 4
500 SEK.
32

Suspended sentence
Courts may choose penalty probation instead of prison. This means that the court considers that the
accused should get prison but he will not have it this time. But if the offender is caught again within the
next two years, the old offense is added to the new at the imposition of a new penalty. The probation can
also be combined with fines or community service (see below).
Probation
In cases where courts believe that there is a high risk of reoffending, they can instead choose probation.
Those who are sentenced to probation will be monitored during, usually one year. This is followed by a
probationary period of three years. During all that time (a total of 4 years), they should not get caught,
because then the old offense is baked into the new penalty. Probation can also be combined with fines,
community service (see below) or contract treatment (treatment for alcohol or drug use).
Imprisonment and community service
If the court decides to sentence someone to jail 3 they also decide how long the prison sentence should be.
As an alternative to imprisonment, the court may sentence the defendant to community service 4 if he has said
that he/she would consider it. In this case a sentence of one month in jail corresponds to 40 hours of
community service. For each additional month in jail up to 11 months in prison 20 hours are added, which
corresponds to 240 hours of community service. Most often (National Council 2003:3), the term of
imprisonment of up to one month, which is converted to community service. And it is imposed
approximately 30% of cases where it could be possible. It is most common among those who are sentenced
for tax evasion and least common among those convicted of theft and driving without a license.
3. Note! If the accused was under 18 years of age at time of offense, other rules apply.
4. Community service = unpaid work at any public institution or non-profit organization.
Tagging
The court decides nothing about where and how the person should sit the penalty. It is determined by the
Probation Service. The majority (about 60-70%) of those sentenced to prison for up to six months could get
Probation tagging instead (Brå 2006:1). In reality may be about a quarter (SCB 2005), of those who are the
subject of prison service care, chooses tagging. But the group also includes those who received usual prison
sentence of at least 18 months. Since they can serve the last days of the sentence with the tagging, as part
of the transition back into life as a conscientious citizen.
Those who accept this tagging may under penalty period just be at home, on the way to/from work (+ shop)
and on the job. It is controlled by a transmitter attached to the body. In addition, he/she must be sober
during the period, which is monitored at random alcohol testing.
33

Fines vs. jail
By far the largest part of any punishment is imposed directly on the site of the crime, by primarily police
officers and customs officials (i.e., penals). The next most common is that the punishment is decided by the
prosecutor (non-prosecution, punishment and to some extent suspended sentence). The rest of the sentences
are in the theory imposed by the courts. But the choice of penalty is many times also decided by the
accused (imprisonment or community service) or the Prison (prison or tagging).
Our legal system believes that prison (albeit such a short time) is always worse than a fine (no matter how
high they are). And it is reasonable to believe that many also prefer to pay fines than to sit in jail. But if the
comparison instead would be fine in relation to community/tagging perhaps many would choose differently
(see example below). Though it is not possible for a person who is sentenced to a fine to get his sentence
commuted to the "worse" punishment of community service or tagging no matter how much it wants it.
Example
Anyone who gets caught with 59 grams of marijuana and a salary from his work of 30 000 SEK/month
(before tax), risk penalty 49 500 SEK in fines (150 daily fines x 330 SEK). If he had instead been caught
with 75 grams of hashish the penalty may have been 40 hours of community service or tagging in a month.
The risk of getting caught
Totally approximately 1.2 million crimes are reported each year in Sweden (SCB 2005). Half of these are
burglary, shoplifting or theft (SCB 2005). Though the actual number of crimes is probably much higher.
Since there probably are many cases of shoplifting/theft, in particular, that is never revealed. Crime
Prevention Council (Brå 2002) estimated the number of undiscovered cases of shoplifting/theft to be
between 1-20 million per year. Since the police files less than 80 000 cases of shoplifting/theft each year
the statistical risk to go get caught is therefore quite small. But out of the crimes reported to the police,
about 70% is cleared up. And it's no wonder, since the store probably do not know that anyone has taken
anything unless the criminal is caught in the act, and then usually the case is clear. While the opposite is
true for burglary, car and bicycle thefts. In theses probably a quite a big part of all completed crimes are
reported, since most people probably notice that their cycle is gone, or that someone has broken into their
car. And they make a theft report since they want compensation from their insurance company.
According to statistics (SCB 2005) a person who is driving drunk is most likely to get caught. It is obviously
misleading, as it more or less requires that the police make a positive alcohol test on the driver. And if they
do, then of course the thing is already clear. However, what is striking is how small the chance, statistically
speaking, is to get away with violent crime, particularly murder and manslaughter (which reasonably have
a very low number of unrecorded crimes).
34

The economy of crime
Shoplifting and theft
Whoever comes out of the store with the stolen goods, without being caught, have a great chance to get
away with the crime. But if the shoplifter tries to sell the goods he/she is still at risk of getting caught. The
risk is however small, because the prosecutor will have difficult to prove that the goods are stolen. But if
the goods have a unique identifier, the prosecutor has a greater opportunity to prove that it was stolen. The
more expensive the stolen goods is, the more likely it is that the goods have such a code and the harder it
often also is to get a hand on it in a store. In addition, the penalty is depending on the product's retail price
(see table 1). The minimum penalty for shoplifting is a fine of 500 SEK and it is imposed on goods with
retail price of less than 50 SEK. The highest penalty, when then the stolen goods would have costed just
under 800 SEK, is practically 120 daily fines. If the price of the goods is higher than 800 SEK, the crime is
considered to be theft. And anyone who is convicted of theft risk imprisonment during up to two years (Brå
2002).
Even if one is convicted of several cases of shoplifting at the same trial, and the total retail price of the
stolen goods far exceeds 800 SEK, the penalty will still be a fine. So for those who do not want to sit in jail
and already have a lot of debt at the enforcement service and so low official income that the agency can not
enforce anything, there are pretty good reasons to stick to shoplifting.
Table 1.
Comparison of potential revenue for shoplifting and theft in relation to the "normal" punishment
according to Sterzel (Sterzel, G. 2001).
Take a pair of socks in a clothing
store
Take a bottle of wine at
Systembolaget
Reasonable
potential revenue
(the value for the
perpetrator, SEK )
Crime type
"Normal
punishment"
Identification facilities on the
stoolen goods
40 Shop lifting 500 No, but probably not
something that can be sold.
70 Shop lifting 30 db Non.
Take a jacket in clothing store 780 Shop lifting 120 db No and it is possible to sell the
goods, but on the other hand it
most likely have an alarm tag.
Snatch an elderly lady's handbag

Burglary in buildings
It ispretty difficult to know which buildings are suitable to break into, what is most profitable to steal and
where it is best to sell the goods. Skilled burglars (Brå 2006:6) recommends expensive goods and
legitimate buyers such as jewelers, pawn shops and antique dealers. Suggesting that they where stealing
jewelry, exclusive consumer electronic and antiques. But because not all homes have such things they are
probably choosing targets carefully.
But housings are generally often pretty well guarded by neighboors. The basement and attic of apartment
blocks, are less guarded but they are often find behind a steel door and there is probably difficult to find
something valuable, since people usually use that kind of premesis as storage space for things that have no
value. Garden storages in villa estates, however, are guaranteed easy to get into, because there is no steel
door that must be forced and reasonably there are often relatively expensive and salable items such as the
tools needed to manage the garden.
Furthermore holliday homes are during periods of the year, likely much less guarded than standard homes.
In return, the goods there is a little older and/or have inferior quality. What could have any value, maybe
some antiques and, as well as in ordinary housing, food and booze (which the burglar himself can enjoy).
In offices there is usually no more than computers, printers and other office supplies. Things that currently
have low value on the second hand market. In addition, the offices are usually alarmed.
In workshops, on construction sites and in restaurants, however, there may be valuable machinery and
metal 5 . National Crime Prevention Council (Brå 2006:6) points out that machinery and expensive equipment
on construction sites and in restaurant kitchens are good items from the sellers point of view. Because
customers, I. e. construction companies, restaurants, and others, can pay relatively well.
5.
According to a randomly selected scrap dealer in Stockholm, they pay for iron 0.4 SEK/kg, copper 30 SEK/kg
and for aluminum 6,5 to 10 SEK/kg.
Car-related crime
I myself have several times experienced that someone has broken into my car. Something that I just can not
understand the point of. When I at those times never have had anything more valuable in them than a
flashlight. Most times there have been only rubbish, a couple of tapes, some small change, ice scrapers and
extra bulbs. Things that burglars do not even consider it worthwhile to take and I have not even gotten rid
of the car stereo. However, I have never experienced someone has broken into the boot. There I have on
these occasions had the tools and extra gasoline. And at least the latter ought to have been to the benefit of
the thief. The most common type of car-related thefts I encountered, however, is undoubtedly that someone
has taken gasoline. Which is both possible to make fairly discreet and provide a product that should be of
great benefit to the thief.
However, I have never seen someone stealing the whole car, which is not surprising when the cars are hard
to sell. Among other things 6 because the thief, to take ultimately benefit from the stolen goods, must obtain
legal signs for a similar car which for some reason is not being used and even then the thief still continues
to run the risk of getting caught, because in the annual vehicle test they often check that the car's chassis
number match the registration documents.
6.
Most new cars can not be hot-wired. They requires a real key with a identification chip embedded that is correctly
coded for the specific car. This problem thieves solves in several ways. National Crime Prevention Council (Brå
2006:6) suggests to empty the clothes of someone in restaurants or changing rooms. The car is often not far from
it and the keys are usually marked with the car manufacturer's logo.
36

Burglary in boats
Coming to boats things are a lot easier. Because they have no license plates and there is no national registry
of motor and hull number. In addition, the locks are easy to force, boats often lack alarms and they are in
places where few people move during parts of the year. In addition, larger boats have quite a lot of gadgets,
which are expensive. But, despite that lack individual numbers, and thus should be reasonably easy to sell
without arousing any suspicion.
Robbery
To rob someone means that by using force or by threatening with violence try to get over something that
the victim posess. It is reported about 9 000 robberys per year in Sweden (Brå 2008:17) and about one out
of five of them is cleared up. Thus, the probability of being caught for a robbery is rather large.
Additionally, robbery, especially by means of weapons, consistently gives high penalty. Sterzel describes,
among other things, that an attempted street robberie with a knife, is “worth” a penalty of about two years
in prison.
Neat crimes
Below are some recent examples where the perpetrators were close to get over large sums of money
without using force and with relatively modest risk of getting caught.
In August 2007, one of the employees in the Swedbank's offices in Knivsta relized that the mouse cursor
on his computer screen was moving even though he did not touch the mouse. An account number was
filled in and a sum of around fifty million were filled in the amount box. He began to investigate what
happened and discovered that someone mounted a remote control equipment under the desk. Immediately
he pulled the cord and stopped thereby the transfer.
It was thus very near thet the thieves had succeeded. Then, of course, they would have had the problem of
getting the money from the account, but it can be solved in several ways. It would have made the
perpetrators much richer than if they had perform ordinary bank robbery. This probably with a significantly
lower risk of being caught. Although the police had pictures of people who installed the equipment in the
branch office, but they did not identify the men. Perhaps the thieves would have got away if they had not
done the same thing in the same branch a few months later. Which led to that the prosecutor had evidence
enough to indict eight people. Three of them were sentenced to prison between 18 months and three years
for attempted aggravated fraud. Of the other one as given a suspended sentence and four were acquitted.
A far less complicated arrangement with subletting of flats have become relatively common in the past
year. Someone put an ad on the block that it is possible to rent an attractive apartment in Stockholm,
Gothenburg or Malmö. When people call or email about the apartment, he can say that "right now I do not
have time to show it, but there are many callers, so do you want it, you hurry to put a deposit on my
account."
Other relatively simple financial crimes that have occurred in the recent past are property and corporate
hijackings. In the first case it is possible in principle that the hijacker buy a contract för sale for real estate
in a bookstore, writes the data on a particular property and its owners (these data are available from the
Land Registry, Lantmäteriet) and details of the new owner. Then the hijacker submit the document to the
Enrollment Agency, pay the fee to the Agency and waiting a bit until the change of ownership is registered.
Then he just contact a real estate dealer.
In the second case of hijacking one send a form to the Bolagsverket. On the form, he has filled in data for a
given company, and himself as a new member of its board, pay the handling fee for the work, wait a few
days, go to the company's bank and take out their money.
37

Another method that has attracted attention in the media is to order credit cards in someone's name. Then
empty the persons mailbox every day around the time when the card is expected to come, and until that the
code also ends up in the box (as a rule, it is sent in a separate letter). Then it's just to shop until the first bill
arrives to the victim.
Another way to come over goods or money is to either buy on credit or borrow money and then not bother
to pay back. It is generally not punishable. Unless the person you borrowed (the debtor) prosecute you for
fraud, which is unusual. Aside from that risk, the greatest risk is that you receive a payment default at the
Enforcement. Such a remark makes it harder for you in the future to, for example, borrow money or get a
phone subscription. But because the debtors have to pay when using the Enforcement, many choose not to
send cases there.
Violent crime
Many violent crimes are caused by a flare-up in the moment anger about something. It is probably not
usually so successful for those who have the ambition to become a skilled professional in the criminal area,
as it does not result in any financial gain. Additionally such acts are punished hard (see examples in table
3). Note that the penalty for assault is very dependent on the degree of damage that it caused, which of
course can be quite haphazard. Note also that anyone caught with a knife 6 in their possession (eg clothes,
bag or car) in a public place risks 50 day fines.
Table 3. "Normal" penalties for various violent crimes, according Sterzel (Sterzel, G. 2001).
Caused wond Crime type "Normal
punishment"
Caught in a public place with a knife
without valid reasons for having it.
Nocked a person in the face with his
head.
Hit someone in the head with a bottle.
Non
Hard to breathe
through the noose
during a week
Superficial wounds
and swelling
Offending
the knife
law
Assault
"
50 db
1 month in
jail
2 months in
jail
Assaulted his girlfriend with fists and
with a weapon.
Small wounds "
4 months in
jail
Hit a person hard in the head with a
bottle.
Unconscious and
bleeding in the brain
Severe
assault
14 months
in jail
6.
The knife must have a blade that is more than 5 cm long is illegal, which means that even many folding knives are
illegal. As a valid reason to have a larger knife on you counts, for example, if a craftsman have it with him during
the lunch break. But not if he walk around with it on the town for several hours after the work is finished.
38

Alcohol and drug related crimes
Alcohol
Even relatively harmless crimes, involving the handling of alcohol, gives relatively high penalties (see
table 4). For example anyone found selling a small bottle of liquire risks more fines than a driver who ran
on a highway, while he gave attention to something in the car, came across the oncoming lane and collided
with an oncoming car ( see traffic offences). Also note how the rather innocuous example of illegal sale
and gave the offender two months' imprisonment, which is considered a significantly higher penalty than
the 50 day-fines it cost to boil 15 liters of spirits. 50 day-fines is significantly more than the penalty for
making wine or beer, however, because the latter two are legal activities. However, sales of the products
are still illegal and the gain is probably not so big 7 .
Table 4. Data from some specific cases relating to various alcohol-related offenses (Sterzel, G. 2001).
Crime type
"Normal
punishment"
llicit distilling of 15 litres of Manufacturing of alcohool 50 db
spirits
Sold 37,5 cl spirits Illegal selling 50 db
Sold 700 l sprit "
6 months in
jail
llicit distilling of 328 l sprits and
selling of 30 l
Sold (three occasions) 1,5 l sprits
+ 18 beers, 7 beers, 6 beers + 0,7
l vine and sold to a underaged 17
beer + 37,5 cl sprit
Manufacturing of alcohool +
illegal selling
Illegal selling + seling to
underaged
2 months in
jail
2 months in
jail
7.
A wine kit costs about 250 SEK and it gives about 30 bottles of wine. Since the wine usually gets pretty lousy, it
is probably not reasonable to get more than maybe 40 SEK per bottle. That would mean a total profit of SEK 950.
39

Narcotics
Drugs are considered to be very harmful to society, and handling of such substances is punished hard.
Fixed penalties differ widely between different drugs and the differences in sentencing may not match our
understanding of the differences in harmfulness and kick (see table 5). Note in particular that one can have
about, seven times more typical doses of amphetamine on the comparison with cocaine and get away with
the same punishment. Note also that it is the same punishment for hash as marijuana, despite the fact that
hash is much stronger.
Table 5.
The quantities of different drugs that provide 120 daily fine and four months in prison for anyone who
gets caught with it in his possession and quantities that provide 4 and 6 months in prison for selling or
giving it away (Sterzel, G. 2001).
Possession
Normal doze 120 db 4 months in
jail
4 months in
jail
Trading
6 months in
jail
Amfetamin (g) Approx. 0,05-0,2 3,1-3,5 20,1-30 10,1-20 20,1-30
Ecstacy (no. of pills ) 1 1 (= 100
db)
21-30 11-20 21-30
Hasch and marijuana
(g)
Approx. 0,5-
1(marijuana)
40,1-50 101-250 50,1-100 101-250
Heroin (g) Very personal 0,01-0,05 0,61-1 0,21-0,6 0,61-1
Kat (kg) 0,25-0,4 1-1,5 10,1-30 2-5 10,1-30
Cocain (g) 0,01-0,2 0,3-0,5 5,1-10 2,1-5 5,1-10
Opium (g) Very personal 0,01-0,15 1,81-3 0,61-1,8 1,81-3
A review of research on the profitability of handling drugs, made by the Crime Prevention Council (Brå
2007:4) shows that there are some opportunities to make better money on drug trade than on normal jobs.
Though both the risks of getting caught and losses (in the form of customers who can not pay, personal
consumption and invite consumption) is great.
According to another study by the National Crime Prevention Council (Brå 2007:7) the dealers that is
closest to the end customers often buy 100 grams at a time and then sell the drugs in portions of between 1-
10 grams. If they sell it in portions of a few grams piece, they would earn between 1-7000 kr on each lot.
Given that sales to end customers require a lot of precautions, such as not walking around with more than
small portions at a time, it is perhaps unlikely that the dealers may have more than, say, five customers in
one day. If each customer buys 5 grams, it means that you have to work for 4 days to get rid of the lot.
Which would mean a daily earnings of about SEK 250-1 750. It would be equivalent to a monthly salary of
5 000 to 35 000 SEK/month tax-free, with a working time of 20 days/month. And since it does not appear
in any record it offers good opportunities to simultaneously be, for instance, on sick leave.
40

Traffic offenses
As seen in table 7, some traffic offenses 8 , which caused no damage, are punished as hard as pretty serious
mistakes in traffic. For example the hit and run in case "J" as many fines as the clash in case "A". Please
also note that those who had a drunk person driving his car ("I") was equal punishment as a much more
drunken person who drove himself ("H"). Obviously, it is expensive to run drunk and equally expensive to
let someone else do it instead. It is also expensive to run away from the scene of accidents, which also
usually is quite unnecessary because the insurance still pay for the damages. He who is afraid of losing the
bonus should instead make sure to secure it by switching insurance companies (the bonus follows, but my
experience is that it still remains in the old insurance company). Those who still want to get away from the
place should not, under any circumstances, give the appearance of having taken notice of the collosion.
Since if one hasn´t noticed it it is not a case of hit and run.
Table 7. Data from some specific cases relating to various traffic offenses (cases AC and HJ) and some data from
the general sentencing (where DG) according Sterzel (Sterzel, G. 2001).
Case
A
The driver was driving on a highway, drew attention to
something in the car, came across the oncoming lane and
collided with an oncoming car.
Crime type
Reckless driving
"Normal
Penalty" or in
cases AC and
HJ specific
penalty
40 db
B Collided with an oncoming car and then slipped from the " + evasion 70 db
site.
C Drove at high speed past an unguarded crossing where
another car stopped to let transient.
Reckless driving 40 db
D Drove a car without a license. Unlawful driving 30 db
E Drove tuned moped. " 40 db
F Drove a car/motorcycle with 0.55 ‰ alcohol in the blood. Drunk driving 50 db
G Drove a moped with a 0.55 ‰ alcohol in the blood. " 40 db
H Drove a car at high speed during a Saturday night with a
Aggravated
2.21 blood alcohol in the blood and also tried to run away
1 month
drunken driving
from a police car.
I
J
Let another person, who he knew was drunk (and in the
control was found to have 1.18 ‰ alcohol in the blood),
driving his car.
Collided lightly with another car with damage only on the
private car as a result, but did not check if there has been
damage to the other car and tried to contact the owner.
Abetting
aggravated
drunken driving
Hit and run
"
40 db
8.
In addition to any fines or other penalties the administrative boards often revoke the convicteds driver's license
for a certain period. Something that many people are probably worse than the actual punishment.
41

References
Brå (2002) Butiksstölder – problembild och åtgärder, Brottsförebyggande Rådet, Stockholm
Brå (2003:3) Samhällstjänst – i samhällets tjänst Rapport 2003:3, Brottsförebyggande Rådet, Stockholm
Brå (2006) Kort om bostadsinbrott, Brottsförebyggande Rådet, Stockholm
Brå (2006:1) Utvidgad användning av intensivövervakning med elektronisk kontroll. En beskrivning av de
nya målgrupperna för IÖV och IÖV-utsluss, webbrapport 2006:1, Brottsförebyggande Rådet, Stockholm
Brå (2006:6) Häleri. Den organiserade brottslighetens möte med den legala marknaden, rapport 2006:6,
Brottsförebyggande Rådet, Stockholm
Brå (2007:4) Vart tog alla pengarna vägen En studie av narkotikabrottslighetens
Ekonomihantering, rapport 2007:4, Brottsförebyggande Rådet, Stockholm
Brå (2007:7) Narkotikadistributörer. En studie av grossisterna, rapport 2007:7, Brottsförebyggande Rådet,
Stockholm
Brå (2008:12) Brottsoffers benägenhet att polisanmäla brott, rapport 2008:12, Brottsförebyggande Rådet,
Stockholm
Brå (2008:17) Kriminalstatistik 2007, rapport 2008:17, Brottsförebyggande Rådet, Stockholm
SCB (2005) Statistisk årsbok för Sverige 2006, SCB, Örebro
Sterzel, G. (2001) Studier rörande påföljdspraxis m. m., Jure AB, Stockholm
42

Get accomodation in Stockholm
The publisher assumes no responsibility for the price data in the examples. The prices are only intended as
an indications of what it might cost. All data is from the fall of 2004.
43

Living in a collective
Living in public has its advantages, not least from a social point of view. Especially for those who want to
know more people, or who otherwise want many people around him. It can also be economically beneficial
because it usually the rent per square meter decreas with the area you rent. Below is a list of "secondary
rents" for a number of large villas around Stockholm and an estimate of what the price per person would be
with one person per room, except a "living room", which is shared by all (table 1). The examples are taken
from a website for secondary rents (www.bostad-direkt.se).
Table 1. Examples of large homes for rent.
Area (municipality) Housing type No. of Area Total rent Rent/room Furnitured Rental time
rooms (m 2 ) (SEK/month) (SEK/month)
Saltsjöbaden (Nacka) Villa 6 176 16 000 2 700 Yes Indefinite
Värmdö Villa 6 195 12 000 2 000 Partly Indefinite
Bromma (Stockholm) Villa 6 200 12 000 2 000 Partly Indefinite
Stay at a hotel
There are a number of hotels that are actually so cheap that the cost can compete with the rent on an
expensive (but in itself larger) flat (see table 2).
Table 2. Examples of hotels, with daily rental translated into monthly rent.
Hotel namne Rent Area Toilett & shower
(SEK/month)
Abbes hotell 10 500 Globen In the corridor
Formule 1 9 600 Västberga In the corridor
Living with a partner
This is perhaps the most pleasant way to fix a home in Stockholm. In addition, it is probably also a fairly
common way. It works basically as follows:
1. Meet someone who has a residence in Stockholm.
2. Get him/her interested in you.
3. Move over.
44

Building a house
It may be cheaper to buy a plot of land and a kit for a house compared to buying a second hand house (see
tables 3, 4 and 19), but it gets the more work and quite a long wait before you can move into. In table 3 are
some approximate price example for a single-storey villa in basic design from a few different
manufacturers. You can find more manufacturers of such on www.gulasidorna.se. In addition to the cost of
the house earthworks, connection of electricity, water and sewer and the construction of the foundation will
cost you more money. As shown by the figures in the table, it pays to compare prices. But it also pays to
compare what is included in the price because it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. Additionally, it
pays to compare the cost of the desired extras, as the prie of extras may differ between manufacturers.
As a rule, it is unwise to build a luxury villa in a not so luxurius neighborhood, because it becomes harder
to get the money back. Conversely, it may not be wise to build a cheap house on an exclusive adress.
Table 3. Examples of prefabricated houses for sale.
Manufacturer Approx. price Size price/m 2 Name
(SEK) (m 2 ) (SEK)
Myresjöhus 880 000 119 7 400 Fantasi
Älvsbyhus 776 500 1 102 7 600 Frode
Hjältevadshus 1 295 250 122 10 600 Enen
Modulenthus 1 250 000 95 13 100 Duett
1. Including the standard funament.
Table 4. Examples of relatively inexpensive building ready plots for sale in the vicinity of Stockholm (starting price
in the advertisement). All of these sites have water and sewer up move, but the buyer must pay connection
fee (about 100 000 SEK). A high proportion of the land being sold is owned by the companies that
manufactures villas, and they only sell plots to the customers who choose to build their houses.
Area (municipality) Price Size
(SEK) (m 2 )
Tumba (Botkyrka) 650 000 857
Tumba (Botkyrka) 500 000 768
Länna (Huddinge) 595 000 900
Lötkärr (Haninge) 725 000 1 007
45

Building summer cottage
Kits for summer houses are cheaper than kits for villas, but the buildings are smaller and simpler (see table
5). The plots are usually also cheaper than plots for villas (see table 6). But the municipal services in the
form of road maintenance, water/sewer and garbage collection is more limited. For example, it is common
that the roads in the area are owned and operated jointly by the land owners and that it can not connect to
municipal water and sewer.
Table 5. Examples of summer cottage kits.
Manufacturer Approx. price Size price/m 2 Others
(SEK) (m 2 ) (SEK)
Jörnstugan 148 000 50 2 900 Unisolatet, asphaltpaper on the roof.
Stevert i Ambjörnarp 235 000 50 4 700 Tiled roof, isolation, cabel canals
and metal details included.
Table 6. Examples of relatively cheap holiday home plots in the vicinity
of Stockholm for sale (starting price in the advertisement).
Area (municipality) Price Size
(SEK) (m 2 )
Åkersberga (Österåker) 695 000 3 937
Vindö (Värmdö) 495 000 3 805
Skogsön (Vaxholm) 395 000 3 292
Huddinge 510 000 2 502
46

Rent an office
I have, a few times, rented small offices with friends so that they had got somewhere to stay. You can get
offices with low rent that actually looks a lot like ordinary apartments. The ones that I rented was small
office of 30-50 square meters, in the inner suburbs such Midsommarkransen. They had kitchen, toilet and
shower. For example, the municipal landlords usually offers a number of small offices in different parts of
the city (table 7-9).
Table 7. Examples of relatively small premises that the one of the citys real estate companies
Familjebostäder have for rents, which could be suitable for housing. In the examples, VAT
(25%) included in the rent.
Area Rent No. of Size Toilett Shower Kitchen Others
(SEK/month) rooms (m 2 )
Aspudden 5 375 2 56 Yes No Pentry Separate entrance
Hjorthagen 10 000 4 56 Yes Yes Pentry big terrass, separate entrance
Stora Essingen 6 250 2 51 Yes No Pentry Separate entrance, bad condition
Table 8. Ditto Stockholmshem.
Area Rent No. of Size Toilett Shower Kitchen Övrigt
(SEK/month) rooms (m 2 )
Hjorthagen 5 000 2 38 Ja No Pentry Separate entrance
Hjorthagen 5 875 2 51 Ja No Pentry Separate entrance
Södermalm 12 235 1 62 Ja No Pentry
Vasastan 12 500 2 79 Ja No Pentry
Table 9. Ditto Svenska Bostäder.
Area Rent No. of Size Toilett Shower Kitchen Others
(SEK/month) rooms m 2
Kungsholmen 10 450 1 57 Yes No Pentry Separate entrance
Östermalm 9 375 2 75 Yes No Pentry Partly sub terrain
Södermalm 8 600 1 69 Yes Yes Pentry
Those who intend to rent an office space should be able to demonstrate that he or she intends to operate a
business there. Additionally, it is worth remembering it may be possible to negotiate with the landlord
about the rent. Another thing to consider is that some premises are leased with VAT and others without.
For those who have a business that generates income it does not matter, but for those who have no
company income, it is obviously better to avoid paying VAT. It may be that the landlord asks if the tenant
wants VAT on the rent or not (it has happened to me). Then it's clever to argue that it is uncertain how high
income will be and that it would therefore be best to avoid VAT, alternatively argue that the intention is to
conduct VAT exempt activities (arts with income below 300 000 SEK/year).
One advantage of office space compared to a standard apartment is that it is perfectly legal to sell the lease.
47

Rent apartment in second hand
Rental apartments
In order to rent out an apartment it requires the permission of the building owner (landlord). If the person
who rents the apartment does not have permission to do so, he may lose the tenancy. In Stockholm, it is
often the case that the landlord does not grant permission to do this 1 . This means that many people are a
little afraid to sublet rental apartments. One way to get around this might be to hire only a part of the
apartment (then a permission from the landlord is not required).
Anyone who rents out the apartment has the right to charge a little more rent than what he himself pays. To
cower the wear on his things as furniture and the like, but it is not very much.
Condoes
To sublet a condominium it requires permission from the condominium association's board. If the person
does not have a permission to do so, he may be forced to sell the apartment. It is often the case that the
association authorizes a lease if it concerns a limited time, such as one year 2 , if the condominium owner,
for example, want to try to live with a partner. But it can cause problems for those who want to rent the
apartment for a long time.
Condoe owners has the right to charge a little higher rent than someone who rents out a similar apartment.
This is because the condominium owner himself must stand for the maintenance of the apartment.
Some examples of what it might cost to rent an apartment in the center of Stockholm, can be found in table
10. The examples in the table are taken from the aecond hand rental website (www.bostad-direkt.se).
2.
The first tenant/condominium owner has the right to rent out the apartment a period because of age, illness,
temporary work or study in another town, special family circumstances or similar are concidered to be good
reasons for leasing and landlord/tenant association can not refuse if they do not have any justified reason to do so.
Table 10. Examples of smaller apartments that are sublet indefinitely (until further notice).
Area Size Total rent Furnitured
(m 2 ) (SEK/month)
Gärdet 21 5 000 No
Vasastan 21 4 000 Yes
Vasastan 40 6 000 No
Kungsholmen 29 6 000 Optional
Gärdet 39 5 500 Optional
48

Renting part of a dwelling "inherent"
Renting a room can be quite pleasant as one gets company and also access to things like TV, broadband
and kitchen appliances. I myself have lived as an inherent and I thought it was good, and my mother lived
as an inherent in a large apartment in the city along with several others in around twenty years. It differs
quite a lot regarding the standard and location of the room offered (see table 11). But I think that the most
important factor is how well the cooperation with the host works. The examples in the table are taken from
the website: www.bostad-direkt.se.
Table 11. Examples rooms that are rented out indefinitely (until further notice).
Area Rent Size Others
(SEK/month) m 2
Södermalm 3 500 12 Furnitured
Södermalm 2 800 10 Furnitured
Vasatan 3 000 25 Furniture can be included
Kungsholmen 2 800 12 Furnitured, own toilet, balcony and entrance
Rent student apartment
The basic requirement for getting a student apartment is generally that the prospective tenant is enrolled at
any university or college. There are approximately 10 000 student apartments in Stockholm.
Approximately 8 000 of these are owned by the Stockholm Student Housing Foundation (SSSB). The
second largest is Svenska Bostäder (SB), which owns about 1 000 student apartments. Then, Huge, which
owns about 480 student apartments in Flemingsberg and Proventum AB, which owns approximately 330
student apartments in Haninge. There are also some organizations that have a small number of student
apartments as Stockholm University Student and a temperance organization. Many of these landlords have
empty apartments so it is possible to get an apartment directly. Especially for those who accept a bad
location and high rent.
The two biggest players have roughly the following portfolio of student apartments:
SSSB
SSSB student apartments located foremost around the University of Stockholm and KTH (Stockholm and
Kista). There are currently about 27 000 people in SSSB's waiting list. The rents vary quite a lot. For
example, a room in a student dormitory outside the University costs about 2 700 SEK/month. While a new
student apartment in Kista costs about 4 000/month. Anyone who wants to stay in the really attractive
student apartments, such as inside the city, may have to wait for over five years. While those who agree to
live in one suburb and are willing to pay high rent can currently get an apartment directly.
SB
Svenska Bostäders student apartments are located in Kista, Husby, Akalla, Hässelby Gård, Liljeholmen and
Kungsholmen. Their student apartments are rented unfurnished and has a private bathroom or shower and
kitchenette or kitchen. They have some empty apartments, thus, it is probalby possible to get an apartment
directly.
49

Rent an demolition apartment "demolition contract"
A demolition contract is just about the same as having a normal lease. The differences are:
1. Tenure is missing, which means that when the house owner starts renovate or demolish the dwelling the
tenants must move and they can not demand to move back after the renovation or require to get a
replacement apartment.
2. The rent is considerably lower than for other rental units with the same size.
3. It takes usually shorter waiting time than for a standard rental apartment with the corresponding
location, size and standard.
In the late eighties, I lived in an apartment with a demolition contract. It was a small one on Södermalm
with fireplace and a lovely view over the harbor. The rent was a few hundred SEK a month. The downside
was that there was no shower and I had to share a toilet in the basement with an older man who was not all
that cleanly.
Rent villa/cottage
When someone rents out a property that he owns, he/she do not need not ask anyone for permission. And
he/she has greater freedom to charge higher rent than what the house really cost in operation. Some
examples of what it might cost to rent a villa in Stockholm can be found in table 12. The examples in the
table are taken from the home-Direct website (www.bostad-direkt.se).
Table 12. Examples of villas that are rented out indefinitely (until further notice).
Area (municipality)
No. of Size Total rent Furnitured
rooms (m 2 ) (SEK/month)
Tyresö-Brevik (Tyresö) 2.5 70 7 500 No
Gribbylund (Täby) 3 75 10 000 Yes
Näsby park (Täby) 3 90 8 600 Nej
Åkersberga (Österåker) 4 90 5 000 No
Tallkrogen (Stockholm) 3 100 6 500 (electr. incl) Partly
Älgö (Nacka), sommer cottage 2 38 5 500 (electr. incl) Yes
Älgö (Nacka), sommer cottage 1.5 45 3 500 Yes
Lidingö 4 90 8 990 No
Västerhaninge (Haninge) 4 94 7 500 No
50

Contact property owner
Several people I know have fixed lease contracts on attractive rental properties by asking property owners
if they have any apartments available. Some of the major property owners in Stockholm even have their
own queues. These queues are, however, usually only open to those who have a lease of the company's
properties and possibly their children. Many real estate companies also leave a larger or smaller proportion
of the empty apartments to the City’s Housing. But some also put out apartments on their website, for
anyone to find (see table 13).
Table 13. Examples of real estate company that owns residential properties in Stockholm.
Estate company Area (municipality) No. of apartments in the
Stockholm region
Familjebostäder Stockholm 25 000 No.
Queue for non-tenants
Svenska bostäder " 46 000 Yes, to some extent.
Stockholmshem " 31 400 No.
Drott Stockholm + Uppsala 4 800 No.
Wallenstam Stockholm +
surroundings
5 000 Yes.
Stena Fastigheter
Haninge, Bredäng
(Stockholm), Nacka
Yes.
There are also a large number of small landlords who occasionally have empty apartments that they want to
find tenants for. It happened to me last year when I had a small apartment building and among other ways
advertised in the Dagens Nyheter to get a tenant.
You can find these landlords in the property owners list, which may be in book form in the larger libraries.
51

City's Housing
Anyone who wants a long-term accommodation in Stockholm should contact the City's Housing. I have on
several occasions received an apartment through them. It is about 97 000 people in their queue. But many
of these are relatively passive in the queue. Maybe they stay in the queue for safety's sake, if it would end
with their partner or because they are waiting for a particularly nice apartment to show up.
About ten years ago the community wanted to dismantle the City's Housing. The municipal housing
companies started internal queuing lists. The agreement between the private property owners and the City's
Housing that they should leave half of their available apartments to the City's Housing. And the municipalowned
housing in the surrounding municipalities left City's Housing. Now, however, it has turned and
several real estate companies provide apartments to City's Housing again. The service works so that the
interested list themselves on City's Housings website and then look there now and then on what it currently
available. Then, the person who has sufficient queuing time to apply, admitts an interest form for the
desired apartment. There are sometimes even well-located apartments that it is possible admitt interest
forms for even with relatively short queuing time. They even have apartments that require no queuing time
at all (see table 14). City's Housing is found on the Internet address www.bostad.stockholm.se.
Table 14. Examples of apartments mediated by City’s Housing, which does not require a queuing time to get.
Area (municipality) Rent No. of Size Others
(SEK/month) rooms (m 2 )
Bromsten (Stockholm) 7 145 3 63 Balcony
Liljeholmen (Stockholm) 12 186 4 104 "
Boo (Nacka) 12 000 5 135 Terrace
Nacka strand (Nacka) 7 298 2 67 Small garden
52

Buying condominium
The buyer of a condominium purchase the right, in perpetuity, to use a particular part of a house. For the
purchase to go through the buyer must elected as a member of the housing association for the particular
house. It is usually not a problem, but the association may have special statutes like that all members must
be followers of a certain movement. It may also be that the board refuse membership for someone they
believe will have a bad economy. Though usually they are comforted by that a bank are willing to lend
money to the prospective buyer. But some people, like youngsters, are sometimes refused to loan money,
and they often solve the problem by letting their parents stand as co-owners and thus co-loaners for the
apartment.
The fee for the condominiums are normally based on each apartments size as a fraction of the total size of
the house. Which results in thatfor a twice as large apartment one pays twice as high fee. But the costs that
the fee is intended to cover does usually not double for a twice as big apartment. Which benefits owners of
small condominiums at the expense of large ones. That is not the case for rental units where the rent per
square meter is often higher for smaller apartments, or villas where many fees (like garbage collection and
water) is quite independent of the living space.
The majority of all sales of condominiums in Stockholm go through a estate agent. Probably buyers can
trust that they know has to be done regarding the agreement, the application for membership in the
association and so on. However, most estate agents do not do a proper technical inspection of the house. As
a buyer, it is also worth remembering that the estate agent primarily represents the seller. Moreover, the
agents earn more money the higher the price is for the apartment. So they are more interested in
highlighting the apartment's good side than the bad ones. Thus, the buyer should make an assessment of the
condition of what normally degenerates in a house, because if the house has to undergo extensive
renovation, it may mean that the fee increases dramatically. It is most important to consider are: sewer,
roof, facade and windows. The sewage pipes condition is checked easily by looking in the basement where
the sewage pipes merge. If the pipes are in poor condition, they are rusty in places where the pipes bend
horizontally. If the roof is bad, it is often rusty. If the facade is poor plaster has dropped in many places
(which may be noticed as plaster bulges and it sounds hollow when someone knocks there). If the windows
are in poor condition the frames soft at the bottom (you can check with a knife).
The buyer should also ask someone in the association board (prefereably the chairman) if they are planning
any costly renovations in the coming years. In addition, he or she should look through the recent annual
reports, mainly to check the association's finances. Finally, the buyer should check if the given size of the
appartment is really true. Many times, the figures are based on old measurements from a time when the
exact area was not so important.
You can find condominiums for sale on www.bovision.se and www.hemnet.se. Often, however,the final
price is far above the prices quoted in the ads. In table 15 are shown examples of condominiums whose
value has been appreciated by professional appraisers. According to the Dagens Nyheter, the average price
of condominiums in downtown Stockholm is around 34 000 SEK/m 2 . Small apartments, however, have
significantly higher price per sqaremeter, type 40 000-60 000 SEK/ m 2 . The inner suburbs it costs around
SEK 20 000 and in outlying areas, the average price is about 10 000 SEK/sqm.
The best way to check the current price per square meter in the area you are interested in is to go:
www.sbab.se, and then click on the city guide.
Table 15. Examples of condominiums apartments in the vicinity of Stockholm, whose market value has been
estimated by professional valuers for the Enforcement service.
Area (municipality) Market value Fee No. of Size Other
(SEK) (SEK/month)
rooms
m 2
Nacka 475 000 4 946 2 57 Balcony
Gröndal (Stockholm) 1 050 000 6 165 4 79 Balcony
Bergshamra (Solna) 1 200 000 2 575 3 71 Balcony
Fullersta (Huddinge) 370 000 5 616 2 67 Garden
53

On sites: www.fastighetsmaklarnamnden.se and www.boende.konsumentverket.se, you will find additional
useful information and advice regarding the purchase of condominiums.
3.
The usual way to calculate the price per square meter is to take the price and divide it by the apartment's size. A
disadvantage of this method of counting is that it does not take into account that condominium owners own a part
corresponding percentage rate of the entire house including its leased space. And the corresponding share of the
association's loans. The larger surfaces association has to hire the more square meters are included in the
purchase. But the larger loan association has the bigger loans are also included in the purchase. Thus a more
comparable measure would be as follows:
Price/m 2 = price/((square meter price for the apartment with the common method x total surface of all
condominiums in the association + the associations loans)/(total owned and rented space)).
Buying a boat
Some people live on boats at the Stockholm waterfront. It's a pretty special accommodation that do not suit
everyone, as it can become unstable and humid. The boats must be maintained both on the in- and outside.
Moreover, the standard of many of the boats I have seen inside, was quite low.
To be allowed to have a boat at one of Stockholm's harbor quays the boat has to be seaworthy (not likely to
sink), it must have a septi tank and has also to be connected to the power grid. Stockholm harbor
nonetheless supply with sockets for connecting to the power grid. The rent (see table 16) includes that the
port takes care of the contents of the septi tank. In the future, even garbage collection will be included. It is,
at present, not allowed to live on a boat at the Stockholm harbor quays, but it might be possible from the
latter part of 2005. But for those who rent a berth at the Pampas marina, garbage collection is already
includes. Water and electricity, however, costs extra but is available.
Those who want to live on a boat can go around the quays and see if there is any boat that have a "for sale"
sign, then perhaps the berth is included. I saw, for example, last summer that one of the boats on
Södermälarstrand was for sale.
It is also possible to search on the www.blocket.se. Sometimes it also happens that they advertised big
boats in Dagens Nyheter. I saw a while ago that a minesweeper on 24 meters built in 1964 with motors,
generators and more was announced there for 800 000 SEK.
Table 16. Examples of berths in Stockholm, monthly rent per meter quay and the approximate waiting time.
Quay
Rent
Aprox. queing time for
(SEK/month and meter rented quay)
a spot
Strandvägskajen Appr. 68
At least a year
Söder Mälarstrand " "
Norr Mälarstrand " "
Pampas Marina (Solna) 533
At least 10 years
54

Buying a caravan
To live in a caravan may be the cheapest way to stay in Stockholm. This especially for those who do not
need to have access to toilets and electricity and thus can set it somewhere where it is free to have it
standing. It is quiet possible to live without toilets and electricity for those who, for example, can carry out
their needs on the job and has gas heating and gas lighting in the caravan. The biggest problem is instead
that is probably not easy to find a place where it is allowed to set up a caravan free for a long time. A
solution to this, which also provides access to electrical power, toilet, shower and garbage collection is to
set the caravan on any caravan site which allows permanent residents (table 17). For more information
about the campsites on www.camping.se.
Table 17. Examples of caravan camps in Stockholm.
Area (municipality) Rent Electricity Shower
(SEK/month)
Skarpnäck (Stockholm) 3 000 Included Included
Sollentuna 2 400 0.9 SEK/kwh 5 SEK/5 min
Bromma (Stockholm) 2 800 Included 5 SEK/5 min
Sundbyberg 1 700 1 SEK/kwh 5 SEK/3 min
Flottsbro (Huddinge) 1 500 1.10 SEK/kwh Included
Buying a rental apartment
Since it is illegal to sell leases for rental apartments, those who want to capitalize on a lease have to either
change the apartment to a condominium or villa (and then sell it) or sell the contract directly to a buyer.
It is possible in principle to buy leases in three ways:
1. Buying it directly from a landlord.
2. "Move together" with the person who wants to sell his contract and ask the landlord to be named on the
contract. One possible reason for this may be for example that the couple says that they plan to have
children and do not want to be thrown out if the person with the contract dies.
3. Obtain a contract to an apartment used as an exchange object (it is allowed to change a rental apartment
to another one). This method is what the "black brokers" uses. These are generally allied with a landlord
with airy conscience. However, it is not at all clear that the landlord of the house with the apartment that
is for sale accept the change. He might deny, for example, because he suspect that they are all about
black apartment sales.
Buying an allotment
There are a number of allotment areas in Stockholm. Some of them with small houses on. The ones with
houses are often in great locations such as in Bergshamra (Solna) or Tantolunden (Södermalm), and the
operating costs are low. The local club of owners for each area often have queues for those who want an
allotment, but you can sometimes buy a house directly from an owner. I, for instance, answered an ad in
the Dagens Nyheter in the eighties that offered an allotment with a house in Bergshamra that I could by for
20 000 SEK, but my mother said no. The primary disadvantage of these for those who are looking for a
permanent accommodation is that it is only allowed to live in them during the summer months. Probably
the neighbors in the area will not like if someone lives in the cottage all year around.
55

Buying a holiday home
Holliday cottages are generally less expensive than villas and similar (see table 18), but on the other hand
they usually have lower standard and they are often inferior built. The latter include, for example, that the
insulation is thinner, the floors are failing more and so on. In addition, the roads may not be shoveled in the
winters and they are generally not connected to municipal water and sewer. This means that they have a
composting or are connected to a tank or an infiltrating device in the garden. You can find cottages for sale
on www.bovision.se and www.hemnet.se. According to the Dagens Nyheter, the average price of holiday
cottages around Stockholm is about 1.2 million SEK.
Table 18 a. Example of a cheap holiday cottages in the vicinity of Stockholm
(starting bid in the ad). Often, the final price is far above the prices quoted in the ads.
Area (municipality) Start price No. of Size house Size land
(SEK) rooms (m 2 ) (m 2 )
Lännersta Nacka) 695 000 1 20 1 755
Älgeby (Vallentuna) 500 000 3 45 2 270
Västanberg (Österåker) 575 000 2 50 1 750
Table 18 b. Examples of holiday cottages in the vicinity of Stockholm, whose market value is estimated by
professional appraisers.
Area (municipality) Market value No. of Size house Size land
(SEK) rooms (m 2 ) (m 2 )
Huddinge 750 000 2 45 1 795
Älgö (Nacka) 1 200 000 2 38 1 603
Värmdö 1 000 000 2 34 1 398
Buying a villa or similar
There are ordinary houses (villas, terrace houses, semi-detached houses et cetera) whose plot is owned by
the owner of the house. But there are also houses whose land is owned by someone else, like the
municipality (leasehold) or a housing association, these latter houses are condominium ones. It is usually
so that condominium houses are cheaper than normal houses, but there is a fee that often is greater than the
regular cost of a similar villa in addition to energy costs (ie, property taxes, property insurance, water and
garbage collection). Leasehold means that someone else (usually the municipality) owns the land, but the
owner of the leasehold has the right to indefinitely occupy it for an annual fee. Leasehold charge (ground
rent) can vary quite a lot, partly depending on when the contract was written. The agreements are usually
quite long, but sooner or later they go out and then there is a high risk of significantly increased costs. You
can find homes for sale on www.bovision.se and www.hemnet.se. According to the Dagens Nyheter, the
average price of homes in the suburbs of Stockholm at around 24 000 SEK/m 2 . In outlying areas, the
average price is about 17 000 SEK/m 2 .
Table 19 a. Example of a cheap villas in the vicinity of Stockholm (starting bid in the ad). Often, the final price
higher than the prices quoted in the ads. In addition, there are costs for registering the house on the
buyer.
Area (municipality) Start price No. of Size living Storage Size land Others
(SEK) rooms area (m 2 ) (m 2 ) ((m 2 )
Alby (Botkyrka) 1 290 000 4 131 28 339 Pair house
Tungelsta (Haninge) 975 000 2 45 28 1 972
Norrby (Haninge) 1 345 000 3 83 50 2 000
Snättringe (Huddinge) 1 350 000 3 70 70 1 780
56

Table 19 b Example of villas in the vicinity of Stockholm, whose market value has been appreciated by professional
appraisers.
Area (municipality) Market value No. of Size living Storage Size land Others
(SEK) rooms area (m 2 ) (m 2 ) (m 2 )
Rönninge (Salem) 1 100 000 5 103 21 148 Townhouse
Huddinge 2 500 000 5 158 76 1 222
Cut apartments and convert atics
There is no fundamental obstacle to divide a condominium in two or more parts. But conversion must be
approved by the condominium association's board before it starts. The benefit of cutting up a large
condominium into smaller units is solely that the price per square meter in a large apartment is lower than
for smaller ones. But the rebuilding costs can be quite high, because one probably will have to redo a lot of
electricity, water and sewage installations, and building kitchens and bathrooms.
For those who are very handy, it's probably worthwhile to instead buy a un-modified atic/basements
because they are much cheaper than finished apartments. In addition, the buyer may require that the
association gives a permit for such a conversion, since the association is generally the seller of the atic. In
the past, a big problem was that there were a blanket ban on the conversion of atics into apartments, which
meant that there was a huge bureaucratic process to get permission to rebuild. This general prohibition is,
as far as I know, however, now removed.
57

Prestige
Prestige and status are according to Nordstedts dictionary (Palmér J & H Freidländer, 1987) partly
overlapping words which booth could be explained with the word reputation. But status appears to describe
a more objectively measurable phenomena.
In order to examine the general perception of what the concept entails, 8 persons A were asked about what
they think prestige is. The answers were very different and none of them contained any of the words listed
in Nordstedts dictionary. Although the respondents did quite agree on the relative ranking of the prestige
value (table 1), i.e. The prestige scale, for a number of car models. The ranking also shows a fairly good
agreement with the difference in price of the models, except that the Volvo was ranked higher than the
Volkswagen.
Tabell 1. The participating interviewees ranking of what they believe is the general prestige scale for a number of car
models. In the second column from the left shows the price of the basic version of the models. It was not
visible to the participants. The rankings that showed complete agreement are highlighted in green and those
that did almost matches are highlighted in yellow.
Rank what you thing is the
general prestige scale for
these things
(5=highest)
Price for a new car
according to dealers
(SEK)
Participant number:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Average
ranking
Volvo V70 From 230 000 4 4 3 4 4 4 4 4 3.9
Porsche Carrera From 888 000 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5.0
Volkswagen Passat From 245 000 3 3 2 2 3 2 3 2 2.5
Fiat Panda From 104 900 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1.0
Ford Focus From 178 900 2 2 4 3 2 3 2 3 2.6
A.
Four participants were men and four women with an average age of 44 years (median: 45 years, min - max: 38-49
years) and with varying levels of education, occupation, income, family and housing conditions.
58

Although the concept possibly is unclear for the participants, the ranking in table 1 indicates that they all
have the notion that expensive objects gives more prestige value than cheaper ones. With the exception of
Volvo, which they considered to have higher prestige value than Volkswagen. And the car market is
probably full of other exceptions to this rule, if any. A used Porsche can, for example, be cheaper than a
new VW but still it probably has higher prestige value.
There are certainly plenty of other examples of prestige values that does not follow the market price. Let's
say someone buys an exclusive and rare wrist watch that look like a cheap watch from a gasoline station.
Before anyone know that it costs much more than a "regular" Rolex or Breitling would probably give the
wearer considerably less prestige than what those brands would do.
Picture 1-2. Two wrist
watches in an exclusive
watch shop.
Probably it is possible to find many more examples of the same phenomenon in other product areas. But it
is probably unnecessary since the point is hopefully clear:
For something to give the holder more prestige, it requires that people believe it is more expensive or
more difficult to achieve than other similar things.
59

The theory is supported by the fact that none of the participants in this study at all managed to achieve a
ranking of prestige value of a number of boats. Although it differed much more in price between them
compared to the car models in the table before.
Table 2.
The participating interviewees ranking of what they believe is the general prestige scale for a number of
boats. In the second column from the left shows the price of the models. It was not visible to the
participants.
Rank what you thing is the
general prestige scale f or
these things
(5=highest)
Price for a new
boat according
to a boat dealer
(SEK)
Participant number:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Yanmarin 53 BR 255 000
Alström 650 149 000
Anytime Boats 750TR
Cabin
750 000
Delta 29 SW 1 490 000
Scandic 410 24 990
Note! Do allways focus your empahsis on things that your are in control of!
Since the alternative leads to frustration rather than succes. Someone who want’s too
loose weight, for instance, is not in control over his or her weight, but in control of the
food/beverage consumption and the exercise.
60

A potential benefit of having something that gives prestige, may be that it might increase the chances of
attracting a suitable life partner. Thus, it is likely that such phenomena to some extent, have been
highlighted in the contact ads. If so, changes in what is highlighted in these, reflects changes in the
perception of what gives prestige. A very limited study of a number of such ads from 1925 onwards (table
3) suggests, among other things, that the professional title has becomme less important, while the
importance of appearance has increased.
Table 3. Porperties highlighted in the 15 B first contact ads for men seeking women in the newspaper Dagens
Nyheter, a Sunday in July every twenty years from 1925.
1925 1945 1965 1985 2005
(% of the studied ads)
Self employed 100 13 7 7
Economy 50 7 27 33
Academic 50 7 13 13
Work title 53 20 7
Sober, non-smoker, tidy 27 33 20 13
Appearance 20 40 53
Personal qualities 50 27 7 47 40
Interested in culture 20 13 20
Likes to travell 7 13
Interested in nature 27 20 13
Likes promenades,
13 13
cycling
Other/general
13 13 40 47
interests/qualities
Nothing except maybe age 13 20 7 13
is mentioned
B.
In the newspaper from the year 1925 there were only two ads of this kind.
61

Regarding titles, it may be that as the labor market has become more equitable and education has become
more accessible to everyone, the use of, and probably prestige value in educational and professional titles
has declined. The use of titles in telephone directories suggest that this is the case:
In the sixties, it was much more common with the titles of these than it is today. In addition, people were
sorted by (in order of priority):
1. Sir name, regardless of spelling variations for the first letter.
2. Title i.e. for example, all engineers were listed consecutively regardless of given name.
3. Given name.
A comparison of the first two full columns of a randomly selected name (Björk) in the Stockholm area a
number of years from 1965 onwards showed that:
- In 1965 and 1970 catalogs most C names were acompanied by a title of which the most common was wife
(1965: 98 persons of 181, 1970: 113 of 185), followed by Miss (1965: 36, 1970: 27).
- 1975 the persons were sorted only by name. 44 of the 160 names were not accompanied by any title. The
number of wives and misses in the first two full columns had also fallen dramatically, probably mainly
because of the different sorting.
- 1987 most listed persons (116 of 181) were untitled. Of those who had a title there were 17 wives and five
Miss.
- And in 2006 there were almost no one (2 of 253) who was presented with a title, neither of these two had
the title Mrs. or Miss.
B.
In six of the seven columns with people named Björk in the 65-year catalog and 7 of 8 in the 1970 year ditto
the individuals were presented with their educational or professional title.
The observations may be summarized by the following statement:
A phenomenon has only prestige value as long as it is considered to be something beyond the
ordinary.
62

Another example that suggests this is the variation in what is emphasized in housing ads in Stockholm
while living standardshas increased.
In the 1920s, it was far from all the villas that had electricity retracted. Which is seen in the ads:
Villa ads in Dagens Nyheter the 14 th Yuly 1925.
With the Swedish word for electricity highlighted.
63

Ten years later, almost all housing in Stockholm had electricity. But it was used sparingly and things like
fridges were not obvious (Tamm-Hallström K, 1993):
Apartment for rent listed in Dagens Nyheter in July 1935, with the word "fridge" circled. In the mid-30 th , there were
apparently many vacant apartments in prime locations in Stockholm.
Central heating (common radiators) was also not given D at this time and thus it was pointed out in the ads:
Villa ad in DN i July 1935, with the word
”centralvärme, v-v” (= central heating,
varm-water) circled.
D.
Only 7% of the dwellings in the
country side and 38% in larger
urban areas had central heating
1935 (Tamm-Hallström K,
1993). The rest heated their
homes through different kinds
of fire places.
64

Twenty years later, most had central heating and then it would probably not have given any prestige value
anymore, since it was something you took for granted. Instead, oil combustion was an exclusivity that were
highlighted:
Villa ads in DN twenty
years later. With the
word ”oljeeldning”
(=oil combustion)
circled.
Ten years later none of that was pointed out. But as the central heating, and later electric heating was
installed in old homes they had no longer any use of the fireplaces and these were often thrown out,
probably to save some space. Today, however, it is cocidered to be an major advantage to have one.
Condos for sale in Vi Vasastan April 2010 with the word for fireplace highlighted.
I have noticed that some groups, appears to have a degree of consensus about the dress code. And it is
likely that there are some brands that give the owner better reputation E than other. In other groups,
however, these clothes are uninteresting and the members would never buy them, even if they can afford
even the most highly respected brands.
The same applies to other things, such as cars. In some groups it seems like American cars from the '50s
gives the most respect. While such vehicles may not give any respect at all, among those who prefer
modern sports cars. In summary:
What gives respect in a group do not have to give it in another group.
The group referred to may vary from the small group of friends to much of the world's population, but not
all.
E.
I.e. prestige.
65

If a group member first lacks all the group's prestige markers and then get some of these, it is reasonable to
believe that the other group member shows appreciation for it. Though if the member got more and more
markers, he or she would probably at some point cross a border when the ambient contempt turned into
pure jealousy.
Let's say the person would go so far that he conquered all that has prestige value in the group, what would
happened then In well-defined groups, such as among stereo geeks, athletes or extreme bird watcher, the
answer seems pretty simple. As members, with increasingly advanced methods, refines their prestige items:
stereo, sports performance or the number of observed species within a given geographical area. The stereo
geek raises the limit for the perfect sound, world records are pressed and birdwatchers will charter a plane
to some remote spot as soon as unusual and previously not yet flagged species are reported. That is to say
that the limit for the highest prestige steadingly increases, with higher stakes as a result. And many have
probably marveled at the energy with which people in such groups attacking problem that for others seems
pretty insignificant. A subset of the explanation could be as follows:
The clearer and more common the prestige scale is within a group, the more committed the group
members will be in advancing on it.
Of the so far presented prestige objects it is most likely that there is an objective, measurable and universal
prestige scale (i.e. a status scale) for cars. And I think that there is a much larger portion of the population
who would like to compete in having the "coolest" car compared to a lot of other luxury goods.
But there are also other areas where people claim that there is a general prestige scale, for example in the
case of professions. Since in this context terms like "high status occupation" or otherwise "low status
occupation ", are used and quotes as the following are fairly common: "What we think and construct with
our minds have higher status than what we experience with our bodies or produce with our hands."
(Nordeman M, 1992).
There are even those who makes status scales for different professions (Söderqvist Tralau M, 2009). In
order to investigate whether it is possible to establish such a scale, the participants were asked to rank a
number of professions, that according to Söderqvist-Tralau are located quite far from each other regarding
their status and thus should be pretty easy to rank on a five-point scale.
It turned out that the ranking was quite consistent (table 4), but it differed to some extent from the ranking
Söderqvist-Tralau found. And her results differs in turn from how the scale would have looked like if it had
been based on the simplest measurable factor in this context, namely, the average wage for the various
jobs. And this shows that the scale regarding occupations are less objective, measurable and universal than
that for cars.
Table 4. The participating interviewees ranking of what they believe is the general prestige scale for a number of
professions. In the second column from the left shows the rankings according Söderqvist-Tralau, lower
number = higher status. The third column shows the average salary for those working in the profession.
These two columns were not visible to the participants. The rankings that almost matches are highlighted in
yellow.
Rank what you thing is the
general prestige scale for
these things
(5=highest)
Fire man
Ranked status
(Tralaus scale (lowe
figure=higher status)
/five grade scale)
F.
According to www.lonestatistik.se
Average sallary in
profession F
((SEK/month)/
ranking)
Participant number:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
36/3 21 797/2 4 3 4 4 4 5 4 4 4,0
Enforcement man 49/4 33 814/5 2 1 5 3 2 2 3 2 2,6
Vetrinary 13/5 31 948/4 5 5 3 5 5 4 5 5 4,6
Train driver 66/2 21 442/3 3 4 2 2 3 3 2 3 2,7
Supermarket cashier 94/1 17 700/1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1,1
Average
ranking
66

But when a number of occupations were compared with other phenomena, the participants rankings were
less consistent (table 5).
Table 5. The participants' ranking of what they consider to have the lowest (1) to highest (9) prestige value in the
eyes the general public for a number of phenomena that perhaps are prestige markers.
Thing
Participant number: Average
ranking
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Dior dress 1 2 6 4 5 2 1 6 3,4
Exclusive alloy wheels 2 1 5 1 4 1 2 5 2,6
Oil painting by Peter Dahl 6 8 4 2 7 3 3 1 4,3
Medical education 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 4 8,4
Group leader at Ericsson 3 6 8 8 1 7 8 2 5,4
Well trained body 7 4 2 3 3 6 7 8 5,0
Main role in a TV show 5 3 3 7 6 5 6 9 5,5
Fifth place in Vasaloppet 4 7 1 5 2 8 5 3 4,4
Apartment on a fancy adress 8 5 7 6 8 4 4 7 6,1
After each participant had made the ranking presented in tables 1, 2, 4 and 5, I asked them: Is your own
scale the same And there were just as many who said yes (4 persons), as no. Suggesting that many
believe/think their own prestige scale is shared by the general public. Not just for cars, boats and
professions, but also for mixed phenomena as those in table 5. But some of those interviewed, however
pointed out, without being asked about this, that they don’t think that there is a general prestige scale.
When the interviewees' were asked about their prestige scales for a number of familiar phenomena (the
question wa open without given alternatives). It turned out that although the ranking ladder was rough and
despite that the various phenomena reasonably often are ranked in our society, the answers were very
different from person to person. The most stringent and similar rankings were regarding education (table 6
in the Swedish version of this book). It is of course not surprising since most of the participants have gone
to the university and they have thus, if not earlier, received a general prestige scale in terms of the
traditional educational stages: primary, secondary school, undergraduate education at a university, doctoral
education at a university.
Regarding jobs (table 7 in the Swedish version) the responses were significantly less stringent. And
probably more personally colored by the participants' own experiences. The same applied to housing (table
8), family relationships (table 9), and spare time activities (table 10).
The explanation for the different rankings I think is that they were a very heterogeneous group. They
belong to different professions. Regarding the accommodation, some live in one of Stockholm's inner
suburbs. Other live further away from the center, or even in another part of the country. Many live in an
apartment, some have a villa. Some are married, others are single or divorced. Some of them have children
living at home, others have grown-up children, while still others are childless. Some are interested in
playing sport while others like to travel.
And society consists, as is well known, of a more or less infinite variety of groups and we feel like
participants in a number of these. Some groups are well defined, others are more diffuse. Some may have a
distinct prestige scale, others do not. But each individual has a unique mix of group affiliations, with
associated prestige scales. And the rankings in table 7-10 spanned a variety of group affiliations. Unlike the
ranking in table 6 that affected academic programs and, regarding that issue all but two belonged to the
loosely defined group of academics. In sumary I draw the following conclusion:
Every person's overall prestige scale is unique.
67

References
Lagerqvist L O & Nathorst-Böös E (1984) Vad kostar det, LT Förlag, Stockholm.
SCB (2004) Statistisk årsbok för Sverige 2005, SCB, Örebro.
Nordeman M (1992) Kärlek på äldre dar, LT förlag, Stockholm.
Palmér J & Freidländer H (1987) redaktörer, Ord för ord, Nordstedts, Stockholm.
Söderqvist Tralu M 2009 Status, Norstedts, Stockholm.
Tamm-Hallström K (1993) Företagande och tekniskt systemskifte – elektrifieringen och introduktionen av
elspisen, tidskriften Polhem 1993 (volym 1), Göteborg.
68

Political ideologies
Political ideologies are views on how we best live together. As classical ideologies counts conservatism,
liberalism and socialism (see table 1). All political parties have some form of ideology that constitutes the
basis of their positions. Often it is a mix between any of the three major ideologies and the partys own
heart issues. The practice of the ideologies changes, of course, to some extent the whole time due to e.g.
social, technological and political contentious issues of the day. But despite that, still today the classical
ideologies characterizes our parties real politics to quite a large extent. And it's really on a certain ideology
that each voter vote. For no party program, regardless of how detailed it is, can include all decisions that
will be taken during the coming term.
Table 1. Conservatisms, liberalisms and socialisms fundamental view on man.
Ideology
View on man
Conservatism Man has his evil and weak sides and these must be controlled. A single
person's intelligence is not sufficient to grasp all aspects of society.
People are unequal in most aspects. We have different intelligence,
different abilities and different talents. Thus, we also have different
roles and functions in society.
Liberalism
Socialism
All people regardless of class, gender, or race, have the means necessary
to take rational decisions that are the foundation of individual freedom.
All people can take responsibility for themselves. Therefore, the
Individuals should be freed from government control and regulation.
Man is shaped by the social environment. Inequality exists as long as
society is organized in an unequal manner.
Each of these ideologies have its naturally points and to some extent they are self fulfilling. The
conservative ideology, for example, emphasizes rewarding the talented, which has the advantage that it
creates incentives for people to fight and it will to some extent benefit the whole community. This basic is
yet clearly noticeable in today's real politics under the conservative rule in Sweden and Stockholm,
including that:
School = Grades in younger ages and elite classes do, according to the conservative, that the children will
make more effort and that the country will receive a competitive elite. Furthermore, some are suited to do
the thinking while others to do the hard work, and thus vocational education should be short and focused
entirely on practical work.
Health care = "All" may open clinics and compete for patients, then elite concepts will crystallize for the
benefit of all.
Transport = Increase the tariffs in the Stockholm public transport, ecspecially for those who trawells longer
distances, and unwillingness to invest in large-scale collective solutions as new subway lines. Favors those
who manage to arrange it so well that live near their work and/or invest in their own car, on behalf of those
who rely on community solutions.
Household economy = poor areas in the city will now receive relatively less money to help the needy.
Because it's better that everyone gets the same part of the cake than that the poor receive more, as the latter
is not deserving more. For those who don´t make enough money too meet their needs, there is always the
possibility of working overtime and with government subsidies let someone else do some of the
housework. Tax credits for those who work is a carrot to get more people to into work instead of exploiting
society and live as, for example, retired. Reduced corporate tax favors those who really make an effort,
namely the business owners. And it makes people shape up and start their own business, instead of relying
on the work that others have created.
69

Unemployment = Mandatory adult day care for all who have been unemployed for a long time is good,
because those who have no jobs are in that situation because they don´t want to work, so the best way to
get these to work is to make unemployment more inconvenient.
Accommodation = The accommodation should be entirely governed by market forces, the higher the
income, the finer residential address. Anyone who has an exclusive and well-located accommodation
should not be punished with higher property taxes than those living where nobody wants to live.
The basis of the liberal ideology, however, is that the individual's ability and willingness to improve their
situation is society's main engine. Liberalism influences today's right-wing policies with actions that lead
to:
School = Over establishment of schools and mismanagement of society's money, so that children in the
fierce competition among them, are attracted to strange courses without reality. Because the most important
thing is that "everyone" has the right to start the schools and the children have many alternatives to choose
from.
Health care= It is up to each one to find the best alternative, which is an incentive for staff in the health
care to work harder and for patients to compare treatment options. The contractors shall have the right to
establish themselves wherever they want. If there is over establishment only the most fitted companies will
survive. Special service building for elderly people takes away our possibilities to form our own way of
living when we are old. Thus rebuilt service buildings to ordinary apartments for older people.
Transport = Everyone has the freedom to choose work and transportation, and it is best that each one solves
it in its own way.
Household economy = It is up to each individual to ensure that revenues are sufficient for the necessities in
life. With tax reduce for home maids every one can choose if they want to work more, or contribute
themselves to the housework.
Unemployment = It is each individual's responsibility to choose the right training and suitable employment,
so community-driven initiatives to guide people, employment training and career breaks, are unnecessary
social activities.
Accommodation = It is best that the market forces are in control the housing market and the society shall
do nothing. Then each person can choose for himself how he wants to solve his housing problem.
The socialist instead thinks that everyone should be given the same chance to succeed and to feel confident,
which ultimately increases the total amount of benefits that can be produced. It can be seen in such things
as:
School = Society takes responsibility for ensuring that all children have an equally good chance to be
competitive adults. Society also takes responsibility to taxpayers that their money is used as efficiently as
possible, by limiting the number of schools that compete for the same students. Grades at an early age do,
according socialist, that those who are late in the start will feel stupid and maybe lose the desire to go to
school.
Health care = Society assumes responsibility for that all health care services provided are of good quality,
so that citizens can safely go to the nearest facility. It should in addition be enough many healthcare
facilities, at a reasonable distance for all.
Transport = Large-scale investments in public transportation such as subways and railroads are good for
the environment, providing efficient travel and greater opportunities for reasonable living conditions even
for those with low incomes.
70

Household economy = If all children receive reasonable living conditions, the proportion of good citizens
when they reach adulthood will increase. And if wverybody is confidence that society does not put anyone
on the street if an accident occurs, it reduces the general concern for the future.
Unemployment = A lavishly security for all in the event of unemployment, means that anyone can engage
in what he is good at, without having to worry about if things go well for employer or not.
Accommodation = It is not good for society if all poor people live in one area and all rich in another. If
society owns rental apartments even in upmarket areas, the opportunity for everyone to make a career in
their residential address increases.
71

The history of states
How today's nations emerged
The opposite of social systems is that all individuals take care of themselves completely from birth until
death. It has never existed in human history and it is not even given in the fauna. Possibly it exists among
microscopic animals like bacteria’s, some species of fish and insects like flies. All the animals who take care
of their offspring, however, have systems to ensure that they get food and divides resources to defend their
children against enemies. Flock living carnivores like dogs share the booty according to particular systems
decided by the leader. Some animals, such as ants and bees, even have systems where different individuals
are given different tasks from birth.
The financial systems in the fauna seems, in contrast to our system, evolve very little over time. It may be
because they do not have hands or have too little brain. It may also be because they do not have equal need
of development that we humans have. We have so little hair that we need clothes to protect ourselves against
sun and cold, we need tools to kill many of the animals that we want to eat and our offspring require more
time from when they are born until they look after themselves. The latter have the effect that we need to
organize ourselves and allocate resources for the children's sake for longer time than animals, besides maybe
elephants. And secondly, it has the effect that it costs more for us to create a "complete" individual, which
results in that we most likely are less willing than animals to sacrifice any individual.
Probably we humans long ago started to, like bees, specialize for the best of our flock. Some hunted, others
picked fruits and someone was assigned the task of allocating workers in a smart way.
Over time, the flocks became larger and with it the specialization went further. Flocks merged, more or less
voluntarily, with other flocks (villages) and subordinate themselves under a common leader, which
guaranteed some measure of defense against other groups of flocks. All those who offered services to the
others, especially the leader and those who protected the other, took charge for this and eventually humanity
ended up in an economic and social system that is about the same as today. Some of the most important
events in the shaping of today's flocks (states) are described below.
Figure 1. The most organized large kingdoms the year 0. The Roman Empire grew during the years 340-270 BC from
just include the city of Rome to cover the majority of the Italian peninsula. Then it grew further, through
various wars, and involved just before the year 0 all coasts around the Mediterranean. It reached its greatest
extent the year 117 th . In some areas the citizens had full Roman citizenship, in others it was limited, while
those in additionally other parts they were "allies" that were basically allowed to take care of themselves.
China was since 206 BC ruled by the Han Dynasty and was therefore called the Han Empire. They led a
successful policy of expansion and it was about 100 years later, even greater than the Roman Empire. In
addition to China there were in Asia organized kingdoms in India and the southwestern part of the Arabian
Peninsula (present Oman and Yemen).
In Africa, there were organized kingdoms in present Sudan and Ethiopia.
Mayans had organized cultures in parts of Mexico and there were pretty organized cultures also in the
western United States and in the Andes.
72

500 years later, the Roman Empire fell to a fragment consisting of its former eastern part (Eastern Roman
Empire = Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel and Egypt). Eastern Roman Empire existed until
the 1400s, but the boundaries were often changed and during the latter part it was called the Byzantine
Empire. The majority of the Roman Empires Western European cities were reduced or disappeared. The
Han-Empire had also disappeared, and in its place there were three rival Chinese kingdoms. Moreover, there
were organized kingdoms in the current Iran and Iraq (Sassandinska kingdom), India and Japan.
Around 700 the first North American cities were built in the Mississippi Valley.
Japan
England
Spain
China
Portugal
Austria
Denmark
France
Sweden
Figure 2. The larger nations that, in reasonably orderly form, existed in 1000, and still do, and their approximate
contemporary borders. In addition to these larger kingdoms there was Ethiopia, whose former borders I do
not know.
The city of Timbuktu (in the central African country of Mali) was founded in 1100.
In 1255 Prague and Stockholm became cities.
In the current Peru, Incas expanded their empire and the Aztecs expanded in Central America. The Aztecs
were farmers and they lived in western Mexico, but in the early 1300s, they were forced to move to what is
now Mexico City, two marshy islands in Texoco Sea. The city was built of stone and was connected to the
mainland by a number of bridges. The area around the city was drained and there was fertile land that gave
such great harvests that the population could grow significantly and even feed a professional army. This, and
some other American cultures, was thus relatively high standing regarding building technology. But they
could not make iron and besides Incas (who used bronze objects) metals was used only for decoration. They
lacked also wheeled vehicles and pull, riding and pack animals (besides that llamas were used for carrying
loads in Peru).
73

Japan
England
Spain
China
Portugal
Turkey
Austria
France
Denmark
Figure 3. The larger nations that existed in fairly orderly form in 1400 and still do (besides Ethiopia and Thailand,
whose former extent I do not know), and their approximate borders at that time. In 1400 Sweden did not
exist because we were in "union" with Denmark, between 1389 to 1521.
Beijing was founded in 1400 and became the nation's capital.
The Portuguese and the Spaniards began in the 1400s to explore the world, for various reasons, probably
mainly:
- The Portuguese had developed a kind of good ocean sailing vessels (the caravels).
- Their economies were dependent on gold and silver currency, but low availability of the metals had
plunged them and many other European countries in a recession.
- The trade route to India was controlled by the Ottoman Empire and they closed the way for other nations
(first it was the spices and silk that attracted the Europeans, later they began to also import cotton fabrics
and carpets, perfumes, tobacco and basic commodities like rice, salt and wheat).
These explorations led to that the Spaniard Christopher Columbus reached America in 1492, and also to that
the Portuguese sailed along the coast of Africa in search of a waterway to India. The Portuguese established
coastal colonies to ensure supply stores along the way and to acquire slaves (but the interior of the continent
remained unexplored by Westerners until the 1800s). These efforts eventually led to Portuguese trading
posts in India.
1480 the Grand Duchy of Moscow liberated itself from the Mongols, who at that time ruled large areas of
land in today's Russia in particular. The city became the center of the new kingdom Russia and it expanded
strongly well into the 1900s.
The European trade with slaves from Africa was officially launched the year 1496 th .
The same year the Spaniards founded the first city in the New World, with the construction of Santo
Domingo, which is now the capital of the Dominican Republic.
Around 1520 was the Aztec empire was destroyed by the Spaniards. Ten years later, they had beaten also the
Incas. This allowed the Spaniards to seize their production of gold and silver, which made Spain rich and
powerful. The main source of silver was a mine in the Andes which in 1570 had a population that was
almost as big as the one in Paris (120 000 people).
1532 was the starting point of the first permanent Portuguese settlement in Brazil.
In the mid 1500s, slaves overtook the position of being the most important African export goods from gold.
74

English, French and Dutch conquerors took islands in the Caribbean Sea from the Spaniards (some Spanish
islands had already been emptied of people to get slaves to their projects and on others they had died of in
diseases). On the North American mainland Englishmen started settlements in Virginia and New England,
the French did the same in Quebec and Louisiana and the Dutch in what they called New Netherlands.
Figure 4. The larger nations that existed in fairly orderly form in 1600 and still do (besides Ethiopia and Thailand),
and their approximate borders at that time.
After the British victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588, they broke the Portuguese and Spanish
domination on the seas. 1612 their monopoly of trade with India also was broken, when the British East
India company 1 defeat of the Portuguese in India.
But it was the Dutch who dominated the East India trade during the 1600s. Because they built simple long
and narrow sailing vessels with plenty of cargo space and they could sail long distances without going to
port. Though both English and Dutch trading posts were built India in the 1600s.
At the beginning of the 1700s the English and the Scots chosed to merge into one nation (the UK) and they
took the lead in the further colonization. But China also expanded and conquered Mongolia, Tibet and
Nepal.
1. The early western colonization was operated as semi-public/semi-private companies. Columbus voyage to America
was funded by Italian investors and the early English, French and Dutch colonizers were private companies (trading
companies, like East India Company).
Japan
England
Spain
China
Port./Spain.
Turkey
Iran
France
Russia
Sweden
Denmark
Netherland
Austria
75

Japan
Great Brit.
Spain
China
Portugal
Turkey
Iran
France
Russia
Sweden
Preussen
Figure 5. The larger nations that existed in fairly orderly form in 1800 and still do (besides
Ethiopia and Thailand), and their approximate borders at that time.
At the end of the 1700s more than 12 million slaves had been shipped from Africa to
America. The slaves were captured by local rulers and sold to European traders. In
exchange, the rulers got cotton, copper, iron, tin, brandy and glass jewelry.
Denmark
Holland
Austria
USA
1834 slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire.
In 1864 prisoner transportation to Australia was abolished.
Figure 6. The larger nations that existed in fairly orderly form in 1900 and still do, and their approximate borders at
that time. The countries that got independence from Spain during the 1800s are marked .
As seen in figure 6 was a large part of the world in 1900, controlled by European colonial powers. And the
majority of today's countries did not yet exist, because of all the approximately 188 fully independent
sovereign states that existed in 2000, 102 has been added since 1959 (table 1).
76

Table 1. When the countries that existed in 2000 became fully independent and organized states (apart from shorter
occupations e.g. during World War II) and what the areas were before that.
Country Independence What it was before independence
Afghanistan 1700s Part of sometimes Ottoman / Persian Empire - 1700s
Albania 1913 Part of the Ottoman Empire 1300/1400-tal -1878, then divided into several states
Algeria 1962 French colony 1830-1962
Andorra 819 Part of France
Angola 1975 Portuguese colony 1491-1975
Antigua and 1981 British colony / protectorate 1667-1981
Barbuda
Argentina 1810 Spanish colony 1527-1816
Armenia 1991 Ottoman Empire in 1500's-1800's, Russia 1882-1918, 1920-1991 Soviet
Australia about 1945 British colony that is gradually freed from 1901-1986
Azerbaijan 1991 Persia in 1500's-1813, Russia from 1813 to 1918, the Soviet Union 1920-1991
Bahamas 1973 British colony / protectorate 1792-1973
Bahrain 1971 Persian -1521, Portuguese 1521-1602, Persian 1602-1783. British 1861-1971
Bangladesh 1971 British colony / protectorate -1947, Pakistan 1947-1971
Barbados 1966 British colony / protectorate 1627-1966
Belgium 1831 Different sovereignty, divided the Netherlands and France -1831
Belize 1981 British colony / protectorate -1981
Benin 1960 French colony 1851/93-1960
Bhutan 19 British protectorate in 1910 -
Bolivia 1825 Spanish colony in 1500's-1825
Bosnia and
Herzegovina
1995 Ottoman Empire 1463 -1878, 1878-1918 Austria, alliance with neighboring
countries 1918-1991
Botswana 1966 British colony / protectorate 1885-1966
Brazil 1822 Portuguese colony 1532-1822
Brunei 1983 British colony / protectorate 1890-1983
Bulgaria 1878 Ottoman Empire 1300/1400-tal-1878
Burkina Fasso 1960 French colony 1896-1960
Burma 1948 British colony / protectorate 1890-1948
Burundi 1962 German colony 1890-1919, Belgian colony 1919-1962
Central African 1960 French colony 1884-1960
rope.
Chile 1818 Spanish colony in 1500's-1818
Colombia 1830 Spanish colony of about 1500-1819, Gran colombia 1819-1930
Costa rica About 1839 Spanish colony 1540-1821, Mexico 1822-1823, federation m neighbors 1824-
1839 + 1897-1898
Cyprus 1960 British colony / protectorate 1878-1960
Denmark About 985 Various small kingdoms
Dem Rep of
1960 Belgian colony 1885-1960
Congo
Djibuti 1977 French colony 1884-1977
Dominica 1978 British colony / protectorate 1763-1978
Dominican rep. 1844 Spanish colony in 1500's-1821, Haiti 1821-1844
Ecuador 1830 Spanish colony in 1500's-1819, 1819-1930 Gran colombia
Egypt 1922 Ottoman Empire in 1500-1882's, a Britis h colony from 1882 to 1922
Equatorial
1968 Spanish colony 1843-1968
Guinea
El Salvador 1838 Spanish colony in 1520's-1821, Mexico, the federation m neighboring countries
1821-1838
Ivory Coast 1960 French colony 1842/82-1960
Eritrea 1994 Italian colony 1889-1941, British Administration 1941-1952, Ethiopia 1952-1994
Estonia 1991 Sweden 1561-1721, Russia 1721-1920, freely 1920-1944, the Soviet Union
1944-1991
Ethiopia 300s Were the 300's, crumbled in the 1700s, it was agreed back in 1853
fiji 1970 British colony / protectorate from the end of the 1800s-1970
Philippines 1946 Spanish colony in 1500's-1898, American colonists 1898-1943
Finland 1917 Sweden 1249-1809, Russia 1809-1917
77

France 843 Varying affiliation -843
FRY 1992/2006 Austria 1300's-1918, Yugoslavia (in various forms) from 1918 to 1992, Federal
Serbia and Montenegro, 1992-2006
UAE 1971 British colony / protectorate 1892-1971
Gabon 1960 French colony 1884-1960
Gambia 1965 British colony / protectorate 1843-1965
Georgia 1991 Russia, 1700s-1918, the Soviet Union 1921-1991
Ghana 1957 British colony / protectorate 1901-1957
Greece 1830 Ottoman Empire 1300/1400-tal-1830
Branch Anda 1974 British colony / protectorate -1974
Guatemala 1847 Spanish colony 1523/42-1821, federation m neighboring countries 1821-1847
Guinea 1958 French colony 1843-1958
Guinea-Bissau 1974 Portuguese colony 1886-1974
Guyana 1966 British colony / protectorate 1831 -1966
Haiti 1804 Spanish colony in 1500's-1697, a French colony from 1697 to 1804, the United
States 1915-1934
Honduras 1838 1524-1821 Spanish colony, 1821-1838 federation m neighbors
India 1947 British colony / protectorate -1947 (+ A number of Portuguese & French trading
posts became free later)
Indonesia 1954 Dutch colony 1850-1949
Iraq 1932 Ottoman Empire 1534-1918, British colony / protectorate 1918-1932
Iran 1500s Turkish followed by Mongolian
Ireland About 1937 Union with Great Britain 1801-1937/49
Iceland 1944 1262-1389 Norway, Denmark 1389-1944
Israel 1948 Ottoman Empire in 1500-1920's, a British colony / protectorate 1920-48
Italy 1861 Small kingdoms -1861
Jamaica 1962 British colony / protectorate 1655-1962
Japan 500sl Small kingdoms
Yemen 1990 South Yemen: British 1800s-1967, North Yemen: Ottoman 1800-1918, late 1990
Jordan 1946 Ottoman Empire in 1500-1920's, a British colony / protectorate 1920-46
Cambodia 1954 French colony 1863-1954
Cameroon 1960 German colony 1884-1919, French colony 1919-1960
Canada About 1949 British colony / protectorate from the 1600s that gradually avveklades to 1982
Cape Verde 1975 Portuguese colony 1456-1975
Kazakhstan 1991 Russia / USSR 1731-1991
Kenya 1963 British colony / protectorate 1898-1963
China Before 0 China has in various existed for over 2000 years
Kyrgyzstan 1991 Russia / Soviet 1800s-1991
Kiribati 1979 British colony / protectorate 1892-1979
Comoros 1975 French colony 1841/86-1975
Kongo 1960 Portuguese colony 1400s -1891, French colony from 1891 to 1960
Croatia 1991 Austria 1700s-1918, different unions with neighboring States 1918-1991
Cuba 1909 Spanish colony in 1500's-1902, the U.S. controlled 1902-1909
Kuwait 1961 Ottoman Empire 1700s-1899, the British colony / protectorate 1899-1961
Laos 1954 French colony -1954
Lesotho 1966 British colony / protectorate 1868-1966
Latvia 1991 Sweden 1629-1709, Russia 1709-1920, freely 1920-1944, the Soviet Union
1944-1991
Lebanon 1943 Ottoman Empire in 1500-1920's, a British colony / protectorate 1920-43
Liberia 1847 Portuguese colony (coastal area) 1461-1847
Libya 1951 Ottoman Empire in 1500-1911's, Italian colony from 1911 to 1941, the British
administration from 1941 to 1952
Lichtenstein 1866 Association with other German principalities -1866
Lithuania 1990 Union with Poland in 1500's-1795, Russia from 1795 to 1918, ex 1918-1944,
1944-1990 Soviet
Luxembourg 1866 Varying affiliation, later German Confederation 1815-1866
Madagascar 1960 French colony 1643-1960
Macedonia 1991 Ottoman Empire in 1300's -1913, divided on Serbia and Bulgaria 1913-1918,
various associations with neighboring States 1918-1991
78

Malawi 1964 British colony / protectorate 1891 - 1953, the Central African Federation, 1953-
1963
Malaysia 1957 Portuguese colons 1500's-1800's, a British colony / protectorate 1800-tal-1957/63
Maldives 1965 British colony / protectorate 1887-1965
Mali 1960 French colony 1893/1904-1960
Malta 1964 British colony / protectorate 1815-1964
Morocco 1956 French colony 1912-1956
Mauritania 1960 French colony -1960
Mauritius 1968 Dutch 1598-1715, French 1715-1810, UK 1810-1968
Mexico 1821 Spanish colony 1519-1821
Mozambique 1975 Portuguese colony 1505-1975
Moldova 1991 Russia/Soviet, 1794-1991
Mongolia 1990s China 1600s-1911, Russian vassal state from 1921 to 1990's
Namibia 1990 German colony 1888-1919, South Africa / UK 1920-1990
Nauru 1968 German colony 1885-1919, Australia / UK 1919-1968
The Netherlands 1579 Varying affiliation, later Spain
Nepal 1911 Controlled by China -1911
Nicaragua 1839 Spanish colony 1524-1823, 1823-1839 federation m neighbors
Niger 1960 French colony 1899/1912-1960
Nigeria 1960 British colony / protectorate 1861/1900-1960
North Korea 1948 Japanese colony 1895-1945, Soviet administered 1945-1948
Norway 1905 Denmark 1389-1810, Sweden 1810-1905
New Zealand 19 British colony / protectorate 1840 -
Oman 1971 Ottoman Empire 1659-1741, British colony / protectorate 1891-1971
Pakistan 1971 British colony / protectorate -1947
Palau 1994 Spanish 1800-1899, 1899-1914 German, Japanese 1914-1944, United States
1944-1994
Panama 1978 ca 1500-1821 Spanish colony, 1821-1903 Colombia, American protectorate
1903-1978
Papua New
1975 Australian / British colony / protectorate 1919-1975
Guinea
Paraguay 1811 Spanish colony in 1500's-1811
Peru 1821 Spanish colony in 1500's-1821
Poland 1918 For a long time free then divided between Russia, Presussen (Germany) and
Austria, 1795-1918
Portugal 1128 Supremacy varied over time, freely 1128-1580, Spain 1580-1640
Qatar 1971 Ottoman Empire 1872-1916, British colony / protectorate 1916-1971
Romania 1881 Ottoman Empire 1400s-1700s, Russia 1700s-1881
Rwanda 1962 German colony 1890-1919, Belgian colony 1919-1962
Russia 1480 The golden horde (Mongolian State) 1226-1480/1502
St. Kitts and 1983 British colony / protectorate 1623-1983
Nevis
St Lucia 1979 British colony / protectorate 1814-1979
St. Vincent & the 1979 British colony / protectorate 1763-1979
Grenadines
Solomon Islands 1978 British colony / protectorate 1890s-1978
Samoa 1961 German colony 1900-1914, New Zealand 1914-1961
São Tomé and 1975 Portuguese colony 1483-1975
Príncipe
Saudi Arabia - Have never been colonized off or occupied, but was populated long as "just" the
nomadic people
Switzerland 1291 Part of the Holy Roman Empire - 1291
Senegal 1960 French colony 1637/1889-1960
Seychelles 1976 British colony / protectorate 1814-1976
Sierra Leone 1961 British colony / protectorate 1787-1961
Singapore 1963 British colony / protectorate 1819-1963
Slovakia 1993 Hungary's 800-1918, Tjeckolsovakien 1918-1939, 1945-1993 Tejckoslovakien
Slovenia 1991 Austria 1300's-1918, different unions with neighboring States 1918-1991
Somalia 1960 Italian colony 1881-1960
79

Spain 1479 Divided in several men
Sri Lanka 1948 British colony / protectorate -1948
UK 400s Part of roma empire-400's, then England from 1707
Sudan 1956 British colony / protectorate 1899-1956
Suriname 1975 Dutch colony 1600s-1975
Sweden 1521 Denmark 1389-1521
Swaziland 1958 British colony / protectorate 1903-1958
South Africa 19 British colony / protectorate 1814/1902-
Korea 1948 Japanese colony 1895-1945, the United States administered 1945-1948
Syria 1944 Ottoman Empire in 1500-1920's, French colony / protectorate 1920-1944
Tajikistan 1991 Russia/Soviet -1991
Taiwan 1945 Part of China -1945
Tanzania 1961 German colony 1890-1919, British colony / protectorate 1919-1961
Chad 1960 French colony 1884-1960
Thailand 1300s Do not know
Czech Republic 1993 Austria 1500's-1918, Tjeckolsovakien 1918-1939, Germany 1939-1945, Czechsl.
1945-1993
Togo 1960 German colony 1894-1919, British colony / protectorate 1919-1960
Tonga 1970 British colony / protectorate 1900-1970
Trinidad &
1962 British colony / protectorate 1802-1962
Tobago
Tunisia 1956 French colony 1881-1956
Turkey Avout 1300 Called Ottoman / Ottoman Empire about1300-1923
Turkmenistan 1991 Russia/Soviet, 1884-1991
Tuvalu 1978 British colony / protectorate early 1900s-1978
Germany 1871 Small kingdoms
Uganda 1962 British colony / protectorate 1890/94-1962
Ukraine 1991 Russia/Soviet 1700s -1991
Hungary 1918 Shared on Austria and the Ottoman Empire -1699, part of Austria 1699-1918
Uruguay 1828 Spanish colony 1600s-1814, Brazil 1821-1828
USA 1776 British colony / protectorate -1776
Uzbekistan 1991 Russia Soviet 1800s-1991
Vanuatu 1980 French and British colony 1800s-1980
Venezuela 1830 Spanish colony 1500-1819, Gran colombia 1819-1930
Vietanm 1954 French colony 1885-1954
Belarus 1991 Russia/Soviet 1700s-1991
Western Sahara 1979 Spanish colony 1884-1975, Morocco + Mauritania from 1975 to 1979, large parts
still occupied by Morocco
Zambia 1964 British colony / protectorate 1924-1953, the Central African Federation, 1953-
1964
Zimbabwe 1980 British colony / protectorate 1888-1980
Austria 996 See below
A very confusing part of the European States history is the relationship between all the central European small states,
the Holy Roman Empire, Austria, Austria-Hungary and the Habsburg Monarchy (Habsburg Empire).
Holy Roman Empire existed from the late 900's and it contained when it was at its peak: Germany, Austria, Slovenia,
Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, parts of eastern France, northern Italy, Croatia, and
western and northern Poland. But it was not really a nation. Instead it was a loose federation between a number of
principalities, with some common laws and a single emperor. The various princes met and made joint decisions in a
parliament which was usually held in the current Bavaria. The Emperor was since the 1400s, always from the Austrian
House of Habsburg.
The empire was formally dissolved in 1806, and part of the principalities organized themselves instead in the
Confederation of the Rhine. And the Holy Roman Emperor chosed to call himself emperor of Austria. But neither
Austria was a country. Instead Austria consisted of a federation between various duchies, counties and kingdoms. In
addition, they formed a union with Hungary in the years 1867-1918. But despite all this, the country of Austria is
considered to be founded in 996.
80

Demographic trends
The year 0, there were perhaps 300 million people worldwide, of which about 100 2 millions lived in one of
the two most organized states: The Roman Empire and China (Han Empire). Other relatively densely
populated areas where current Iran and Iraq (say 15 million) and India (perhaps 40 million). As seen in chart
1, and to some extent chart 2, not so much happened with the world's population until the 1800s, and
especially during the second half of the 1900s. In the "old" countries, especially those located in Europe,
however, the latter increase was quite small. Because of the 56 fully independent states that existed in 1926
and still remain, 22 had an increase of less than 1.5 times between 1950 and 2000 (green in table 2, yellow =
1.5 to 3, Red => 3 times increase) and 21 of these are in Europe. But of all the approximately 188 fully
independent sovereign states that existed in 2000, there are only 34 whose population has not grown more
than 1.5 times over the same period (table 3).
Population of the world
Amount (miljons inhabitants) .
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
The
world
China
India
Europé
Asia
America
Afrika
Oceanien
Chart 1. Estimate of the
world’s population 0-2000.
The figures are, of course,
very unreliable. But the
probably most interesting
things are how small the
increase was between 0
and 1000, the drop in the
1300s 3 , and the explosion
during the 1900s.
0
0 1000 1250 1300 1500 1800 1900 2000 Year
2.
Number of persons .
5 000 000
4 000 000
3 000 000
2 000 000
1 000 000
0
Population in Sweden
Men
Women
1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 Year
Chart 2. The population in Sweden 1750-2000 4 .
The number of inhabitants increases with over 1,6 million
persons between 1850-1900, despite that many of us
emigrated to the US. It is due to that far more people
survived until reproductive age, because the improved
health care and more food (see History of technology).
While they still had about the same amount of kids as
before.
When the Roman Empire was at its peak, about the year 100, it included, in addition to what was marked in figure
1, even England. Then lived there about 50 million people. In China, they made a Census year 2, which showed
that there lived more than 57 million people.
3.
4.
In the 1200s there was a serious problem in India, in the Himalayas. It was later called the Black Death and spread
around the world. In the middle of the 1300s it raged in Asia, Europe and North Africa. Within two years from the
first case in Europe 1/3 of the entire population of Europe had died. The symptoms were black bloody swelling,
severe pain and ultimately death. It was due to parasites in the stomach of rats and humans. But because it was
thought that it was spread by cats and dogs they killed these, which further contributed to the spread of the disease.
The information comes from the parish registers which births and deaths recorded by the priest. This data was
compiled by the church and sent to the authorities. Although Sweden has the oldest still existing statistics in this
area, there is no reliable data from earlier than the 1750 th .
81

Table 2. Size and population of the countries that was completely souvereign 5 States around 1926, according to
Tidens Calendar 1927 and population data for 1950 and 2000 from the UN website www.globalis.se.
The former country names Size (km 2 ) Inhabitants
(millions)
Inhabitants /size
(pers./km 2 )
Inhabitants
1950
(millions)
Inhabitants
2000
(millions)
Inhabitants
2000/1950
Abessinia (Ethiopia) 900 000 9,5 10,56 18,43 69,39 3,76
Afghanistan 650 000 11 16,92 8,15 20,74 2,54
Albania 30 000 0,85 28,33 1,22 3,08 2,53
Andorra 450 0,005 11,11 0,01 0,07 11,00
Arabia (Saudiarabia et al) No data No data No data - - -
Argentina 2 790 000 10 3,58 17,15 36,90 2,15
Belgium 30 440 7,8 256,24 8,63 10,19 1,18
Bolivia 1 590 000 3 1,89 2,71 8,32 3,06
Brazil 8 511 000 30,6 3,60 53,98 174,16 3,23
Bulgaria 103 100 5,1 49,47 7,25 8,00 1,10
Chile 751 500 3,9 5,19 6,08 15,41 2,53
Colombia 1 283 000 6,6 5,14 12,57 41,68 3,32
Costa Rica 50 000 0,5 10,00 0,97 3,93 4,07
Denmark 44 300 3,5 79,01 4,27 5,34 1,25
Dominican rep. 50 000 0,9 18,00 2,43 8,74 3,60
Ecuador 307 000 2 6,51 3,39 12,31 3,63
Egypt 935 300 14 14,97 21,83 66,53 3,05
Estonia 47 550 1,2 25,24 1,10 1,37 1,24
Finland 388 500 3,5 9,01 4,01 5,18 1,29
France 551 000 40,4 73,32 41,83 59,19 1,41
Greece 127 000 6,2 48,82 7,57 10,98 1,45
Guatemala 113 000 2 17,70 3,15 11,23 3,57
Honduras 100 250 0,773 7,71 1,49 6,20 4,17
Italy 309 700 40 129,16 47,10 57,69 1,22
Japan 677 400 85 125,48 83,63 127,03 1,52
Yugoslavia 249 000 12,5 50,20 - -
China 11 100 000 440 39,64 554,76 1269,96 2,29
Cuba 114 500 3,4 29,69 5,92 11,14 1,88
Latvia 65 800 1,9 28,88 1,95 2,38 1,22
Liberia 95 400 1,75 18,34 0,82 3,07 3,73
Liechtenstein 139 0,012 86,33 0,01 0,03 2,36
Lithuania 56 100 2,2 39,22 2,57 3,50 1,36
Luxembourg 2 600 0,275 105,77 0,30 0,44 1,48
Mexico 1 969 000 14,2 7,21 27,74 99,74 3,60
The Netherlands 40 800 7,4 181,37 10,11 15,92 1,57
Nepal 140 000 5,6 40,00 8,64 24,42 2,83
Nicaragua 127 000 0,64 5,04 1,30 5,11 3,94
Norway 323 800 2,8 8,65 3,27 4,49 1,37
Paraguay 253 100 0,8 3,16 1,47 5,35 3,63
Peru 1 355 000 5,5 4,06 7,63 25,66 3,36
Persia (Iran) 1 650 000 5,6 3,39 16,91 66,13 3,91
Poland 388 300 29 74,68 24,82 38,43 1,55
Portugal 92 000 5,6 60,87 8,41 10,23 1,22
Rumania 294 200 17,5 59,48 16,31 22,14 1,36
Russia 21 200 000 140 6,60 102,70 147,42 1,44
Salvador 34 000 1,6 47,06 1,95 6,20 3,18
Switzerland 41 300 4 96,85 4,69 7,26 1,55
Siam (Thailand) 500 000 9,7 19,40 20,61 60,67 2,94
Spain 505 000 21,9 43,37 28,01 40,23 1,44
UK 244 800 45,2 184,64 50,62 58,87 1,16
Sweden 448 460 6,1 13,60 7,01 8,87 1,26
Tjeckoslovakia 140 400 14,2 101,14 - -
Turkey 887 200 12 13,53 21,48 68,16 3,17
Germany 470 700 62,5 132,78 68,38 82,31 1,20
82

Hungary 92 900 8,4 90,42 9,34 10,21 1,09
Uruguay 186 000 1,6 8,60 2,24 3,32 1,48
USA 8 000 000 114 14,25 157,81 284,86 1,81
Venezuela 1 020 400 3 2,94 5,09 24,40 4,79
Austria 83 800 6,6 78,76 6,94 8,11 1,17
Table 3. The population of the world completely independent 5 States in 2000, and their population in 1950,
democratic development, and some economic factors, according to the UN website www.globalis.se.
Country Inhabitants
1950
(miljoner)
Inhabitants
2000
(miljoner)
Political
rights 6 (1=
"complet")
GDP per
Inhabitant
2000
Export 7 of goods
and services (%
of GDP)
Military
expenses 8 (%
of GDP)
Afghanistan 8.15 20.74 7
Albania 1.22 3.08 4 3 719 19 1.3
Algeria 8.75 30.51 6 5 327 41 3.8
Andorra 0.01 0.07 1
Angola 4.15 13.93 6 1 462 90 4.5
Antigua and 0.05 0.08 4 10 196 70
Barbuda
Argentina 17.15 36.90 1 12 095 11 1.2
Armenia 1.35 3.08 4 2 421 23 3.1
Australia 8.22 19.14 1 27 390 20 1.9
Azerbaijan 2.90 8.14 6 2 475 39 2.3
Bahamas 0.08 0.30 1 17 055 43
Bahrain 0.12 0.65 7 15 545 89 4.2
Bangladesh 43.85 139.43 3 1 543 14 1.3
Barbados 0.21 0.29 1 50
Belgium 8.63 10.19 1 27 659 85 1.3
Belize 0.07 0.25 1 5 682 53 0.9
Benin 2.01 7.23 2 975 15 0.6
Bhutan 0.17 0.56 7 3 685 30
Bolivia 2.71 8.32 1 2 387 18 2.3
Bosnia and 2.66 3.79 5 30
Herzegovina
Botswana 0.42 1.73 2 8 353 53 3.5
Brazil 53.98 174.16 3 7 154 10 2
Brunei 0.05 0.33 7 67 3.9
Bulgaria 7.25 8.00 2 6 067 56 2.9
Burkina Fasso 3.98 11.88 4 986 9 1.1
Burma 17.16 45.88 7 0 1.8
Burundi 2.46 6.67 6 650 8 8
Central African 1.31 3.86 3 1 209 20
rope.
Chile 6.08 15.41 2 9 132 32 3.7
Colombia 12.57 41.68 4 5 974 17 3.1
Costa rica 0.97 3.93 1 8 170 49
Cyprus 0.49 0.79 19 175 55 3.4
Denmark 4.27 5.34 1 28 956 47 1.6
Dem Rep of
Congo
12.18 50.69 7 602 22
Djibuti 0.06 0.73 4 1 857 35 4.6
Dominica 0.05 0.07 1 5 677 53
Dominican rep. 2.43 8.74 2 6 395 37 0.9
Ecuador 3.39 12.31 3 3 230 37 1.8
Egypt 21.83 66.53 6 3 527 16 3.3
Equatorial
0.23 0.43 7 5 707 99
Guinea
El Salvador 1.95 6.20 2 4 597 27 0.8
Ivory Coast 2.51 17.05 6 1 589 40
83

Eritrea 1.14 3.68 7 1 022 15 24.2
Estonia 1.10 1.37 1 9 392 85 1.5
Ethiopia 18.43 69.39 5 815 12 4.3
fiji 0.29 0.80 6 4 994 65 2
Philippines 20.00 76.21 2 4 032 55 1
Finland 4.01 5.18 1 26 164 44 1.2
France 41.83 59.19 1 27 244 29 2.5
FRY
UAE 0.07 3.25 6 21 478 73 9.5
Gabon 0.47 1.18 5 5 848 69 1.9
Gambia 0.29 1.38 7 1 631 48 0.6
Georgia 3.53 4.72 4 1 998 23 0.7
Ghana 5.24 20.15 2 1 920 49 0.6
Greece 7.57 10.98 1 17 057 25 4.1
Branch Anda 0.08 0.10 1 7 317 55
Guatemala 3.15 11.23 3 4 048 20 1.1
Guinea 2.62 8.20 6 1 972 24 3
Guinea-Bissau 0.51 1.37 4 863 32 3.1
Guyana 0.42 0.73 2 3 922 96
Haiti 3.22 8.57 6 1 619 13
Honduras 1.49 6.20 3 2 872 54 0.5
India 371.86 1 046.24 2 2 364 13 3
Indonesia 79.54 211.69 3 2 905 41 1
Iraq 5.34 25.05 7
Iran 16.91 66.13 6 5 806 23 4
Ireland 2.97 3.80 1 29 155 98 0.7
Iceland 0.14 0.28 1 28 840 34
Israel 1.26 6.08 1 23 015 37 8.1
Italy 47.10 57.69 1 25 905 27 2
Jamaica 1.40 2.59 2 3 597 0.5
Japan 83.63 127.03 1 25 646 11 1
Yemen 4.32 18.18 5 822 42 5.7
Jordan 0.47 4.80 4 4 162 42 5.9
Cambodia 4.35 12.78 6 1 730 50 1.8
Cameroon 4.47 15.86 7 1 878 23 1.4
Canada 13.74 30.69 1 27 503 46 1.2
Cape Verde 0.15 0.45 1 4 555 28 0.8
Kazakhstan 6.70 14.95 6 4 345 57 1
Kenya 6.08 31.25 6 1 033 22 1.5
China 554.76 1 269.96 7 3 940 23 2
Kyrgyzstan 1.74 4.95 6 1 497 42 2.3
Kiribati 0.03 0.08 1 4 545 7
Comoros 0.17 0.70 6 1 718 17
Kongo 0.81 3.20 6 1 054 80 1.4
Croatia 3.85 4.51 2 9 116 42 2.7
Cuba 5.92 11.14 7
Kuwait 0.15 2.23 4 19 599 56 7.7
Laos 1.52 5.22 7 1 523 30 0.7
Lesotho 0.73 1.89 4 2 625 33 3.4
Latvia 1.95 2.38 1 7 975 42 1
Lebanon 1.44 3.77 6 4 301 14 5.4
Liberia 0.82 3.07 5 21
Libya 1.03 5.35 7 36 2.9
Lichtenstein 0.01 0.03 1
Lithuania 2.57 3.50 1 8 719 45 1.8
Luxembourg 0.30 0.44 1 50 564 150 0.8
Madagascar 4.23 16.19 2 844 31 1.4
Macedonia 1.23 2.01 4 6 055 49 6.6
Malawi 2.88 11.62 3 583 26 0.7
84

Malaysia 6.11 23.27 5 8 573 120 2.1
Maldives 0.08 0.27 6 89
Mali 3.33 10.00 2 785 27 2.3
Malta 0.31 0.39 1 17 635 92 0.7
Morocco 8.95 28.83 5 3 537 28 3.9
Mauritania 0.69 2.57 6 1 894 46 4.6
Mauritius 0.49 1.19 1 9 677 61 0.2
Mexico 27.74 99.74 2 9 262 31 0.6
Mozambique 6.44 18.19 3 799 18 1.2
Moldova 2.34 4.15 2 1 358 50 0.4
Mongolia 0.76 2.47 2 1 523 56 2
Namibia 0.49 1.88 2 5 838 41 2.7
Nauru 0.00 0.01 1
The Netherlands 10.11 15.92 1 29 993 70 1.5
Nepal 8.64 24.42 3 1 325 23 1.2
Nicaragua 1.30 5.11 3 3 131 24 0.7
Niger 2.21 11.12 4 678 18 1.3
Nigeria 33.96 124.77 4 846 54 1.2
North Korea 9.74 22.95 7
Norway 3.27 4.49 1 34 188 47 1.7
New Zealand 1.91 3.85 1 20 412 36 1.1
Oman 0.46 2.40 6 12 608 59 12.2
Pakistan 36.94 144.36 6 1 881 13 4
Palau 0.01 0.02 1 10
Panama 0.86 2.95 1 6 048 73
Papua New 1.80 5.38 2 2 343 66 0.8
Guinea
Paraguay 1.47 5.35 4 4 165 38 1
Peru 7.63 25.66 3 4 724 16 1.7
Poland 24.82 38.43 1 10 772 27 1.9
Portugal 8.41 10.23 1 18 782 30 1.9
Qatar 0.03 0.62 6 67
Romania 16.31 22.14 2 5 894 33 2.5
Rwanda 2.16 8.18 7 931 9 3.4
Russia 102.70 147.42 5 7 009 44 4.1
St. Kitts and 0.05 0.05 1 11 132 46
Nevis
St Lucia 0.08 0.15 1 5 897 53
St. Vincent & the 0.07 0.12 2 5 237 53
Grenadines
Solomo n Islands 0.09 0.42 4 1 908 24
Samoa 0.08 0.18 2 4 630 34
São Tomé and 3.20 20.81 7 13 593 44 11.5
Príncipe
Saudi Arabia 4.69 7.26 1 31 446 46 1
Switzerland 2.54 10.33 3 1 428 28 1.4
Senegal 0.04 0.08 3 16 681 78 1.8
Seychelles 1.94 4.52 4 463 18 3.7
Sierra Leone 1.02 4.02 5 23 594 5
Singapore 3.46 5.39 1 11 365 71 1.9
Slovakia 1.47 1.98 1 16 836 54 1.3
Slovenia 2.26 7.06 6
Somalia 28.01 40.23 1 22 003 29 1.2
Spain 7.34 18.71 3 3 443 39 4.3
Sri Lanka 50.62 58.87 1 26 476 28 2.4
UK 9.19 33.35 7 1 506 15 2.9
Sudan 0.22 0.44 1 5 530 20
Suriname 7.01 8.87 1 26 583 47 1.8
Sweden 0.27 1.06 6 4 168 76 1.5
Swaziland 13.68 45.40 1 8 764 28 1.7
South Africa 18.86 46.78 2 16 149 39 2.6
85

Korea 3.54 16.51 7 3 162 35 5.3
Syria 0.06 0.14 1
Tajikistan 1.53 6.17 6 808 99 1.2
Taiwan 1
Tanzania 7.65 33.85 4 521 17 1.5
Chad 2.43 8.47 6 798 17 1.8
Thailand 20.61 60.67 2 6 321 67 1.5
Czech Republic 8.93 10.22 1 15 450 63 1.9
Togo 1.33 5.40 5 1 358 31
Tonga 0.05 0.10 5 6 568 15
Trinidad & 0.64 1.30 2 9 092 59
Tobago
Tunisia 3.53 9.56 6 6 279 45 1.7
Turkey 21.48 68.16 4 6 471 20 3.7
Turkmenistan 1.21 4.50 7 3 416 96
Tuvalu 0.01 0.01 1
Germany 68.38 82.31 1 25 789 33 1.5
Uganda 5.16 24.69 6 1 167 11 2.3
Ukraine 37.30 48.85 4 4 037 62 2.9
Hungary 9.34 10.21 1 12 977 72 1.8
Uruguay 2.24 3.32 1 8 871 17 1.6
USA 157.81 284.86 1 34 599 11 3.1
Uzbekistan 6.31 24.72 7 1 498 25 0.8
Vanuatu 0.05 0.19 1 3 127 44
Venezuela 5.09 24.40 3 5 759 30 1.6
Vietanm 27.37 79.09 7 2 040 55
Belarus 7.75 10.05 6 4 803 69 1.4
Western Sahara 0.01 0.32
Zambia 2.41 10.45 5 786 27
Zimbabwe 2.75 12.66 6 2 499 36 4.2
Austria 6.94 8.11 1 28 481 46 0.9
5.
6.
7.
8.
There were booth 1926 and 2000, additional states such as San Marino and the Vatican City, but they are not real
nations, instead they are fully dependent on another state that in these two cases is Italy.
UN assessment of how many freedoms that residents have in relation to the Declaration of Human Rights. The
scale ranges from 1 (= full political freedom) to 7 (= less political freedom).
The total value of all goods and services which the country sold to the rest of the world, as a proportion of the
country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP, i.e., the total value of all goods and services produced in the country
excluding those used in the production of goods or services). In the table, GDP per inhabitant, expressed in
purchasing power parity, which is a measure that neutralize differences in price levels between countries.
The country's total defense expenditure as a fraction of GDP.
86

The long route to today's political system
In the old Roman Empire there were, after 500 BC a congress, to which all adult and free men had the
opportunity to elect representatives. The Roman Empire was shattered, however, around the year 400,
when the Huns attacked Europe and a wave of displaced Ostrogoths and others, flooded into the current
Italy. It was stopped by the Romans, but at the expense of that they were forced to regroup large armies
that would otherwise protect border to the north. Then German tribes (Vandals, Suevi, and Alaner) used the
opportunity to attack those borders. Visigoths, who previously lived in agreement with the Romans in their
territory, followed the example and added a major defeat to the Romans in the Balkan Peninsula.
Then followed a period in Western Europe known as the Migration period. It is characterized, among other
things, by that the technical and economic level fell and borders as well as nationality played a smaller role
than in the former Roman Empire and later kingdoms. Many tribes, Vandals and Ostrogoths, were swept
away from the face of the earth. Others, like the Visigoths and Burgunds, became Romanized. Still others
could keep their kingdoms and their individuality, such as the Franks and Anglo-Saxons.
During the Migration Period money was much rarer than before. Which in the subsequent more orderly
period (feudal period) led to that financial transactions to a greater was made through trading commodities.
This combined with that the Roman Empire transport system was destroyed meant that the central
government (the king) had difficulties to collect taxes from remote parts of the country. The kings then let
individuals control, bring in and consume tax in parts of the country. In return, they would, when the king
so requested, set up knights to defend the kingdom. Their autonomy was a threat to the state assembly and
the king's power. Certainly they had sworn their king eternal faith and had promised to always assist him in
war. But if the king chose to take action against one of them, he was dependent on the others' assistance.
The distributed areas, originally given for a limited time, soon became hereditary and that further decreased
the king's power. And Western Europe constituted in practice of independent smaller areas, duchies,
counties, etc.
As a reaction against that, the kings in several European countries between the 1500s and 1700s acted in
order to achieve:
- Nation states. To strengthen the royal power, they tried to get away from the situation where ordinary
citizens felt more loyal to local big shots than the leader in the capital. One means to achieve this was to
change local laws and regulations in business to ditto that were common for the whole country. In Sweden,
for example, we introduced common rules for guilds in 1621-22 and common units of measure, as the then
important length “aln” (originally the length from the elbow to the tip of the little finger). The aln used to
vary slightly in length between different parts of the country. In 1605 we built one national aln (i.e.
standard aln that would apply in all of Sweden). Later in the 1600s it was decided that a “mil” would be
equal everywhere in Sweden and that would be based on standard aln: 1 mil = 6 000 “famnar” = 18 000
alnar = 36 000 feet (which with today's standards is 10 688 meters).
- National security systems. Import tariffs were raised to "protect" domestic production of for instance beer
or clothing. But this protection was, of course, also a way to improve the state's finances. Other means
were used to encourage domestic production, with the aim to make the country self-sufficient concerning
raw materials and food.
- Focus on exports. Each country should export as much as possible and import as little as possible. And
each countries' wealth was measured in their amount of gold and silver. It was therefore desirable that
export goods were paid in gold and silver coins.
1719 the British moved the power from the king to parliament, where the nobles dominated.
The next step in the evolution to today's political system was probably the state Virginia’s declaration of
rights, which was issued in conjunction with the North American Revolutionary War, the 1776 th . This
declaration included the right of citizens to change government, when it no longer benefited them.
87

1789 the French Revolution started. But the monarchy returned first with Napoleon and then King Louis-
Philippe. Even though the middle class got greater control of the political power, the discontent among the
people grew until was revolutionized again 1848. The revolutionary example developed to aggressions
around Europe. The 1848 revolutionary movements in Berlin, Vienna, Rome, Geneva, Warsaw and
Budapest were particularly important. The lasting results, however, was limited. In Sweden, for example, it
was, in the 1800s, only a very small part of the population who had the right to vote. The farmers had indeed
vote. But even though they represented a majority of the population they didn’t have more to say about than
the nobles or priests who represented less than 1% of the same.
In 1866, however, we made a reform which resulted in that we got a two chamber parliament where the right
to vote was based on income instead of birth and occupation. The composition of the first chamber was
determined by those who were elected in the municipal elections. In the municipal elections, in turn, only
those (both men and women and companies) which had a taxable annual income of at least 400 daler and
had tax liabilities were allowed to vote. The number of votes per person increased with increasing income.
To the second chamber only men who had a taxable annual income of at least 800 crowns or possession of
real property with a value of at least 6 000 daler were allowed to vote. Overall, this resulted in that 10% of
the population had the right to vote to the first chamber and 5% to the other.
But when industrialization began in the 1890s, the value of money fell and wages rose, more and more of the
new social group industrial workers came up to an annual income of more than 800 SEK (1873 the name of
our currency was changed from dalers to crowns). Which meant that they were allowed to vote for the
second chamber. One effect of this was that in the 1897 election, a social democrat (Hjalmar Branting) was
for the first time elected into Parliament.
1890 all men of Spain were allowed to vote. New Zealand became in 1893 the first country were also
women were allowed to vote. After World War I a large number of kingdoms were replaced by republics,
and a range of contemporary countries became democracies with universal suffrage for both men and
women. In Sweden, it happened in 1921, when we, after a suffrage reform went from 1 192 922 voting men
and 0 female voters in 1920 to 1 532 183 men and 1 690 734 women the right to vote (in both the local and
the national elections).
Though among the few countries that existed in 1926 and still remains there has subsequently been some
democratic setbacks with dictatorships in countries such as Italy, Germany, Greece, Portugal, most of South
America and the Eastern Bloc. And still 12 of these countries have an inherited monarchy’s and not more
than half of them are, according to the United Nations, full democracies (29 of 57). And of all the
approximately 188 fully independent countries that existed in 2000, only 31% are full democracies, while
67% are not (i e, the estimation of political rights was higher than 1, see table 2, the remaining 2% is due to
that some countries are not evaluated).
But the countries in the world has moved closer to each other through international cooperative
organizations for:
- Peace through the first League of Nations (started in 1920), followed by the United Nations (UN, founded
in 1945).
- For social improvements through the International Labour Office (ILO = International Labor Organization,
founded in beginning of the 1920s).
- For health through the World Health Organization (WHO = World Health Organization, formed in 1948).
- For food security through food and agriculture organisation (FAO = Food and Agriculture Organization,
established 1945).
- For education, science and culture through (UNESCO = Cuited Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organisation, formed in 1945).
- For refugee issues through (UNHCR = United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, launched in
1951).
88

- For economic stability and aid through the International Monetary Fund (IMF = International Monetary
Found) and the World Bank. They were created in the agreement in Bretton Woods (USA) during World
War II, more about the agreement later.
All these efforts to bring countries closer together appear to have been prosperus, because in the current
situation, it is only a few countries that to any great extent, are one of the belligerents in a war (table 4). In
the past, however, a big part of the few countries that existed were involved in war at least some time in a
generation scale (table 5).
Table 4. The largest current military conflicts according to UN website www.globalis.se.
Part Cuntry What Current status
Africa Algeria
concern in areas of the
Civil War
country
Africa Angola Civil War Peace since 2002
Africa Burundi Civil War Pretty easy now
Africa Sudan Civil War Ongoing
Africa Central African Republic Civil War Unsecure
Africa Republic of Congo Civil War Ongoing
Africa Ivory Coast Civil War Unrest
Africa Ethiopia/Eritrea Border Conflict
Unresolved, but pretty easy
now
Africa Liberia Civil War Unsecure
Africa Nigeria Unsecure Unsecure
Africa Uganda Civil War Unsecure
Africa Somalia Civil War Ongoing
Africa Tcad Civil War Ongoing
Africa Morocco/Western Sahara Occupation Ongoing
America Colombia Civil War Ongoing
America Haiti Unsecure Ongoing
Asia Afghanistan Civil War Ongoing
Asia Philippines Civil War Ongoing
Asia Syria/Israel Border conflict Unresolved, but quiet now
Asia Iraq Civil War Ongoing
Asia Pakistan/India Border Conflict
Unresolved, but pretty easy
now
Asia Turkey/Iraq/Iran Unsecure Ongoing
Asia Israel/Lebanon discord Pretty easy now
Asia Nepal Civil War Ongoing
Asia Palestine/Israel Clashes Ongoing
Asia Sri Lanka Civil War Ended
Europé Cyprus Civil War Downtime long
Europé Georgia Civil War Ongoing
Europé Kosovo Unsecure Ongoing
Europé Russia (Chechnya) Civil War Ongoing
This generally distributed
information brochure from 1961
(If the war comes), shows that the
war was very much closer only 50
years ago. Then, and long after
that, we annually got updated
information regarding what to do
when the war comes, through
assigned pages in the phone book.
89

Table 5. Countries that were completely independent 1926 th . If they participated in any armed conflict after
independence every 50 years between 0-1900 is marked with red = war, gray = not independent (or not an
organized nation). The table is based on a compilation of all historical battles made by the British author RG
Grant (History's battlefields, Bonnier facts, 2010). Although Grant's compilation is comprehensive a lot is,
however, missing. Sweden, for example, participated during the 1500's, the second half of the 1600s, and the
same in the 1700sin a number of wars that are missing, despite the fact that a part of those involved famous
battles like the one at Brobacka 1566 th . Thus, this compilation is probably a large underestimation.
Ethiopia
Afghanistan
Albania
Andorra
Argentina
Belgium
Bolivia
Brazil
Bulgaria
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Denmark
Dominican rep.
Ecuador
Egypt
Estonia
Finland
France
Greece
Guatemala
Honduras
Italy
Japan
Jugoslavia
China
Cuba
Latvia
Liberia
Liechtenstein
Lituania
Luxemburg
Mexico
The Nederlands
Nepal
Nicaragua
Norway
Paraguay
Peru
Iran
Poland
Portugal
Rumania
Russia (Sovjet)
Salvador
Saudiarabia et al
Switzerland
Spain
UK
Sweden
Thailand
Tjeckoslovakia
Turkey
Germany
Hungary
Uruguay
USA
Venezuela
Austria
50 150 250 350 450 550 650 750 850 950 1050 1150 1250 1350 1450 1550 1650 1750 1850
Former Abessinia
Former Persia
Former Arabia
Former England
Former Siam
Former Osmanian/Ottoman state
90

State revenues
In the Middle Ages, the State (i.e. the king), mainly had the following types of income:
Goods produced in his own farms 9 .
Taxes 10 .
Selling currency 11 .
Duties (see the chapter about customs).
Sale of goods that come in the form of tax.
Sales of goods produced in his farms.
Sale of state farms.
Taking back land previously given away.
Leasing the right to tax the people in a certain area 12 .
9.
During the early Middle Ages the king's main source of income was the land he owned (royal estates). In 1560, for
example, 28.5% of Sweden's agricultural land was owned by the King (Eli F. Heckscher, Svensk ekonomisk
historia, Bonnier, Stockholm, 1935). The nobles held 21.4% and ordinary peasants owned the remaining 50.1%.
For logistical reasons the king distributed his people over the different estates so that they, on the spot, could
consume his income.
10.
11.
12.
Originally, the king's land were about his only income. Taxes were not. However, everybody had the duty to
defend the country and provide som services to the king. Such service was the obligation to host the king and his
entourage when they were traveling.
During the 1200s the country's army transformed from only consisting un-professionals doing their duty to also
consist of professional fighters, who were rewarded (see defense) and fortifications (castles) were also required. It
costed the king a lot of money and the problem was solved by the former defense duty was converted to the
requirement to pay taxes (apart from those who were exempt because they could set up armored warriors on
horseback, I.e. Nobility).
The tax was different depending on whether the taxpayer was a farmer or living in a town. Unfairly enough, town
taxes were low, for example, the tax for a small town like Östhammar did not exceeded what four peasant
homesteads paid. And some cities, such as Stockholm and Kalmar was periodically even exempt.
According to the accounts the king recieved in 1573 in 276 655.5 daler in taxes. 354.5 of these flowed into the form
of cash while the rest came in the form of, among other things: butter, 32 412 daler, wooden planks 1 217.625
daler, days worked (i.e. work for the state) 17 715.5 daler, leather goods 1 846 daler, and copper 15 828.250 daler.
The largest of all forms of payment were rye and barley (26.6% of all taxes), followed by butter (11.7%) and horses
(11.0%).
The king had a monopoly on producing coins. Normally the coins were stamped with as high as the value of the
silver they contained, but sometimes the king lowered the silver content without changing the coins stamped
values.
The king could lease out right to collect taxes to someone else. In 1530/31, for example, others had the right to
collect taxes (Eli F. Heckscher, Svensk ekonomisk historia,, Bonnier, Stockholm, 1935) in the cities, Nykoping,
Örebro, Västervik, Ulvila and Viborg, and districts, Öland, South/East/West Vedbo, Konga, Kinnevalds, Sevede,
Anbyrde and Möre, as well as large parts of Finland since the counties Viborg, Savonlinna and Porvoo were leased
out.
91

Over time the distribution of the tax burden varied, the level as well as what was taxed. But usually taxation
consisted of different fixed taxes and consumption taxes combined with extra taxes to fund wars and such.
1809, for example, was five tax types: mantalspenningar 13 , profession tax 14 , window tax, excess fees 15 and
war tax.
Not until the year 1713 an attempt was made to make a tax system based on each individual's real income.
The system was abolished, however, soon as it gave the state much lower incomes, perhaps because people
deliberately understated their income and wealth.
1812 a tax system based on real income was reintroduced. It turned out, however, that tax revenue again fell
disastrously, so it was abandoned again.
1861 the fixed occupation taxes disappeared and the tax was in addition to municipal tax 16 , estate tax,
income tax and mantalspenningar.
1869 the ability to pay taxes with comodities was abolished.
13. Mantalspenningar was introduced in 1625 and was removed 1938 th . It meant after 1635 that the peasants
were forced to pay a certain fee for each person over 12 years who lived on the farm.
14. Profession tax was a fixed amount depending on what profession you belong to, and the amount was the
same regardless of whether it was good or bad times. And in addition to one tenth of the yield. From this
tenth 1/3 went to the local church organization and the rest went to the Treasury.
15. During the 1700s there were a number of luxury taxes and excess fees. The purpose was often to reduce
imports.
1731, for example, there were a charge of possession of wagons. And lousy enough, the highest class had
the lowest tax, since for them carriages was concidered to be a necessity.
1734 consumption tax and import duty were introduced on coffee, tea and chocolate. 1752 it was decided
that the consumption tax would be paid by those who had a fortune and the charge was based on the size
of wealth, whether they consumed the goods or not.
16. It was originally no local or municipal tax but parish residents were required to build and maintain the
church, rectory, parish hall and eventually huse for the poor people.
There were no rules about how other common concerns would be financed and managed, it was up to
individual interests and voluntary contributions. Schools and houses for the poor were largely depending
on the inhabitants idea of how important this was and how much they wanted to sacrifice. 1817 parishes
however received the right to tax in some cases, while it 1862 was extended to all areas except the
national ones. Among the most important decisions was that all children should go to school (public
elementary school in 1842).
92

Over time, increased government tax revenue, especially in the 1900s (chart 3). During the beginning of the
period it was due primarily to increased tariffs and income taxes. In the early 1920s, for example duties and
income/wealth tax accounted for almost 90% of all tax revenue to the state (chart 4). In addition to the taxes
paid to the state one had to pay almost as much to the local authorities (rural municipalities/cities, counties,
road districts).
Swedish governements annual incomes
900000
Taxex
1000s SEK
800000
700000
600000
500000
400000
300000
200000
100000
0
governemental fees
Contribution from the
pension fond
Miscelangelous incomes
Governement ownd
companies
The governements real
estate fond
Intrests and similar
-100000
1861-65
1871-75
1881-85
1891-95
1901-05
1911-15
1921-25
1931-35
Sum
Period (5-year average)
Chart 3. The Swedish government's annual revenue (5-year average) according to Statistics Sweden (Historical
Statistics of Sweden, statistical summary tables to and including 1950, SCB, 1960, Stockholm).
Custom and
excise duties
53%
Tax to the governement 1921-25
Income &
wealth tax
36%
Mantalspenninga
r
Other taxes
1%
Car tax
2%
Stamp taxes
8%
Forrest care fee
0%
Chart 4.
The Swedish government's annual tax revenue 1921-25 (5-year average) according to Statistics Sweden
(Historical Statistics of Sweden, statistical summary tables to and including 1950, SCB, 1960,
Stockholm). Stamp tax = public charge in certain business transactions as real estate or stock market
transactions, issuing of driving licenses, passports and more. The charge was acknowledged by the
government official with a stamp mark that looked like a postage stamp. Excise duty = charges for
manufacturing or sale of certain goods.
93

Nowadays, however, the state customs revenue is significantly smaller (see also the chapter about customs).
By contrast, VAT 17 , payroll taxes 18 and social contributions 19 constitutes the vast majority of the revenue
(61%, figure 5). The total state tax in relation to GDP is about the same in most European countries, but
social security contributions vary quite substantially (see chart 6). Would these be excluded from the
calculation, state tax would be about a quarter of GDP in almost all the studied states (mean, median, minmax):
23.1%, 23.1%, 15.8 to 31.1%.
Chart 5. Swedish government revenue in 2000, according to Statistics (Statistical Yearbook of Sweden 2005,
Statistics Sweden, Stockholm).
17.
The first version of VAT was introduced in Sweden in 1941, when the state needed more money due to
the war. After the war (1947) the tax was abolished. A new similar tax was introduced again in 1961. In
both these systems tax was only added in the final stage on the commercial chain, i.e. in the store (now
also the store, the wholesaler and others pay tax on what they buy).
Within the then EC it was in 1967 decided that all countries should have the same type of system that we
have today. Sweden joined in and introduced such VAT system 1969. Today VAT is spread all over the
world although, the tax have different names and some products/services may be exempted or have
lower VAT, for example Germany have 16% VAT, Belgium 21%, UK 17.5%, China 17%, Israel 17%,
Japan 5%, India 12.5% and Argentina 21%. The U.S., however, the U.S. does not have VAT, instead
they have the older model which is only added in the final stage and it varies across the country between
0-13%.
18.
Special payroll tax on certain earnings + tax on pension costs. The first kind is paid on dividends from
profit foundations and the like and to income from passive business. The second kind is paid on the cost
of retirement benefits.
19.
Social contributions = payroll taxes = pension contribution + health insurance contribution. These are taxes but
charges, calculated as a percentage of the wages received by employees. The charges entitlement to benefits such
as sick pays and pension and they are paid by the employer directly to the tax authorities.
94

40,0
Governement taxes and social fees
35,0
Share of GDP (%)
30,0
VAT
Median
23,6%
25,0
20,0
15,0
Lottery tax
Real estate tax
Icome tax
Capital tax
10,0
5,0
Social fees
Total taxes and
Social fees
0,0
Belgium Estonia
Denmark
France Greece Irland Poland
Spain
Italy Portugal UK
Norway Slovakia
The Netherlands
Sweden
Hungary
Nation
Chart 6.
A comparison of state revenue sharing between state income taxes, social security contributions, sales
taxes, property taxes, among a number of European countries in 2000 (data from Eurostat website, figures
refer to% of GDP).
Note Eurostat's way of presenting the state revenue is not fully compatible with the Statistics Sweden’s
way, why charts 5 and 6 are not entirely consistent.
95

Duties
Import and export duties have long been an important source of revenue for the government, even if it
occasionally been exceptions. In Sweden, for example, duty tariffs were introduced in the 1100s, but some
trade routes were duty-free, as the Hanseatic cities of Visby, Lubeck (from 1161) and at times certain
customs locations have been leased to private individuals, e.g. around 1623, 1719, 1726 and 1777 .
In the 1600 - and 1700's Swedish imports were dominated by a few commodities in the majority of cases
used in food production, such as: salt, malt (raw materials for beer), rye, barley and salted herring (figure 7,
8 and chart 7). This suggests that we drank a lot of beer, ate salty food and that our diet was pretty limited. In
addition, these figures show that most of the other products were manufactured within the country. The
export consisted mainly of tar, timber and iron.
Figure 7. Gustav Vasa’s (king in Sweden in
the 1500s) first tax table.
The table was used 1534-1536. For those
who can read Swedish it’s obvious that a lot
of imported goods is missing on the list. All
those who imported non-listed good had to
pay 1 öre for every mark of the goods value
(= about 12,5% in duty). 1536, when the
customs authority was founded, a general
duty tariff of 5% of the goods value was
decided. Besides the comodities salt and
hops. Hops, by the way, was one of the main
imports at the time (and thus negative for the
trading balance) , since we drank a lot of
beer. So the king decided in 1474 that every
farm should grow at least 200 plants of hops.
And there is still today a law about this,
however, it is not in use.
Figure 8. Swedish import 1640
(Tabeller öfver Sveriges import och
export sjöledes åren 1637-1640 och
1645 Ur Rikskansleren Axel
Oxenstiernas skrifter och
befvexling, P. A. Nordstedt & söner,
Stockholm, 1904). The biggest
import item was Spanish salt
67 976.5 barrels, which probably is
about 11 000 tons. Moreover we
imported malt (7 038.5 barrels), rye
(7 295 barrels), herring (12 050
barrels) and cloth, spices, meat, fish,
beverages, and colors’ in various
smaller volumes with odd names
and miscellaneous manufactured
products like gun powder horns. Salt
was, as mentioned, the most
important goods . Despite that we
also have made our own salt through
dry boiling of North sea water.
The reason that it never became a
success story is that it requires more
than 20 m 3 logs for one barrel of
salt.
96

The most important import goods to sweden and Finland 1740
20000
18000
16000
14000
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
Butter
Cheese
Salted herring
Wheat
Rye
Grain
Oats
Malt
Pies
Coffee
Sugar
Tobacco
Pepper
Raisins
Prune
Wine
Sprits
Silk
Wool
Linnen
Cotton
Oliv oil
Karmin
Indigo
Stone coal
Salt
Lead
Chart 7. The Swedish imports in 1740 according to Statistics Sweden (Historical Statistics of Sweden, Part 3
Foreign Trade 1732-1970, SCB, 1972, Stockholm, Sweden), with all contemporary different measures
translated into tons, with the simplification that a liter = 1 kg (which is not completely true for all items).
Some of what was imported was later exported again to other countries.
1863 all tariffs on goods exported from Sweden was removed. And in 1965 the system where certain cities
had to keep customs houses (= buildings where all imported goods were unpacked, counted and taxed) was
abolished and the state took over the full responsibility for customs operations.
1974 the modern system was introduced whereby goods imported to Sweden no longer needed to be
unpacked and examined by a customs officer who worked out the charge that the importer must pay to get
their goods into Sweden. Instead, the importer himself could to go through the goods and send a customs
declaration to the Customs.
Through the WTO (= World Trade Organization, formerly known as ITO = International Trade
Organization, founded in 1948) we have agreed on global custom tariffs (GATT = General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade), which led to sharp reductions in the custom tariffs.
Sweden has also gradually abolished tariffs against neighboring countries and when we joined the EU in
1995 the trade with the other EU members (and some other countries) is duty free. We are also participating
in a uniform tariff system for imports from outside the Union. Nowadays 75% of the duties we charge on
imports from outside the EU now goes to the EU budget. For Sweden, we thus contributed with 450.3
million Euros to the EU (2011). But we also retain 151 million Euros. Thus, we are still get nearly 6 billion
SEK in duties even though we now have duty-free access for imports from many of our major trading
partners, and despite all the international trade agreements.
97

Well into the 1900s the duties was the state's most important source of income (figure 9, chart 4), but fossil
fuels sailed up as the main import goods (chart 8).
Extract from the
duty list of 1936.
The most important import goods to Sweden 1938
Weight (ton/10s ton)
600 000
500 000
400 000
300 000
200 000
100 000
0
Meat and pork
Fish
Fresh fruit
Coffe beans
Oats
Corn
Rye
Wheat
Bran
Copra
Soy beans
Linnen seeds
Vegetable oil
Sugar
Wine
Tobacco
Cigarettes
Oil cokies
Raw phosphate
Stone coal (10-ton)
Coke (10-ton)
Minera oils (10-ton)
salt
Paper
Artificial fetilizer
Skin
Rubber
Wool
Cotton
Nylon and similar
Wool lines
Cotton cloth
Wool cloth
Cotton cloth
Clothes
Shoes
Iron cubes
Iron rods
Iron plates
Iron pipes
Raw cupper
Tractors
Electric engines
Radios and similar
Cars and busses…
Ships (1000s SEK)
Chart 8. The Swedish imports in 1938 according to Statistics Sweden (Historical Statistics of Sweden, Part 3
Foreign Trade 1732-1970, SCB, 1972, Stockholm). Note that stone coal, coke and mineral oils accounted
for 10's of tons instead of tons.
98

Although tariffs and other trade barriers it was in the past, as well as nowadays, many states that imported
far more than they exported. In the 1920s, for example, there were only a handful of the then totally
independent states that had a trade surplus (table 6). That equation does not seem to go together due in part
to that the large economy of the U.S. had trade surpluses, and that many of the colonies probably had a
favorable "balance of trade" (or in other words, was exploited).
Tabell 6. Economic data for the countries that were totally independent states in 1926 (from Bonnier conversation
dictionary, published from 1922 to 1931). The countries with trade surpluses are highlighted in green.
The former country names Main export products (trade law approximate share Trade balance
of the main export products)
export/import
Abessinia (Etiopien) Agricultural products No data
Afghanistan Felt, silk, carpets No data
Albania No data No data
Andorra Livestock products No data
Arabia (Saudiarabia et al) Dates, coffee No data
Argentina Agricultural products (> 90%) 1.20
Belgium Coal, iron, steel, glass, textiles 0.71
Bolivia Tin (1/4 of the entire world production) 2.34
Bra zil Coffee (75% of the entire world prod.) 0.86
Bulgaria Produce 0.74
Chile Chile Saltpeter and guano 1.71
Colombia Coffee (about 80%) 0.75
Costa Rica Coffee, bananas, sugar, cocoa, wood No data
Denmark Butter, eggs, pork (type 70%) 0.60
Dominican rep. Sugar, cocoa No data
Ecuador Cocoa (> 70%) 1.51
Egypt Textiles & cotton (> 70%) 0.84
Estonia Wood products (60%) 0.88
Finland Wood and paper products (80%) 0.81
France Clothing and textiles (48%) 0.54
Greece Agricultural products (77%) 0.32
Guatemala Coffee, sugar, corn, bananas No data
Honduras Bananas, coconuts, coffee, tobacco No data
Italy Raw silk and cotton goods (60%) 0.44
Japan Raw silk (55%) 0.73
Yugoslavia Livestock products (48%) 0.38
China Raw silk (43%) 0.70
Cuba Sugar and tobacco No data
Latvia No data 0.95
Liberia No data No data
Lithuania Agricultural products, timber 1.31
Luxembourg Iron ore No data
Mexico Oil (51%), silver (19%) 1.92
The Netherlands Textile products (20%) 0.51
Nepal Rice and wheat No data
Nicaragua Coffee, bananas, sugar, wood No data
Norway Pulp & paper (34%) 0.41
Panama Bananas, cocoa, coconuts No data
Paraguay Agricultural and wood 1.16
Peru Cotton & Oil (55%) 1.92
Persia (Iran) Oil (58%) 0.77
Poland Wood products & food animals (45%) 0.78
Portugal Sardines & wine (70%) 0.32
Rumania Cereals (51%) 0.67
Russia No data No data
Salvador No data No data
Switzerland Textiles (58%) 0.93
99

Siam (Thailand) Rice (80%) No data
Spain Fruit (34%) 0.61
UK Cotton goods (53%) 0.70
Sweden Wood products, paper & pulp (48%) 0.89
Tjeckoslovakia Cotton products & sugar (47%) 1.22
Turkey Tobacco (42%), fruits and vegetables (24%) 0.58
Germany Iron & textiles (38%) 0.99
Hungary Wheat & wheat flour (37%) 0.95
Uruguay Animal products (90%) 0.74
USA Raw cotton (31%) 1.56
Venezuela Coffee, cocoa & oil 1.83
Austria Metals, metal products & cotton products (41%) 0.57
Currency
People have traded things with each other long before there were coins and banknotes. Many times the deals
were direct replacements like one salmon for five apples. But other times both parties it did not have an
article the other needed and then they needed an intermediary that the seller could use to buy what he wanted
from a third person. Precious metals appeared in many cultures as an appropriate intermediate, since these
are:
1. Easy to maintain, even in larger quantities without getting destroyed and they do not decrease in value.
2. Easy to transport, i. e. high value in relation to weight and volume.
3. Easy to divide into larger and smaller quantities.
In the beginning purchases that were not replacements were paid with precious metal chunks cutted from
jewelry and the like. The next step was gold and silver pieces with uniform size and fineness. From there it
was a short step to that the state guaranteed the size and metal content and had a monopoly on the
production. When the metal pieces were stamped with different kinds of sovereignty symbols they had
turned into coins.
The Roman Empire, for example, had a well-developed coinage system. Coins made of brass, bronze,
copper, silver and gold, were minted and distributed according to strict rules of weights, sizes, value and
metal composition.
In Sweden we had until 1624 almost exclusively silver coins because we (due to Sala silver mine) had quite
a lot of silver.
Swedish silver coin
(halvörtug) from 1480.
The picture is a blow
up. In reality the coin
has a diameter of about
13 mm.
Prior to 1534 the coins were called mark, penny (= 1/8 marks), örtug (= 1/24 marks) and penning (= 1/192
marks). 1534 we also introduced daler in silver, later called crowns and a shilling that was worth 4 marks.
1624, we also introduced a copper dalern whose metal content would have the same value as the
corresponding silver coins. The coppers market value in relation to silver was, however, reduced and thus
the cupper coins value decreased relative to silver coins of the same denomination. It was, therefore,
necessary to distinguish between daler copper and daler silver.
The system was discontinued after 1776, when Sweden switched to pure silver standard, with coins crowns
specie, shilling (1/48 daler specie) and rundstycken (1/576 daler specie). Additionally there were notes
called Riksdaler banco. The notes redeemed until 1808 with silver coins and was equivalent to riksdaler
specie. Since then they became impossible to change into silver and their value fell.
100

In addition to these currencies we had from 1789 also Riksdaler riksgälds. It was originally credited
banknotes issued by the National Debt Office. But they became impossible to change into Riksdaler banco
and their value fell against Riksdaler banco notes. In 1803 the Riksdaler riksgälds notes were incorporated in
the National banks monetary system, and a Riksdaler riksgälds = 213 riksdaler banco.
This wacky system consisted until the coin regulation of 1855, when the main coins riksdaler and öre (=
1/100 riksdaler coin) were introduced. In 1873 coins regulation the currency name changed to crowns.
Meanwhile Sweden, as well as some other countries, changed from the silver standard to the gold standard.
The connection between gold value and currency value was ensured by the following rules: owners of gold
were entitled to have it embossed into gold coins. Owners of gold coins were allowed to melt them down to
obtain metallic gold.
With the gold standard the exchange rates between different currencies just depended on the notes and coins
gold value, facilitating international trade.
The system, however, crashed in summer 1931 due to a severe recession, and also that Germany had to pay
huge reparations to the U.S. and France after the First World War. The latter, in turn, led to an accumulation
of gold in the United States and France, and lack of gold on the world market. Other countries' central banks
had to reduce their lending 20 and money pressing 20 to be sure to be able to redeem the lended money and the
outstanding banknotes with gold. With the result that they had to choose between that prices and wages
would decline, and the recession would be even worse. Or to switch to a different system than the gold
standard. All countries except the USA, France and Germany chosed the latter. The new system, paper
standard, was designed so that the value each currency was guaranteed by the respective state and its
agencies, primarily the national bank. The greater the capacity was to support the currency, if necessary,
through buing it, the less its value varied relative to other currencies.
Paper systems also had some shortcomings. As it was easy, and tempting, for a country to improve its
economy by lowering the value of its currency relative to other countries' currencies. Since the reduction
would make imported products more expensive and exports cheaper. To counteract this, an agreement was
signed in 1944 in the town of Bretton Woods, United States. The agreement was that the participating
countries' currencies had a fixed value relative to the U.S. dollar. U.S. in turn guaranteed that each dollar
could be exchanged against a certain amount of gold. The system ended unfortunately in 1971 because the
United States no longer considered themselves able to afford to guarantee the dollar value in gold (mainly
because of the Vietnam War became so expensive) and we were back to the situation prior to the agreement
in Bretton Woods.
20. The amount of money in the economy is increased in two ways:
1. When the national bank press notes and minting coins (or order it). This increases the amount of cash. In
today's economies however, it is only a fraction of the total money supply that consists of cash. 2006 consisted
only 7.07% of the Swedish monetary amount, of cash.
2. Someone (such as the national bank) deposit 100 000 SEK in an account at a bank. The bank in turn lends out
these to someone who in turn buys something. Whoever gets the money, in turn, set them on their banks, which
then lend them to further another person and so on (a bank can not lend more money than they have borrowed).
This could continue indefinitely if it were not for that, when the bank have lent out money, they have no money to
give the person who borrowed them money, if he wants them back. In order to be able pay them they borrowed
from, the banks must have some money of their own, and can’t lend out, in the current situation, more than about
ten times as much money as they own themselves.
If the national bank and/or the other banks decrease the amount of money on the market, which nowadays
are done through tightening their lending and terminates existing loans, the effect is that prices are falling,
which is called deflation. Deflation was rare during the 1900s, but more common in the 1800s. Since the
money supply to a much greater degree consisted of cash and many countries applied the gold standard, the
possibility to make more money as the economies grew was very limited.
If the banks instead would increase their lending dramatically the prices would increase, which is called
inflation. Inflation, however, was common during the 1900s.
101

A one crown note from 1920 and a ten crowns note from 1937. The highlighted text says that the bill can be
changed into gold in the National bank. The text dissappeared on the new bills issued from 1940.
Besides notes, silver and copper coins, we had gold coins in the values 5, 10 and 20 SEK. Which had about 2, 4
and 8 grams gold respectively. The youngest gold coins are 20 SEK from 1925 and they aret to a large extent
still in the vault of the national bank and they constitutes a part of our gold reserve.
In the 1920s the prices in Germany rised in a hysterical
tempo. A thing that earlier had costed one Mark costed
after a while maybe 200 billion Mark. So the German
national bank was continuously occupied with printing
new bills with higher and higher numbers. And money
sawed in the matrass became worthless.
The note on the upper hand is a 20 Mark bill from
February 1918, while the one on the lower hand is five
years younger and it is stamped 500 000 Mark.
102
Or even worse when the cost of such a cheap
thing as a stamp raised to 20 billion Mark.

Government expenditure
State affairs on behalf of the country used to be to uphold the law, control and defend the country and to
raise funds for these activities. Much of the judging was handled locally, however, and the king ruled
himself along with his closest men. So, for example, the Swedish government, was until the 1800s almost
only doing defense and warfare, and arranging the money for this. The governmental activities (authorities)
who withdrew money were: tax collection, customs, mints, land surveying (from 1628, important in
particular to establish the tax values of the country's farms).
In addition, there were:
- Periodical diplomatic representatives in other countries (from 1500-century) and their main task was to
chase fundings for the Swedish warfare. Other countries, however, have had diplomatic representatives as
far back as the time of the Egyptian Empire. But it was not until the Middle Ages that permanently
stationed envoys began to occur, perhaps first in the small republics of Italy, where the diplomats first were
recognized a professionals, but also in the Hanseatic League, though, it was not widespread until the
1600's.
- Authorities with the task of improving the economy of Sweden, as the Board of Trade, that was founded in
1637 (would promote trade, shipping and manufacturing) and Board of Mines (for promoting the mining
industry).
- A government system to accompany war and merchant ships through difficult sections of the Swedish
waters started in 1677 as part of the Navy (but there were private harbour pilots much earlier than that).
In 1809, authorities received a more independent position in relation to the power and the modern authorities
in Sweden were shaped with the founding of the authorities:
- Royal Board for roads and water ways in 1841 (later the National Road Administration, now the Transport
Administration).
- Economic Mapping Agency in 1859 (from 1896 called National public atlases, a part of the current
National Land Survey).
- royal Pilot Board 1872 (replaced in 1956 by the Royal Maritime Authority, which in 1970 changed its
name to the Maritime Administration).
- Patent and Trademark Office 1891 st .
- Welfare Board 1913 th .
103

Well into the 1900s, the defense was still the state's largest expenditure item (chart 9), followed by social
protection (social care + pensions) and education. In 2000, however, the defense swallowed no more than
7% of the state budget (chart 10), while the social protection system was the incomparably largest
expenditure item.
Ministry of Trade
2%
Ministry of
Agriculture
5%
Ecklesiastikdep.
24%
Goverments expenditures 1921-25
Ministry of
Pensions
7%
Justice.
2% Ministry of
Forregin Affairs
1%
Ministry of
Defence
28%
Chart 9. The Swedish
governements’ annual
expences1921-25 (5-years
average) according to Statistics
Sweden (Historisk statistik för
Sverige, statistiska
översiktstabeller till och med
1950, SCB, 1960, Stockholm).
Ecklesiastikdep resembles
approximatey to the office for
education. It treated questions
regarding education, the
church, science, liberarys,
culture nd museums. Among
the cost for Ministry of
Finance is hidden foremost the
intrest on the national debt.
Investments in infrastructure
was payed out through the
Ministry for transports.
Ministry of
Finance
9%
Ministry of
Communications
5%
Ministry of
Social Welfare
17%
Intrests
13%
Contributions
to the counties
14%
Infrastructure
6%
Others
5%
Education and
education
support
7%
Governement expenditure 2000
Administratio
n
2%
Forregin
Justice systemaffairs
3% 3%
Defence
7%
Social
security
40%
Chart 10. The
Swedish
governement
expenditure
2000 (according
to SCB 2005).
104

Defence
Owning weapons and to be familiar with their use was during the earliest times, every man's natural right
and duty. This was the fundament for the war organization with universal conscription through ages, and it
formed the basis of the Swedish defense.
For the "country protection" or defending their own /province, a share (which varied with the need) of the
free male population was called to military service. In extremis all wars capable men, both free as slaves,
was called.
In the Middle Ages came the armor-clad knights in Europe, which was a terribly powerful weapon against
the transient militant farmers and it also forced Sweden to obtain such elite soldiers. But only society's
wealthiest members could keep a horse and an armoured knight.
To increase the size of the cavalry it was decided that those who lined up a knight with armor were called
nobles, and the whole organization was called the nobility rust service. In Sweden, in contrast to what was
the case in the rest of Europe, that system never replaced the peasant army but they complemented each
other. In the war for liberation from Denmark, however, the system's shortcomings were obvious. Farmers
must, at harvest and sowing, go home to their farms. They had furthermore not much to put up against the
battle-tested professional soldiers. The time required professional troops, but these were expensive to
maintain, so the king (Gustav Vasa) organized a national standing army, the first of its kind in Europe. For
this, he used both voluntary military service and forced ditto. In the beginning out of ten men one had to join
the forces. But during the 1600s also another systems occurred where a certain number of farms should fix
and equip a soldier.
The large field armies that we in the 1600s (in particular the Thirty Years War) held abroad, consisted
largely of foreign soldiers of fortune with the domestic standing army as a core. 1630, for example, the
recruited foreign troops were about 36 000 and the domestic standing army, about 40 000 men.
The peasantr, however, found, the system heavy and unjust, especially as few survived the service, and they
demanded a relief. In 1682 it was decided that the owners of a number of farms should, in both peace and
war, raise and pay one warrior 21 , which belonged to one of those in the countryside located regiments.
After the stinging loss of Finland in the war of 1808-09 against Russia, we realized that something radical
needed to be done, so we revived the general conscription again. And like other countries in Europe and
soon most european countries we got an army based on universal conscription. Then the organization was
about the same until 2000, although funding and investment in defense varied with turmoil abroad.
21.
Two farms with a certain size should provide a walking soldier.
In the same way it was with the cavalry with the big difference that these soldiers also had a horse that would be
maintained.
The sailors were maintained in the coastal areas and in the cities. In the latter case, it was the urban burghers who
had to keep the sailor with housing and cash pay.
105

Public education
During the Middle Ages, a number of universities was founded in Europe. The students were taught in art,
theology, medicine and civil and canon law. Sweden got its first university in 1477 (Uppsala University),
though it was not then run by the state but run by the Catholic Church and the purpose was to educate the
higher clergy. Then, when Sweden became a Protestant state, the university was shut down, but it opened
again 1595 th . The aim then was to provide Sweden with capable officials who, among other things could
work for Sweden when dealings with foreign countries. In 1668 Sweden's second university was founded in
Lund. In 1826 started the teaching at the Technological Institute in Stockholm (from 1877, Royal Institute of
Technology, KTH in Swedish). Since then, the higher education has evolved significantly and now there are
14 universities 22 and 21 state colleges.
Social security
Until the Industrial Revolution the social protection in Sweden mainly consisted of:
1. The family and/or the workplace that one hopefully was a part of. The farms, for example, were required
to take care of their old and sick.
2. Professions like tailors, lunt makers, and others, which did not always have any work community, began
in the 1500s to create guilds arrangements providing assistance to sick members. First, the business was
small and mostly of charitable nature. But by the mid-1700s came the first real health insurances: The
Bookprinters Sickness and Burial Help (1754), which was directed to all those who worked as
bookprinters (excluding trainees) and their wives. In Gothenburg 1761 it was formed a more general
Medical, Sickness and Burial Help whose members were mainly artisans from different small craftsman
groups.
3. Church. In the monasteries poor and sick could receive care and assistance. It was also the church that
stood for the cultural development of the country and some teaching activities occurred in some places.
For these services as well as their spiritual work, the church took a tax of the population called the tenth,
as a tenth of everything anyone produced should be given to the church. 1/3 of the that went to the local
church organization, while the rest went well higher up in the organization and was also distributed to the
poor. In addition, the church had large estates that contributed to the financing of their activities. When
Sweden in 1527 went from being a Catholic to be a Protestant country, the state took care of this tax
beyond the part that went to the local organization. The monasteries were demolished and the poor/sick
now had to manage the best they could. The new doctrine preached namely the r Christian moral duty,
and said that charity encouraged loitering that the Christian should not tolerate. But later, the church
served as a social institution with funds they received in collections during church services. Money that,
during the 1700s, was used to build hospitals.
4. The state also did some activities for the benefit of the poor. In the 1500s, for example, a charity house on
Riddarholmen was established. And in the 1700s there was a small grant for poor care from government
spending. The state stored, to some extent, also the grain which they obtained through tax revenues and
purchases, to rescue the needy with bread cereals and seeds in case of crop failure.
5. Contemporary rural municipalities (parishes) also took some responsibility for the poor because they were
housed on different farms a certain period/farm according to a definite system.
6. Nobles, clergy and commoners formed, in 1770, a fund for the promotion of health care among the poor.
A few years later, even the farmers put a little sum for each servant they had. The fund's assets went to
hiring a number of doctors around the country.
22. The difference between a university and a university is that universities have a general right to award degrees, and
colleges may be entitled to issue such degrees in a particular discipline. However, there are universities that have
the word college or institute in the name though they are an university like Royal Institute of Technology and
Karolinska Institute.
106

With the population growth in the latter part of the 1800s the amount of people who neither owned land or
were professional craftsmen increased. Thanks to industrialization during the same period were, however,
some of these people got, with contemporary measures, a decent income so that they had a little money left
over for health insurance. So during this time there quite a lot of private health funds emerged. 1931 it was
decided to introduce a national system of local health funds that followed the municipal division. The
principle of unity meant that it would only be one fund in each area. All the recognized funds received
government subsidies for their activities. In addition, there were the central health funds that were collection
agencies for local health insurance funds. Local health insurance funds accounted for the first 21 days of
illness, then the central fund took over the responsibility. In the late 1950s, health insurance became
mandatory. And 1962 all the funds in each county were merged together to county funds. 2005 all these
funds were merged together into one national fund.
Other parts of the social security systems grew, roughly, like this:
1. Parenting. Paid maternity leave was introduced in 1931. 1947, the child allowances became general.
1974 the maternity insurance was improved and renamed parental insurance. 1975 the benefit period
was extended to 7 months, and one got the right to be at home with a sick child for 10 days per year.
2. Occupational injuries. A work injury insurance was introduced 1901 with a law that implied an
obligation for some employers, mainly in industry, to provide compensation to workers who have
been injured at work. In 1916 became an obligation for employers to insure virtually all employees
for accidents at work. The legislation was then supplemented on several occasions until we 1955
received a new law regarding occupational diseases. Through this law, there was a high level of
coordination with public health insurance, and in 1977 they merged together completely.
3. Old age. In 1913 a small was pension decided for those aged 67 and besides that there was a
supplementary pension for those who had the highest need. Everyone would pay a pension
contribution on their income, and the pension would be in relation to the previous wage income. The
pension amounts were low, representing about 13 percent of a worker's average annual salary. In
addition, men and women did not have the same pension amount. The system was administered
locally by the local government pension boards. Pension insurance also included compensation for
invalidity. In 1948 the pension system changed in several ways: the pension rates increased sharply,
the disability pensions were improved, some family benefits were introduced as state and municipal
housing cost compensation. Another important change was that the retirement pension was made
independent of the previous income and thus became generalized. Poor or rich, all received the same
pension. During the 1950s, the so-called ATP-battle was fought, which resulted in a new mandatory
and universal retirement fund in 1960. Every one that had been working for for 30 years had full
pension. The pension was dependent on the income of the top 15 years. The two systems would
together provide a pension equivalent to about 60 percent of the previous average income. The
retirement age was originally 67 years but was reduced from 1976 to 65 years.
4. Disability. With the advent of pension insurance in 1913 we received income support to disabled
people and in the mid-1950s, a number of improvements. During the 1970s, a childcare allowance
for children up to 16 years and disability benefits for persons older than 16 years were introduced. In
the 1980s, this was complemented with car allowance and in the 1990s the right to have personal
assistants paid by the governement.
5. Leave. 1932 was the Social Democrats in power in parliament and could form a government. Their
political goal was a society where all people would feel secure and well-being. Which among other
things resulted in the Holidays Act which made every worker entitled to two weeks vacation. Later,
the statutory holiday gradually growed to 1978 when we got a fifth week of vacation.
6. Unemployment. Unemployment insurances began as individual initiatives in the form of trade
unions, which in the late 1800s gave some financial assistance to unemployed members. First the aid
consisted of travel grants so that they could seek employment elsewhere if, for example, the local
factory closed down. The current system of voluntary unemployment insurances with government
subsidies was launched 1935 th .
107

Government infrastructure
In Sweden, as well as in many other countries, the state infrastructure consists mainly of roads (about 2/3 of
all public streets and roads), most of the rail network, many airports, sea routes, some power lines, defense
installations and facilities for the State administration. But before the 1800s, it consisted only of defense,
government buildings, sea marks, and a dozen lighthouses (most old Swedish lighthouses were built in the
1800s).
Also the roads used to be private, even if they were built at the state's command and citizens could pay the
tax in the form of work on the construction of these. The maintenance was handled by the peasants whose
land the road happened to cross. They also had the obligation to provide a ride to the disposal of the state
men. First, in 1895 the State began to contribute with a modest 10% of the cost of road maintenance, but still
the farmers had to pay the rest. 1918 the state contribution increased to 30% of the cost. And in 1944, finally
the routes in rural areas altogether were nationalized and the National Road Authority would handle
everything from construction to maintenance and snow removal.
Judiciary
The judiciary is probably society's most important function, since without it we would not dare to go on the
street or see no point in cultivating the land, build a home or run a business, since what we had built up
anytime risked being destroyed by someone who were stronger or better equipped. So it has been in all times
and therefore it has "always" been some kind of rules as to what is unacceptable (e g, moral codes or laws),
someone who decides on the laws (king or parliament), someone (police) that ensures compliance with these
rules and punishments (prisons) for those that we believe violate the rules.
As seen on the title page of the Swedish book
of law we worked on our common rules for a
long time. Of course from much earlier than the
1700s. But it was then when the law book got
it’s current structure.
And there is still today laws that appearently
are written for another time, like:
4 § 11 chapter in byggningabalken which is
about what to do with loose pigs found on
public roads when it is not winter.
108

The Swedish judicial system has roughly developed as follows:
- Law-making. In the Middle Ages it was the king who made the laws. With time, however, the king got
less and less involved, although he up to the 1974 was the one who formally took decisions. In 1809,
Sweden got a new constitution that divided the power between the king and the parliament. In addition, a
Parliamentary Ombudsmanwas introduced that would help individual citizens if necessary, to start an
action against the state. The Supreme Court was established in 1789 when an organization for legal
review of new legislative proposals was founded. 1909 a council took over the Supreme Courts work to
review the proposed laws.
- Courts. Adjudication was until 1965 a local affair for the cities, initially run by the congregation of
townspeople who decided. But over time, special assemblies for different types of trials emerged. In the
Middle Ages, the state's role in this was that the king constituted the last instance in the appeal of a
judgment. The king therefore traveled around the country and sentenced. It gradually became
unsustainable and in the 1600s state courts started (courts of appeal) that ruled in the king's place, the first
of these was the Svea Court of Appeal 1614 th . In the 1700s came the aforementioned Supreme Court. By
1974 the Supreme Court ceased to rule in the king's name. 1965 all local courts in the country were
nationalized and county courts were added in 1979.
- The police. Until 1965, police work was primarily a local/municipal matter. The state was engaged in part
through that the military, to the middle of the 1800s, helped in efforts to keep order in the cities.
Moreover, the state contributed with support functions to local police organizations.
- Prisons. In the Middle Ages people usually were convicted to shame penalties, fines, corporal
punishment, exile, or death. Real prisons did not exist, so the arrested and sentenced to prison had to sit in
the town hall, the city walls, or in some monasteries. Additionally people were locked into castles and
tower basements, or in underground burrows where the prisoners were lowered through a hole in the
floor.
The first prison was built in 1624, in Stockholm, and in the latter part of the 1800s a whole series of
prisons were built. 1857 the parliament decided that all those sentenced to prison and those sentenced to
hard labor for up to two years would be sitting in the cell, so in most of these new prisons, each inmate
had his own cell. 1892, a new parliamentary decision was taken that meant that everyone would sit the
first three years in the cell, then they would work.
1832 all corporal punishment besides the death penalty was abolished. In 1921 also the death penalty in
peacetime was abolished, in 1946 the insulation cell punishment was abolished, and the death penalty in
time of war was abolished in 1973.
To be a parent implies the exclusive right to form
someones personality!
109

The development in Sweden during the 1900s
In this chapter the development in the 20:th century is presented from the viewpoint of the everyday man.
Mainly in terms of how advertising has changed and most importantly how objects of advertising has
changed over time. This through a number of strikes in various provincial newspapers, in March a few
selected years between 1905-1950. I think it gives some idea of how wealth increase spread in Sweden
during the first half of the century. In addition, the picture is supplemented with various data presented in
fact boxes.
110

The end of the 1800s
At the end of the previous century, Sweden was a poor country, even in comparison with other ones. We
had annual trade deficit (SCB, 1901), and our economy was very dependent on commodity production. The
few goods we had trade surplus in were (SCB, 1960): live animals (920 000 SEK), food from animals
(27 237 000 SEK), wood products (174 038 000 SEK); paper (6 245 000 SEK) and metals/minerals (35 874
000 SEK). But it was only in export of timber that we had a real position of strength, when we were the
world's top exporter (SCB, 1901). Regarding another parade branch: extraction/production of metals and
minerals, our positionwas not so brilliant (see the examples in the chart below).
Production of some metals during 1898
45000
40000
35000
30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
Silver (100s kg)
Gold (kg)
Cupper (ton)
Iron ore (1000s ton)
5000
0
Sweden
UK &
Ireland
France Austria
Spain
Germany
Norway
Hungary
The mass-produced consumer goods entered the market 1
In the late 1800s factory made fabrics and small items like handkerchiefs and
headscarves of cotton, wool and linen got available in rural areas. First, they were sold
by peddlers who had his stock in a rucksack on his back. Then it began to be sold in
shops. Around the same time factory-made shoes came on the market and were
available for purchase at various locations. Even tapestries, porcelain, glass and iron
products such as axes and iron stoves were introduced during the same period. While
factory-made furniture was not common in the country side until well into the 1900s.
1.
According to an answer from 1941 on a question from the Nordic Museum about how the
mass consumption products spread throughout Sweden (Nordiska Museet, 1941).
111

1900s
Motala daily 1905
Bank & finance
Health products
Travelling
Journals and books
Cleaning, laundry etc
The most common subject of the commercial ads in Motala Daily in March 1905, was travel,
It was, however, no pleasure trips, instead, they were instead exclusively about emigration to the U.S. The
second most common topic was newspapers and books. Most of these ads were about instruction books, such as
cookbooks.
The economic growth during the period is fantastic
Every measure on economic growth shows a steep rise during the 1900s. The overall measure is the Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) per inhabitant. Here presented in 1995 th price level (Statistics Sweden SCB
2005). As seen in the lower chart we have gone from being primarily manufacturers of physical products to
manufacturers of services (SCB 2006).
GDP per capita (in 1 000s SEK)
200
150
100
50
0
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990
Contribution to GDP (%)
60
50
40
30
Agriculture, forrest
work and fishing
Manufacturing of
products
20
10
Production of services
0
1900
1906
1912
1918
1924
1930
1936
1942
1948
1954
1960
1966
1972
1978
1984
1990
1996
Public services
112

Many ads, in particular those about health products
had a teaching manner.
Note how the advertisers refers to authorities.
Even those who sold rat pesticides
referred to authorities (in this case the
authority was the town doctor in
Gothenburg).
The rare ads from the food & beverage
sector were mostly about beer.
We drank more beer at the
time
In 1891 we drank 28 liters
beer per person and year
(SCB, 1901), compared to 19
liters 100 years later (SCB,
2005).
113

It appears to have been hard competition
between different life insurance companies, since
there were a lot of ads about life insurances in
the paper.
The life insurance market had a glance period at that
time
In the end of the 1800s a whole bunch of life insurance
companies emerged. And the number of insured rised from
about 26 000 in 1885, to about 158 000 the year 1900
(SCB, 2004).
The average life length has increased from appr. 55 years to
about 80 (SCB 2005)
Expected average life lenght at birth
100
80
years
60
40
20
Men
Women
0
1901
1911
1921
1931
1941
1951
1961
1971
1981
1991
Birth year
114

Mora daily 1915
Bank & finance
Candy
Farming equipment
Lotteries
Journals and books
The most common subject of
advertising in Mora daily in March
1915 was agricultural equipment,
primarily in the form of separators
(which was used to divide the milk
into different fractions). The large
proportion of advertising for journals
and books depends almost entirely on
the newspaper's own advertising.
Banking and finance advertising
consisted in equal parts of banking
and insurance advertising.
The differences compared to ten years
earlier, is probably partly due to that
in 1915 the world War I was ongoing.
We escaped the battles, but the war
hit us pretty hard anyway.
Cereal production has doubled
At the end of the 1800s half of the working population
worked in agriculture (SCB, 1901). One hundred years
later, it was no more than 1.3% (Statistics Sweden
2005). Despite this, we produced so much more that
we have gone from being importer of cereals to
becoming exporters (SCB 1960 &
2005).
Total harvest of cereals
7000
6000
1000s ton .
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
Totaly
Wheat
Korn
Oats
0
Rye
1900
1920
1940
Yearr
1960
1980
2000
The outcome of the cultivation has increased from 148
kg wheat per hectares in 1898 (SCB, 1901) to 5 670
kg in 1998 (SCB, 2005).
115

Kristianstad daily 1925
Vehicles
Movies
Health products
Food
Shoes and shoe
cream
We hardly eat any of what they ate 100 years ago,
today
In the country side in the late 1800s or early 1900s
(Nordiska Muséet, 1928) they drank a cup
coffee at 5:30 o'clock and ate breakfast at 7 o'clock.
The breakfast consisted of black pudding, semolina and
cooked peas and fried fatty pork. Half-one they ate
dinner which usually consisted of salted herring,
potatoes and soup (for example beer soup, gruel or pea
soup).
In the afternoon, they drank coffee. In the summer it
was served with buns. At 18 o'clock they ate
something called supper which often consisted of
pancakes with lingonberries and pork. Finally they ate
porridge with milk at 20 o'clock.
Now you can see a large proportion of advertising for food products. Most of it is advertising for margarine
(several brands, which are all gone today, competing for the market domination), but also some advertising
for flour and baking powder. There are also a lot of advertisements for shoes. These ads are from the firm
"Oscaria" which had small ads in almost every issue. Cinema has obviously been spreading across the
country and they advertised, of course, frequently. Health products included several kinds of soaps that were
said to have all sorts of beneficial effects. Finally, there were some ads for bikes and cars (mostly Ford), and
occasional ads for radio receivers (radio broadcast began this year).
Judgign from the advertisements for cars they were becoming more common.
The amount of cars has exploded
The number of registered cars has increased dramatically from 1950 and onwards (SCB 2005), see the
chart below. Now there are about 4 million cars in Sweden. If these cars were knocked out on the
population between 20-84 years, it would be more than one car per every second person.
4500
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
The amount of registerd cars (1000s)
1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
116

Borås tidning, 1930
Movies
Health products
Clothes
Food
Journals and books
The ads for cars, car repair/replacement parts and radio recievers were even more common. Also several ads
for factory-made furniture and occasional ads about refrigerators were found. But clothing, health products
and food dominated. Insurance and Aemigration trips to the U.S. has dropped a lot. Margarine had also lost
its share, but still, it seemed to be war on margarine market. Herring and fruits were now the dominant
products in the food ads. Among the beverage advertisements coffee dominated heavily.
The increasing amount of advertisements for clothing, furniture and building materials, I think clearly
reflects that we were going from a low consumption society, were everyone made everything himself, to a
mass-production and mass consumption society. Finally the increasing amount of movie and dancing ads
(not in the diagram above) and the ads for journals and books shows that people had both a little time and a
little money left over for pure entertainment.
Accommodation standards have improved
As late as the end of World War II, only one in five households had a
bathroom or shower room and two-thirds had no private WC (Kypengren
S, 1976). Furthermore, a fifth of all households in urban areas were
overcrowded 2 . But so much was built in the 60's that the overcrowding
almost disappeared and today there is, in many municipalities, a housing
surplus.
120000
100000
80000
60000
40000
20000
0
Amount of new apartments per year
2.
Over-crowded
were those who
had more than
two residents per
room (kitchen
un-counted).
1950
1956
1962
1968
1974
1980
1986
1992
1998
Building technology became more
efficient. And prefabricated
building elements, like masonite
panels , became more common.
How could a combined food processing and washing place could look like in a
home without water and sewer (environment in the City Museum, Stockholm).
117

Radio recievers appears to be a "hot" product at the
time. Judging from the ads, some people
build their own ones, probably because the industrially
produced ones were so expensive.
In addition, they were technically simple, but built into
fine wooden boxes.
We have come from a world where one maybe
wrote a letter to… (SCB 1960 & 1962)
Post-, telephone & eter consumption
Amount
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
Telephones(1
000s)
Domestic
telephone
calls
(millions)
Domestic
post
(millions)
Radio
licenses
(1000s)
0
Tv licenses
(1000s)
1900
1920
1940
1960
Year
Then we imported more than we exported, now it is the opposite
Nowadays (SCB, 1999), our exports significantly is larger and wider than 100 years ago. Moreover, it
consists a greater extent of highly processed products than raw materials. Since engineering products
now account for 54% of all exports, while wood and mineral products account for 14% and 9%
respectively. And trade the surplus 3 has swung from being negative to positive, see the chart below
(SCB, 1960, 1962, 1973, 1992, 2005).
Net export of goods (million SEK)
140000
120000
100000
80000
60000
40000
20000
0
-20000
1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
3. Trade surplus = net trade = total exports - total imports (current prices).
118

Barometern, 1935
Beverages
Health products
Farming equipment
Clothes
Food
Journals and books
Note! The ads for movies
hasn’t disappeared, they are
just excluded from the
presentation from now on.
Sweden was electrified
The trends that appeared in the Borås daily five years earlier
is now further enhanced. Clothes, journals & books, food and
health are the dominant elements. In addition to that beverages
(coffee) and agricultural equipment, etc. (mainly seeds and fertilizers)
has a fairly large proportion of theads. The latter difference is
probably because magazine has more farmers among their readers
(Barometern is based in Kalmar). The announcement of food is
more diversified and the kind of food ads that we often see today are
seen (1 kg Macaroni 1 SEK, see 1940 below).
Among advertising for journals and books, the most notable
Ones are for the magazine itself, but there are also quite
a few ads for magazines. Notably, it also appears isolated ads for
flowers, watches, cameras and vacation travel (to Portugal
and Poland).
Throughout the first half of the century
most people warmed their homes with
direct heat sources such as
wood stoves. In 1935 (Tamm-
Hallström K 1993), only 7% of
households in the country and 38% of
homes in the larger urban areas had
central heating (common radiators).
But more than half (52%) of
households in rural areas, and almost
all (99%) in larger urban areas had
electricity already retracted.
The electricity was at first used very
sparingly, primarily to a ceiling light in
every room, a single table or floor
lamp and of course to the radio. As
people got better economy and the
products became cheaper in the 50s,
electric stoves and refrigerators
became common. With the large
expansion of housing and
modernization of old ditto many
people in the fifties received
approximately the same standard that
we have today, except that they lacked
freezers and were overcrowding. Of
course, they had no
modern machines such as dishwashers,
TV:s and dryers.
A car ad from that time.
In the past, companies often appear to have been named after a
person. When looking, for instance, under "Car Repair and rubber,
etc. "in 1927: year of the Stockholm telephone directory, one finds
that approximately 67% of business names included a personal
name, like" Jönsson car repairs. "The situation was much the same
20 years later. But now it's just a few firms, according to the
telephone directory, has a personal name in the business name.
Many dwelling were heated only with
ceramic stoves.
119

Advertisement for a health product and candy. Apparently, it was still much more text than in today's
ads for the same products and there were more focus on "factual" arguments.
The number of inhabitants has almost doubled
From the beginning of the 1900s till the end of the century the number of inhabitants in Sweden
had increased from 5 million to almost 9 million (SCB 2005).
Inhabitants
10,00
8,00
Millions .
6,00
4,00
2,00
0,00
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Year
120

Hudiksvallsposten, 1940
Building material and
services
Clothes
Food
Jewellery
Building materials, clothing and food continues to be popular subjects for ads. But health products have lost
quite a lot. They have also, to some extent, changed character since miracle creams are decreasing, in favor
of regular medicines like "Albyl". The clothing ads include a fairly large proportion of ads for mourning
clothes. In addition there are ads for coffins and flower arrangements for funerals.
Engagements seem, judging from the number of ads for engagement rings, be fashionable at this time. Even
products aimed at children, such as strollers, begin to appear.
You can see some ads for leisure goods too, as the one to the left.
War does not seem to have affected the advertisment that
much yet, except that there are few ads for blackout paraphernalia
and, travel ads have completely disappeared.
121

Herring, grains, and coffee is
important goods at this time.
Probably because they did not
vary the diet that much and
also cultivated other necessary
commodities themselves. Furthermore,
the war limited the possibilities to import
alternative raw materials.
Purchasing power has increased
tremendously
In 1920 a clerk a salary of
approximately 92 SEK in week
(Lagerqvist L & Nathorst-Boos
E,1984), made it possible for him to
buy half a costume, or 14 kg of butter.
But then would unfortunately not have
any money over for other things.
1945 a food worker earned 75 SEK a
week. For that he could buy almost a
whole jacket or 14 kg of coffee.
1960 a male industrial worker in the
wooden industry approximately
earned 120 SEK a week, which he
could use to buy six nylon shirts or 10
kg ham.
In 1974 a color television set costed
about the same money as today,
although they were significantly less
advanced.
122

Jämtlandstidningen, 1945
Jämtlandstidningen had at this
time a circulation of about 4600
papers / day (Jonsson S, 1982).
Thus a relatively small magazine
and it had no spread beyond
Östersund.
Building material and
services
Clothes
Food
It appears, judging from the ads, that
there are difficult times. The more luxury
products, such as candy, has almost
disappeared. And many of the ads
comes from the paper itself (which
explains the high proportion of
advertisements for journals & books). It
can be noted that the there are some ads
for casual wear and leisure products, a
trend that appear to have began shortly
before the war. But on the other hand
Östersund and Jämtland areas where
skiing long been very popular in winter/
spring.
Below, one of the few ads for sweets.
A brand new product in the columns are
condoms, they are often sold with
health arguments (avoid venerial
deseases). They are actually
now the bulk of the relatively few
advertisements for health products.
123

There was rationing on a many
goods, such as bread, grains,
coffee, meat, salt, sugar, rice, eggs,
macaroni, textiles, detergents and
tobacco.
Rationing meant that consumers
had to submit a voucher for a
specific product in order to be
allowed to buy it. The coupons
were distributed by the state. To
the left and below shows a
"calendar" in which it described
which coupons were for what and
how long they were valid. The
purpose of the system was to
provide an equitable distribution of
the few supplies that were
available.
124

Örebrokuriren, 1950
Building material and services
Cosmetics
Clothes
Food
Cleaning, laundry etc
The proportion of ads are much larger than before. Some new products have also appeared
such as curtains and tea. Another new phenomenon in the provincial press is advertising for fashion clothing
and a large part of it is related to the upcoming spring fashion. But there were also a lot of ads for fur
products, something I have not seen before. Maybe it was fashionable at that time. It is also evident that the
building technology is more advanced, since they advertise quite extensively for water-based radiators and
water boilers etc. Furthermore, it seems to be a battle between modular home manufacturers.
Most of the food ads are from the cooperative food chain, which might not say so much about their actual
market share because the newspaper was a working class paper. Among the food ads it is still a large
proportion of ads for margarine, but herring has almost completely disappeared. Coffee dominates among
the beverages, but I also saw some ads for tea and even a few for soft drinks. The ads for beauty products are
dominated by soap ads (targeting women) and razor ads. Most ads for laundry, dishwashing and cleaning
involves washing. It seems to have been a battle between three or four brands that are all gone now.
1950 worked half of all the employed in
manufacturing or agriculture, today it is one -
fifth
In 1950 (SCB, 1962) a third of the population
worked in manufacturing/mining (32%) and quite
a number with trade/communication (22%) or in
agriculture (20%). Of the remaining 17% worked
in services, etc., or in the construction industry
(8%). The sector health care/social care probably
is included in the figures for services etc. But one
must note that at this time, many women were still
housewives (in 1960, women accounted for only
about 30% of the workforce).
At the end of the 1800s, however, it was no more
than 15% who worked with manufacturing/mining
(SCB, 1901) and 6% who worked with
trade/communications.
Foreign products, like these, were getting more common.
Today (SCB, 2004) 18% works with
manufacturing, 19% with trade/communication,
and 2% with agricultural tasks (including
forrestry). 17% works with nursing/care, 6% are
construction workers, 13% work in financial
services/media/business services and 11% with
education/research.
125

On the margarine market it seems like it still
is "war." Milda was not in the war from
beginning, but they emerged victorious from it.
Probably due to that the trademark belongs to a major
food group.
In the old days it seems almost as if the same person
had designed all the packaging, right The picture is
taken from an almanac for the year 1952 (Tidens förlag
1951). Alongside the picture there is a text "We need
informative advertising instead of meaningless
advertising slogans."
Annual working time has almost halved, but the decline stalled in the 70s
The average working hours for men between 16 and 84 are now approximately 41 hours per week (approx. 1 900
hours/year) and for women it is approximately 27 hours (1 300 hours/year (SCB 1998: Living Conditions Report
79). According to Statistics Sweden (SCB 2002) we work quite a lot of overtime, since 28% of all employed work
overtime at least one day during an average work week.
At the country side in the end of the 1800s (Nordic Museum, 1928) they got up at 5 am and went to the stables
and barns, feeded the animals and shoveled shit. Then they drank a cup of coffee and continued with giving water
to the animals. At 7 it was breakfast break. Then they worked until dinner break half past twelve. In the winter,
they began to work as soon as they had eaten, to take advantage of the daylight. They had a coffee break in the
afternoon and meal breaks at 18 o'clock and at 20 o'clock. The working day ended with giving the animals night
feed. In the summer, however, the dinner break in lasted an hour and a half, but then they worked to about 21 with
a break for an afternoon snack and a meal break at 18 o'clock.
In summary, therefore, they worked from 5 am to about 21, with maybe 2-3 hour breaks for eating.
Overall, they worked about 13 hours a day, including Saturdays. Moreover, they had no vacation, which
sums up the total working time to about 4 000 hours/year.
Factory workers were at the time (1903) working approximately 2 900-3 600 hours per year (Kommerskollegii,
1903). For example wagon makers 3 100 hours/year (60 hours/week) and a foundry workers 3 000 hours/year.
In 1938 (Svenskt Näringsliv, 2006) it was decided that the general working time should be 48 hour week with 2
weeks vacation per year, then we had an additional week of vacation 1954 th . In the 60's another holiday week was
added, and weekly working hours were reduced on a few occasions so that at the end of the decade it was 42.5
hours/week. In 1973 it was reduced to the current level (40 hours/week + Unpaid breaks). Then we have another
week of vacation (in 1978), and two extra vacation days, which was removed again in 1994.
126

The total country side press 4 , 1990
Building
Agriculture,
forestry
Petroleum
products
Food, beverages,
tobacco
Clothing, textiles
Footwear, leather
goods
Furniture, home,
household
Laundry, dishes,
cleaning
Hygiene,
cosmetics
Office, computer,
communication
Cars, car
accessories
financial
advertising
Books, media,
teaching
Medical, health
Radio, television,
audio, video,
music
Sports, leisure,
photography,
garden
Travel and
transport
In the early 1990's (Gröndal T, 1991) all the categories that previously dominated the ads had lost
in favor of: cars, followed by finance and travel/transportation, and office/data.
The number of companies listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange has increased fivefold between 1951* and
2000
Of the sixty companies that were on the Stockholm Stock Exchange in June 1951, there are over a quarter left on the
stock market today. Most of the others (more than 20) are now included in other Swedish companies and at least ten
of them have been bought by foreign companies. The rest have met a for me unknown destiny. The chart below
shows the price trend for the majority of the companies thathas been on the stock exchange since 1951. As seen in
the chart it happened a lot with the stock prices in the 90's, between 1991 and 1999 the General Index rose almost
500% (SCB, 2005). During approximately the same period, the firms' total taxable gains increased from 77 billion to
160 billion.
Relative price development on the stocks of companies ABB that has been on the stock Atlas Copco B
market since 1951
35000%
30000%
25000%
Electrolux B
Industrivärlden A
Holmen B
Investor B
20000%
15000%
10000%
Sandvik
SEB A
SCA B
SHB B
5000%
Skanska B
SKF B
0%
1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001
Stora Enso A
Volvo B
The price trend in the graph is adjusted for share issues. Some companies, however, provides no data emissions back to 1951.
They are then included from the time when emissions data is available. The companies that are missing from the chart is
Ericsson (has risen so much that it would appear like no other company have raised at all), Borås wäfveri,
Höganäs and Huvudstaden.
* The fifteen preceding years it did not happen so much with stock prices. From year 1936 to 1950 the Stock Exchange total
index rose from 98.3 to 145.4 (SCB 1960), adjusted for dividends and share issues.
127

Corporate advertising expenditure and consumption quadrupled between 1935 and 1975 (Jonsson
S, 1982)
It can be concluded that advertising expenditure and consumption has risen like hand in hand and they
have followed our production growth (GDP). Which among other things can be seen in that the ads
have become better, or what do you think The chart below also shows that the provincial press has
lost some of the advertising to other media.
The data Jonsson presents extends no further than the mid 70's, but it is reasonable to believe that
advertising expenditure and private consumption continued to follow GDP. If so, the curves pointed
sharply upward just as in the 50's and 60's.
Total expenses for advertizing, GDP and private consumption
Index (index 1935=100) .
500
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
1935 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 Year
Cost of advertizing
GDP
Privare
consumption
Average amount of
ads in country
press
Isn’t it then strange
Very many dimensions of our material standard of living and the Swedish economy has improved
enormously throughout the 1900s. But the why haven’t we, since 1978 when we introduced the fifth holiday
week, taken out some of the growth in more leisure time
It is reasonable to believe that it is because we have chosen to always use the excess to increase our
consumption, even though we already have everything we have ever dreamed of and much more. It is also
reasonable to believe that it largely depends on advertising, because it is constantly telling us that we should
not be happy as it is, but instead consume more.
Probably it would be devastating to the world economy if we one day would be satisfied with our old TVs
and more. Though for a single person, it would probably make major improvement in the quality of life, if
he/she used a portion of the increased prosperity in the form of shorter working hours, rather than in the
form of new gadgets.
Furthermore, perhaps the reasoning about being usefull is no longer valid, since most of the basic work
(which most people used to spend all their life doing) now almost entirely is done by machines. Nor is it
reasonable to believe that we would be losing competitiveness if all cof us did not ontribute, as most are
busy with doing things that do not contribute significantly to competitiveness. Finally, it feels antiquated to
say that those who do not contribute are living on the other, because most people who thinks they are
contributing, yet lives on the labor and capital formerly plowed into our nation.
128

References
Gröndal T (1991) Reklammarknaden 1975-1990, Göteborgs Universitet, Göteborg.
Jonsson S (1982) Pressen, reklamen och konkurrensen 1935-1978, Göteborgs Universitet, Göteborg.
Kommerskollegii (1903) Arbetsstatistik, P A Nordstedt & Söner, Stockholm.
Kypengren, Sven (1976) Samhället som det blev, HSB:s Riksförbund, Stockholm.
Lagerqvist L O & Nathorst-Böös E (1984) Vad kostar det, LT Förlag, Stockholm.
Nordiska Museet (1928). Nordiska Museet gjorde år 1928 en undersökning i vilken människor fick redogöra
för sina måltidsvanor. I en slumpvis vald redogörelse beskriver en man i Västmanland arbetsdagen och
matordningen på landet i slutet av 1800-talet eller början av 1900-talet.
Nordiska Museet (1941). Nordiska Museet gjorde år 1941 en undersökning i vilken människor fick redogöra
för hur industriprodukter började komma ut i bygderna. I en slumpvis vald redogörelse beskriver en man i
Uppland sina minnen.
SCB (1901) Statistisk tidskrift 1900, Kungliga Statistiska Centralbyrån, Stockholm.
SCB (1992) Tidsanvändningsundersökningen 1990/91. En studie med besöksintervjuer och dagbokföring
bland 3.636 personer i åldrarna 20-64 år, SCB, Örebro.
SCB (1960) Historisk statistik för Sverige, SCB, Stockholm.
SCB (1962) Statistisk årsbok för Sverige 1960, SCB, Stockholm.
SCB (1973) Statistisk årsbok för Sverige 1973, SCB, Stockholm.
SCB (1992) Statistisk årsbok för Sverige 1993, SCB, Örebro.
SCB (1998: Levnadsförhållanden rapport 79) I tid och otid, SCB, Örebro.
SCB (1999) Export/importåret 1997-1998, SCB, Örebro.
SCB (2000) När mat kommer på tal - Tabeller om livsmedel 2000, SCB, Örebro.
SCB (2002) Statistisk årsbok för Sverige 2002, SCB, Örebro.
SCB (2004) Statistisk årsbok för Sverige 2005, SCB, Örebro.
SCB (2005) Statistisk årsbok för Sverige 2006, SCB, Örebro.
Sifo (2000: projekt 6305090) En undersökning om sömn. Telefonintervjuer 6 - 10 mars 2000 med 1.000
personer som var 15 år eller äldre, Sifo Research & Consulting AB, Stockholm.
Socialstyrelsen (1998) Hälso- och sjukvårdsstatistisk årsbok 1998, Socialstyrelsen, Stockholm.
Svenskt Näringsliv (2006) Fakta om löner och arbetstider, Svenskt Näringsliv, Stockholm.
Tamm-Hallström K (1993) Företagande och tekniskt systemskifte – elektrifieringen och introduktionen av
elspisen, tidskriften Polhem 1993 (volym 1), Göteborg.
Tidens Förlag (1951) Tidens kalender 1952, Tidens Förlag, Stockholm.
129

Before geting old
I have been assigned by the society to help elderly people with things that they are no longer able to take
care of themselves. Often because the person misses simple things, like paying bills, and therefore are in the
danger of being evicted from their homes. Problems that had never occurred if they just took these simple
steps:
1. All running costs (usually: rent or equivalent, electricity, garbage collection, water, insurance, TV license,
telephone, transportation, care fees, union memberships) must be paid by direct debit.
2. Other bills should be paid by using any of the services which can be operated from home, either online
payment or payment services with envelopes.
3. In case there are more than, say, 30 000 SEK on the bank account should, like, 30 000 SEK remain on the
salary account that pension payments and direct debits is linked to (personal account, checking account,
etc.). Everything over that amount should be put into a savings account with interest. This because the
next action should be to arrange so that a reliable person dispose the salary account.
4. Obtain authorization for someone to pick up any medications at a pharmacy (forms are available on
these). In addition, it makes sense to also get an account at the pharmacy and link this with direct debit to
the salary account.
Note! The risk is higher to regret what you haven’t done, than what you have done.
Remember also that dementia can come slowly without you noticing it and therefore it is good to in time,
take the following steps:
1. Throw away what you do not want others to find when you are dead.
2. If you are not satisfied with the inheritance distribution prescribed by law: write a will and make sure that
it is stored so that it is followed in succession after you. There is unfortunately no official archive for
wills, so one have to rely on friends, children, law firms or funeral homes.
3. Discuss with your partner, your children and/or your friends about how you want it in the event that you
need physical or mental care. Many probably say, when they are absolutely clear in their head, that they
do not want to be a problem for their loved ones. But once they are very ill they oppose every kind of
change. My experience is that everyone who has been very care-intensive, which I helped to move to
sheltered housing, have felt much better after the move. Alternatively, you can move to a place, as a
senior housing/sheltered housing already now, where it is possible to conduct care under reasonable
circumstances when necessary. And where you , above all, both can go outdoors and into the shower,
even if you have difficulty walking. If one move in time one have significantly greater opportunities to
influence the housing compared to if moveing too late.
4. Society has a lot of resources designed to help you maintain a good quality of life even if your hearing
impaired, you are unstable or have other physical problems. Do not hesitate to contact such as the district
nurses, or an occupational therapist at the health center (toilet elevations, etc. are free of charge if they are
considered to be needed), or the person in the municipality dealing with the transportation service for
handicapped people and/or offer advice on hearing aids.
5. It seems to be common that elderly people is gloomy, there's nothing to be ashamed of and in addition it
can to some extent be cured with medication. Do not hesitate to contact the health center before the
symptoms become severe. If melancholy is the result of loneliness, it may also to some extent remedied
by the activities that the municipality do to employ and/or entertain old people.
6. If it matters to you how the funeral takes place, mthe funeral agencies are happy to discuss this and they
can express your wishes in writing, which you should keep so that it is found when you're dead and
conveniently also display it for your loved ones.
7. Organize your photo album and write down the name and other information you want to remember, if you
get denied, it may be too late and your dependents may not recognize the old pictures. It can be valuable
to you, your family, and those who will help you if you become demented.
8. Write down how you want it with food, drink, clothing and so on, you could end up in a situation where
you can no longer remember, or cant express your wishes.
9. Do what you want done while you can, soon it may be too late!
130

Geography
Differences between countries
Most of what people have created is the same the world over.
All countries, for instance, have money.
Most have their own banknotes and coins.
Though, especially coins, are often so
similar that it creates confusion when travel
ling between several countries.
I general we live in buildings with windows and doors, there are streets and roads. We use clothes, serve our
food from plates and drinks from glasses. All countries are structured in a similar way, with a few that
control through state institutions such as the police and courts. People normally earn their living through any
kind of work. We amuse ourselves by watching TV, listening to music, talking, having sex and eating, and a
subset of the world also through consuming drugs and/or alcohol. In addition, a large portion of the products
we consume as available world wide. The latter is partly due to the fact that many products are manufactured
by a few companies and sold globally (see examples in table 1).
Table 1. World coverage of a sample of companies according to each company's web site (in total there are about 200 countries).
Company Head office Main product No. Of countries
Coca-cola USA sodas About all
Toyota Japan Cars About all
McDonalds USA Fast food 119
Volvo Sweden Trucks >140
Electrolux Sweden Kitchen machines >150
Unilever The Nederlands/UK Food About all
Ericsson Sweden Telephone nets >180
HSBC UK Bank >80
Heineken Nederländerna Beer Manufacuring in 71
SCA Sweden Intimate protectives >100
Kraft USA Candy >170
Additionally, a lot of products are following international standards. Today there are over 10 000
international standard, which cowers the design of a large number of objects like connectors, mobile phones,
pipes, screws, et cetera.
In addition to technical harmonization we practice social harmonization of laws including trade and traffic in
and between countries. To this can be added unaware harmonization caused by that we somewhat consume
the same cultural products (movies, music, TV shows, etc.).
Despite the above, there are still some differences between countries. This could partly be due to that each
country has its own history. Countries that were free in the 1800s are, for example, more democratic than
younger states (measured by the degree of political rights, chart 1). Maybe since they have had more time to
create democracy.
131

1= "total",
7= non.
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Before
1000
Political rights
1000-1800 1801-1900 1901-1950 1951-2000
Independence year
Chart 1. The average level of democracy in countries that were free before 1000 (9 nations), Years 1000-1800 (11
nations), 1801-1900 (27), 1901-1950 (27) And 1951-2000 ( 111). The figure of the level of political rights is
taken from the UN assessment of how many freedoms that the inhabitants of each country had around the
turn of the millennium, in relation to the Declaration of Human Rights (see www.globalis.se). The scale
ranges from 1 (= full political freedom) to 7 (= less political freedom).
The previous occupying/colonizing 1 cultures has also characterized the occupied/colonized areas. The more
recent the most recent long occupation occurred, the clearer is the link to the occupying powers language.
Sweden and Denmark, for example, have been free a long time and our language differs quite a lot from
each other and from the language kthe colonizers spoke. While those in 20 of the 21 former Spanish colonies
still speak a Spanish that sounds about like the one in Spain (see table 1 +2). In the 21st of these (the
Philippines), they have developed their own language (Tagalog) which, however, have many Spanish
influences. The same applies to the former French, English and Portuguese colonies, many of which were
free much later. In the former Russian/Soviet areas, however, Russian are usually not an official language. In
9 of the 17 countries that for a long time was part of the Ottoman Empire they speak Arabic, but in the
kingdom "heir" Turkey they do not.
The names of the occupied countries' currencies follows in many cases the same pattern, apart from the
Portuguese colonies. The former English regions have more variable names on their currencies, but in 31
cases out of 56 it appears to be related to the colonial history as the currency in 26 cases is called Dollar, 3
cases Shilling and 2 cases Pounds. Additionally the currency is called pound in Egypt, Lebanon and Syria.
Countries that after a much longer Ottoman occupation were British protectorates. In the German-dominated
states and their colonies (Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Finland,
Indonesia, Surinam and others.), There were, especially before the Euro, a certain fondness for names like
Mark and Crown, though these names are often chosen long after they became independent organized
nations.
What religion that dominates depends much less on the dominant culture's ditto, apart from in the former
Spanish colonies where Catholicism still dominates.
1.
Almost all countries have been occupied or been colonized by any ethnic group or state that may, to some extent
characterized the area. In several cases, different colonizers succeeded each other and in these cases, I usually have
chosen the culture that been occupying for the longest time. The Dutch, Danish, and Swedish occupation are sorted
in the category German/Teutonic occupation.
132

Regarding other factors, like how large fraction of the children who attend school, access to clean water and
good toilet facilities, the percentage who suffer from malnutrition, the degree of corruption, the number of
mobile telephone subscribers per 100 inhabitants, GDP 9 per capita, share of exports, the number of cars,
trucks and buses per 1,000 inhabitants, alcohol consumption and political rights, one can’t, however, see any
consistent trend that points out that different colonial masters left a better or worse legacy. In addition to the
former French colonies have worst or second worst value on 10 of 12 factors, and that the German/ Teutonic
areas, with one exception, has the best values.
Domination
occupation
culture 1
Table 2.
Kids in
school 2
(%)
The dominant (occupation) culture in relation to various data, for all fully autonomous countries 14 . Spanish
= pink, Russian=light blue, French = red, British= green, German/ Teutonic = brown, Ottoman = gray,
Portuguese = yellow, Chinese = light green. The figures quoted are averages for all countries in each group
without weighting for differences in population size.
Clean
water 3 (%)
Good
toilets 4 (%)
Starvation
5 (%)
Coruption
6
1=much
Mobiles 7 /
100 inh.
Public
spenditure
on health
care 8 (% of
GDP)
GDP 9 per
inh.
Export 10 (% of
GDP)
Cars&
busses 11 /
1.000
inh.
Alcoho
olcons.
12 /
adult
(liter
alc/year
)
Political
rights
(1=
"total")
The
occupants
language 1
3
= official
language
The occupants
currency
name 13
The occupants
religion 13 =
biggest
Spanish 90 96 79 12 3 99 4 6 630 36 141 7 3 20 of 21 8 of 21 21 of 21
Russian 93 98 87 7 3 106 3 4 750 52 239 11 4 2 of 16 2 of 16 5 of 16
French 81 88 44 20 3 65 3 4 184 34 97 5 5 21 of 31 18 of 31 9 of 31
Brittish 92 94 69 14 4 81 4 8 248 41 204 6 3 49 of 56 31 of 56 16 of 56
German 96 99 96 6 7 128 6 22 658 55 471 11 1
Some connections
Osttomanian 91 97 90 6 3 109 3 7 429 36 215 4 5
Portugese 93 87 56 17 4 78 4 6 027 47 63 6 3 7 of 8 - 5 of 8
Chinese 100 96 45 18 3 62 2 2 263 34 33 4 4
Some connections
No obvious connections
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
The indicator shows the percentage of children in primary school age who were enrolled in a school during 2009, according to
the UN website: www.globalis.se.
Percentage of the population in urban areas who in 2008 had access to a source of water with good quality, according to
www.globalis.se.
The total percentage of the population who 2008 had access to well developed sanitary facilities, according to
www.globalis.se.
The proportion of the population that is undernourished, according www.globalis.se (data from 2007).
The indicator shows the level of corruption in the country, estimated by business people, academics and risk analysts. The
corruption scale ranges from 1 (very corrupt) to 10 (completely un corrupt), the indicator include corruption in the public
sector (such as the police, education, health system and the goverments purchase of services from the private sector) and in
politics, according www.globalis.se (data from 2011).
The number of mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants in 2010, according www.globalis.se.
Public expenditure on health care (% of GDP) in 2007, according to the Swedish Foreign Policy Institute
(www.landguiden.se).
= Gross Domestic Product = the total value of all goods and services produced in the country, excluding those used in the
production of other goods or services. In the table, GDP is expressed in purchasing power parity, which is a measure that
neutralize differences in price levels between countries and presented per inhabitant. Data from www.globalis.se and they
refers to the year 2000.
The total value of all goods and services that the country sold to the rest of the world in 2000, as a share of GDP, according to
www.globalis.se.
The average number of motor vehicles (except motorcycles) per 1 000 inhabitants in 2007. Which includes cars, buses and
trucks. The population figure that the calculation is based on is the number of people in the middle of the year. According to
www.gapminder.org.
The average alcohol consumption per adult (i.e. over 15 years) in liters, is unclear, however, whether it is pure alcohol or what.
According to www.gapminder.org (data from 2005).
Data about official language, currency and which religion is the largest is taken from: Gordon Cheers (editor) Geographica -
Atlas and encyclopaedias of world peoples and countries, Könemann publishers, Cologne, Germany, 2000.
133

Table 3a. The dominant (occupation) culture in relation to various data, for all fully autonomous countries 14 . Spanish
= pink, Russian=light blue, French = red, British= green, German/ Teutonic = brown, Ottoman = gray,
Portuguese = yellow, Chinese = light green.
Country
Kids in
school
(%)
Clean
water
(%)
Good
toilets
(%)
Starvation
(%)
134
Coruption
100 inh.
Mobiles/
1=much
Public
spenditur
e on
health
care (%
of GDP)
Afghanistan 78 37 2 41 1,8
GDP per
inh.
Albania 85 96 98 5 3 142 2,9 3 719
Algeria 95 85 95 5 3 92 3,6 5 327
Andorra 84 100 100 77 5,3
Angola 60 57 41 2 47 2 1 462
Antigua and 90 95 21 185 3,2 10 196
Barbuda
Argentina 98 90 5 3 142 5,1 12 095
Armenia beige 98 90 21 3 125 2,1 2 421
Australia 97 100 100 5 9 101 6 27 390
Azerbaijan 86 88 45 5 2 99 1 2 475
Bahamas 99 98 100 6 7 125 3,7 17 055
Bahrain 100 5 124 2,6 15 545
Bangladesh 89 85 53 26 3 46 1,1 1 543
Brbados 100 100 5 8 128 4,4
Belgium 99 100 100 5 8 113 7 27 659
Belize 100 99 90 5 62 2,6 5 682
Benin 94 84 12 12 3 80 2,5 975
Bhutan 88 99 65 6 54 3,3 3 685
Bolivia 96 25 27 3 72 3,4 2 387
Bosnia and 87 100 95 5 3 80 5,6
Herzegovina
Botswana 99 60 25 6 118 4,3 8 353
Brazil 99 80 6 4 104 3,5 7 154
Brunei 97 5 5 109 1,9
Bulgaria 98 100 100 5 3 141 4,2 6 067
Burkina Fasso 64 95 11 8 3 35 3,4 986
Burma 75 81 2 1 0,2
Burundi 99 83 46 62 2 14 5,2 650
Central African 67 92 34 40 2 23 1,4 1 209
rope.
Chile 99 96 5 7 116 3,7 9 132
Colombia 93 99 74 9 3 94 5,1 5 974
Costa rica 100 95 5 5 65 5,9 8 170
Cyprus 99 100 100 5 6 94 3 19 175
Denmark 96 100 100 5 9 124 8,2 28 956
Dem Rep of Congo 80 23 2 17 - 602
Djibuti 45 98 56 26 3 19 5,5 1 857
Dominica 98 5 5 145 3,9 5 677
Dominican rep. 87 83 24 3 90 1,9 6 395
Ecuador 97 92 15 3 102 2,3 3 230
Egypt 95 100 94 5 3 87 2,4 3 527
Equatorial Guinea 57 2 57 1,7 5 707
El Salvador 94 87 9 3 124 3,6 4 597
Ivory Coast 57 93 23 14 2 76 1 1 589
Eritrea 37 74 14 65 3 4 1,5 1 022

Estonia 99 95 5 6 123 4,1 9 392
Ethiopia 84 98 12 41 3 8 2,2 815
Fidji 5 116 2,8 4 994
Philippines 93 76 13 3 86 1,3 4 032
Finland 96 100 100 5 9 156 6,1 26 164
France 99 100 100 5 7 100 8,7 27 244
UAE 98 100 97 5 7 145 1,9 21 478
Gabon 95 33 5 3 107 3 5 848
Gambia 76 96 67 19 4 86 2,6 1 631
Georgia 100 100 95 6 4 73 1,5 1 998
Ghana 76 90 13 5 4 71 4,3 1 920
Greece 100 98 5 3 108 5,8 17 057
Branch Anda 97 97 21 117 3,6 7 317
Guatemala 98 81 22 3 126 2,1 4 048
Guinea 74 89 19 16 2 40 0,6 1 972
Guinea-Bissau 83 21 22 2 39 1,6 863
Guyana 99 98 81 8 3 74 7,2 3 922
Haiti 71 17 57 2 40 1,2 1 619
Honduras 95 71 12 3 125 4,1 2 872
India 96 31 19 3 61 1,1 2 364
Indonesia 98 89 52 13 3 92 1,2 2 905
Iraq 91 73 2 76 1,9
Iran 98 5 3 91 3 5 806
Ireland 97 100 99 5 8 105 6,1 29 155
Iceland 98 100 100 5 8 109 7,7 28 840
Israel 97 100 100 5 6 133 4,5 23 015
Italy 100 5 4 135 6,7 25 905
Jamaica 98 83 5 3 113 2,4 3 597
Japan 100 100 100 5 8 95 6,5 25 646
Yemen 72 52 30 2 46 1,5 822
Jordan 98 98 5 5 107 5,4 4 162
Cambodia 81 29 25 2 58 1,7 1 730
Cameroon 92 92 47 22 3 42 1,3 1 878
Canada 100 100 5 9 71 7,1 27 503
Cape Verde 83 85 54 11 6 75 3,4 4 555
Kazakhstan 99 99 97 5 3 123 2,5 4 345
Kenya 83 83 31 33 2 62 2 1 033
China 98 55 10 4 64 1,9 3 940
Kyrgyzstan 91 99 93 11 2 92 3,5 1 497
Kiribati 5 3 10 16,1 4 545
Comoros 91 36 47 2 22 1,9 1 718
Congo 95 30 13 2 94 1,7 1 054
Croatia 95 100 99 5 4 144 6,6 9 116
Cuba 100 96 91 5 4 9 9,9
Kuwait 99 100 5 5 161 1,7 19 599
Laos 72 53 22 2 65 0,8 1 523
Lesotho 73 97 29 14 4 32 3,6 2 625
Latvia 94 100 78 5 4 102 3,6 7 975
Lebanon 91 100 5 3 68 3,9 4 301
Liberia 79 17 32 3 39 2,8
Libya 97 5 2 172 1,9
Lichtenstein 90 99
135

Lithuania 97 5 5 147 4,5 8 719
Luxembourg 100 100 5 9 143 6,5 50 564
Madagascar 71 11 25 3 40 2,7 844
Macedonia 93 100 89 5 4 105 4,7 6 055
Malawi 91 95 56 27 3 20 5,9 583
Malaysia 100 96 5 4 121 1,9 8 573
Maldives 99 98 10 3 157 6,4
Mali 77 81 36 12 3 48 2,9 785
Malta 100 100 5 6 109 5,8 17 635
Morocco 90 98 69 5 3 100 1,7 3 537
Mauritania 76 52 26 8 2 79 1,6 1 894
Mauritius 94 100 91 5 5 92 2 9 677
Mexico 96 85 5 3 81 2,7 9 262
Mozambique 91 77 17 38 3 31 3,5 799
Moldova 90 96 79 5 3 89 5,2 1 358
Mongolia 100 97 50 27 3 91 3,5 1 523
Montenegro 88 100 92 4 185 5,1
Namibia 90 99 33 18 4 67 3,2 5 838
Nauru 90 60
The Netherlands 99 100 100 5 9 116 7,3 29 993
Nepal 93 31 17 2 31 2 1 325
Nicaragua 98 52 19 3 65 4,5 3 131
Niger 54 96 9 16 3 25 2,8 678
Nigeria 75 32 6 2 55 1,7 846
North Korea 100 35 1 2 3
Norway 99 100 100 5 9 113 7,5 34 188
New Zealand 99 100 5 10 115 7,1 20 412
Oman 81 92 5 166 1,9 12 608
Pakistan 66 95 45 25 3 59 0,8 1 881
Palau 71 8,5
Panama 98 97 69 15 3 185 4,3 6 048
Papua New Guinea 87 45 2 28 2,6 2 343
Paraguay 86 99 70 10 2 92 2,4 4 165
Peru 90 68 16 3 100 2,5 4 724
Poland 96 100 90 5 6 120 4,6 10 772
Portugal 99 99 100 5 6 142 7,1 18 782
Qatar 98 100 100 7 132 2,9
Romania 96 72 5 4 115 5 894
Rwanda 77 54 32 5 33 4,9 931
Russia 98 87 5 2 166 3,5 7 009
St. Kitts and Nevis 94 99 96 16 161 3,4 11 132
St Lucia 93 98 8 7 103 3,4 5 897
St. Vincent & the 98 5 6 121 3,3 5 237
Grenadines
Solomon Islands 11 3 6 4,3 1 908
Samoa 99 100 5 4 91 4,2 4 630
Saudi Arabia 86 97 5 5 188 2,7 13 593
Switzerland 100 100 100 5 9 124 6,4 31 446
Senegal 75 92 51 19 3 67 3,2 1 428
Serbien 96 3 129 6,1
Seychelles 94 100 8 5 136 3,6 16 681
136

Sierra Leone 86 13 35 3 34 1,4 463
Singapore 100 100 9 144 1 23 594
Slovakia 100 100 5 4 108 5,2 11 365
Slovenia 98 100 100 5 6 105 5,6 16 836
Somalia 67 23 1 7
Spain 100 100 100 5 6 112 6,1 22 003
Sri Lanka 95 98 91 20 3 83 2 3 443
UK 100 100 5 8 130 6,9 26 476
Sudan 64 34 22 2 41 1,3 1 506
Suriname 97 84 15 3 170 3,6 5 530
Sweden 96 100 100 5 9 114 7,4 26 583
Swaziland 92 55 19 3 62 3,8 4 168
South Africa 90 99 77 5 4 100 3,6 8 764
Korea 99 100 100 5 5 105 3,5 16 149
Syria 94 96 5 3 57 1,6 3 162
Tajikistan 98 89 26 5 62 5,3
Taiwan 94 94 26 2 86 1,1 808
Tanzania 97 80 24 34 3 47 3,5 521
Chad 67 9 39 2 23 2,7 798
Thailand 90 99 96 16 3 101 2,7 6 321
Czech Republic 100 98 5 4 137 5,8 15 450
Togo 95 87 12 30 2 41 1,5 1 358
Tonga 100 96 3 52 3,1 6 568
Trinidad & Tobago 96 98 92 11 3 141 2,7 9 092
Tunisia 99 99 85 5 4 106 3 6 279
Turkey 100 90 5 4 85 3,4 6 471
Turkmenistan 97 98 7 2 63 1,4 3 416
Tuvalu 98 84 25 9,8
Germany 100 100 100 5 8 127 8 25 789
Uganda 92 91 48 22 2 38 1,6 1 167
Ukraine 89 98 95 5 2 119 4 4 037
Hungary 96 100 100 5 5 120 5,2 12 977
Uruguay 100 100 5 7 132 5,9 8 871
USA 92 100 100 5 7 90 7,1 34 599
Uzbekistan 90 98 100 11 2 76 2,3 1 498
Vanuatu 96 52 5 4 119 2,7 3 127
Venezuela 94 7 2 96 2,7 5 759
Vietanm 99 75 11 3 175 2,8 2 040
Belarus 100 93 5 2 108 4,9 4 803
Zambia 92 87 49 44 3 38 3,6 786
Zimbabwe 99 44 30 2 60 4,1 2 499
Austria 100 100 5 8 146 7,7 28 481
137

Table 3b. Th The dominant (occupation) culture in relation to various data, for all fully autonomous countries 14 .
Spanish = pink, Russian=light blue, French = red, British= green, German/ Teutonic = brown, Ottoman =
gray, Portuguese = yellow, Chinese = light green.
Country
Export
(% of
GDP)
Cars&
busses/
1.000
inh.
Alcohool
-cons./
adult
(liter
alc/year)
Political
rights (1=
"total")
Official
language (if
domestic +
international
= the latter)
Currency
name
Biggest
religion (if
domestic +
international=
the latter)
Afghanistan 23 0 7 Persian Afghani Islam
Albania 19 102 6,7 4 Albanian Lek Islam
Algeria 41 1 6 Arabic Dinar Islam
Andorra 15,5 1 Catalan Euro Catolic
Angola 90 40 5,4 6 Portugese Kwanza Catolic
Antigua and 70 7,2 4 English Dollar Protest
Barbuda
Argentina 11 314 10 1 Spanish Peso Catolic
Armenia 23 105 11,4 4 Armeniska Dram Christian
Australia 20 653 10 1 English Dollar Christian
Azerbaijan 39 10,6 6 Azeri Manat Islam
Bahamas 43 82 8,8 1 English Dollar Protest
Bahrain 89 482 3,7 7 Arabic Dinar Islam
Bangladesh 14 2 0,2 3 Bengali Taka Islam
Brbados 50 406 6,9 1 English Dollar Protest
Belgium 85 539 10,8 1 French Euro Catolic
Belize 53 178 6,1 1 English Dollar Catolic
Benin 15 21 2,2 2 French Franc Blandat
Bhutan 30 38 0,6 7 Dzongkha Ngultrum Buddhism
Bolivia 18 68 5,1 1 Spanish Boliviano Catolic
Bosnia and
30 170 9,6 5 Serbian Mark Islam
Herzegovina
Botswana 53 113 8 2 English Pula Christian
Brazil 10 198 9,2 3 Portugese Real Catolic
Brunei 67 696 2 7 English Dollar Islam
Bulgaria 56 295 12,4 2 Bulgarian Leva Ortodox
Burkina Fasso 9 11 7 4 French Franc Islam
Burma 0 7 0,6 7 Burmes Kyat Buddhism
Burundi 8 6 9,5 6 French Franc Catolic
Central African 20 0 3,4 3 French Franc Catolic
rope.
Chile 32 164 8,6 2 Spanish Peso Catolic
Colombia 17 66 6,2 4 Spanish Peso Catolic
Costa rica 49 152 5,6 1 Spanish Colón Catolic
Cyprus 55 622 9,3 Greek Euro Ortodox
Denmark 47 466 13,4 1 Danish Krone Protest
Dem Rep of Congo 22 5 3,5 7 French Franc Catolic
Djibuti 35 1,9 4 French Franc Islam
Dominica 53 7,8 1 English Dollar Catolic
Dominican rep. 37 123 6,4 2 Spanish Peso Catolic
Ecuador 37 63 9,4 3 Spanish Dollar Catolic
Egypt 16 0,4 6 Arabic Pund Islam
Equatorial Guinea 99 6,1 7 Spanish Franc Catolic
El Salvador 27 84 3,6 2 Spanish Dollar Catolic
Ivory Coast 40 6,5 6 French Franc Islam
Eritrea 15 11 1,5 7 Arabic Nakfa Islam
138

Estonia 85 444 15,6 1 Estonian Kroon Christian
Ethiopia 12 3 4 5 Amharic Birr Islam
Fidji 65 173 2,4 6 English Dollar Blandat
Philippines 55 32 6,4 2 Tagalog Peso Catolic
Finland 44 559 12,5 1 Swedish Euro Protest
France 29 600 13,7 1 French Euro Catolic
UAE 73 313 0,5 6 Arabic Dirham Islam
Gabon 69 9,3 5 French Franc Christian
Gambia 48 7 3,4 7 English Dalasi Islam
Georgia 23 116 6,4 4 Georgian Lari Ortodox
Ghana 49 33 3 2 English Cedi Islam
Greece 25 112 10,8 1 Greek Euro Ortodox
Branch Anda 55 10,4 1 English Dollar Catolic
Guatemala 20 117 4 3 Spanish Quetzal Catolic
Guinea 24 0,8 6 French Franc Islam
Guinea-Bissau 32 33 3,7 4 Portugese Franc Islam
Guyana 96 95 9,5 2 English Dollar Protest
Haiti 13 6,6 6 French Gourde Catolic
Honduras 54 97 4,5 3 Spanish Lempira Catolic
India 13 2,6 2 English Rupie Hinduer
Indonesia 41 76 0,6 3 Indones ian Rupiah Islam
Iraq 0,4 7 Arabic Dinar Islam
Iran 23 16 1 6 Persan Rial Islam
Ireland 98 537 14,4 1 English Euro Catolic
Iceland 34 773 6,3 1 Icelandic Krona Protest
Israel 37 305 2,9 1 Arabic Shekel Judisk
Italy 27 677 10,7 1 Italian Euro Catolic
Jamaica 5 2 English Dollar Protest
Japan 11 595 8 1 Japanese Yen Shin.&budd.
Yemen 42 35 0,2 5 Arabic Rial Islam
Jordan 42 137 0,7 4 Arabic Dinar Islam
Cambodia 50 4,8 6 Khmer Riel Buddhism
Cameroon 23 7,6 7 French Franc Christian
Canada 46 597 9,8 1 English Dollar Catolic
Cape Verde 28 94 5 1 Portugese Escudo Catolic
Kazakhstan 57 170 11 6 Kaza kh Tenge Islam
Kenya 22 21 4,1 6 English Shilling Protest
China 23 32 5,9 7 Mandarin Yuan i u
Kyrgyzstan 42 59 5,1 6 Kyrgyz Som Islam
Kiribati 7 144 3,7 1 English Dollar Catolic
Comoros 17 33 0,4 6 French Franc Islam
Congo 80 26 4,2 6 French Franc Christian
Croatia 42 377 15,1 2 Croatian Kuna Catolic
Cuba 38 5,5 7 Spanish Peso Catolic
Kuwait 56 502 0,1 4 Arabic Dinar Islam
Laos 30 21 6,7 7 Lao Kip Buddhism
Lesotho 33 5,6 4 English Loti Christian
Latvia 42 459 12,5 1 Russian Lats Christian
Lebanon 14 2,2 6 Arabic Pund Islam
Liberia 21 3 5,1 5 English Dollar Islam
Libya 36 291 0,1 7 Arabic Dinar Islam
Lichtenstein 1 German Franc Catolic
139

Lithuania 45 479 15 1 Lithuanian Litas Catolic
Luxembourg 150 512 13 1 German Euro Catolic
Madagascar 31 1,3 2 French Ariary Christian
Macedonia 49 136 4 Macedonian Denar Ortodox
Malawi 26 9 1,7 3 English Kwacha Protest
Malaysia 120 0,8 5 Malay Ringgit Islam
Maldives 89 20 0,8 6 Maldivian Rufiyaa Islam
Mali 27 9 1 2 French Franc Islam
Malta 92 558 4,3 1 English Euro Catolic
Morocco 28 71 1,5 5 Arabic Dirham Islam
Mauritania 46 0,1 6 Arabic Ouguiya Islam
Mauritius 61 150 3,7 1 English Rupie Hinduism
Mexico 31 244 8,4 2 Spanish Peso Catolic
Mozambique 18 10 2,4 3 Portugese Metical Christian
Moldova 50 120 18,2 2 Moldavian Leu Ortodox
Mongolia 56 61 3,2 2 Mongolian Tögrög Buddhism
Montenegro Serbian Euro Ortodox
Namibia 41 109 9,6 2 English Dollar Protest
Nauru 4,8 1 Naru Dollar Protest
The Netherlands 70 503 10,1 1 Dutch Euro Protest
Nepal 23 5 2,4 3 Nepali Rupie Hinduism
Nicaragua 24 48 5,4 3 Spanish Córdoba Catolic
Niger 18 0,3 4 French Franc Islam
Nigeria 54 31 12,3 4 English Naira Islam
North Korea 3,5 7 Korean Won Buddhism
Norway 47 572 7,8 1 Norwegian Krone Protest
New Zealand 36 729 9,6 1 English Dollar Christian
Oman 59 225 0,9 6 Arabic Rial Islam
Pakistan 13 11 0,1 6 Urdu Rupie Islam
Palau 10 10,1 1 English Dollar Christian
Panama 73 188 6,9 1 Spanish Balboa Catolic
Papua New Guinea 66 9 3,5 2 English Kina Christian
Paraguay 38 82 7,9 4 Spanish Guarani Catolic
Peru 16 52 6,9 3 Spanish Sol Catolic
Poland 27 451 13,3 1 Polish Zloty Catolic
Portugal 30 14,6 1 Portugese Euro Catolic
Qatar 67 724 1,3 6 Arabic Riyal Islam
Romania 33 15,3 2 Romanian Leu Ortodox
Rwanda 9 4 9,8 7 English Franc Catolic
Russia 44 245 15,8 5 Russian Rubel Ortodox
St. Kitts and Nevis 46 9,4 1 English Dollar Protest
St Lucia 53 11,9 1 Englis h Dollar Catolic
St. Vincent & the 53 204 5,4 2 English Dollar Protest
Grenadines
Solomon Islands 24 1,7 4 English Dollar Protest
Samoa 34 4,8 2 English Tala Christian
Saudi Arabia 44 0,3 7 Arabic Rial Islam
Switzerland 46 569 11,1 1 German Franc Catolic
Senegal 28 20 0,6 3 French Franc Islam
Serbien 223 11,1 Serbian Dinar Ortodox
Seychelles 78 173 10,6 3 Seselwa Rupi Catolic
140

Sierra Leone 18 5 9,7 4 English Leone Islam
Singapore 149 1,6 5 English Dollar Buddhism
Slovakia 71 282 13,3 1 Slovak Euro Catolic
Slovenia 54 547 15,2 1 Slovenian Euro Catolic
Somalia 0,5 6 Somali Shilling Islam
Spain 29 601 11,6 1 Spanish Euro Catolic
Sri Lanka 39 58 0,8 3 Sinhalese Rupie Buddhism
UK 28 527 13,4 1 English Pund Protest
Sudan 15 28 2,6 7 Arabic Pund Islam
Suriname 20 6,1 1 Dutch Dollar Christian
Sweden 47 523 10,3 1 Swedish Krona Protest
Swaziland 76 89 5,7 6 English Lilangeni Christian
South Africa 28 159 9,5 1 English Rand Christian
South Korea 39 338 14,8 2 Korean Won Buddhism
Syria 35 52 1,4 7 Arabic Pund Islam
Sao Tomé &
2 8,7 1 Portugese Dobra Catolic
Principe
Tadjikistan 99 38 3,4 6 Tajik Somoni Islam
Tanzania 17 12 6,8 4 English Shilling Christian
Chad 17 4,4 6 French Franc Islam
Thailand 67 7,1 2 Thai Baht Buddhism
Czech Republic 63 470 16,5 1 Czech Koruna Catolic
Togo 31 2 2 5 French Franc Christian
Tonga 15 3,8 5 English Pa'anga Protest
Trinidad & Tobago 59 351 6,3 2 English Dollar Catolic
Tunisia 45 103 1,3 6 Arabic Dinar Islam
Turkey 20 131 2,9 4 Turkis h Lira Isla m
Turkmenistan 96 106 4,6 7 Turkmen Manat Islam
Tuvalu 2,4 1 English Dollar Protest
Germany 33 623 12,8 1 German Euro Protest
Uganda 11 7 11,9 6 English Shilling Catolic
Ukraine 62 140 15,6 4 Ukrain ian Hryvnia Christian
Hungary 72 384 16,3 1 Hungarian Forint Catolic
Uruguay 17 8,1 1 Spanish Peso Catolic
USA 11 820 9,4 1 English Dollar Protest
Uzbekistan 25 3,5 7 Uzbek Som Islam
Vanuatu 44 0,9 1 English Vatu Protest
Venezuela 30 147 8,2 3 Spanish Bolivar Catolic
Vietanm 55 13 3,8 7 Vietnamese Dong Buddhism
Belarus 69 282 15,1 6 Belarusian Rubel Ortodox
Zambia 27 18 3,9 5 English Kwacha Christian
Zimbabwe 36 106 5,1 6 English Dollar Christian
Austria 46 556 13,2 1 German Euro Catolic
14.
There are some additional states, such as San Marino and the Vatican City, but they obey very much on any other
state that in these two cases is Italy. Taiwan, Western Sahara and East Timor, however, are excluded because data
are often lacking.
141

Differences between countries could also be due to unfair distribution of resources, but that does not seem to
be the case (table 4 +5), except that in this context favored countries have less national debt per capita. The
reason is to some extent that some countries, for various reasons, do not use their resources as well as that
some of the very developed countries, such as Italy, Japan and Germany (now) are short on natural
resources.
Table 4.
Amount of resources
15
Natural Resources in relation to the economic and socio-economic data. Plenty of multiple resources or
very much of a very easilly traded resource such as oil = green, medium, i.e. a few resources in such
quantities that it is possible to make money on it = yellow, low amount of all resources = red.
Cultivatable
land 16 (%)
Forrest 17
(%)
Starvation
(%)
Average
sugar 18
consumpt
(g
sugar/pers.
& day
Aver-age
BMI 19 for
men
Clean
water (%)
Public
spenditure
on health
care (% of
GDP)
Cars&
busses/ 1
000 inh.
GDP per
inh.
National
dept 20 / inh.
A lot of oil or several other resources 10 32 14 72 25 92 3 177 6 357 832 6
At least one prifitalbe resource 18 27 13 88 25 95 4 230 9 677 1 366 3
Bad conditions in this aspect 20 33 13 94 25 96 4 265 11 050 2 915 13
Directinv.
21 /
GDP (%)
15.
Data regarding natural resources comes from The Institute for Forregin Politics (Utrikespolitiska Institutet)
www.landguiden.se (data from 2012). I have ranked countries primarily on the basis of the institutes assessment
but I have to some extent also considered population.
16. Arable land including occasionally cultivated areas, land used for private or market-based pasture and land that
temporarily was unused in 2009, according to www.globalis.se.
17.
Proportion of every country's total land area that was covered by forests in 2010, according to www.globalis.se.
18.
The average consumption of sugar and sweeteners (in grams per person per day) during 2004, according to
www.gapminder.org.
19.
Average BMI (Body Mass Index, which is calculated using the formula weight/posture 2 ) for the male population,
according www.gapminder.org (data from 2008).
20.
Public debt/capita (in U.S. $) including the debt to other countries, debt to international institutions such as World
Bank and IMF, and debts to private banks, the data comes from www.globalis.se and concerns the year 2010. Debts
have in this table been divided with the population according to the same source.
21.
Foreign direct investment means overseas investments in holdings in the country's business, with the intention to
exercise influence and control over the company, according to www.globalis.se (data from 2010).
142

Tabell 5a. Natural Resources in relation to the economic and socio-economic data. Plenty of multiple resources or
very much of a very easilly traded resource such as oil = green, medium, i.e. a few resources in such
quantities that it is possible to make money on it = yellow, low amount of all resources = red.
Country Natural resources
Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Angola
Antigua and
Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Brbados
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia and
Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei
Bulgaria
Quite a lot of natural resources but weak mining industry, due to poor transportation facilities.
Rich in minerals, copper, chromium, nickel, zinc and iron has been mined for centuries.
Rich in oil and natural gas, including large iron deposits, and Algeria are among the world's
largest producers of phosphates. There are also reserves of gold, diamonds, lead, zinc, mercury
and others minerals.
Andorra has assets including iron and lead, which is extracted. But the economically most
important natural asset is the forest.
Large supplies of oil, natural gas and diamonds. In addition there are iron ore, gold, marble,
black granite and copper. Agriculture and fisheries could be important and Angola is could be
a major producer of electricity from hydropower.
Antigua & Barbuda has no natural resources of major importance.
Rich in natural resources. Gold, copper, iron ore, uranium and even aluminum, coal, lead,
zinc, tin, silver, asbestos, manganese, etc., many of which have not been exploited.
Small reserves of oil, coal and natural gas. Metals such as copper, gold, silver and iron are
available, as well as considerable amounts of mineral salt and lime.
Rich in natural resources, particularly metals and other minerals. The country is one of the
leading exporters of coal and a major producer of bauxite, iron ore, uranium, gold and nickel,
industrial diamonds. Copper, zinc, lead, tin, silver, titanium, zirconium and more are extracted
as well. The mining industry accounts for a third of the exports.
Rich in natural resources, including oil and gas.
Bahamas are short on natural resources. Salt and the lime mineral aragonite, are extracted.
Oil and natural gas are the country's main sources of income. Oil reserves are relatively
limited and expected to end around 2015, while the gas will last another 50 years.
Large reserves of natural gas. In addition, small deposits of coal, oil and a variety of minerals.
The fertile soil is also an important asset.
Oil wells and natural gas deposits that gives one-eighth of the local consumption.
The o minerals found in Belgium are coal, sand and clay. Coal mines is now defunct.
Dolomite was long the only mineral mined Belize. But foreign companies found small
quantities of oil in 2005 and production began the following year.
In northern Benin there are deposits of phosphate, chromium, uranium and iron ore. The
mining industry, however, has so far only extracted limestone, marble and minor quantities of
gold.
Large and mostly unexploited natural resources in the form of hydropower, forests, and
minerals. Several calcium minerals are extracted, as carbide, dolomite, gypsum, calcite and
anhydrite. There are also some mining of coal and shale.
Bolivia has a good supply of natural gas, minerals and oil. Large gas discoveries have been
made since 1996. Together, oil and gas gives nearly half of the export earnings.
Relatively rich in natural resources, with large deposits of lignite, bauxite, iron ore, salt and
copper.
Diamonds are Botswana's most important natural resource. There are also a number of other
minerals, but only a few are extracted.
Huge reserves of ores and minerals, the world's largest iron ore producer and one of the largest
bauxite producers. The country also extracts tin, aluminum, nickel, copper, gold, gemstones,
manganese, lead, coal, and more.
Large reserves of oil and natural gas which almost completely dominates the country's
economy and is expected to last for 30-40 years.
Bulgaria needs to import raw materials and energy. Their main own assets are carbon, iron,
copper, manganese, lead and zinc.
143

Burkina Fasso
Burma
Burundi
Central African
rep.
Chile
Colombia
Costa rica
Cyprus
Denmark
Dem Rep of
Congo
Djibuti
There are good mineral resources in Burkina Faso, but only a small part of themare extracted.
Most importantly for the economy is gold.
Fertile soils and extensive forest and mineral resources. Half the land area is covered by forest
with teak as the main timber. The mineral resources include copper, tin, silver, tungsten, lead
and zinc and precious stones such as sapphires, rubies and jade.
Fairly good natural deposits, but the recovery of them is limited.
Major raw material deposits, mainly diamonds but also gold and other metals.
Rich in natural resources. Primarily a third of the world's copper deposits as well as copious
amounts of molybdenum, as well as gold, silver, iron ore, manganese, lead, zinc and coal as
well as almost all the world's known reserves of nitrate.
Immense natural wealth, which is only partially utilized. Those that are utilized include iron,
copper, gold, nickel, emeralds, oil, natural gas and coal.
Costa Rica has mineral deposits including bauxite, gold, silver, iron, copper, lead and
limestone. Gold and silver has been mined since long, but the mining sector is small.
Cyprus have had substantial assets of asbestos and copper, but they have been exhausted. The
last asbestos mine closed in 1988 and even copper is running out. Now small quantities of
marble, chromium, gypsum, salt, and zinc are extracted.
There are oil and natural gas off the coast.
Mining has since colonial times been the cornerstone of the countrys economy.
Djibouti has almost no resources.
Dominica Water, forest and pumice is the country's most important natural resources. More than 40
percent of the island is covered with forests but is nevertheless not highly developed. On
Dominica are also large reserves of limestone and clay.
Dominican rep. Significant nickel assets. There are also gold and silver, but ithey have not been exploited in
recent years.
Ecuador
Egypt
Equatorial
Guinea
El Salvador
Ivory Coast
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Fidji
Philippines
Finland
France
UAE
Ecuador has substantial oil and natural gas resources. Mineral extraction is relatively small,
despite the presence of gold, silver, copper, iron and other metals.
Nile and its water is the dryland Egypt's main natural resource. The country also has
significant reserves of oil and natural gas. Oil production decreases, however, and instead gas
exports is growing rapidly.
Oil.
No major mineral resources.
Plenty of oil, natural gas, gold, diamonds, iron ore, copper, bauxite, nickel and manganese.
Much of the natural resources are unexploited
Rich in gold and other valuable minerals, but the extraction is limited.
In northeastern Estonia is the world's largest exploitable oil shale layers (which accounts for
about 65 percent of the country's energy needs). Estonia also has the largest deposits of
phosphorite.
Hydropower is one of Ethiopia's most important natural resources, aws well as oil and natural
gas, although it is unclear how much. Of the mineral resources available, only gold is mined in
larger quantities.
Good natural resources. The land is fertile and there is including gold, timber and fish to
extract.
Rich in minerals, but mining accounts for only a few percent of GDP. The principal ores are:
copper, gold, silver, nickel, chromium, iron and lead, but there are also deposits of zinc, cobalt
and manganese. Cement and salt are produced in large quantities. There are also large deposits
that have not yet been exploited.
Forests are Finland far most important raw material. Other commodities include iron ore, but
also copper, nickel, lead, zinc and precious metals such as gold, silver and rare alloys.
Good resources of minerals, including bauxite, uranium and potash.
Oil is the most important natural asset. Although natural gas is also extracted to a large extent.
144

Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Ghana
Greece
Branch Anda
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
India
Indonesia
Iraq
Iran
Ireland
Iceland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Yemen
Jordan
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Abundant natural resources such as oil, manganese, and substantial iron deposits and assets of
lead, zinc, and marble, and large forests.
Gambia has few mineral resources and very little is recovered commercially.
Large reserves of manganese and copper, as well as smaller deposits of gold, silver, iron, and
coal.
Significant deposits of oil and natural gas and large reserves of gold, diamonds, manganese
and bauxite.
Quite a lot of minerals. The extraction of bauxite for aluminum production and chromite
matter the most to the economy. In addition: marble, lignite, magnesite, iron, nickel and
manganese are mined.
In addition to fertile farmland and good conditions for tourism Grenada's natural resources are
very limited.
Oil.
Guinea is the world's second largest bauxite producer and is estimated to have the largest
reserves, about two-thirds of the world's supply of bauxite. The country also has good assets of
a number of other minerals such as iron, gold, diamonds, nickel and titanium.
The mining industry in Guinea-Bissau is in its infancy, but there are plans to extract bauxite.
Rich in bauxite, gold, diamonds and other minerals.
Sparse natural resources and minerals. Only limestone, sand and gravel for construction
industry has any economic significance.
Small amounts of gold, silver, lead and zinc are extracted. There are also unused assets
including tin, iron, copper and carbon.
Relatively rich in natural resources, but it is hardly sufficient for the country's large
population.
Indonesia is one of the world's most advantaged countries regarding fisheries, minerals and
fertile soil. Furthermore, almost 60 percent of the country is covered with forests. The
significant resources of crude oil and natural gas plays an important role in the country's
economy.
Iraq has at least 11 percent of the world's known oil reserves.
Iran is rich in minerals and other natural resources, but it is oil and natural gas that completely
dominates the production. The mining industry is still poorly developed.
Ireland has large reserves of zinc, and three large zinc mines on the island. There are also
deposits of gold, gypsum, limestone and dolomite.
Iceland has no major mineral resources, but fisheries and hydropower.
Israel lacks the most important raw materials which must therefore be imported. Some mineral
resources are found in the Negev Desert and the Dead Sea, such as bromine, potash, phosphate
and magnesium.
Sparse natural resources. Among the minerals are deposits of sulfur and mercury significant,
but the extraction of sulfur is no longer profitable and the demand for mercury has fallen. The
extraction of copper, lead and gold have increased, albeit at a small scale. Italy also has the
famous marble of Carrara.
Jamaica's most important natural resources is bauxite, partially processed into aluminum in the
country. Jamaica is the world's fourth largest producer of bauxite.
The country has many minerals but only in small amounts.
Oil is Yemen's main source of income, but it is a small producer compared with neighboring
states.
Unlike many neighboring countries Jordan lacks almost completely assets of oil and gas and is
therefore dependent on commodity imports. The country has only a few own natural resources,
with the exception of phosphate and potash (potassium carbonate).
Timber is Cambodia's most important natural resource, but the forest industry has serious
problems. Most of the harvesting is done illegally and forests are mostly devastated without
new trees planted.
Oil is basically the only one of Cameroon's many natural resources exploited to the full. But
Cameroon has large reserves of precious stones and minerals.
Canada is rich in minerals and is a leading producer of uranium, potash, nickel, zinc and
asbestos. There are also large deposits of copper, cadmium, aluminum, salt, gold, diamonds
and cobalt.
145

Cape Verde
Kazakhstan
Kenya
China
Kyrgyzstan
Kiribati
Comoros
Congo
Croatia
Cuba
Kuwait
Laos
Lesotho
Latvia
Lebanon
Liberia
Libya
Lichtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Madagascar
Macedonia
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Cape Verde has no significant mineral resources. The country's main natural resources are
instead seafood.
Kazakhstan has huge resources of oil, natural gas and minerals, such as copper, iron and gold.
Kenya has very few deposits of minerals and no oil. Its main asset is fertile farmland and
countryside and the rich wildlife that attract tourists. Electricity demand is covered mainly by
hydropower.
China is favored by nature, and the deposits of coal and iron ore are among the world's richest.
China is the world's largest producer of coal and also the primary user.
Valuable minerals and ore assets, but with hard rock, poor infrastructure and distant markets, it
is difficult to make mining profitable. An exception is gold mining.
The most important asset is the ocean. The vast waters offer some of the planet's last really big
fish deposits. These include a lot of tuna, which attract fishing vessels from other parts of the
world.
No mineral resources of significance.
Large assets, in particular oil and natural gas but also other minerals. Oil exports are the
country's biggest source of income. Foreign interest has begun to mine the country's highgrade
iron ore. In recent years, the country's hydropower has also begun to expand.
The most important natural resources are oil, natural gas and bauxite. The oil is extracted
mainly in Slavonia in the east and, along with hydropower the most important energy source.
Despite significant assets Croatia is not self-sufficient in energy.
The nickel and cobalt assets are among the largest in the world, but also copper, gold,
manganese and iron ore are found.
Nearly one-tenth of the world's known oil reserves is in the country.
Laos is rich in timber, hydropower and minerals such as tin, gypsum, lead, zinc, iron ore, gold
and copper. Until the turn of the millennium the extraction of most natural resources, however,
was very limited.
Lesotho's most important natural resource is the large amounts of water in mountainous areas.
An expansion of hydropower going on a large scale.
Latvia has poor deposits of minerals but has rich reserves of wood, peat, limestone, sand and
clay. Oil has been discovered and some exports occur. Latvia also has gas reserves and
production are planned.
Here are a number of minerals, but few exist in the quantities that would be worthwhile to
extract.
Good assets of several minerals, including iron ore, diamonds, gold, bauxite, copper and
nickel.
Good supply of oil and gas.
No.
Lithuania is low on natural resources besides farmland, forest and peat.
No.
There are deposits of a variety of minerals, of which among others chrome, mica and graphite
are mined. In addition, there are significant amounts of ilmenite (iron titanium), nickel and
cobalt. But the sites often have inaccessible location.
The mining industry currently has little impact on the country's economy and foreign interests
in the sector are small. There are large reserves of coal, but the local coal industry must import
coal.
Malawi has never extracted minerals or rocks on a large scale, but the mining industry is
considered to have great potential. The assets include deposits of asbestos, bauxite, limestone,
lead, coal, uranium, graphite and titanium.
Tin has been mined on the Malay Peninsula for over a thousand years. 1980 Malaysia was the
world's largest tin producer, but since then, tin prices have fallen, many mines have closed
down and other countries have taken the lead in tin production. Other minerals are also mined,
but on a small scale.
Type any (apart from the beaches).
146

Mali
Malta
Morocco
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Mozambique
Moldova
Mongolia
Montenegro
Namibia
Nauru
The
Netherlands
Nepal
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
North Korea
Norway
New Zealand
Oman
Pakistan
Palau
Africa's third largest gold producer after South Africa and Ghana. In 2010 the gold stood for
over 80 percent of the export earnings. Moreover marble, phosphate and uranium are mined in
minor amounts. There are also reserves of bauxite, iron, manganese, salt, silver, diamond,
copper and nickel.
No, what is broken is sand and limestone, used in local construction projects.
The world's largest exporter of phosphate, a commodity that has risen sharply in price in
recent years, and the country also controls rich phosphate deposits in the Western Sahara.
Rich in minerals such as iron ore, oil, gold and copper. 2009, the mining and oil together stood
for more than a third of the gross domestic product (GDP).
Type no.
Rich in natural resources. The country was formerly the world's largest silver producer (now
passed by Peru). Now even gold production is coming. Mexico is also a major producer of
zinc, lead, copper, iron and several other metals and sulfur.
Good resources on a variety of metals and minerals, including oil, natural gas and coal. The
country also has plenty of hydropower.
Insignificant.
Rich in minerals such as copper, gold, coal and uranium, and mining is the main export
industry. Coal, fluorspar, copper and molybdenum are mined in large quantities, and tin,
tungsten and uranium to a lesser extent. Gold mining increases. There are also deposits of
silver, nickel, lead, zinc and iron.
Relatively rich in minerals, such as copper, bauxite and iron ore, and is self-sufficient in coal
(mostly lignite).
Has one of the largest deposits of diamonds and uranium in the world. There are also plenty of
other minerals. The discovery of large oil deposits in 2011 has raised hopes for large-scale
mining.
Large reserves of phosphate. Phosphate extracted from the fossilized bird droppings that
previously covered up to 80 percent of the island. Exports gave great income per capita under
the first decades after independence 1968 th .
With the exception of natural gas and fertile soil, the country has few natural resources. There
are small oil deposits primarily in the North Sea. In addition salt, limestone and sand are
extracted.
Nepal's mineral resources are poorly explored. The only thing that have been founf in major
deposits is mica. There are also some copper, zinc, iron and cobalt. A little mining is done, but
the majority of known reserves are not profitable to process.
The mining industry covers gold, silver, salt, marble, other stones and sand. It's just gold and
silver that gives some major export revenues.
One of the world's largest producers of uranium and production is expected to rise
significantly when a new mine goes into service in 2013. In addition, oil is produced and there
are large deposits including coal, iron, nickel, copper, phosphate and gypsum.
One of the world's ten largest oil exporters. Natural gas reserves are also among the largest in
the world.
Nearly nine-tenths of the Korean Peninsula s mineral resources in terms of coal, iron ore,
copper, lead, zinc, magnesite, tungsten, graphite, fluorite, and tungsten. There are major gold
deposits and certain supply of silver and uranium.
Norway is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter. Gas production is expected to expand and
2020 it will bring in more money to the Treasury than the oil production. Additional amenities
include iron ore, coal (Svalbard), lead, zinc, aluminum and copper.
Relatively poor in minerals. Only phosphate, coal, limestone, dolomite and iron sand is present
in greater quantity. Some gold mining takes place, however.
Oil, but the oil fields are small and scattered, making them less productive and extraction more
expensive than in neighboring countries.
Pakistan has relatively limited natural resources, including natural gas, which is the is most
important one.
Palau has small deposits of gold and other minerals on the seabed.
147

Panama
Papua New
Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Rwanda
Russia
St. Kitts and
Nevis
St Lucia
St. Vincent &
the Grenadines
Solomon
Islands
Samoa
Saudi Arabia
Switzerland
Senegal
Serbien
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Good resources of copper as gold, silver and coal, but mining has little scope. Additionally,
mahogany and other tropical woods and good fishing grounds are the most important natural
assets.
Rich in minerals, especially copper and gold as well as silver, nickel and lead. There are also
large deposits of natural gas and oil.
The most important natural resources are rivers, forests and fertile soil. Itaipú hydroelectric
plant, was the at inauguration in 1982 the world's largest hydropower plant. The country has
virtually no mineral resources that can be extracted. The mining industry employs only a few
thousand of the workforce and are mainly confined to limestone, marble and clay.
Very rich in minerals, and most of it has not yet been exploited. The country was in 2009 the
world's largest silver producer and the third largest producer of copper. Peru's main exports are
copper, gold and zinc.
Significant natural resources, including large deposits of coal, lignite, copper and sulfur.
Copper deposits are considered the fifth or sixth largest in the world and the presence of sulfur
is among the richest in Europe. Small quantities of oil, natural gas and iron ore are also
extracted.
The mining industry has a long history but now it account for only a modest share of GDP.
Copper, tungsten, iron and tin mined in a large scale, and the country is one of the world's
largest exporters of marble. Limestone, granite and uranium is extracted, as well as pyrite.
Coal is mined in small scale.
The oil contributes to about a third of gross domestic product (GDP) and the bulk of export
revenues.
The country has its own assets of several types of energy sources, including hydropower, and a
wide range of minerals, but the reserves are in most cases relatively small.
The commercial materials available in large quantities is tin and natural gas.
Plenty of assets in oil, gas, gold, diamonds, iron ore, nickel and other valuable minerals.
Exports of oil and gas, the country's main source of income.
None (except the pleasant climate and beaches).
None (except the pleasant climate and beaches).
No significant.
Large deposits of gold, silver and copper, but mining is limited. There are also some lead,
zinc, nickel, cobalt, bauxite, phosphates and asbestos.
Almost half of Samoa is covered by forests, but the trees are severely affected by hurricanes,
fires and logging. The government is now doing replanting and only small amounts of timber
is exported.
About one fifth of the earth's known oil reserves are in Saudi Arabia. The country accounted
in 2010 for about 15 percent of oil production in the world.
Switzerland has scarce natural resources. A principal one is hydropower, which is also the
only domestic energy source.
Large deposits of phosphates, which accounts for the only mineral extraction on a larger scale.
Fairly rich in minerals, such as copper, bauxite and iron ore. The country is self-sufficient in
coal (mostly lignite).
Small deposits of guano, bird droppings used as fertilizer.
Vast natural resources, including diamonds of high quality. There are also plenty of iron ore,
gold, bauxite and rutile. The diamonds are often easily accessible in river deposits. Oil and gas
have been found off the coast, but no recovery has started.
Completely lacks natural resources, apart from some granite and sand.
Slovakia has small assets of several minerals, including iron, aluminum, copper, mercury,
manganese, lead, zinc, salt, oil, natural gas, hard coal and lignite.
Slovenia has deposits of iron, lead, zinc and copper ore, and lignite, mercury, uranium and oil.
But not in any significant quantities.
148

Somalia
Spain
Sri Lanka
UK
Sudan
Suriname
Sweden
Swaziland
South Africa
South Korea
Syria
Sao Thomé &
Principé
Tadjikistan
Tanzania
Chad
Thailand
The mineral resources are poorly researched, but it is known that there are at least plaster and
small amounts of gold, silver, tungsten, manganese, limestone, iron, chromium, nickel and
uranium. No extraction is, however, yet done.
Good assets in minerals, especially mercury, iron ore, potash and pyrite. There is also one of
the largest gold deposits. Spain is a leading producer of granite and marble.
The country's most important natural resource is precious stones and it is a leading global
supplier of rubies, sapphires and topazes. Of the other minerals recovered, only graphite and
the titanium mineral ilmenite are exported.
Britain has large reserves of oil, natural gas and coal. Natural gas and oil in the North Sea
began to be extracted in the 1960s and the 1970s. While the coal industry lost its mportance.
The number of coal mines has decreased from 170 1984 to 9 2004.
Sudan was the last three or four years before the country's division in 2011 Africa's sixth
largest oil producer.
Surinames only economically important natural resources is bauxite, which is the raw material
for aluminum.
Major natural resources, particularly in the form of forests, hydropower and iron ore. The
assets of copper, lead, zinc, gold, silver and uranium are among the largest in the EU.
Assets of coal, diamonds, gold, tin, kaolin (china clay), talc, iron ore and silica, but yet only
coal and stone are exploited.
40 percent of the world's gold, three quarters of all manganese and more than two-thirds of all
chrome. The country has the world's largest reserves of platinum, vanadium and andalusite as
well as large deposits of diamonds, coal, uranium and more. Significant gas discoveries have
been made.
South Korea has no known mineral resources except coal that is used locally.
The most important natural resources are oil, natural gas and phosphate. Extraction of marble,
gypsum and salt are also done. In addition, smaller quantities of iron ore, asphalt, copper,
uranium, bauxite, magnesium, gold and silver.
Small oil reserves and even gas, but exploitation had, at the beginning of 2012, not yet been
started. The country's other natural resources, are fertile soil, forests and fish-filled waters.
The most important natural resource is the huge water resources with rivers flowing from the
many glaciers. Only about five percent of the estimated hydropower potential is exploited.
There are also quite a lot of minerals, but mountain terrain makes, in many cases, mining
unprofitable.
Rich in minerals, such as gold mining is growing rapidly.
Rich mineral resources. In the country there except oil: gold, bauxite, tin, iron ore, uranium,
tungsten, ash, rock salt and sodium hydroxide.
Relative abundance of tin, zinc, iron and plaster. The are also deposits gold and copper. The
country is a major exporter of precious stones such as sapphires, rubies and jade.
Czech Republic There are coal, but the reserves are running out.
Togo
Tonga
Trinidad &
Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu
Germany
Its main natural resource is phosphate, but its importance for export earnings has declined
gradually in recent years.
Its main natural resources are fertile soil and abundance of fish in the sea.
Substantial reserves of oil and natural gas. Already in the 1940s, oil was the dominant
industry.
Phosphate, oil and natural gas, are the country's main natural resources. But it is not selfsufficient
in energy so they have to import oil and natural gas. Tunisia is one of the world's
largest phosphate producers.
Natural resources in the form of chromium, boron and many other minerals.
Large reserves of oil and natural gas. There are also plenty of mineral salts. There are probably
also occurrences of gold and platinum.
In addition to the large fish in the sea, Tuvalu have no natural resources.
Only limited amounts of natural resources, with one exception: the country's reserves of coal,
the largest in the EU. In addition there are commercial extraction of salt and potash (potassium
carbonate). Production of oil and natural gas is very small compared to what is imported.
149

Uganda
Ukraine
Hungary
Uruguay
USA
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Venezuela
Vietanm
Belarus
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Austria
The greatest natural asset is the fertile soil. Moreover the country has large copper deposits
and there is also gold, tin, cobalt, iron ore, phosphate and limestone. In addition, oil and
natural gas has been found.
The country's main natural resources are coal, iron, manganese and uranium.
Poor in natural resources, and most of the energy needs has to be covered by imports. Lignite
is available in large quantities, but the quality varies. There are small oil and natural gas
reserves, which are used as a domestic energy source. The country has large reserves of
bauxite.
Its main natural resources are the big pastures and fertile soil. The only mineral deposits worth
extracting are iron ore and some gold. Mining operations are mainly concentrated on
producing construction materials, such as sand, gravel, granite and limestone.
Rich in water, forests and minerals and is a leading producer of several key metals. The U.S. is
also one of the largest producers of crude oil.
The sixth largest gold reserve in the world. The country has also major natural gas assets and
significant deposits of oil, coal and many other minerals, including silver, copper, lead, iron
and tungsten.
Natural resources consist of timber, manganese and fish.
Oil reserves are the largest in Latin America and the seventh largest in the world. The country
also has plenty of natural gas and coal. In addition, deposits include iron ore, gold, silver,
copper, zinc, phosphorus, nickel, uranium, lead, titanium, bauxite, koltan and diamonds.
The most important natural resources are oil, natural gas and coal. 2007 crude oil accounted
for one-sixth of the country's export income.
Relatively poor in natural resources, with the exception of mainly peat and potash. There are
also valuable forests of oak, elm, maple and beech.
Copper exports have long been the country's main source of revenue and will remain so in
orderly time. Zambia is self-sufficient in electricity, mainly due to hydro power. Coal and
diamonds are other important natural resources.
Rich in minerals, especially in the central parts. Around forty minerals are extracted. Gold
accounts for almost half of the mining industry. It has good access to coal and hydropower.
Small quantities of iron ore, oil, gas, lignite, magnesite, and zinc. Most importantly, the iron
ore.
Tabell 5b. Natural Resources in relation to the economic and socio-economic data. Plenty of multiple resources or
very much of a very easilly traded resource such as oil = green, medium, i.e. a few resources in such
quantities that it is possible to make money on it = yellow, low amount of all resources = red.
Country
Cultiva
table
land
(%)
Forrest
(%)
Starvation
(%)
Average Average
sugar
consumpt BMI
(g for men
sugar/pers.
& day
Clean
water
(%)
Public
spenditure
on health
care (% of
GDP)
Cars&
busses/1
000 inh.
GDP
per inh.
Nation
al dept/
inh.
Afghanistan 12 2 21 78 1,8 23 111 0
Albania 22 28 5 66 26 96 2,9 102 3 719 1 538 9
Algeria 3 1 5 85 25 85 3,6 5 327 173 1
Andorra 2 36 28 100 5,3 0
Directinv./
GDP
(%)
Angola 3 47 41 36 22 60 2 40 1 462 1 333 -4
Antigua and
Barbuda
18 22 21 96 26 95 3,2 10 196 0 5
Argentina 11 11 5 112 28 98 5,1 314 12 095 3 465 2
Armenia 16 9 21 58 25 98 2,1 105 2 421 1 980 6
Australia 6 19 5 129 28 100 6 653 27 390 0
Azerbaijan 23 11 5 44 26 88 1 2 475 856 1
150

Bahamas 1 51 6 126 27 98 3,7 82 17 055 0 11
Bahrain 1 1 28 100 2,6 482 15 545 0
Bangladesh 58 11 26 16 20 85 1,1 2 1 543 179 1
Brbados 37 19 5 156 26 100 4,4 406 0 2
Belgium 28 22 5 151 27 100 7 539 27 659 0 13
Belize 3 61 5 137 27 99 2,6 178 5 682 4 267 7
Benin 22 41 12 16 22 84 2,5 21 975 169 2
Bhutan 2 69 23 99 3,3 38 3 685 1 607 1
Bolivia 3 53 27 77 24 96 3,4 68 2 387 633 3
Bosnia and 20 43 5 74 27 100 5,6 170 2 233 1
Herzegovina
Botswana 0 20 25 68 22 99 4,3 113 8 353 988 4
Brazil 7 62 6 153 26 99 3,5 198 7 154 1 992 2
Brunei 1 72 5 107 24 1,9 696 0
Bulgaria 29 36 5 79 27 100 4,2 295 6 067 6 007 5
Burkina Fasso 22 21 8 16 21 95 3,4 11 986 173 0
Burma 17 48 36 21 75 0,2 7 138
Burundi 35 7 62 5 22 83 5,2 6 650 81 0
Central African 3 36 40 22 21 92 1,4 0 1 209 100 4
rope.
Chile 2 22 5 126 27 99 3,7 164 9 132 5 603 7
Colombia 2 55 9 134 25 99 5,1 66 5 974 1 513 2
Costa rica 4 51 5 156 26 100 5,9 152 8 170 2 252 4
Cyprus 9 19 5 129 27 100 3 622 19 175 0 21
Denmark 57 13 5 159 26 100 8,2 466 28 956 0 0
Dem Rep of 3 68 5 20 80 - 5 602 114 22
Congo
Djibuti 0 0 26 77 23 98 5,5 1 857 1 029
Dominica 8 60 5 104 25 3,9 5 677 3 921 7
Dominican rep. 17 41 24 110 25 87 1,9 123 6 395 1 492 3
Ecuador 5 36 15 101 26 97 2,3 63 3 230 1 204 0
Egypt 3 0 5 77 27 100 2,4 3 527 524 3
Equatorial
5 58 24 1,7 5 707 0 5
Guinea
El Salvador 33 14 9 93 26 94 3,6 84 4 597 1 787 0
Ivory Coast 9 33 14 33 23 93 1 1 589 670 2
Eritrea 7 15 65 14 21 74 1,5 11 1 022 274
Estonia 14 52 5 167 26 99 4,1 444 9 392 0 8
Ethiopia 14 11 41 11 20 98 2,2 3 815 103 1
Fidji 9 56 5 121 27 2,8 173 4 994 564 4
Philippines 18 26 13 77 23 93 1,3 32 4 032 949 1
Finland 7 73 5 93 27 100 6,1 559 26 164 0 2
France 34 29 5 110 26 100 8,7 600 27 244 0 1
UAE 1 4 5 104 28 100 1,9 313 21 478 0 1
Gabon 1 85 5 47 24 95 3 5 848 1 972 1
151

Gambia 40 48 19 74 22 96 2,6 7 1 631 340 5
Georgia 6 40 6 90 26 100 1,5 116 1 998 1 957 7
Ghana 19 22 5 19 23 90 4,3 33 1 920 415 8
Greece 20 30 5 96 26 100 5,8 112 17 057 52 1
Branch Anda 6 50 21 153 25 97 3,6 7 317 0 8
Guatemala 14 34 22 110 25 98 2,1 117 4 048 1 277 2
Guinea 12 27 16 27 23 89 0,6 1 972 356 2
Guinea-Bissau 11 72 22 16 22 83 1,6 33 863 799 1
Guyana 2 77 8 99 24 98 7,2 95 3 922 1 844 8
Haiti 38 4 57 66 24 71 1,2 1 619 57 2
Honduras 9 46 12 110 25 95 4,1 97 2 872 673 5
India 53 23 19 66 21 96 1,1 2 364 277 1
Indonesia 13 52 13 44 22 89 1,2 76 2 905 846 2
Iraq 10 2 27 91 1,9 0 2
Iran 11 7 5 71 25 98 3 16 5 806 190
Ireland 16 11 5 115 28 100 6,1 537 29 155 3 645 13
Iceland 0 0 5 153 27 100 7,7 773 28 840 0 23
Israel 14 7 5 104 27 100 4,5 305 23 015 0 2
Italy 23 31 5 85 26 100 6,7 677 25 905 0 0
Jamaica 11 31 5 148 24 98 2,4 3 597 0 2
Japan 12 69 5 77 24 100 6,5 595 25 646 0 0
Yemen 2 1 30 66 24 72 1,5 35 822 348
Jordan 2 1 5 99 27 98 5,4 137 4 162 1 630 6
Cambodia 22 57 25 25 21 81 1,7 1 730 366 7
Cameroon 13 42 22 27 24 92 1,3 1 878 187 0
Canada 5 34 5 173 27 100 7,1 597 27 503 0 1
Cape Verde 15 21 11 88 24 85 3,4 94 4 555 1 901 7
Kazakhstan 9 1 5 71 26 99 2,5 170 4 345 7 939 7
Kenya 10 6 33 55 22 83 2 21 1 033 269 1
China 12 22 10 22 23 98 1,9 32 3 940 432 3
Kyrgyzstan 7 5 11 38 25 99 3,5 59 1 497 805 9
Kiribati 3 15 5 126 29 16,1 144 4 545 0 2
Comoros 43 2 47 22 22 91 1,9 33 1 718 694 2
Congo 2 66 13 30 22 95 1,7 26 1 054 1 180 24
Croatia 16 34 5 164 27 100 6,6 377 9 116 0 1
Cuba 34 26 5 118 25 96 9,9 38 0
Kuwait 1 0 5 101 29 99 1,7 502 19 599 0
Laos 6 68 22 11 21 72 0,8 21 1 523 1 064 5
Lesotho 11 1 14 41 22 97 3,6 2 625 385 5
Latvia 19 54 5 93 26 100 3,6 459 7 975 16 627 2
Lebanon 14 13 5 93 27 100 3,9 4 301 6 440 13
Liberia 4 45 32 11 22 79 2,8 3 74 46
Libya 1 0 5 90 27 1,9 291 0
152

Lichtenstein 19 44 0
Lithuania 33 35 5 107 27 4,5 479 8 719 8 451 2
Luxembourg 24 34 5 27 100 6,5 512 50 564 0 288
Madagascar 5 22 25 22 21 71 2,7 844 142 10
Macedonia 17 39 5 96 26 100 4,7 136 6 055 2 889 3
Malawi 38 34 27 25 22 95 5,9 9 583 79 3
Malaysia 6 62 5 112 25 100 1,9 8 573 3 502 4
Maldives 13 3 10 77 23 99 6,4 20 4 500 9
Mali 5 10 12 30 22 81 2,9 9 785 233 2
Malta 25 0 5 132 28 100 5,8 558 17 635 65 304 12
Morocco 18 12 5 99 26 98 1,7 71 3 537 0 1
Mauritania 0 0 8 110 23 52 1,6 1 894 959 0
Mauritius 43 17 5 118 25 100 2 150 9 677 907 4
Mexico 13 33 5 132 27 96 2,7 244 9 262 2 006 2
Mozambique 6 50 38 19 22 77 3,5 10 799 227 8
Moldova 55 12 5 82 24 96 5,2 120 1 358 1 113 3
Mongolia 1 7 27 33 25 97 3,5 61 1 523 990 23
Montenegro 13 40 27 100 5,1 18
Namibia 1 9 18 85 23 99 3,2 109 5 838 0 7
Nauru 0 34 90 0
The Netherlands 31 11 5 142 26 100 7,3 503 29 993 0 -2
Nepal 17 25 17 11 21 93 2 5 1 325 152 8
Nicaragua 16 26 19 99 26 98 4,5 48 3 131 937
Niger 12 1 16 16 21 96 2,8 678 101 17
Nigeria 37 10 6 30 23 75 1,7 31 846 63 3
North Korea 22 47 35 8 22 100 3 0
Norway 3 33 5 121 27 100 7,5 572 34 188 0 3
New Zealand 2 31 5 164 28 100 7,1 729 20 412 0
Oman 0 0 26 92 1,9 225 12 608 0
Pakistan 27 2 25 74 22 95 0,8 11 1 881 393 1
Palau 2 87 30 8,5 0 1
Panama 7 44 15 88 26 97 4,3 188 6 048 3 869 9
Papua New 1 63 25 87 2,6 9 2 343 1 082 0
Guinea
Paraguay 10 44 10 63 26 99 2,4 82 4 165 923 2
Peru 3 53 16 104 25 90 2,5 52 4 724 1 413 5
Poland 41 31 5 123 27 100 4,6 451 10 772 0 2
Portugal 12 38 5 93 27 99 7,1 18 782 0 1
Qatar 1 0 28 100 2,9 724 0
Romania 38 29 5 71 25 5 894 5 489 2
Rwanda 53 18 32 5 23 77 4,9 4 931 97 1
Russia 7 49 5 121 26 98 3,5 245 7 009 2 610 3
St. Kitts and
Nevis
15 42 16 156 28 99 3,4 11 132 4 407 20
153

St Lucia 5 77 8 99 25 98 3,4 5 897 3 030 10
St. Vincent & the 13 69 5 121 25 3,3 204 5 237 2 251 14
Grenadines
Solomon Islands 1 79 11 19 27 4,3 1 908 519 35
Samoa 9 60 5 68 30 4,2 4 630 1 740 0
Saudi Arabia 2 1 5 74 28 97 2,7 13 593 0 5
Switzerland 10 31 5 164 26 100 6,4 569 31 446 0 -1
Senegal 20 44 19 38 22 92 3,2 20 1 428 356 2
Serbien 38 31 27 6,1 223 3
Seychelles 2 89 8 88 26 100 3,6 173 16 681 18 640 39
Sierra Leone 15 38 35 11 23 86 1,4 5 463 172 5
Singapore 0 3 24 100 1 149 23 594 0 19
Slovakia 29 40 5 85 27 100 5,2 282 11 365 0 1
Slovenia 9 62 5 41 27 100 5,6 547 16 836 0 1
Somalia 2 11 22 67 417
Spain 25 36 5 93 27 100 6,1 601 22 003 0 2
Sri Lanka 19 29 20 85 22 98 2 58 3 443 1 093 1
UK 25 12 5 112 27 100 6,9 527 26 476 0 2
Sudan 9 29 22 58 22 64 1,3 28 1 506 655 5
Suriname 0 95 15 151 25 97 3,6 5 530 0
Sweden 6 69 5 129 26 100 7,4 523 26 583 0 1
Swaziland 10 33 19 137 23 92 3,8 89 4 168 582 3
South Africa 12 8 5 90 27 99 3,6 159 8 764 995 0
Korea 16 63 5 99 24 100 3,5 338 16 149 0 0
Syria 25 3 5 118 27 94 1,6 52 3 162 286 2
Sao Thomé and 10 28 5 52 24 89 5,3 2 1 215 2
Principé
Tajikistan 5 3 26 41 24 94 1,1 38 808 479 0
Tanzania 11 38 34 19 22 80 3,5 12 521 256 2
Chad 3 9 39 19 21 67 2,7 798 205 10
Thailand 30 37 16 88 23 99 2,7 6 321 1 175 2
Czech Republic 41 34 5 142 28 100 5,8 470 15 450 0 3
Togo 40 5 30 16 22 87 1,5 2 1 358 320 1
Tonga 22 13 31 100 3,1 6 568 1 464 5
Trinidad & 5 44 11 156 26 98 2,7 351 9 092 0 3
Tobago
Tunisia 17 7 5 96 25 99 3 103 6 279 2 257 3
Turkey 28 15 5 66 27 100 3,4 131 6 471 4 312 1
Turkmenistan 4 9 7 27 25 97 1,4 106 3 416 94 10
Tuvalu 33 98 9,8 0 5
Germany 34 32 5 123 27 100 8 623 25 789 0 1
Uganda 33 15 22 25 22 91 1,6 7 1 167 121 5
Ukraine 56 17 5 121 25 98 4 140 4 037 2 391 5
Hungary 51 23 5 123 27 100 5,2 384 12 977 0 -33
154

Uruguay 11 10 5 104 26 100 5,9 8 871 3 420 4
USA 18 33 5 192 28 100 7,1 820 34 599 0 2
Uzbekistan 10 8 11 11 25 98 2,3 1 498 299 2
Vanuatu 2 36 5 38 27 96 2,7 3 127 780 6
Venezuela 3 53 7 99 27 2,7 147 5 759 2 277 0
Vietanm 20 45 11 36 21 99 2,8 13 2 040 444 8
Belarus 27 42 5 90 26 100 4,9 282 4 803 2 559 3
Zambia 5 67 44 47 21 87 3,6 18 786 353 6
Zimbabwe 11 40 30 104 22 99 4,1 106 2 499 396 1
Austria 17 47 5 123 26 100 7,7 556 28 481 0 -7
The geographical and topographical variations may also explain some differences.
Countries dominated by hard forced nature such as mountains, deserts and jungles, are in isolated locations
or are sparsely populated should have fewer opportunities than countries that are flat, with plenty of coast or
navigable rivers, and with short distances between people (see the History of Technology). Which is evident
since the most disadvantaged countries, in many of the listed aspects, have slightly lower values than the
favored ones (table 6 + 7).
Table 6. Topography and geography 22 vs. economic data. Easy Forced and flat terrain, plenty of navigable waters for
transportation and close to the people, = green, worse condition in any aspect = yellow, worse condition from several
aspects = red.
2
Density
2
(Inh./
km 2)
Towns
(%)
Kids in
school
(%)
Clean
water
(%)
Good
toilets
(%)
Starvation
(%)
Coruption
1=
much
Mobiles
/ 100
inh.
Public
spend.
on
health
care (%
of GDP)
Cars&
busses/ 1
000 inh.
Alcoho
olcons.
/
adult
(liter
alc/year
)
Average
sugar
Consum.
(g sugar/
pers & day
Aver-age
BMI for
men
Good 345 65 89 96 76 11 5 96 4 296 7 91 25 12 331 45
Average 128 59 91 93 69 14 4 94 4 217 7 84 25 8 422 41
Poor 111 49 90 94 70 15 3 81 4 138 6 73 25 5 620 40
GDP
per
inh.
Export
(% of
GDP)
22.
The population in mid-2010 divided by land area (measured in square kilometers), according www.globalis.se.
23.
The geographical and topographical conditions are estimated using the atlas: Nordstedts world atlas (Nordstedts,
Stockholm, 2011), in some cases combined with considerations of population size and earthquake risk.
155

Table 7a. Topography and geography vs. economic data. Easy forced and flat terrain, plenty of navigable waters for
transportation and close to the people, = green, worse condition in some aspects = yellow, worse condition from
several aspects = red.
Country Description Density 22
(Inh./
km 2 )
Towns
(%)
Afghanistan Mountainous, sparsely populated, no coast. 48 27
Albania Mountainous, but quite a lot of coastline. 111 48
Algeria Very much desert, some coast. 15 63
Andorra Mountainous, isolated, no coast. 181 91
Angola Mountainous, but coast. 15 41
Antigua and Very much coastline, close between people. But small population, isolated from the 201 41
Barbuda outside world.
Argentina Isolated, low population density, but plenty of coastline. 15 91
Armenia Mountainous, no coasts, no major rivers. 104 64
Australia Isolated, low population density, but rather flat and plenty of coast and navigable 3 94
rivers.
Azerbaijan Plenty of coasts. 106 50
Bahamas
Very much coastline, close between people. But small population, isolated from the
outside world.
25 91
Bahrain Very much coast. 1 818 91
Bangladesh River roads between many major cities, high population density, plenty of coastlines. 1 033 27
Brbados Very much coastline, close between people. But small population, isolated from the 636 56
outside world.
Belgium Close between people, good sea routes and largely relatively flat. 351 97
Belize Fairly flat and relatively plentiful coastline. 14 50
Benin Fairly flat, some coast. 79 50
Bhutan Very much mountains and no coast. 15 11
Bolivia No coastline, mountains and jungles. 9 67
Bosnia and Quite hilly and very little coast. 73 48
Herzegovina
Botswana Very much desert, no coast. 3 55
Brazil Very much jungle, but river roads between many major cities. 23 87
Brunei Flat and plenty of coastline, but far from neighboring countries except Malaysia. 69 81
Bulgaria Some coast and navigable rivers. 68 72
Burkina Fasso No coast, pretty flat. 60 21
Burma River road between many major cities, close between people, plenty of coastlines. 71 34
Burundi Mountainous and no shores. 301 13
Central African Fairly flat, no shores . 7 47
rope.
Chile Very mountainous, isolated, low population density, but plenty of coastline. 23 89
Colombia Very much mountains and jungles, but pretty ample coastline. 41 80
Costa rica Quite hilly, but very much coast. 91 64
Cyprus Plenty of coastline. 119 70
Denmark Plenty of coasts and flat. Proximity between people. 129 86
Dem Rep of Almost no coastline and very much jungle, far from people, but navigable rivers. 28 36
Congo
Djibuti Fairly flat, plenty of coastline. 38 86
Dominica Very much coastline, close between people. But small population, isolated from the 90 74
outside world.
Dominican rep. Very much coastline, close between people. But small population, isolated from the 205 62
outside world.
Ecuador Very much mountains and jungles, but plenty of coastline. 51 65
Egypt Very much desert, but river roads between many major cities, plenty of coastlines. 81 43
156

Equatorial Flat with coast. 25 54
Guinea
El Salvador Fairly flat + coast. 294 62
Ivory Coast Fairly flat + coast. 61 48
Eritrea Quite hilly + coast. 45 23
Estonia Plenty of coastline and pretty flat. 30 70
Ethiopia Very mountainous and desert, no coastline. 75 18
Fidji Isolated, but very mch coast. 47 57
Philippines Earthquake affected, prone to tropical storms and isolated from the world, but a lot of 311 66
coast.
Finland Fairly flat and relatively lot of sea routes. 16 61
France Plenty of lake and coastal roads, largely relatively flat. 114 78
UAE Very much desert, but also very much coast. 90 86
Gabon Fairly flat + coast + navigable river routes between major cities. 6 88
Gambia Fairly flat + coast + navigable river routes between major cities. 153 27
Georgia Mountainous but some coast. 62 51
Ghana Fairly flat + coast + navigable river routes between several major cities. 102 49
Greece Mountainous, but very much coast. 86 63
Grenada Prone to tropical storms and isolated from the world, but very much coast. 304 46
Guatemala Mountainous. 132 49
Guinea Fairly flat + some coast. 41 40
Guinea-Bissau Plenty of coast+ flat. 42 40
Guyana Very much jungle, but flriver roads between many major cities. 4 41
Haiti
Isolated from the outside world and affected by earthquakes. But a lot of coast, close
between people.
360 42
Honduras Mountainous, pretty much coast. 68 49
India River roads between many major cities, close between people, plenty of coastlines. 373 30
Indonesia Spread over a large area, but there are sea routes between many major cities. 126 53
Iraq Small coast, but good river routes between major cities, fairly flat. 72 67
Iran Mountainous, deserts, but plenty of coastlines. 45 71
Ireland Very much coast. 64 62
Iceland Very isolated from the world and very mountainous, but very much coast. 3 94
Israel Very much desert and pretty much coast. 335 92
Italy Mountainous, but a lot of coastline. 201 68
Jamaica Isolated from the outside world, but a lot of coast, close between people. 249 53
Japan
Very mountainous and earthquake hit, but also very much coastline, close between 335 67
people.
Yemen Very mountainous, but also pretty much coast. 46 29
Jordan No coast, mountain and sparse with navigable rivers. 69 80
Cambodia Some coast, but navigable river between major towns. 78 23
Cameroon Some coast + "smooth" surfaces. 41 57
Canada Isolated and low population density. 3 83
Cape Verde Very much coastline, close between people. But small population, isolated from the 123 61
outside world.
Kazakhstan Some coast, low population density, very much desert, though relatively flat. 6 57
Kenya Some coast + pretty much mountains. 70 47
China Pretty much mountains, but also much coasts and navigable rivers. 140 45
Kyrgyzstan Mountainous and no coast. 27 34
Kiribati Isolated, but very much coast. 137 57
Comoros Very much coastline, close between people. But small population, isolated from the 395 40
outside world.
Congo Some coast, however, rather flat + navigable river routes. 12 57
Croatia Quite hilly, but plenty of coastline. 78 62
157

Cuba Fairly flat and with plenty of coastline. 102 77
Kuwait Much coast. 154 97
Laos No coast, jungles and mountains. 26 24
Lesotho Very mountainous + no coast. 72 19
Latvia Plenty of sea routes and pretty flat. 35 66
Lebanon Plenty of coastline. 407 89
Liberia Fairly flat + coastline. 36 51
Libya Very much desert and pretty much coast. 4 88
Lichtenstein Very small and landlocked. 225 23
Lithuania Fairly flat. 51 67
Luxembourg Small and landlocked, but close to the people. 196 93
Madagascar Mountainous but with much coastline. 35 29
Macedonia Mountainous and landlocked. 80 61
Malawi Mountainous and no coast. 126 20
Malaysia Very mountainous, jungle and scattered country, though plenty of coastline. 86 68
Maldives Very much coast. But small population, and very isolated from the outside world. 1 060 32
Mali Very much desert, no coast. 12 37
Malta Very much coastline, but isolated from the outside world. 1 318 93
Morocco Quite a lot of mountains and desert, much coast. 72 62
Mauritania Some coast + much desert. 3 70
Mauritius Very much coast. But small population, and very isolated from the outside world. 637 45
Mexico Very mountainous, however, plenty of coastline. 58 77
Mozambique Plenty of coastline, navigable rivers and rather flat. 29 44
Moldova No coast. 106 48
Mongolia Very high mountains and desert, no coast and low population density. 2 58
Montenegro Mountainous and some coast. 46
Namibia Very high mountains and much desert, pretty much coast. 3 36
Nauru
Very much coastline, close between people. But small population, isolated from the 488 100
outside world.
The
Proximity between people, good sea routes and flat. 400 69
Netherlands
Nepal Very much mountains and no coast. 204 18
Nicaragua Plenty of lakes and coasts. 45 60
Niger Much desert, no coast. 12 26
Nigeria Coast, navigable rivers and rather flat. 172 52
North Korea Pretty much mountains, but also very much coast. 202 64
Norway Very very mountainous and sparsely populated, but plenty of coastline. 13 84
New Zealand Mountainous, earthquake-hit and isolated from the world, but very much coast. 16 86
Oman Very much desert, some mountains, but much coast. 9 81
Pakistan River road between many major cities, close between people. 218 37
Palau
Very much coastline, close between people. But small population, isolated from the 45 68
outside world.
Panama Very ample coastline. 47 60
Papua New Quite mountainous and isolated, but with sea routes between major cities. 15 14
Guinea
Paraguay No coast, rather flat and navigable river between many major cities. 16 62
Peru Very much mountains and jungles, but also coasts. 23 76
Poland Some coast, but navigable river between major towns and pretty flat. 118 63
Portugal Quite hilly, but plenty of coastline. 116 58
Qatar Very much desert, but a lot of coast. 160 93
Romania Pretty much mountains and a bit of coast. 90 56
Rwanda Mountainous and no coast. 403 31
Russia Relatively little useful coast, very low population density. 8 74
158

St. Kitts and
Nevis
St Lucia
St. Vincent &
the Grenadines
Very much coastline, close between people. But small population, isolated from the
outside world.
Very much coastline, close between people. But small population, isolated from the
outside world.
Very much coastline, close between people. But small population, isolated from the
outside world.
159
201 32
323 34
282 65
Solomon Isolated, but very much coast. 19 19
Islands
Samoa Very isolated, but very much coast. 65 23
Saudi Arabia Very mountainous and much desert, no rivers, but very much coast. 13 90
Switzerland Very hilly and no coast. 186 68
Senegal Flat and pretty much coast. 63 55
Serbien No coast but rather flat and navigable river between many major cities. 112
Seychelles Isolated, but very much coast. 190 52
Sierra Leone Pretty flat and pretty much coast. 82 44
Singapore Very near the coast and close between people. 7447 100
Slovakia No coast. 111 59
Slovenia Quite hilly and almost no coast. 100 51
Somalia Pretty much mountains, but very much coast. 15 39
Spain Mountainous, but relatively much coastline. 91 77
Sri Lanka Very much coast. 318 22
UK Proximity between people, good sea routes and largely relatively flat. 255 90
Sudan Very much desert, but river roads between many major cities. 17 45
Suriname Very much jungle, but river roadsbetween many major cities. 3 80
Sweden Pretty much coasts and in the inhabited areas are relatively flat. 21 84
Swaziland Mountainous, isolated and no coast. 68 25
South Africa Very much mountains, pretty much coast. 41 60
South Korea Very much coast, close to the people. 484 82
Syria Some coast and navigable rivers. 110 51
Sao Thomé & Very much coastline, close between people. But small population, isolated from the 172 39
Principé outside world.
Tajikistan Mountainous and no shores. 48 24
Tanzania Mountainous, some coast. 47 42
Chad Very much desert + no coast + far between people. 9 28
Thailand Navigable rivers between the major towns and much coast. 135 34
Czech Republic No coast. 133 75
Togo Fairly flat + coast. 106 40
Tonga Very isolated, but very much coast. 160 36
Trinidad & Very much coastline, close between people. But small population, isolated from the 261 78
Tobago outside world.
Tunisia Pretty much desert, but also very much coast. 64 66
Turkey Mountainous, but plenty of coastline. 93 70
Turkmenistan Very much desert. 10 48
Tuvalu Isolated, but very much coast, far from people. 378 61
Germany Proximity between people, good sea routes and largely relatively flat. 231 89
Uganda Mountainous + no coast. 139 13
Ukraine Relatively little coast, very far between people. 75 68
Hungary No coast, but flat and with river paths. 107 68
Uruguay Fairly flat. 19 94
USA Largely pretty flat with plenty of sea routes. 32 82
Uzbekistan No coast, much desert, far from people. 61 36
Vanuatu Isolated, but very much coast. 20 26

Venezuela Very much jungle, but river roads between many major cities. 32 89
Vietanm Navigable rivers and a lot of coastline. 265 29
Belarus No coast + far between people. 46 73
Zambia Very much mountains, no coastline. 17 39
Zimbabwe Very much mountains, no coastline. 32 38
Austria Mountainous and no coastline, but navigable river between most major cities. 100 66
Table 7b. Topography and geography vs. economic data. Easy forced and flat terrain, plenty of navigable waters for
transportation and close to the people, = green, worse condition in some aspects = yellow, worse condition from
Country
several aspects = red.
Kids Clean
in water
scho (%)
ol
(%)
Good
toilets
(%)
Starvation
(%)
Coruption
1=muc
h
Mobile
s/ 100
inh.
160
Public
spendit
ure on
health
care (%
of
GDP)
Cars
&
busse
s per
1 000
inh.
Alc
cons./
adult
(liter
alc/year)
Average
sugar
cons.
(g/day&
person)
Avera
ge
BMI
for
men
GDP per
inh.
Afghanistan 78 37 2 41 2 23 0 21
Albania 85 96 98 5 3 142 3 102 7 66 26 3 719 19
Algeria 95 85 95 5 3 92 4 1 85 25 5 327 41
Andorra 84 100 100 77 5 16 28
Angola 60 57 41 2 47 2 40 5 36 22 1 462 90
Antigua and 90 95 21 185 3 7 96 26 10 196 70
Barbuda
Argentina 98 90 5 3 142 5 314 10 112 28 12 095 11
Armenia 98 90 21 3 125 2 105 11 58 25 2 421 23
Australia 97 100 100 5 9 101 6 653 10 129 28 27 390 20
Azerbaijan 86 88 45 5 2 99 1 11 44 26 2 475 39
Bahamas 99 98 100 6 7 125 4 82 9 126 27 17 055 43
Bahrain 100 5 124 3 482 4 28 15 545 89
Bangladesh 89 85 53 26 3 46 1 2 0 16 20 1 543 14
Brbados 100 100 5 8 128 4 406 7 156 26 50
Belgium 99 100 100 5 8 113 7 539 11 151 27 27 659 85
Belize 100 99 90 5 62 3 178 6 137 27 5 682 53
Benin 94 84 12 12 3 80 3 21 2 16 22 975 15
Bhutan 88 99 65 6 54 3 38 1 23 3 685 30
Bolivia 96 25 27 3 72 3 68 5 77 24 2 387 18
Bosnia and 87 100 95 5 3 80 6 170 10 74 27 30
Herzegovina
Botswana 99 60 25 6 118 4 113 8 68 22 8 353 53
Brazil 99 80 6 4 104 4 198 9 153 26 7 154 10
Brunei 97 5 5 109 2 696 2 107 24 67
Bulgaria 98 100 100 5 3 141 4 295 12 79 27 6 067 56
Burkina Fasso 64 95 11 8 3 35 3 11 7 16 21 986 9
Burma 75 81 2 1 0 7 1 36 21 0
Burundi 99 83 46 62 2 14 5 6 10 5 22 650 8
Central African 67 92 34 40 2 23 1 0 3 22 21 1 209 20
rope.
Chile 99 96 5 7 116 4 164 9 126 27 9 132 32
Colombia 93 99 74 9 3 94 5 66 6 134 25 5 974 17
Costa rica 100 95 5 5 65 6 152 6 156 26 8 170 49
Cyprus 99 100 100 5 6 94 3 622 9 129 27 19 175 55
Denmark 96 100 100 5 9 124 8 466 13 159 26 28 956 47
Export
(% of
GDP)

Dem Rep of
80 23 2 17 - 5 4 5 20 602 22
Congo
Djibuti 45 98 56 26 3 19 6 2 77 23 1 857 35
Dominica 98 5 5 145 4 8 104 25 5 677 53
Dominican rep. 87 83 24 3 90 2 123 6 110 25 6 395 37
Ecuador 97 92 15 3 102 2 63 9 101 26 3 230 37
Egypt 95 100 94 5 3 87 2 0 77 27 3 527 16
Equatorial 57 2 57 2 6 24 5 707 99
Guinea
El Salvador 94 87 9 3 124 4 84 4 93 26 4 597 27
Ivory Coast 57 93 23 14 2 76 1 7 33 23 1 589 40
Eritrea 37 74 14 65 3 4 2 11 2 14 21 1 022 15
Estonia 99 95 5 6 123 4 444 16 167 26 9 392 85
Ethiopia 84 98 12 41 3 8 2 3 4 11 20 815 12
Fidji 5 116 3 173 2 121 27 4 994 65
Philippines 93 76 13 3 86 1 32 6 77 23 4 032 55
Finland 96 100 100 5 9 156 6 559 13 93 27 26 164 44
France 99 100 100 5 7 100 9 600 14 110 26 27 244 29
UAE 98 100 97 5 7 145 2 313 1 104 28 21 478 73
Gabon 95 33 5 3 107 3 9 47 24 5 848 69
Gambia 76 96 67 19 4 86 3 7 3 74 22 1 631 48
Georgia 100 100 95 6 4 73 2 116 6 90 26 1 998 23
Ghana 76 90 13 5 4 71 4 33 3 19 23 1 920 49
Greece 100 98 5 3 108 6 112 11 96 26 17 057 25
Grenada 97 97 21 117 4 10 153 25 7 317 55
Guatemala 98 81 22 3 126 2 117 4 110 25 4 048 20
Guinea 74 89 19 16 2 40 1 1 27 23 1 972 24
Guinea-Bissau 83 21 22 2 39 2 33 4 16 22 863 32
Guyana 99 98 81 8 3 74 7 95 10 99 24 3 922 96
Haiti 71 17 57 2 40 1 7 66 24 1 619 13
Honduras 95 71 12 3 125 4 97 5 110 25 2 872 54
India 96 31 19 3 61 1 3 66 21 2 364 13
Indonesia 98 89 52 13 3 92 1 76 1 44 22 2 905 41
Iraq 91 73 2 76 2 0 27
Iran 98 5 3 91 3 16 1 71 25 5 806 23
Ireland 97 100 99 5 8 105 6 537 14 115 28 29 155 98
Iceland 98 100 100 5 8 109 8 773 6 153 27 28 840 34
Israel 97 100 100 5 6 133 5 305 3 104 27 23 015 37
Italy 100 5 4 135 7 677 11 85 26 25 905 27
Jamaica 98 83 5 3 113 2 5 148 24 3 597
Japan 100 100 100 5 8 95 7 595 8 77 24 25 646 11
Yemen 72 52 30 2 46 2 35 0 66 24 822 42
Jordan 98 98 5 5 107 5 137 1 99 27 4 162 42
Cambodia 81 29 25 2 58 2 5 25 21 1 730 50
Cameroon 92 92 47 22 3 42 1 8 27 24 1 878 23
Canada 100 100 5 9 71 7 597 10 173 27 27 503 46
Cape Verde 83 85 54 11 6 75 3 94 5 88 24 4 555 28
Kazakhstan 99 99 97 5 3 123 3 170 11 71 26 4 345 57
Kenya 83 83 31 33 2 62 2 21 4 55 22 1 033 22
China 98 55 10 4 64 2 32 6 22 23 3 940 23
161

Kyrgyzstan 91 99 93 11 2 92 4 59 5 38 25 1 497 42
Kiribati 5 3 10 16 144 4 126 29 4 545 7
Comoros 91 36 47 2 22 2 33 0 22 22 1 718 17
Congo 95 30 13 2 94 2 26 4 30 22 1 054 80
Croatia 95 100 99 5 4 144 7 377 15 164 27 9 116 42
Cuba 100 96 91 5 4 9 10 38 6 118 25
Kuwait 99 100 5 5 161 2 502 0 101 29 19 599 56
Laos 72 53 22 2 65 1 21 7 11 21 1 523 30
Lesotho 73 97 29 14 4 32 4 6 41 22 2 625 33
Latvia 94 100 78 5 4 102 4 459 13 93 26 7 975 42
Lebanon 91 100 5 3 68 4 2 93 27 4 301 14
Liberia 79 17 32 3 39 3 3 5 11 22 21
Libya 97 5 2 172 2 291 0 90 27 36
Lichtenstein 90 99
Lithuania 97 5 5 147 5 479 15 107 27 8 719 45
Luxembourg 100 100 5 9 143 7 512 13 27 50 564 150
Madagascar 71 11 25 3 40 3 1 22 21 844 31
Macedonia 93 100 89 5 4 105 5 136 96 26 6 055 49
Malawi 91 95 56 27 3 20 6 9 2 25 22 583 26
Malaysia 100 96 5 4 121 2 1 112 25 8 573 120
Maldives 99 98 10 3 157 6 20 1 77 23 89
Mali 77 81 36 12 3 48 3 9 1 30 22 785 27
Malta 100 100 5 6 109 6 558 4 132 28 17 635 92
Morocco 90 98 69 5 3 100 2 71 2 99 26 3 537 28
Mauritania 76 52 26 8 2 79 2 0 110 23 1 894 46
Mauritius 94 100 91 5 5 92 2 150 4 118 25 9 677 61
Mexico 96 85 5 3 81 3 244 8 132 27 9 262 31
Mozambique 91 77 17 38 3 31 4 10 2 19 22 799 18
Moldova 90 96 79 5 3 89 5 120 18 82 24 1 358 50
Mongolia 100 97 50 27 3 91 4 61 3 33 25 1 523 56
Montenegro 88 100 92 4 185 5 27
Namibia 90 99 33 18 4 67 3 109 10 85 23 5 838 41
Nauru 90 60 5 34
The Netherlands 99 100 100 5 9 116 7 503 10 142 26 29 993 70
Nepal 93 31 17 2 31 2 5 2 11 21 1 325 23
Nicaragua 98 52 19 3 65 5 48 5 99 26 3 131 24
Niger 54 96 9 16 3 25 3 0 16 21 678 18
Nigeria 75 32 6 2 55 2 31 12 30 23 846 54
North Korea 100 35 1 2 3 4 8 22
Norway 99 100 100 5 9 113 8 572 8 121 27 34 188 47
New Zealand 99 100 5 10 115 7 729 10 164 28 20 412 36
Oman 81 92 5 166 2 225 1 26 12 608 59
Pakistan 66 95 45 25 3 59 1 11 0 74 22 1 881 13
Palau 71 9 10 30 10
Panama 98 97 69 15 3 185 4 188 7 88 26 6 048 73
Papua New
87 45 2 28 3 9 4 25 2 343 66
Guinea
Paraguay 86 99 70 10 2 92 2 82 8 63 26 4 165 38
Peru 90 68 16 3 100 3 52 7 104 25 4 724 16
Poland 96 100 90 5 6 120 5 451 13 123 27 10 772 27
Portugal 99 99 100 5 6 142 7 15 93 27 18 782 30
Qatar 98 100 100 7 132 3 724 1 28 67
Romania 96 72 5 4 115 15 71 25 5 894 33
Rwanda 77 54 32 5 33 5 4 10 5 23 931 9
162

Russia 98 87 5 2 166 4 245 16 121 26 7 009 44
St. Kitts and 94 99 96 16 161 3 9 156 28 11 132 46
Nevis
St Lucia 93 98 8 7 103 3 12 99 25 5 897 53
St. Vincent & the 98 5 6 121 3 204 5 121 25 5 237 53
Grenadines
Solomon Islands 11 3 6 4 2 19 27 1 908 24
Samoa 99 100 5 4 91 4 5 68 30 4 630 34
Saudi Arabia 86 97 5 5 188 3 0 74 28 13 593 44
Switzerland 100 100 100 5 9 124 6 569 11 164 26 31 446 46
Senegal 75 92 51 19 3 67 3 20 1 38 22 1 428 28
Serbien 96 3 129 6 223 11 27
Seychelles 94 100 8 5 136 4 173 11 88 26 16 681 78
Sierra Leone 86 13 35 3 34 1 5 10 11 23 463 18
Singapore 100 100 9 144 1 149 2 24 23 594
Slovakia 100 100 5 4 108 5 282 13 85 27 11 365 71
Slovenia 98 100 100 5 6 105 6 547 15 41 27 16 836 54
Somalia 67 23 1 7 1 22
Spain 100 100 100 5 6 112 6 601 12 93 27 22 003 29
Sri Lanka 95 98 91 20 3 83 2 58 1 85 22 3 443 39
UK 100 100 5 8 130 7 527 13 112 27 26 476 28
Sudan 64 34 22 2 41 1 28 3 58 22 1 506 15
Suriname 97 84 15 3 170 4 6 151 25 5 530 20
Sweden 96 100 100 5 9 114 7 523 10 129 26 26 583 47
Swaziland 92 55 19 3 62 4 89 6 137 23 4 168 76
South Africa 90 99 77 5 4 100 4 159 10 90 27 8 764 28
Korea 99 100 100 5 5 105 4 338 15 99 24 16 149 39
Syria 94 96 5 3 57 2 52 1 118 27 3 162 35
Sao Thomé & 98 89 26 5 62 5 2 9 52 24
Principé
Tajikistan 94 94 26 2 86 1 38 3 41 24 808 99
Tanzania 97 80 24 34 3 47 4 12 7 19 22 521 17
Chad 67 9 39 2 23 3 4 19 21 798 17
Thailand 90 99 96 16 3 101 3 7 88 23 6 321 67
Czech Republic 100 98 5 4 137 6 470 17 142 28 15 450 63
Togo 95 87 12 30 2 41 2 2 2 16 22 1 358 31
Tonga 100 96 3 52 3 4 31 6 568 15
Trinidad & 96 98 92 11 3 141 3 351 6 156 26 9 092 59
Tobago
Tunisia 99 99 85 5 4 106 3 103 1 96 25 6 279 45
Turkey 100 90 5 4 85 3 131 3 66 27 6 471 20
Turkmenistan 97 98 7 2 63 1 106 5 27 25 3 416 96
Tuvalu 98 84 25 10 2
Germany 100 100 100 5 8 127 8 623 13 123 27 25 789 33
Uganda 92 91 48 22 2 38 2 7 12 25 22 1 167 11
Ukraine 89 98 95 5 2 119 4 140 16 121 25 4 037 62
Hungary 96 100 100 5 5 120 5 384 16 123 27 12 977 72
Uruguay 100 100 5 7 132 6 8 104 26 8 871 17
USA 92 100 100 5 7 90 7 820 9 192 28 34 599 11
Uzbekistan 90 98 100 11 2 76 2 4 11 25 1 498 25
Vanuatu 96 52 5 4 119 3 1 38 27 3 127 44
Venezuela 94 7 2 96 3 147 8 99 27 5 759 30
Vietanm 99 75 11 3 175 3 13 4 36 21 2 040 55
163

Belarus 100 93 5 2 108 5 282 15 90 26 4 803 69
Zambia 92 87 49 44 3 38 4 18 4 47 21 786 27
Zimbabwe 99 44 30 2 60 4 106 5 104 22 2 499 36
Austria 100 100 5 8 146 8 556 13 123 26 28 481 46
Perhaps differences are better explained by the fact that different countries have different religions To
understand how come there are different religions and how they differ from each other, a brief historical
survey of religions may be useful:
800-450 before the year zero in our way to count (BC) the Old Testament was written, the holy book for the
Jews and later the first part of the Christian Scriptures. This includes, inter alia, the Judaisms and the
Christianity´s main rules, which in the Christian version reads:
1. You shall have no other gods but God.
2. You shall not missuse God's name, for the Lord will not leave the guiltless who misuses his name.
3. Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy.
4. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is
giving you.
5. You shall not kill.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor's house.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox or donkey,
or anything that belongs to him.
In 477 BC Buddha died. Buddha first sought salvation in the contemporary Indian religions (Brahmanism,
which later turned into Hinduism) usual way, i.e. through asceticism and penance. The story says that he in a
forest met some ascetics. He joined them and competed with them in penances. For six years, he did his
asceticism increasingly stringent and in the end he was so malnourished that he lost conscious. When he
regained it, he took the decision tet to abandon the ascetic way, and he stated: "There is no knowlwdge
coming from ascetism.” Thus he broke in a revolutionary way with the entire Indian tradition. Buddha's way
to wisdom is throgh walking the middle way, i.e. To avoid both asceticism and pleasures and keep the soul
free and independent. Also Buddhism, like Brahmanism, teaches that salvation consists in freedom from
transmigration. But Buddha´s path to it differs in several important respects from the Brahmanist way. He
had no concept of God, and was only interested in the question: "How can I achieve salvation from the
suffering that life means" Buddha saw the only way to overcome suffering was through totally out
quenching the thirst for life. To this aim suggested the Eightfold Path: right knowledge, right mindedness,
right speech, right action, right life, right effort, right vigilance, right meditation. Nirvana's peace and
freedom from rebirth will pay those who faithfully walk the way to the end.
164

Type one hundred years after Buddha's death, Buddhism developed into a complete religious movement with
sacred texts, saints, monks and monasteries. From the Brahmanism the Buddhism took a number of rules
that every Buddhist should keep.
No Buddhist can:
The monks also have to see to that they don´t:
1. kill any living being, 1. eat at the wrong time,
2. steal, 2. amuse themselves,
3. conduct unchastity, 3. adorn themselves,
4. lye 4. lie comfortably,
5. drink alcohol. 5. receive money.
Around zero the historical person of Jesus was born, in the current Israel which then was a part of the Roman
Empire, and with him the Christian religion. It is based partly on the Jewish Scriptures (Old Testament) and
also texts about Jesus and his inner circle (New Testament).
The first evidence of Buddhism in China dates from the 65 th .
About 200 the Brahmans, who saw their position threatened by Buddhism, abandoned their earlier
dismissive attitude towards other Indian religions and accepted their various gods (sacred stones, trees, and
animals), which was declared to be different manifestations of the single, global god Brahman. This created
Hinduism. To be saved, according to Hinduism is to be part of the big ego. The way to achieve this goal is
knowledge and ascetic exercises, suppression of one's own self, feelings and thoughts (yoga). Whoever
reaches unity with Brahman is above metempsychosis. According to Brahma every human and each animal
after death, according to their merits, reborn in an human or animal body.
The Ecumenical meeting in Nicaea 325 is the starting point for Christianity in the eastern part of the Roman
Empire (the orthodox versions of Christianity). They have many festivals and feast days with movement,
bowings, and uplifting and touching of sacred objects. At the baptism there is a great emphasis on the holy
oil. At the communion wine soaked bread is distributed to every participator by the priest using a spoon.The
Orthodox have a special sacrament, a special oil, which is regarded with great reverence and often counted
as cures for diseases and such. Pictures of saints, the Virgin Mary and Christ plays a big role and in the
believers homes there is almost always one or more images (icons) that is worshiped.
In 391 Christianity became the Roman state religion.
In 395 the Roman Empire was divided into Eastern Roman Empire and Western Rome.
404 was a Latin version of the Bible completed.
165

Christianity, from 0
Taoism, from appr. 550
Shintoism, prehistoric
Brahmanism, 1500 BC
Buddism, 500 BC
Zoroastrianism, 600 BC
Viking religion,
Figure 1. Some religions approximate propagation the year 600. In addition to the religions shown in the figure many
tribes in other parts of the world certainly had more or less their own religions. At this time Islam's founder
and prophet Muhammad lived and after his death in 632 the religion expanded quickly from Mecca out over
the Arabian Peninsula. Zoroastrianism was a religion and philosophy based on the teachings that the prophet
Zoroaster created, who lived during the 600s BC. Zoroastrians worship the Creator Ahura Mazda. In
Zoroastrianism good and evil have different sources, the evil source tried to destroy what was created by
Mazda, and the good source was trying to sustain it.
Around the year 570 Muhammad, the founder of Islam was born in the city of Mecca located in present
Saudi Arabia. Muhammad formulated a new religion that was far less complicated than in any case,
Christianity, and Hinduism. The basis is that there is only one God (called Allah). Unlike Hinduism and
contemporary Christianity, which besides god worshiped demigods like Jesus and saints like Virgin Mary. In
addition, his teaching consisted of "five pillars" which described the proper life of a faithful Muslim: faith,
prayer, fasting, giving to the poor and pilgrimage.
In the early 700's, Arab warriors expanded the Islamic areas through North Africa to Spain and up into
Europe. They were stopped, however, in 732 at the Battle of Poitiers (in present France).
Buddhism and other foreign religions were banned in China in 845.
In935 Islam's holy scripture, the Quran, got its final form.
Approximately 960 the King of Denmark converted to Christianity and he excommunicated the Vikings
religion.
1018 the Church Council in Pavia decided that priests should live in celibate.
In 1054, the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches finally broke with each other.
166

In 1154 Burma's pride, the then
Hindu temple of Angkor Vat was
ready. On 13/14-century it was
converted into a Buddhist
sanctuary.
The Christians tried to force the Muslim part of the world to convert into christianity in something called
crusades, these culminated in 1226.
1517 The German Catholic priest Martin Luther (1483-1546) presented his 95 theses on how the church
should be reformed and in 1534 he published a German translation of the Bible. He founded thereto
Protestantism by working for a number of changes in the church, the most important was probably:
1. The Bible should be the basis for the service.
2. Preaching should be in the mother tongue.
3. Hymns are a central part of the worship.
4. The teaching of Christianity should be the focus, for that he wrote the Small Catechism 1529 th .
5. Justification by faith, that is the most important thing is to believe and to believe the right things. In
contrast to the Catholic Church that more see the seven sacraments (baptism, confirmation, marriage,
penance/confession, communion, ordination and the last rites) as the main components of being a good
Christian.
There are three main types of Protestantism: the Lutheran, Anglican and Calvinian.
The Calvinism founder Swiss Jean Calvin was roughly contemporary with Martin Luther. Calvin himself
thought he was a adept of Luther and he also belived the doctrine of justification by faith.
The most distinctive of the Calvinism is the predestination theory. God Hve Desided that some people will
get salvation and the other, the masses, will get eternal damnation. The calvinists are the choosen ones and
they must continuously be working, since they are created for the glory of God. The world and all its
treasures shall be given to God. This has provoked a desire for outward activities of great importance.
167

The Anglican Church appears to be a mixture of Catholicism, Calvinism and Lutheranism. Strong emphasis
falls on the episcopate, chasubles, incense, Crucifix, Mary worship, prayers for the dead, etc.. The Anglican
Church can be found mainly in the former British colonies.
Methodism was founded in 1730 in the UK.
1878 Salvation Army was founded by the former Methodist priest William Booth.
Figur 2. Religion distribution over the earth about 1900. Note that the Hindus on this map are designated as Brahma
worshiper.
168

Religions create some obvious differences that affect the daily lives, but it is striking how similar the
practice of religion really is, between religions, for those who really follow the rules (see table 8).
Table 8. Rules for practicing each religion.
Buddhism Hinduism Islam Catolisism Protestantism Orthodoxism
Service
time
Chapel
Prayer
Fasting
Food
restrictions
Few special
worship days.
Specific
buildings called
temples. In
addition, some
altar with
Buddha figures
in the home.
Several times a
day at the
"needs".
Only monks are
fasting.
No meat, poultry,
fish or seafood.
No fixed day of the
week, however,
many different dates
during the year.
Specific buildings
called temples, but in
many Hindu homes,
there is also a small
altar with statues and
stuff.
Several times a day
at the "needs".
One fasts before
sacred ceremonies.
No meat, poultry,
fish or seafood.
Fridays.
The mosque is the place
where you prostrate in
prayer. Which can be
anywhere or in special
buildings (mosques).
Five times/day at fixed
times.
Fasting during the ninth
month of the Muslim
calendar. Then the
orthodox Muslim abstain
from food, drink, sex and
smoking from dawn to
dusk.
Not pig. Slaughter
animals are to be killed
by cutting the carotid
arteries.
Pilgrimage No. No. Yes, to Mecca at least
once in life.
Sundays.
Special buildings called churches
In privacy for example before meals and at bed time.
40 days until Easter day
except Sundays.
In Protestantism
is not fasting.
40 days until
Easter day
except
Sundays.
According to the books of Moses: no pig or animal that has
many legs, not fish without scales, no carnivorous beasts and
birds, shellfish and insects.
Yes, to places associated
with different saints.
No.
Yes, to holy
places.
Aid to
poor
A portion of the
road to the
ultimate goal
(Nirvana) is good
deeds.
Some of the way to
the ultimate goal
(Nirvana) is good
deeds.
Almsgiving is a religious
duty.
The church takes in taxes that partially goes to the needy, and
almsgiving to the needy.
drugs Not alcohol. Not alcohol. Not alcohol. Gladly alcohol except in some protestant churches.
It is reasonable to believe that differences in religion also affects economic factors, the general
honesty/corruption and possibly the presence of gluttony (which presumably shows in the average BMI).
However, there is no clear "winner religion" regarding the listed factors (table 9 + 10), except possibly that
the Protestant countries often have the "best" or the next "best" values.
Table 9.
Religion
Dominant religion vs. miscellaneous data: corruption, BMI for men and alcohol. Catholic Church = red,
Orthodox churches= light blue, Protestant churches = green, unspecified Christian = yellow, Islam = gray,
Buddhism= dark blue, Hinduism = pink.
Good
toilets
(%)
Starvation
(%)
Coruption
1=
much
Public
spenditure
on health
care (% of
GDP)
Mobiles
/ 100
inh.
Cars&
busses/
1 000
inh.
Alcohoolcons.
/
adult
(liter
alc/year)
Average
sugar
consumpt
(g
sugar/pers.
& day
Aver- GDP per
age inh.
BMI
for men
Export
(% of
GDP)
Catholic 79 12 4 5 96 250 9 101 26 10 876 44 2
Orthodox 91 5 4 4 119 239 13 95 26 7 713 45 3
Protestant 86 10 6 6 99 393 7 110 27 16 409 42 2
Unspec Christian 56 18 4 4 81 192 7 77 25 5 619 40 3
Islam 59 15 3 2 79 126 3 57 24 4 128 40 5
Bhudism 74 20 4 2 80 86 4 47 22 6 668 41 5
Hinduism 51 14 4 2 61 78 3 65 22 4 455 32 2
Political
rights
(1=
"total")
169

Table 10. Dominant religion vs. miscellaneous data: corruption, BMI for men and alcohol. Catholic Church = red,
Orthodox churches= light blue, Protestant churches = green, unspecified Christian = yellow, Islam = gray,
Buddhism= dark blue, Hinduism = pink.
Country
Good
toilets
(%)
Starv
-
ation
(%)
Coruption
1=much
Public
spenditure
on health
care (% of
GDP)
Mobile
s/ 100
inh
Cars &
busses
per 1
000 inh.
170
Alc
cons./
adult
(liter
alc/year)
Averag
e sugar
cons.
(g/day&
person)
Average
BMI for
men
GDP
per
inh.
Export
(% of
GDP)
Political
rights
1=”total”
Afghanistan 37 2 2 41 23 0 21 7
Albania 98 5 3 3 142 102 7 66 26 3 719 19 4
Algeria 95 5 3 4 92 1 85 25 5 327 41 6
Andorra 100 5 77 16 28 1
Angola 57 41 2 2 47 40 5 36 22 1 462 90 6
Antigua and
21 3 185 7 96 26 10 196 70 4
Barbuda
90 90 5 3 5 142 314 10 112 28 12 095 11 1
Armenia 90 21 3 2 125 105 11 58 25 2 421 23 4
Australia 100 5 9 6 101 653 10 129 28 27 390 20 1
Azerbaijan 45 5 2 1 99 11 44 26 2 475 39 6
Bahamas 100 6 7 4 125 82 9 126 27 17 055 43 1
Bahrain 5 3 124 482 4 28 15 545 89 7
Bangladesh 53 26 3 1 46 2 0 16 20 1 543 14 3
Brbados 100 5 8 4 128 406 7 156 26 50 1
Belgium 100 5 8 7 113 539 11 151 27 27 659 85 1
Belize 90 5 3 62 178 6 137 27 5 682 53 1
Benin 12 12 3 3 80 21 2 16 22 975 15 2
Bhutan 65 6 3 54 38 1 23 3 685 30 7
Bolivia 25 27 3 3 72 68 5 77 24 2 387 18 1
Bosnia and 95 5 3 6 80 170 10 74 27 30 5
Herzegovina
Botswana 60 25 6 4 118 113 8 68 22 8 353 53 2
Brazil 80 6 4 4 104 198 9 153 26 7 154 10 3
Brunei 5 5 2 109 696 2 107 24 67 7
Bulgaria 100 5 3 4 141 295 12 79 27 6 067 56 2
Burkina 11 8 3 3 35 11 7 16 21 986 9 4
Fasso
Burma 81 2 0 1 7 1 36 21 0 7
Burundi 46 62 2 5 14 6 10 5 22 650 8 6
Central 34 40 2 1 23 0 3 22 21 1 209 20 3
African rope.
Chile 96 5 7 4 116 164 9 126 27 9 132 32 2
Colombia 74 9 3 5 94 66 6 134 25 5 974 17 4
Costa rica 95 5 5 6 65 152 6 156 26 8 170 49 1
Cyprus 100 5 6 3 94 622 9 129 27 19 175 55
Denmark 100 5 9 8 124 466 13 159 26 28 956 47 1
Dem Rep of 23 2 - 17 5 4 5 20 602 22 7
Congo
Djibuti 56 26 3 6 19 2 77 23 1 857 35 4
Dominica 5 5 4 145 8 104 25 5 677 53 1
Dominican 83 24 3 2 90 123 6 110 25 6 395 37 2
rep.
Ecuador 92 15 3 2 102 63 9 101 26 3 230 37 3
Egypt 94 5 3 2 87 0 77 27 3 527 16 6
Equatorial
2 2 57 6 24 5 707 99 7
Guinea
El Salvador 87 9 3 4 124 84 4 93 26 4 597 27 2
Ivory Coast 23 14 2 1 76 7 33 23 1 589 40 6
Eritrea 14 65 3 2 4 11 2 14 21 1 022 15 7
Estonia 95 5 6 4 123 444 16 167 26 9 392 85 1
Ethiopia 12 41 3 2 8 3 4 11 20 815 12 5
Fidji 5 3 116 173 2 121 27 4 994 65 6
Philippines 76 13 3 1 86 32 6 77 23 4 032 55 2
Finland 100 5 9 6 156 559 13 93 27 26 164 44 1
France 100 5 7 9 100 600 14 110 26 27 244 29 1
UAE 97 5 7 2 145 313 1 104 28 21 478 73 6
Gabon 33 5 3 3 107 9 47 24 5 848 69 5
Gambia 67 19 4 3 86 7 3 74 22 1 631 48 7
Georgia 95 6 4 2 73 116 6 90 26 1 998 23 4

Ghana 13 5 4 4 71 33 3 19 23 1 920 49 2
Greece 98 5 3 6 108 112 11 96 26 17 057 25 1
Grenada 97 21 4 117 10 153 25 7 317 55 1
Guatemala 81 22 3 2 126 117 4 110 25 4 048 20 3
Guinea 19 16 2 1 40 1 27 23 1 972 24 6
Guinea- 21 22 2 2 39 33 4 16 22 863 32 4
Bissau
Guyana 81 8 3 7 74 95 10 99 24 3 922 96 2
Haiti 17 57 2 1 40 7 66 24 1 619 13 6
Honduras 71 12 3 4 125 97 5 110 25 2 872 54 3
India 31 19 3 1 61 3 66 21 2 364 13 2
Indonesia 52 13 3 1 92 76 1 44 22 2 905 41 3
Iraq 73 2 2 76 0 27 7
Iran 5 3 3 91 16 1 71 25 5 806 23 6
Ireland 99 5 8 6 105 537 14 115 28 29 155 98 1
Iceland 100 5 8 8 109 773 6 153 27 28 840 34 1
Israel 100 5 6 5 133 305 3 104 27 23 015 37 1
Italy 5 4 7 135 677 11 85 26 25 905 27 1
Jamaica 83 5 3 2 113 5 148 24 3 597 2
Japan 100 5 8 7 95 595 8 77 24 25 646 11 1
Yemen 52 30 2 2 46 35 0 66 24 822 42 5
Jordan 98 5 5 5 107 137 1 99 27 4 162 42 4
Cambodia 29 25 2 2 58 5 25 21 1 730 50 6
Cameroon 47 22 3 1 42 8 27 24 1 878 23 7
Canada 100 5 9 7 71 597 10 173 27 27 503 46 1
Cape Verde 54 11 6 3 75 94 5 88 24 4 555 28 1
Kazakhstan 97 5 3 3 123 170 11 71 26 4 345 57 6
Kenya 31 33 2 2 62 21 4 55 22 1 033 22 6
China 55 10 4 2 64 32 6 22 23 3 940 23 7
Kyrgyzstan 93 11 2 4 92 59 5 38 25 1 497 42 6
Kiribati 5 3 16 10 144 4 126 29 4 545 7 1
Comoros 36 47 2 2 22 33 0 22 22 1 718 17 6
Congo 30 13 2 2 94 26 4 30 22 1 054 80 6
Croatia 99 5 4 7 144 377 15 164 27 9 116 42 2
Cuba 91 5 4 10 9 38 6 118 25 7
Kuwait 100 5 5 2 161 502 0 101 29 19 599 56 4
Laos 53 22 2 1 65 21 7 11 21 1 523 30 7
Lesotho 29 14 4 4 32 6 41 22 2 625 33 4
Latvia 78 5 4 4 102 459 13 93 26 7 975 42 1
Lebanon 5 3 4 68 2 93 27 4 301 14 6
Liberia 17 32 3 3 39 3 5 11 22 21 5
Libya 97 5 2 2 172 291 0 90 27 36 7
Lichtenstein 99 1
Lithuania 5 5 5 147 479 15 107 27 8 719 45 1
Luxembourg 100 5 9 7 143 512 13 27 50 564 150 1
Madagascar 11 25 3 3 40 1 22 21 844 31 2
Macedonia 89 5 4 5 105 136 96 26 6 055 49 4
Malawi 56 27 3 6 20 9 2 25 22 583 26 3
Malaysia 96 5 4 2 121 1 112 25 8 573 120 5
Maldives 98 10 3 6 157 20 1 77 23 89 6
Mali 36 12 3 3 48 9 1 30 22 785 27 2
Malta 100 5 6 6 109 558 4 132 28 17 635 92 1
Morocco 69 5 3 2 100 71 2 99 26 3 537 28 5
Mauritania 26 8 2 2 79 0 110 23 1 894 46 6
Mauritius 91 5 5 2 92 150 4 118 25 9 677 61 1
Mexico 85 5 3 3 81 244 8 132 27 9 262 31 2
Mozambique 17 38 3 4 31 10 2 19 22 799 18 3
Moldova 79 5 3 5 89 120 18 82 24 1 358 50 2
Mongolia 50 27 3 4 91 61 3 33 25 1 523 56 2
Montenegro 92 4 5 185 27
Namibia 33 18 4 3 67 109 10 85 23 5 838 41 2
Nauru 60 5 34 1
The
100 5 9 7 116 503 10 142 26 29 993 70 1
Netherlands
Nepal 31 17 2 2 31 5 2 11 21 1 325 23 3
Nicaragua 52 19 3 5 65 48 5 99 26 3 131 24 3
Niger 9 16 3 3 25 0 16 21 678 18 4
Nigeria 32 6 2 2 55 31 12 30 23 846 54 4
171

North Korea 35 1 3 2 4 8 22 7
Norway 100 5 9 8 113 572 8 121 27 34 188 47 1
New Zealand 5 10 7 115 729 10 164 28 20 412 36 1
Oman 5 2 166 225 1 26 12 608 59 6
Pakistan 45 25 3 1 59 11 0 74 22 1 881 13 6
Palau 9 71 10 30 10 1
Panama 69 15 3 4 185 188 7 88 26 6 048 73 1
Papua New 45 2 3 28 9 4 25 2 343 66 2
Guinea
Paraguay 70 10 2 2 92 82 8 63 26 4 165 38 4
Peru 68 16 3 3 100 52 7 104 25 4 724 16 3
Poland 90 5 6 5 120 451 13 123 27 10 772 27 1
Portugal 100 5 6 7 142 15 93 27 18 782 30 1
Qatar 100 7 3 132 724 1 28 67 6
Romania 72 5 4 115 15 71 25 5 894 33 2
Rwanda 54 32 5 5 33 4 10 5 23 931 9 7
Russia 87 5 2 4 166 245 16 121 26 7 009 44 5
St. Kitts and 96 16 3 161 9 156 28 11 132 46 1
Nevis
St Lucia 8 7 3 103 12 99 25 5 897 53 1
St. Vincent &
5 6 3 121 204 5 121 25 5 237 53 2
the
Grenadines
Solomon
11 3 4 6 2 19 27 1 908 24 4
Islands
Samoa 100 5 4 4 91 5 68 30 4 630 34 2
Saudi Arabia 5 5 3 188 0 74 28 13 593 44 7
Switzerland 100 5 9 6 124 569 11 164 26 31 446 46 1
Senegal 51 19 3 3 67 20 1 38 22 1 428 28 3
Serbien 3 6 129 223 11 27
Seychelles 8 5 4 136 173 11 88 26 16 681 78 3
Sierra Leone 13 35 3 1 34 5 10 11 23 463 18 4
Singapore 100 9 1 144 149 2 24 23 594 5
Slovakia 100 5 4 5 108 282 13 85 27 11 365 71 1
Slovenia 100 5 6 6 105 547 15 41 27 16 836 54 1
Somalia 23 1 7 1 22 6
Spain 100 5 6 6 112 601 12 93 27 22 003 29 1
Sri Lanka 91 20 3 2 83 58 1 85 22 3 443 39 3
UK 100 5 8 7 130 527 13 112 27 26 476 28 1
Sudan 34 22 2 1 41 28 3 58 22 1 506 15 7
Suriname 84 15 3 4 170 6 151 25 5 530 20 1
Sweden 100 5 9 7 114 523 10 129 26 26 583 47 1
Swaziland 55 19 3 4 62 89 6 137 23 4 168 76 6
South Africa 77 5 4 4 100 159 10 90 27 8 764 28 1
Korea 100 5 5 4 105 338 15 99 24 16 149 39 2
Syria 96 5 3 2 57 52 1 118 27 3 162 35 7
Sao Thomé 26 5 5 62 2 9 52 24 1
& Principé
Tajikistan 94 26 2 1 86 38 3 41 24 808 99 6
Tanzania 24 34 3 4 47 12 7 19 22 521 17 4
Chad 9 39 2 3 23 4 19 21 798 17 6
Thailand 96 16 3 3 101 7 88 23 6 321 67 2
Czech 98 5 4 6 137 470 17 142 28 15 450 63 1
Republic
Togo 12 30 2 2 41 2 2 16 22 1 358 31 5
Tonga 96 3 3 52 4 31 6 568 15 5
Trinidad & 92 11 3 3 141 351 6 156 26 9 092 59 2
Tobago
Tunisia 85 5 4 3 106 103 1 96 25 6 279 45 6
Turkey 90 5 4 3 85 131 3 66 27 6 471 20 4
Turkmenistan 98 7 2 1 63 106 5 27 25 3 416 96 7
Tuvalu 84 10 25 2 1
Germany 100 5 8 8 127 623 13 123 27 25 789 33 1
Uganda 48 22 2 2 38 7 12 25 22 1 167 11 6
Ukraine 95 5 2 4 119 140 16 121 25 4 037 62 4
Hungary 100 5 5 5 120 384 16 123 27 12 977 72 1
Uruguay 100 5 7 6 132 8 104 26 8 871 17 1
USA 100 5 7 7 90 820 9 192 28 34 599 11 1
Uzbekistan 100 11 2 2 76 4 11 25 1 498 25 7
172

Vanuatu 52 5 4 3 119 1 38 27 3 127 44 1
Venezuela 7 2 3 96 147 8 99 27 5 759 30 3
Vietanm 75 11 3 3 175 13 4 36 21 2 040 55 7
Belarus 93 5 2 5 108 282 15 90 26 4 803 69 6
Zambia 49 44 3 4 38 18 4 47 21 786 27 5
Zimbabwe 44 30 2 4 60 106 5 104 22 2 499 36 6
Austria 100 5 8 8 146 556 13 123 26 28 481 46 1
The climate seems however to be the factor that really explains the differences between countries. It of
course have a large impact on how well people and houses sometimes have to be insulated against the cold.
Additionally it greatly affects what are traditional foods. But in addition countries that have cold winters are
on a higher level than those who do not have it, regarding 9 of the 13 factors which are compared here and
for the other four they have the second highest values (table 11 +12). In all cases where countries with cold
winters takes the first place the second place is held by countries with less cold (but, however) winters.
Table 11. Main climate 24 vs. various factors. Cold winters = light blue, usually less cold winters = green,
Mediterranean and desert climate, i.e. often hot and dry, some seasonal variation = yellow, tropical, i.e. hot
and humid with, in terms of speaking temperatures, no seasons at all = red.
Climate
Kids in
school
(%)
Clean
water
(%)
Good
toilets
(%)
Starvation
(%)
Corup- Mobiles /
tion 100 inh.
1=
much
Public
spendit
ure on
health
care (%
of
GDP)
Cars&
busses/
1 000
inh.
Alcoh
oolcons.
/
adult
(liter
alc/ye
ar)
Average
sugar
consumpt (g
sugar/pers.
& day
Aver-age
BMI for
men
GDP per
inh.
Cold winters 94 99 91 11 4 102 4 298 11 91 26 10 137 58
Less cold winters 85 84 76 6 5 89 4 326 9 84 22 14 044 39
No winter 86 93 69 13 4 92 3 194 4 84 25 8 019 37
Tropical 89 91 58 18 3 79 3 88 5 71 24 4 183 40
Export
(% of
GDP)
24.
What climate zone a country mainly based in according mainly to the Institute for Foreign Politics climatic
descriptions, in combination with data in the atlas: Nordstedts world atlas (Nordstedts, Stockholm, 2011).
173

Tabell 12. Main climate 24 vs. various factors. Cold winters = light blue, usually less cold winters = green,
Mediterranean and desert climate, i.e. often hot and dry, some seasonal variation = yellow, tropical, i.e. hot
and humid with, in terms of speaking temperatures, no seasons at all = red.
Country
Kids
in
school
(%)
Clean
water
(%)
Good
toilets
(%)
Starvation
(%)
Coruption
1=much
Mobiles/
100 inh.
174
Public
spenditure
on health
care (% of
GDP)
Cars
&
busses
per 1
000
inh.
Alc
cons./
adult
(liter
alc/year)
Average
sugar
cons.
(g/day&
person)
Afghanistan 78 37 2 41 2 23 0 21
Average
BMI for
men
GDP per
inh.
Albania 85 96 98 5 3 142 3 102 7 66 26 3 719
Algeria 95 85 95 5 3 92 4 1 85 25 5 327
Andorra 84 100 100 77 5 16 28
Angola 60 57 41 2 47 2 40 5 36 22 1 462
Antigua and 90 95 21 185 3 7 96 26 10 196
Barbuda
Argentina 98 90 5 3 142 5 314 10 112 28 12 095
Armenia 98 90 21 3 125 2 105 11 58 25 2 421
Australia 97 100 100 5 9 101 6 653 10 129 28 27 390
Azerbaijan 86 88 45 5 2 99 1 11 44 26 2 475
Bahamas 99 98 100 6 7 125 4 82 9 126 27 17 055
Bahrain 100 5 124 3 482 4 28 15 545
Bangladesh 89 85 53 26 3 46 1 2 0 16 20 1 543
Brbados 100 100 5 8 128 4 406 7 156 26
Belgium 99 100 100 5 8 113 7 539 11 151 27 27 659
Belize 100 99 90 5 62 3 178 6 137 27 5 682
Benin 94 84 12 12 3 80 3 21 2 16 22 975
Bhutan 88 99 65 6 54 3 38 1 23 3 685
Bolivia 96 25 27 3 72 3 68 5 77 24 2 387
Bosnia and 87 100 95 5 3 80 6 170 10 74 27
Herzegovina
Botswana 99 60 25 6 118 4 113 8 68 22 8 353
Brazil 99 80 6 4 104 4 198 9 153 26 7 154
Brunei 97 5 5 109 2 696 2 107 24
Bulgaria 98 100 100 5 3 141 4 295 12 79 27 6 067
Burkina 64 95 11 8 3 35 3 11 7 16 21 986
Fasso
Burma 75 81 2 1 0 7 1 36 21
Burundi 99 83 46 62 2 14 5 6 10 5 22 650
Central 67 92 34 40 2 23 1 0 3 22 21 1 209
African rope.
Chile 99 96 5 7 116 4 164 9 126 27 9 132
Colombia 93 99 74 9 3 94 5 66 6 134 25 5 974
Costa rica 100 95 5 5 65 6 152 6 156 26 8 170
Cyprus 99 100 100 5 6 94 3 622 9 129 27 19 175
Denmark 96 100 100 5 9 124 8 466 13 159 26 28 956
Dem Rep of
Congo
80 23 2 17 - 5 4 5 20 602
Djibuti 45 98 56 26 3 19 6 2 77 23 1 857
Dominica 98 5 5 145 4 8 104 25 5 677
Dominican
87 83 24 3 90 2 123 6 110 25 6 395
rep.
Ecuador 97 92 15 3 102 2 63 9 101 26 3 230
Egypt 95 100 94 5 3 87 2 0 77 27 3 527
Equatorial 57 2 57 2 6 24 5 707
Guinea
El Salvador 94 87 9 3 124 4 84 4 93 26 4 597
Ivory Coast 57 93 23 14 2 76 1 7 33 23 1 589
Eritrea 37 74 14 65 3 4 2 11 2 14 21 1 022

Estonia 99 95 5 6 123 4 444 16 167 26 9 392
Ethiopia 84 98 12 41 3 8 2 3 4 11 20 815
Fidji 5 116 3 173 2 121 27 4 994
Philippines 93 76 13 3 86 1 32 6 77 23 4 032
Finland 96 100 100 5 9 156 6 559 13 93 27 26 164
France 99 100 100 5 7 100 9 600 14 110 26 27 244
UAE 98 100 97 5 7 145 2 313 1 104 28 21 478
Gabon 95 33 5 3 107 3 9 47 24 5 848
Gambia 76 96 67 19 4 86 3 7 3 74 22 1 631
Georgia 100 100 95 6 4 73 2 116 6 90 26 1 998
Ghana 76 90 13 5 4 71 4 33 3 19 23 1 920
Greece 100 98 5 3 108 6 112 11 96 26 17 057
Grenada 97 97 21 117 4 10 153 25 7 317
Guatemala 81 22 3 2 126 2 117 4 110 25 4 048
Guinea 74 89 19 16 2 40 1 1 27 23 1 972
Guinea-
83 21 22 2 39 2 33 4 16 22 863
Bissau
Guyana 99 98 81 8 3 74 7 95 10 99 24 3 922
Haiti 71 17 57 2 40 1 7 66 24 1 619
Honduras 95 71 12 3 125 4 97 5 110 25 2 872
India 96 31 19 3 61 1 3 66 21 2 364
Indonesia 98 89 52 13 3 92 1 76 1 44 22 2 905
Iraq 91 73 2 76 2 0 27
Iran 98 5 3 91 3 16 1 71 25 5 806
Ireland 97 100 99 5 8 105 6 537 14 115 28 29 155
Iceland 98 100 100 5 8 109 8 773 6 153 27 28 840
Israel 97 100 100 5 6 133 5 305 3 104 27 23 015
Italy 100 5 4 135 7 677 11 85 26 25 905
Jamaica 98 83 5 3 113 2 5 148 24 3 597
Japan 100 100 100 5 8 95 7 595 8 77 24 25 646
Yemen 72 52 30 2 46 2 35 0 66 24 822
Jordan 98 98 5 5 107 5 137 1 99 27 4 162
Cambodia 81 29 25 2 58 2 5 25 21 1 730
Cameroon 92 92 47 22 3 42 1 8 27 24 1 878
Canada 100 100 5 9 71 7 597 10 173 27 27 503
Cape Verde 83 85 54 11 6 75 3 94 5 88 24 4 555
Kazakhstan 99 99 97 5 3 123 3 170 11 71 26 4 345
Kenya 83 83 31 33 2 62 2 21 4 55 22 1 033
China 98 55 10 4 64 2 32 6 22 23 3 940
Kyrgyzstan 91 99 93 11 2 92 4 59 5 38 25 1 497
Kiribati 5 3 10 16 144 4 126 29 4 545
Comoros 91 36 47 2 22 2 33 0 22 22 1 718
Congo 95 30 13 2 94 2 26 4 30 22 1 054
Croatia 95 100 99 5 4 144 7 377 15 164 27 9 116
Cuba 100 96 91 5 4 9 10 38 6 118 25
Kuwait 99 100 5 5 161 2 502 0 101 29 19 599
Laos 72 53 22 2 65 1 21 7 11 21 1 523
Lesotho 73 97 29 14 4 32 4 6 41 22 2 625
Latvia 94 100 78 5 4 102 4 459 13 93 26 7 975
Lebanon 91 100 5 3 68 4 2 93 27 4 301
Liberia 79 17 32 3 39 3 3 5 11 22
Libya 97 5 2 172 2 291 0 90 27
Lichtenstein 90 99
Lithuania 97 5 5 147 5 479 15 107 27 8 719
175

Luxembourg 100 100 5 9 143 7 512 13 27 50 564
Madagascar 71 11 25 3 40 3 1 22 21 844
Macedonia 93 100 89 5 4 105 5 136 96 26 6 055
Malawi 91 95 56 27 3 20 6 9 2 25 22 583
Malaysia 100 96 5 4 121 2 1 112 25 8 573
Maldives 99 98 10 3 157 6 20 1 77 23
Mali 77 81 36 12 3 48 3 9 1 30 22 785
Malta 100 100 5 6 109 6 558 4 132 28 17 635
Morocco 90 98 69 5 3 100 2 71 2 99 26 3 537
Mauritania 76 52 26 8 2 79 2 0 110 23 1 894
Mauritius 94 100 91 5 5 92 2 150 4 118 25 9 677
Mexico 96 85 5 3 81 3 244 8 132 27 9 262
Mozambique 91 77 17 38 3 31 4 10 2 19 22 799
Moldova 90 96 79 5 3 89 5 120 18 82 24 1 358
Mongolia 100 97 50 27 3 91 4 61 3 33 25 1 523
Montenegro 88 100 92 4 185 5 27
Namibia 90 99 33 18 4 67 3 109 10 85 23 5 838
Nauru 90 60 5 34
The
99 100 100 5 9 116 7 503 10 142 26 29 993
Netherlands
Nepal 93 31 17 2 31 2 5 2 11 21 1 325
Nicaragua 98 52 19 3 65 5 48 5 99 26 3 131
Niger 54 96 9 16 3 25 3 0 16 21 678
Nigeria 75 32 6 2 55 2 31 12 30 23 846
North Korea 100 35 1 2 3 4 8 22
Norway 99 100 100 5 9 113 8 572 8 121 27 34 188
New Zealand 99 100 5 10 115 7 729 10 164 28 20 412
Oman 81 92 5 166 2 225 1 26 12 608
Pakistan 66 95 45 25 3 59 1 11 0 74 22 1 881
Palau 71 9 10 30
Panama 98 97 69 15 3 185 4 188 7 88 26 6 048
Papua New
87 45 2 28 3 9 4 25 2 343
Guinea
Paraguay 86 99 70 10 2 92 2 82 8 63 26 4 165
Peru 90 68 16 3 100 3 52 7 104 25 4 724
Poland 96 100 90 5 6 120 5 451 13 123 27 10 772
Portugal 99 99 100 5 6 142 7 15 93 27 18 782
Qatar 98 100 100 7 132 3 724 1 28
Romania 96 72 5 4 115 15 71 25 5 894
Rwanda 77 54 32 5 33 5 4 10 5 23 931
Russia 98 87 5 2 166 4 245 16 121 26 7 009
St. Kitts and 94 99 96 16 161 3 9 156 28 11 132
Nevis
St Lucia 93 98 8 7 103 3 12 99 25 5 897
St. Vincent & 98 5 6 121 3 204 5 121 25 5 237
the
Grenadines
Solomon
11 3 6 4 2 19 27 1 908
Islands
Samoa 99 100 5 4 91 4 5 68 30 4 630
Saudi Arabia 86 97 5 5 188 3 0 74 28 13 593
Switzerland 100 100 100 5 9 124 6 569 11 164 26 31 446
Senegal 75 92 51 19 3 67 3 20 1 38 22 1 428
Serbien 96 3 129 6 223 11 27
Seychelles 94 100 8 5 136 4 173 11 88 26 16 681
Sierra Leone 86 13 35 3 34 1 5 10 11 23 463
Singapore 100 100 9 144 1 149 2 24 23 594
Slovakia 100 100 5 4 108 5 282 13 85 27 11 365
Slovenia 98 100 100 5 6 105 6 547 15 41 27 16 836
Somalia 67 23 1 7 1 22
Spain 100 100 100 5 6 112 6 601 12 93 27 22 003
176

Sri Lanka 95 98 91 20 3 83 2 58 1 85 22 3 443
UK 100 100 5 8 130 7 527 13 112 27 26 476
Sudan 64 34 22 2 41 1 28 3 58 22 1 506
Suriname 97 84 15 3 170 4 6 151 25 5 530
Sweden 96 100 100 5 9 114 7 523 10 129 26 26 583
Swaziland 92 55 19 3 62 4 89 6 137 23 4 168
South Africa 90 99 77 5 4 100 4 159 10 90 27 8 764
Korea 99 100 100 5 5 105 4 338 15 99 24 16 149
Syria 94 96 5 3 57 2 52 1 118 27 3 162
Sao Thomé 98 89 26 5 62 5 2 9 52 24
& Principe
Tajikistan 94 94 26 2 86 1 38 3 41 24 808
Tanzania 97 80 24 34 3 47 4 12 7 19 22 521
Chad 67 9 39 2 23 3 4 19 21 798
Thailand 90 99 96 16 3 101 3 7 88 23 6 321
Czech
100 98 5 4 137 6 470 17 142 28 15 450
Republic
Togo 95 87 12 30 2 41 2 2 2 16 22 1 358
Tonga 100 96 3 52 3 4 31 6 568
Trinidad & 96 98 92 11 3 141 3 351 6 156 26 9 092
Tobago
Tunisia 99 99 85 5 4 106 3 103 1 96 25 6 279
Turkey 100 90 5 4 85 3 131 3 66 27 6 471
Turkmenistan 97 98 7 2 63 1 106 5 27 25 3 416
Tuvalu 98 84 25 10 2
Germany 100 100 100 5 8 127 8 623 13 123 27 25 789
Uganda 92 91 48 22 2 38 2 7 12 25 22 1 167
Ukraine 89 98 95 5 2 119 4 140 16 121 25 4 037
Hungary 96 100 100 5 5 120 5 384 16 123 27 12 977
Uruguay 100 100 5 7 132 6 8 104 26 8 871
USA 92 100 100 5 7 90 7 820 9 192 28 34 599
Uzbekistan 90 98 100 11 2 76 2 4 11 25 1 498
Vanuatu 96 52 5 4 119 3 1 38 27 3 127
Venezuela 94 7 2 96 3 147 8 99 27 5 759
Vietanm 99 75 11 3 175 3 13 4 36 21 2 040
Belarus 100 93 5 2 108 5 282 15 90 26 4 803
Zambia 92 87 49 44 3 38 4 18 4 47 21 786
Zimbabwe 99 44 30 2 60 4 106 5 104 22 2 499
Austria 100 100 5 8 146 8 556 13 123 26 28 481
177

Economy & working life
Guide in working life
This chapter is based on experiences I have done as a worker at various sites for shorter or longer periods,
sometime from the mid 80's and some 20 years. It describes my memories of what it was like on these.
Which of course is not necessarily true or conform to others' ditto. In addition, the situation in the mentioned
works may have changed significantly since then.
My aim is to present a fair comparison between different jobs, with respect to certain factors that have an
impact on every person's daily well-being. The focus is on factors that are normally concerned only
fleetingly in, for example, place ads. My belief is that the main strength of the text is that the same person
(I), has compared a number of quite different workplaces. Unlike other sources of information about the
world of work, where different peoples estimates are compared.
178

An important question to ask yourself before your entrance into the labor market is: what do I mainly want
to get out of my work There are a number of common ways of reasoning about this, tentatively:
A. It does not matter what I'm working with right now, because I just wants to make money.
B. I want a job that gives me prestige among those that I want to be with (for example, by title, salary or by
the nature of the work).
For anyone who recognizes himself most in alternative A, it might be just enough to study the wage
statistics, see, for example, Statistics Sweden (SCB, 2003), or www.lonestatistik.se), for suitable jobs and
then seek work from top to bottom on the list. One advantage with this approach (in addition to salary) is
that it eliminates all the speculation about which occupations fits ones personality. A risk with the approach,
however, is that it may result in that the person gets stuck in a career that he/she does not feel comfortable
with, but "cant" change because he/she has adapted the life situation after the relatively good incomes.
For those who instead recognize themselves most in option B, it is a good strategy to ask: what the prestige
values are for the jobs that it would be possible to get And also then look from the top down, with virtually
the same benefits and risks as above.
But someone who wants to get something else out of their future work, might benefit from reading further in
this paper.
179

Independence
It is difficult to know what work that would give the most satisfaction. The main reason for this is that the
relationship with colleagues/bosses are difficult to assess in advance. But the chance to make a successful
choice is increasing if the social conditions and working conditions in general, fits the personality. Even
those who never had a job before, can to some extent form an opinion about what would be appropriate,
through looking back at his life. Everyone have probably cooperated, under more or less labor-like
circumstances, with others before. And, in the lack of better, they can analyze the experience with the
questions suggested below:
- Do you prefere that others tells you what and how to do, or do you want to find it out on your own
- How do you feel when someone complains about that you have not done what you promised to do
- Do you like to hang out in a big group, or do you prefer a more intimate contact with a few people
- Do you prefer to work on your own or with others
- How hard do you find that it is to deal with if people complain on you
The first two listed issues affects an important parameter that distinguishes different types of work, namely,
the degree of independence. In a dependent work someone else have constant control over when and how the
tasks are performed. Very dependent tasks, for example those who drive trains, works on an assembly line in
a manufacturing plant or as a shop assistant in big shops. The major disadvantages of this compared to more
independent work, I think, is that you can not take breaks when you need it the most. The possibilities for
small un-scheduled brakes (to rest a little, do some private conversation, or other private things) are very
limited. The biggest advantage, in my opinion, is the absence of requirements/expectations of own
initiatives. It also means that it is allowed, with good conscience, to enjoy the small breaks that are offered.
Another advantage is that, relatively to more independent occupations, the performance stress probably will
be lower. As the result, more or less, is limited to either performance approved or not approved.
The most dependent jobs I've tried and/or studied is the work on assembly line-like production in the
manufacturing industry (Mathiassen et al., 1996, Björing 1996). All came more or less simultaneously to
work and they went straight to their work-place and started working. Then stood at the same spot, and did
exactly the same things, without pause, until the common breakfast break a few hours later. The breakfast
pause lasted about 15-30 minutes, then all went almost simultaneously back to their workplace and work
continued until the lunch break. The lunch pause lasted maybe half an hour, then went in more or less in
common troop back to work and continued to work until the coffee break. After the coffee break, they
continued in this way until it was time to go home. Between the breaks, they worked almost without
interruption over the whole working day, and they worked actively throughout 70-80% 1 of the time.
1.
I.e. 70-80% of the time, they performed some assembly work with their hands. During the rest of the time (20-
30%) they waited on materials, talked to colleagues, went to the bathroom and more.
The majority of the workers I studied in the manufacturing sector had very little influence over the
operations that was to be done, when they should be done, in what order and how the work-place was
designed (where different things should be placed), because such decisions were taken by the production
engineers. Most of the industrial workers I interviewed, however, seemed to be satisfied with their jobs,
because they neither changed employer or occupation for many years.
The most dependent jobs I myself have tried was as cashier at some major stores (see figure 1). There I had a
somewhat greater freedom over my working hours than employees in the manufacturing sector seems to
have. Since there were more different working hours to choose from, because the stores had long opening
hours and the need for staff also varied over the week. In addition, I had probably a certain freedom to
choose early or late breaks, although I have no recollection of that I was offered that opportunity. But I had
very little influence over what to do, when it would be done, in what order, or how quickly I should do it.
Such decision was taken by my managers and clients. I had little influence on how the work-place was
designed, as I shared it with several colleagues and neither had the time nor the right to change it.
180

As a, personal assistant to a handicaped person, I had really no control over my time, what I would do, or
when I would do it. Since it relayed on the client's wishes and needs. Though in this work I did not notice the
restrictions, since I knew I would have time to satisfy my own needs after the client's wishes had been
fulfilled.
When I was a process controler, I also no control over my time, what to do or when I would do it. One of my
process control works (central guard at a prison) was to look at a number of TV screens that continuously
filmed a number of corridors. The task was that when anyone who went into a corridor came to a locked
door, I push a button so the door was unlocked. If I missed pressing the button, I usually hear the sour cries
from the men in the corridor. Compared to the work as a personal assistant, I had even more spare time, but I
was bound to keep an eye on the TV screens. Also I had no control over when something would happen and
it was therefore very difficult for me to use the spare time to do something fun. Overall, this meant that the
work gave a much stronger feeling of having no control over the work compared to as a personal assistant.
A step up in the level of independence, I took in wojobs were I decided when things would be done, for
example, as a truck driver. A typical day started at 7:00, to retrieve the truck and the driving order for the
day. Then I went to the place where today's goods were to be loaded. I could load the truck as I pleased and
I tried to do it in a way that I suited the driving order for the day. Afterwards the day was quite given, but I
decided everything about driving and when I took my breaks.
In all white collar jobs, the degree of autonomy have been even higher. Since I both planned my time
throughout the working day and also when it should begin and end. Some great benefits of this was that I
could come and go almost as I wanted 2 and I had plenty of opportunities to take breaks, do private matters
and socialize with colleagues. The biggest drawback was that I felt more performance pressure than in the
majority blue collar jobs.
I climbed another step up the alley of independence in the works where I even decided how things should be
done and at best what to do. However, I have not had so many jobs where I actually got to do that. As it
almost always has been a lot of more or less unwritten rules about how the job should be done.
2.
Although the employer in most workplaces I have been on, applied some form of flexitime system with compulsory
attendance between 09.00 - 15.00. But I have very rarely heard complains due to that I had come later or gone
before this time.
But it has felt as if I decided much more in some works than in others. A crucial difference, I think, is how
the directives of the tasks have been designed. Take for example the following, fictional, example in which a
person is given the task to clean up a storeroom. If the directive were given in detail, it could be like this:
"Set the three boxes on the floor, put the blue box on the top shelf, put things on the middle shelf in a red
plastic box and so on."
If the directive is instead given at a general level, it could instead be like this:
"I want there to be plenty of room for more stuff in the store and everything should be easy to find."
In the latter example, the degree of autonomy is significantly larger than in the former. And in my opinion,
so is the potential for the work to feel inspiring.
I have worked as a gardener/outdoor cleaners with directives of both types. First, the work was pretty funny
because the directive was of the latter kind (make a newly rebuilt office area with associated plantings as
nice as possible within a certain time). When it was ready, after a few months, I instead had to work with an
experienced colleague who chosed to give me detailed directives on where, how and whatg to do, like to
pick garbage there, which suddenly made the work much more boring.
181

Even as an official I have met directives of both kinds. For example, I worked as a technician in a place
where I alternately worked for two different managers. The first gave very detailed instructions, and he was
barely responsive to any questioning. When the work was done and I presented the result for him, he often
came with very extensive changes so that I had to redo large parts. Over time I felt that the job was pretty
useless and my efforts were reduced to just do exactly what he told me to do, with as little personal
commitment as possible (the more I became involved, the sadder I became when the boss wanted to change
what I have done) .
The second boss however gave me directives in the form of an idea of what she wanted to be done, but I had
to figure out how it would be done myself. When I later presented the results for her, her criticism
constituted of encouraging tips on how the results could be better. Overall, this meant that it really was a joy
to work for her.
I have several similar experiences, both in performing tasks for others and to ask others to carry out tasks for
me, which can be summarized as:
The more the client has confidence in that the contractor is doing a good job, the greater freedom the
contractor will get and the less picky follow up of the results.
Though what various clients think are a good results differs Some appreciate that the job is ready soon,
others appreciate that it gets inexpensive and still others focus only on that it is neatly done. It is not obvious
that one's own perception of what is a good result is the same as the client. The more the client believe that
there are different perceptions, the greater the risk that he will micro-manage/monitor the execution. Thus,
those who want the client's trust, figure out what the client thinks is the most important thing and then
embrace it as their own primary goal.
For example, I worked as a test engineer at a large company in the engineering industry. We engineers used
continuously to buy new test equipment for quite a lot of money. We thought that, among all the things we
could buy, would choose the most affordable or cheapest stuff to be able to afford more equipment (the
biggest bottleneck was often the lack of test equipment). But when we presented proposals of new
equipment for the head, we noticed that he shrank from argument like that the equipment was affordable, or
even worse, that it was cheap. For him it was very important that we had the best that was available,
regardless of whether we really needed it or not. So we learned to look for the finest equipment we could
find and then present it to the boss with words like:
"It is certainly expensive, but it has significantly better performance than competing models."
182

9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
Control over the work
Control over the working
time
1
0
Truck driver
Nurse assistant
Shop assistant
Teacher
Test engineer
Home care
assistant
Control over the working time
1 = Completely scheduled working hours in which I did not even decid when I took a break/pause, or
what I should do next.
2 = I decided to some extent over when I would take a break/pause and what I would do next.
3 = I decide completely over breaks/pauses and to some extent over when to start/finish the working day.
4 = I planned the time myself.
Control over the work
1 = I took no decisions at all, everything was determined by instructions from supervisors, colleagues, or
customers/patients.
2 = I decided how the work should be performed.
3 = I decided how the work should be done and to some extent what to do.
4 = I decided pretty much also what to be done.
As a a nurse assistant others mostly advised me on what I should do next, but I could to some extent
decide how I did with the patients, because most of them were so tame that they did not have any
demands.
As a shop assistant i did not decide over anything.
As a teacher, I had quite a lot of freedom to decide over my working hours, apart from the time I was
scheduled to hold lessons. I also had quite a lot of freedom to choose what to do during a lesson,
provided that it was not aposed to the national learning plan and that I did what I had planned together
with my colleagues.
As a test engineer, I had great freedom to decide over my working hours, provided that I was available
during office hours and came to all the meetings. I also had the freedom to make decisions about when,
how and what I would do if I followed certain directives and maintained a certain production.
As a home care assistant, I decided to some extent over when I would go to whom and how long I would
stay there. As a rule, however, the users decided how and what I would do.
Chart 1. The degree of independence in a few different jobs.
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Variation
Some like variation, others do not. And different people have different opinions about what variety means.
What I think is variation might show from table 1. Others see variation in jobs that I think are monotonous
and vice versa. When comparing, for example, a task that is to write different things on a computer in an
office to stand in a checkout counter in a store. The work in front of the computer may seem very one-sided
for the person sitting at the counter, because it means very similar movements all the time, the same image
before the eyes, and no meetings with people besides single colleagues. The clerk, however, would maybe
perceive the work at the counter as very monotonous, because in the clerks eyes it always causes very
similar intellectual considerations.
If the clerk and the store cashier would change jobs with each other while maintaining the same perception
of what variation is, they would probably soon find that the work was dull. But my experience is that,
fortunately, I changed perspective when I changed jobs, if I have felt engaged by the new task. In works
where I have not felt engaged the working days, however, have felt very long. And for me to feel engaged in
the task it requires at least the following:
- I want to feel that the job is meaningful forthe employer.
- I want to feel that I perform the task reasonably well.
- For me to feel that I perform the task reasonably good it requires that the task includes elements that can
be performed with different quality. If not, it remains to try to make the steps more quickly or while doing
something else that provides a small challenge, such as talking to colleagues. If none of this is possible
remains only to try deaf myself through, for example, listening to the radio.
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Table 1. Grading of a number of works regarding time to make private matters and variation.
Time to do private Variation
things while
working
Labour inspector 4 3
Shop assistant 1 2
Caretaker 2 2
Research engineer 4 4
Youth leader 2 3
School teacher 4 3
Home care assistant 3 4
Bell boy 3 4
Machine designer 4 2
Jailhouse worker 3 3
Truck driver 3 2
Limousine driver 3 3
Process controller 3 1
Assistant nurse 1 3
School caretaker 3 2
Technical writer 4 2
Telephone operator 2 1
Test engineer 4 3
Gardener 2 2
Time to do private things while working
1 = There was neither time nor opportunity to do some private things except during breaks and
pauses.
2 = Some opportunity to make brief private conversation or similar while working.
3 = Plenty of time to do private things while working, but it was not allowed to leave the
workplace.
4 = Very much time to do private things and it was possible to, for example, go shopping during the
working time.
Variation
1 = A single task that was very monotounus and it was conducted at a single location without
meeting other than colleagues.
2 = Some tasks with different characteristics, but the people I met were quite similar.
3 = Many tasks with different characteristics or I met people who behaved differently.
4 = Many tasks with different character and I met people who behaved differently.
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Sick leave
There is a big difference between jobs, in how much I have been on sick leave. In most white collar jobs, it
has been possible to work at a slower pace and do less demanding work when I have felt a little sick. In
addition, I have been able to come later and go home earlier these days. In many blue collar jobs, however, I
have not had the opportunity to do less demanding tasks, when I have felt bad. In some places, it has not
even been possible to work slower. And many times it has been fixed working hours without being able to
go home earlier. Moreover, it did not, on some jobs such as at the hospital, make sense to go to work if I was
a bit sick, because it would mean that I risked infecting the poor patients. Finally, in a number of office jobs
it was harder for me to go on sick leave as it would have meant more work for me afterwards, because
nobody else was doing my work when I was away and it constantly flowed in new assignments. Thus, I have
more frequently been one sick leave on some blue collar jobs compared to most office ditto, though I have
not really been sicker.
Business trips
In my experience white collar occupations also have a small advantage in that they often include more
business trips. A business trip is a trip payed by the employer, with a mission, to a place that is not the
regular workplace. The type of business trip that most people do is the conference trip. In all places where I
have been employed as a civil servant, we have occasionally gone on such trips. However, I can not think of
any place where I was employed as workers and had to go on a conference trip. These trips are usually quite
similar. They start with a ride to the conference center, maybe 10-50 kilometeres from the workplace. There
it is offered refreshments and cheese sandwiches with cucumber. The manager wishes all welcome and then
follows some form of lecture until lunchtime. The lunch is usually very tasty and far above what canteens
usually offer. Afterwards some kind of, more or less, serious activity awaits until five o'clock. Then one have
some private time or perhaps some drinks in any study rooms, until dinner at six-seven. The dinner usually is
very good with the beer and wine that makes the conversation a little more relaxed. At nine-ten o'clock
sometimes cheese trays or similar is served and then the schedule is free. Next day it's some kind of activity
until lunch and then it’s over. I think such exercises are quite nice, especially since I like food. But they do
not affect my opinion of the work, since they are far too infrequent to have a real impact. Additionally the
activities often feel quite useless (they are usually of the type "develop yourself or the organization through
singing together").
On other business trips the aim is to perform some kind of assignments somewhere. The main advantages, I
think, is that I got per diem, lovely hotel breakfasts, was treated with respect and got free lunches. In some
cases, I have also been invited to fantastic dinners and spectacular evening activities. As an added bonus, I
may have seen or experienced something new. When colleagues have joined me on the trips, our contact has
in general got deeper and more personal, than in the daily work at home. On journeys abroad, these benefits
have often been even larger and moreover, I have had opportunities to buy something fun, or been able to
stay for the weekend (which for some strange reason, in the past, made air travel much cheaper).
A major disadvantage of business trips, however, was that the days often started very early, followed by a
long working day and perhaps afterwards a pub round until late at night. And the whole time I felt as if I was
expected to be very alert and over nice. The worst was trips abroad, because the plane often started so early
that I was dead all day. The second biggest drawback is that I usually sleep pretty poorly on hotels. Maybe
because I am so stressed, or it that it is noisier/warmer than at home, or just lonely.
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Organized meetings
Another phenomenon that white collar workers, in my experience, comes into contact with very often, but
workers almost entirely misses are organized meetings. I think it might be fun to attend meetings if I fell
involved. Which is easier to do if there is a small group, where I dare to speak and the meeting is about
topics in which I have something to say. If not, the meetings may instead be very tedious. For example, I
was at a workplace where the boss every day held a meeting for an hour with the whole group (maybe 10-15
people). Most of the time was spent listening on the boss telling us about things that did not involve me at
all. These meetings felt completely pointless and they were a constant torment.
In other white collar jobs, in contrary, the majority of meetings have offered opportunities to participate
actively.
Conflicts with “customers”
Another advantage of the many office jobs compared to working ditto is that the potential for conflict with
"customers" often been less imminent. In jobs which includ a lot of direct contact with
customers/patients/clients/children, I have always lived with the risk of getting complains (see figure 2). But
I do not think I have taken to me so much when the complains have come from "customers". Probably
mostly because of that the criticism as a rule was not aimed at me personally. And besides, I have in general
been supported by colleagues when the "customers" came out of earshot.
Mentally retarded (contact person)
Physically handicapped (personal
assistant)
Criminals (jail)
5
4
3
2
1
0
Customers (shop)
Pupils (elementary school)
Old people (home care assistant)
Patients (hospital)
Teenager (youth center)
Critisism
Encuragement
Crtitisism
1 = I ended up in the conflict and was criticized several times per day.
5 = I almost never ended up in conflict.
As a prison officer, for example, did I almost never get in conflict with "customers." But as a teacher,
however, I had to take conflicts with the children constantly.
Encouragement
1 = I almost never got encouragement from "customers", except when I did not want it (when someone
obviously wanted to win an advantage).
5 = I received encouragement at least once a day.
Chart 2.
My experience of the risk for critisism and the chances of encouragement from
customers/patients/clients/children in a few different jobs that I have had.
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The occurrence of conflicts with "colleagues"
Conflicts with colleagues, however, have sometimes been so awful that I barely managed to go to work the
next day, even if the work itself was fun. On the other hand, encouragement from colleagues gave more
satisfaction than ditto from customers/clients/patients. And encuragement from people who I felt inferior to,
like been bosses or experienced colleagues, gave the greatest satisfaction.
The risk of conflict with colleagues was definitely the greatest in cases where I have worked with others in
the same task, such as in a hospital where we were two people who together made the beds in the hospital
halls. In this situation, one had to subordinate to the other's way of working otherwise it was very strange.
Then I sometimes, as a subordinate, felt stupid and run over. And as the dominant one, I felt at times that the
other one was lethargic or fussy. Neither was particularly fun. But on the other hand, it was fun when the
task went smoothly with someone. Which, in my experience, came with time.
Among my jobs I had the least contact with other people as a lift attendant in a small ski resort where I was
the sole employee. The only task (except to start the lift when the session started and shut it down when it
ended) was to sit in a small house and watch the lift, ready to press an emergency stop if someone would
fall. Most often, I met no one during the entire working day. The advantage, in addition to that the risk of
conflict with colleagues was eliminated, was that I could do whatever I wanted (for example, read a book, or
study) when there was not someone who were in the lift. In the event that someone used it, I had about as
much freedom except that I had to be near the stop button and should keep an eye on the skier when he went
in the lift. I thought it was a great job since I was a student (and was happy to get paid to do my homework)
and also knew that it was for a limited period of time (as long as there was snow). But if it had been a
permanent job, I think that in the long run, I would not have coped with it, because it contained no social
interaction or challenge whatsoever.
Community
The quality of the community in the workplace I think, as I said, has been very important for whether I liked
it there or not. If the community was good it raised the whole impression of the work and it was fun to go
there almost regardless of the nature of it. But if the community was poor, I prefer to be without it. The
worst community I have experienced, I experienced when I practiced on a assembly line in an assembly
plant. There seemed like colleagues did not talk to each other even during the breaks. They sat, each with a
crossword puzzle and ate their sandwiches. Although they shared the same coffee table. The second worst
community I experienced when I worked in an office where I had share coffe table with a woman who spoke
almost incessantly about her and her experiences. I do not really think it was her fault, it was probably more
that we encouraged her. Maybe because we had nothing else to talk about.
The best communities I have found have been in workplaces where we have been very mixed in terms of
age, gender and background (see table 2). The most mixed workplace I have worked on where the labor
inspectorate. There was about as much men as women, pretty evenly spread around the ages from 30 years
to 65 years, with varying degrees of education and work experience. Which made the talks very open, with a
wide range of topics.
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Challenges
When I’we been newly employed at a workplace, it has obviously been a lot that has been new. In particular,
the first work where it even was new for me to work. Which meant that there were a lot of things that I could
not, but any other new recruit could. For example, to understand how I should approach my colleagues and
managers, or to understand how the pauses worked.
Although I later learned that such things to some extent differ between various sites, it became in time much
easier to embrace the daily routines. It meant that I quickly came to the point where my colleagues were
mentally. That is to fully grapple with to master the professional challenges involved in the particular the
job. These challenges may have been to find the way through town and drive a lorry (truck driver), operate
the controls on some control panels (bridge operator), formulate instructions (technical writer) and so on.
Before I reached the point that I found myself on the same level as my colleagues, I think it felt as if
everyone else was much smarter than me. Their comments were smarter, they made a fool of themselves less
often and so on. But once I been there, I have often found that I am actually not more stupid than others. In
addition I have often, over time, realized that some colleagues that at the first meeting sounded very clever,
really are quite parochial or nagging.
It has been a very big difference between jobs in how long it took until I felt that I mastered 3 the most
common challenges. In some places, it has only taken a few days while in others, it has taken several years.
When I then think back on how it was originally it has, in several works (those where I produced
something), struck me how my production has increased over time, even though I strained myself less and
less. Unfortunately, it is often the case that once I mastered the challenges, I have also lost the feeling of
personal development in the work.
When the tasks no longer given me a feeling of personal development, I have sometimes got uninterested in
the job and then just done it for the money. If I’we not had nice colleagues, or the work was exciting, or if I
was able to develop personally in any other way.
3.
With mastering tasks I mean that I no longer feel any uncertainty about how to do it. It does not mean that I not had
to think. But if I had to think I have been clear on what considerations I need to do and why, and I have had the
skills needed to do so. Even when I felt that I mastered the work, it has obviously still happened that I’we done
misstakes. The difference is that the uncertainty in how to think/do and the uncertainty of whether the results will
be correct or not have disappeared. The sense of uncertainty, which creates excitement in life, is gone.
189

Table 2. Grading of a number of works on social interaction and excitement.
Socialising with Excitement
colleagues
Labour inspector 4 2
Shop assistant 2 1
Caretaker 2 1
Research engineer 4 2
Youth leader 4 3
School teacher 3 3
Home care assistant 3 3
Bell boy 4 2
Machine designer 3 2
Jailhouse worker 4 3
Truck driver 1 2
Limousine driver 1 3
Process controller 1 1
Assistant nurse 4 3
School caretaker 1 1
Technical writer 3 2
Telephone operator 3 1
Test engineer 3 2
Gardener 2 1
Socialising with colleagues
1 = Working alone without colleagues.
2 = Working alone, socializing with colleagues only during breaks and the talk was mostly about
work. When talking about non-work related things the subjects and the nature of the altercation
were standardized (a certain jargon was applied).
3 = Socializing with colleagues just during the breaks, but the conversations were open and without
standard jargon.
4 = Socializing with colleagues also during work and the discussions were open.
Excitement
1 = The same thing happened all the time and anything interesting/exciting ralely happened.
2 = The tasks could be interesting, but it rarely happened things that someone else would be
interested in hearing.
3 = Sometimes exciting things happening that was worth telling anyone else and quite often,
something happened that would have been worth to tell at home.
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Personal development
Personal development can be to get better/more sutited for the benefit of the employer,
better suited for a further career in general, for personal benefit/joy, or that ones social skills are improved.
The personal development can both be in line with the employer's intentions or otherwise. Examples of the
latter are, for example, to develop a skill in sleep so that it looks like the intensive studies of the computer
screen. Alternatively, perhaps the work provides good opportunities to, for example, read books. Which I
could do as a bridge operator, lift attendant, school janitor, prison officer, night porter at hotels and as a
personal assistant to a handicapped person.
The courses that various employers have provided has mainly given me the following benefits:
- During the courses the schedule has generally been better than the regular working hours, often starting
later than the time when working normally starts and the days also tend to quit earlier.
- Free food, which also frequently have been better than brick lunches in canteens and the like.
- The tempo on the courses has often been pretty relaxed.
- It is often quite nice during the breaks because everyone has something to talk about (for example, what
they think of the course).
Though there is very little of what I learned in such courses that I later have found useful in other jobs. Thus
I do not think it's worth to be attracted by if the employer in the job advertisement writes that they provides
internal courses, in the belief that it will make one more attractive on the labor market in general. If it is not
about training that is mandatory for certain jobs, such as driving license for heavy vehicles.
Owner
In several contexts the employer split up after who is the principal, that is, who is the owner (the state,
municipalities/counties or individuals) and the form in which business is conducted (authority, profit based
companies or non-profit organization). In my experience, the differences in life in the workplace, depending
on who the owner is, may not be so big. The major difference lies in whether one's own group is sailing in
economic headwind or tailwind. I worked for several years at a large state university. The first year I
belonged to a group that sailed against the wind and the atmosphere in the group was pretty dismal. Then we
were merged with another group that sailed with the wind, because their courses were popular among
students (institutional grants are paid in proportion to the number of students enrolled in their courses,
combined with their length). There the atmosphere, as far as I noticed, was very positive. The department
had even so much money that they reached the ceiling for how much they could to have, and therefore they
had to spend a part of it on expensive celebrations and conferences.
I have also worked on two different authorities dealing with the same topics. The first had the opportunity to
make money, through holding courses and apply for grants from various research funds. Additionally they
received during my time increased funding from the state and therefore could expand the business. There,
the atmosphere was quite positive and I rarely heard any discussion of why some got benefits and others did
not, although the benefits were very unequally distributed. Then I worked at another authority who had no
opportunities to increase their incomes. The budget was completely controlled from the top and there was a
lot more discussion about who got a new cell phone or a pay raise. Although the benefits were fairly evenly
distributed.
The same pattern I have met in three different departments in a large private company, of which the first two
were considered to belong to the core business. Both departments worked with developing the next
generation of the company's products. But the purpose of the first was to ensure the product quality and the
purpose of the second was to document the products when they were finished. The first section was
considered by most people, to be far more important than the second one and it was noticeable that there was
rarely any trouble getting the resources the department considered to be necessary, even though the project
was approaching the end for them. The second section, however, was just in the beginning of the
documentation work and it was reasonably clear to everyone that they would not be ready in time.
Nevertheless, they did not get resources to address even themost obvious bottlenecks in their production.
191

The activities that were not considered to belong to the core business, such as maintenance of buildings, had
been spun off into a separate company who took charge for their services. The idea was probably that they
would be more effective by having clear goals to work against (i.e. making money). My experience of both
procure work from the organization and to work in it was, unfortunately, that it was very expensive to use it.
It led to that some of the staff in the parent company chosed to do, for example, minor renovations
themselves, or to outsource tasks to external actors. Which in turn contributed to the maintenance staff at
times had too little to do and the mood among the staff was quite poor.
In most jobs, the staff some form of power over the other party. A craftsman, can choose to do the work
more or less good or even to not do it at all. Anyone who is in a store may choose not to help a customer in
need. In both cases, the staff can penalize the customers they do not like and favor those they do like. Those
customers who do not feel well treated is then usually able to go to a another craftsman or shop. They then
have no legal means to force the customer to buy their services/products. This is different from authorities,
where customers usually can not choose to go to a competitor, if he felt unfairly treated. And they have some
powers to force "the customers" to do some things. If the customer still does not obey, they have some
leverage. The clearest example exercising authority,is the police and it is the authority that has the greatest
power to force others.
There are also a lot of other organizations exercising public authority, some of these are even private, like
security companies, or government owned companies such as Systembolaget (alcohol shops) and
Bilprovningen (mandatory car testing), or local governments such as social services or local environment
inspectors.
During my time at Systembolaget the exercise of authority primarily was seen in that we were:
- Not allowed to pretend that we've seen a customer in the store before. This meant that even though some
of them came ito the store several times a day (which happened) and bought the same things (which also
happened), it was not allowed to take any notice of it.
- Had the right to check the age the customer before they were allowed to buy anything and the staff had
strict orders not to sell to someone whose age seemed hesitant.
- Not allowed to sell alcohol on credit.
- Did not have as our primary goal to sell as much as possible. The main goal was instead that the checkout
would sue in the end of the work day.
I think that the exercise of authority clearly enriched the work, made it a little more exciting and it meant
that I was more important than in other stores where I have worked.
In addition, I have exercised authority in some government agencies (Probation/jail administration, Work
Environment Authority/Inspectorate, the National Courts Administration and at a college) and in a number
of municipal activities (teacher and bridge operator).
192

A very important part of the activities of such institutions is that everyone should be treated equally
regardless of who they are. It, in my opinion, affects work pretty much. And where I failed to be fair, it has
given me remorse. Maybe it's not so hard to be fair as prison officers at a prison, because the work did not
force me to take a position on so many issues. Since someone had already decided everything that needed to
be decided in respect of any inmates conditions. And the procedures I had to follow regarding the inmates
were easy to follow and maintain. They were locked up and was only allowed come out once a day and then
I followed them to the yard, in addition, they had the right to visit the toilet, as often as they wished. The
food was the same for everyone and it was distributed when it came. The opportunities I myself had to treat
people differently was largely limited to:
- How fast I was unlocked the cell door when someone wanted to go to the toilet.
- How much I frisked someone after he had received a visit.
- How long I allowed the inmates interact with their visitors.
- How and what I spoke to them about (I was perhaps the only one they talked to on the whole day).
- To what degree, I met their preferences regarding food and books/papers.
As far as I remember, it was never a problem with this because all of us strove to meet the prisoners' wishes
as best we could whithin these narrow confines.
In other works which included authority, however, there has been much more difficult to treat everyone
equally. Partly because of the differences in my own actions, but mainly because of differences between
colleagues. Even in such a simple exercise of authority as the one we had as bridge operators acted neither
myself nor the whole group equally.
The efforts as a bridge operator was to open the bridge for high boats. In the summer, there were many
sailboats passing. Every time the bridge opened it became queues on the road. In order to avoid that the car
traffic would be too suffering (they drove the probably not there just for fun), we tried to limit the number of
bridge openings for sailboats. There were no from above given rules for how we should act, but to be fair to
both the traffic and the recreational boats, we agreed on the following rule:
The sailboat that had waited the longest should have been waiting for at least one quarter, but no one should
have to wait for over half an hour.
Apparently a very simple rule, but it was still not possible keeping it fully because I did not always see when
a boat came, and some boat owners were so obstinate that I felt compelled to obey. Moreover, it seemed silly
to keep the rule in the middle of the night, when the next boat probably would not come in several hours.
Salary/reward level
An important factor in the choice of work is of course the reward level. About this I do not have much to say
because it is a factor that is just as easy for anyone to compare. Detailed statistics is reported annually by
Statistics Sweden's in their Wage Statistical Yearbook (SCB, 2003) and may additionally be downloaded
from www.lonestatistik.se. But it is not just the level that differ between jobs, but also the design of the
reward system.
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Salary/reward system
The least satisfactory reward system I have experienced they had at a publishing company where the work
was to use my own phone to call people and try to get them to join in the publisher's book club. The pay was
performance-based, meaning that it I only got any pay if I managed to persuade someone to join the book
club. Moreover, they had no special offers to attract customers, who had made the work easier. I did manage
to attract a single person to become a member, so the only thing I got out of the job was a higher phone bill.
Far from all performance-based wage is that miserable. Later I sold insurances over the phone. The work
was to attract people to want to be contacted by an insurance salesman. For every person who then signed an
insurance policy, I got a commission. And additionally I got SEK 5 for every person that ever answered
when I called. This meant that it did not play any significant role whether someone was interested in
insurances or not. I made more money just to get hold of people and present my case as soon as I could.
In addition, I have also tried to be a vendors with fixed salary. The work was to hand out samples of a
language course and thus get people interested in buying a complete course. Few of the people I met,
however, was even interested in receiving my gifts. But since I had fixed hourly wage it did not matter to
me. The combination of that most showed a clear lack of interest and that it was impossible to check how
diligent I was, however, my motivation decreased in a way that the employer would not have liked. In
retrospect, however, I think it was perhaps a little naive of the employer to offer such contracts to teenager
and think that they would be diligent.
The most motivating and fun performance-based pay system I have experienced are the ones who were
based on that I could get the tip. I have tried such system as a bell boy (=carrying bags) at a few different
hotels. The work was roughly that I was standing in the lobby waiting for a guest with big bags to enter or
leave the hotel. Then I tried as elegant as possible to sneak up and take the bags from him or her. In between,
I helped out with a bit of everything at the reception and kept neatly in the lobby. What made the work fun
and motivating was that I immediately got a reward (tips) when I did a good job. Urge to get more and more
tips made the work both exciting and challenging.
I constantly developed my methods to make the guests feel compelled to give me money. Often, I got about
the same amount of tips that I received in salary anda really good day, I could get many times more in tips,
which was really encouraging. The sad part of this work was that I had to stand for long periods in the lobby
waiting. Moreover, it was a bit sad when I found that I delivered excellent service, and although it did not
receive any tips, or if I miss helping a good guest for any reason.
Other fairly stimulating salary systems are based on that a fixed amount of work should be done each
working day. That means, in my experience, that when a predetermined amount of work was done the
workers could go home. I think, for example, postmen and trash collectors have, or have had, such
arrangements. The big advantage is, of course, that the reward will direct and is so closely linked to the
performance. I've only tried it in one of the functions of the prison. The task was to take out the prisoners
who wished to go to the exercise yard. When everyone who wanted to go out had done it, I could go home.
Which usually was after 2-3 hours, though I was paid for twelve. It was of course fun, but pretty soon I
began to expect to go home after 2-3 hours. Then it felt like I was working part time with very good salary
and the times I had to stay longer than 3 hours, it was like working for free.
The most common reward system is a fixed monthly salary. Among the systems with fixed monthly salary,
there are in my opinion two main groups. One group consists of the pay system based on that all have the
same salary and the other consists of those that are based on individual agrements 4 between each worker and
the boss. The advantage of the latter is of course that the incitament to make more efforts is stronger. On the
other hand, the risk is higher to create envy among the colleagues. The risk is of course mainly among those
who believe that they are less paid. In particular, those who believe that they get less, but they think they
really are worth more. Even those who have more and know it may feel unfairly treated, because they think
that the difference in pay is so much smaller than differences in job performance.
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The latter since the difference between the lowest paid and the highest paid can be as small as a few percent,
which means no more than a few hundred a month, and then maybe it is not worth the possible
disagreement. If I compare the place where the individual salary system did the worst and the best, the
difference was mainly the following.
At the point where the individual salary system did worst (a government authority) all had the same task, but
very different background in terms of educational and experience. The new ones with high education (like
me) got from the beginning a higher salary than very experienced and talented colleagues. As a freshman I
was not able to produce anything (the induction before the individual production start was about a year). But
after the one year introduction I could not look forward to any significant increase in salary. The pot for pay
increases given to the authority was not big enough to both give everyone a little money each and also
reward those who performed well. The money available for additional salary increases were instead
distributed, as we understood, most on the principle to give extra to the colleagues who lagged behind and
also to those who threatened to resign. Moreover, there was no clear and measurable goals for each and
every once performance. There was thus no incentive to try to improve the performance, but there was a
incitament for jealousy (which could be seen) and to blackmail our employer.
Where it worked best (a large private corporation) the head every year discussed with me about what he
wanted me to do in order to get an additional increase in salary. And the total salary pot was not given from
the beginning, which resulted in that if the others got higher wages I did not mean that I did not.
4.
I myself have never had to really negotiate with the boss about how high raise I should get. Instead, the manager
have just told met that I will get this or that much and I have interpreted it as the only possible response is "oh well"
or "thank you". I think it has been so since the union entered and negotiated on my behalf without my involvement,
but I'm not sure. To the limited extent I myself have negotiated as a manager, it has been the same thing but
without any union involved. I've said a sum and the employee said "oh well, thank you," even if my intention was
that it would be an initial negotiating proposal. I guess it could be because it is uncomfortable to negotiate for
oneself about ones own effort. Moreover, I think that we might not want to give a counteroffer because it more or
less means that we put our job at stake.
At the point where, in theory, the salary system worked best was at a private consulting firm. There, I
created my own payroll space by the money I made for the company. In addition, the company had hidden
perks consisting of that I "got" some kickback of what I made in the form of a pot of money that I could
spend on buying things more or less to myself with the employer money (and they called it expences for
office supplies). In reality it was not as good as it sounded because we costed the customers soo much
money per hour that I hesitated to bill the customer for all the hours each mission really took. So the result
was that I often worked for free.
That’s the only example of "hidden" perks. My experience is that most workplaces have something to offer
besides regular salary. As cakes and coffee, free food (for example, at the hospital where we often ate the
patients' food since someone “accidentally” ordered too much), or to borrow a car. Such benefits, I think,
often gives more joy than a corresponding increase in salary, since they brightens the day a little. To a higher
extent than a figure on a payslip.
The advantage with that all have the same salary is well evident and my experience is that at such
workplaces in general salary is not discussed. Nor has it been something to think so much about. But it has
still been a incitement for me to try to do my best. The incitament has been my own will to do the best and a
desire to get my colleagues' appreciation. In such systems there are, in my view, more space to get the
colleagues' appreciation because the factor "he must do better than us because he is paid for it" is stripped
away.
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Overtime
On several large jobs where I worked shift time, it has been possible to raise the salary quite a bit by taking
one, or two, extra shifts per month. Since it then has been working overtime (if I worked full time), that
means I got double pay for these hours, in the places where I have worked it gave about ten percent extra in
salary for each additional session. And it was usually also no problem getting the extra sessions, as I wanted,
the days that suited me.
If the extra session occurred on a weekend, when the need often were the greatest, I also got compensation
for the uncomfortable working hours, which fueled the salary increase even further. Oddly enough, it has
generally been a few of my colleagues who have used that option.
Working hours
In many of my jobs the working time have been located between Monday and Friday about 08:00 to 16:45
with an hour break and the opportunity to come up to an hour earlier or later and go during the
corresponding interval. In some places, the presence have been checked with punch cards and on others not.
My experience of punch cards is that it takes quite a lot of effort to keep track of a few minutes here or there,
both for me and for the employer. But in the places where I have experienced that first we had punch cards
which then were removed, the work ethics clearly fell. But on the other hand, probably the most important
thing for the employer was often not where the staff was, but what it did. What becomes apparent in a
system that does not focus on presence. One example that it works, at least for me, is that in a place where
we could work how much overtime as we wanted (and get the corresponding overtime pay) without asking
anyone for permission, and without that we were asked to do so. I got on the punch card time, overtime
every time I sat there and talked nonsense with colleagues. When the punch cards disappeared and instead
we ourselves reported the time in a computer program, I hesitated to write up overtime hours for those
occasions when I certainly had been there, but not produced anything for the employer.
Shift time
The establishments, where I have worked, that have applied shift time have almost only been those where
the work required staffing around the clock. It has included several hotel lobbies where the day was divided
into three equally long shifts and each collegue either worked double shifts or night (23:00 to 7:00). Two
shift began as a rule with an evening (15:00 to 23:00), followed by the next morning (07:00 to 15:00). The
best of the two day shifts was in my opinion the evening shift, because I then had a few heads in the house
that interfeered in what I did and it was also time to socialize with colleagues or reading newspapers. The
advantage of working the day shift was mainly that I had the night free and more colleagues to talk to. Night
shifts were obviously even calmer, but when the houses were not only empty of managers, but also
colleagues, there was not much to do.
But on none of the hotels where I worked night it was possible to sleep, which meant that I often felt pretty
bad the next day even though I slept until the evening.
In other places where I worked night (as bridge operator and prison officers), however, it has been socially
acceptable to sleep for a few hours during the night. Thus I felt pretty good afterwards, after a few hours in
my own bed.
In the latter two jobs the working time was at first divided into three shifts. With two day shifts: 07:30 to
about 14:00 and about 14:00 to 19:00, and a night shift 19:00 to 07:30 and all of us rotated between the three
shifts.
When we switched to two-shift system, in the form of rotation between day (07:30 to 19:00) and night (as
before) the situation all of a sudden got a lot better. This is because I did not have to do more than three
sessions per week to get full-time pay (we had no time reduce for breaks). The long shifts were not an issue
because we did not do much else but than to sit and lethargic, and thus it was not particularly tiering. If I
worked day shift I went, as I said, home at seven o'clock and had the whole evening free. If I instead worked
in the evening, I had the whole day off, and when I got on the shift I made about what people do most. I was
watching TV, reading a book, hanging out with colleagues (not as bridge operator) or talked on the phone.
At night, I went to bed a few hours in any empty cell while a collegue was awake, or on the bed in the tower
of the bridge.
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Generally I find that the less physically and mentally heavy a work is, the longer working days I can cope
with. In the very least onerous of the two examples above (bridge operator) work was so easy that it
happened that I did three sessions in a row, i.e. one day followed by one night followed by an additional day.
At the most physically demanding jobs that I had (shop assistant at Systembolaget, assistant nurse in a
hospital and as aconstruction worker on a site), it had however been very heavy to work even twelve hours
in a row. This maybe because I did not have the same opportunities to take small breaks, when I felt I needed
it. Additionally, I began, in the latter two works, so early in the morning that I felt a certain lack of sleep
throughout the day.
The most mentally heavy work I had it is to have lessons with high school students. Then I had to be on the
alert all the time and I had during the entire lesson people constantly watching me. I think it would be
difficult in that work to even have six class hours in a day without being exhausted.
In the office jobs I have had, however, the work was usually neither physically nor mentally hard, because I
could work at my own pace and I was able to take small breaks when I wanted it. So I could certainly
manage to work twelve hours or more, if needed.
When I read the job ads I notice often that employers are often looking for people with specific educational
background and work experience. In addition, it is often regarded as beneficial to have some specific skills,
such as mastering a specific computer system or similar. See for example the following two excerpts from
advertisements in which they are looking for architects:
"We are looking for a creative person with a sense of realizing client requests of visions and flexibility. It is
also important that you can meet the technical production conditions and government demands.
You should be used to design with CAD programs. Therefore, we assume that you have architectural degree
and/or equivalent work experience. If you also have experience in villas and houses is meritorious."
"You should be an architect or have an equivalent degree from a technical university and experience in
municipal planning work. We place great emphasis on your personal characteristics.
You should be able to coordinate and cooperate, be outgoing and have easy to express yourself in speech
and writing. You should be able to work with computers, including word and image processing, CAD and
GIS. We use Word, Photoshop, InDesign, AutoCad with POINT and ArcMap."
In the examples, it is quite clear what training that employers wants the job applicants tot have (architect),
but the ads suggests that they do not really expect to have a fully qualified architect. In addition, a number of
specific skills are desirable. My experience is that training in such specific skills is done considerably faster
than graduate programs. But neither with a university program nor training in, for example, a particular
software makes someone, with some exceptions, ready for independent work in a profession. In the
vocational courses I have attended (engineer, driver, real estate agent and researcher), I spent (except for the
last training) very little time to train the professional role, though I thought I did. Which meant that where I
started practicing the profession, I have in the beginning felt pretty useless.
My experience is that I have over time grown into the role of a professional and other specific skills needed
in the job comes with time. My personal attributes has however been fairly constant.
In the place ads above the employers called for applicant with certain personal characteristics. The
descriptions given of the properties called for are however often shoddy and/or general. Which does not give
the potential applicants much guidance about whether they are suitable or not. I think that to some extent is
due to that employers sometimes points out certain qualities, such as creativity, most to appear as an
interesting place. In table 3, I have highlighted some "features" that I found have been important to bring in
some jobs that I had. Characteristics that employers do not call for very often, at least not so specificly.
197

Table 3. Some personal characteristics that are good to bring into different jobs.
Able to
walk/stand
a lot
Good in
chatting
Good in
waiting
Good in
argumenting
Labour inspector X X
Shop assistant X X
Construction worker X X
Caretaker
X
Research engineer
X
Youth leader X X
School teacher
X
Home care assistant X X
Hotel receptionist X X
Bell boy X X X
Machine designer
X
Jailhouse worker
X
Truck driver
Limousine driver
X
Personal assistant X X
Process controller
X
Assistant nurse X X
School caretaker
X
Cleaner, outdoors
X
Technical writer
X
Telephone operator X X
Telephone salesman
X
Test engineer
X
Gardener
X
Able to walk/stand much
There is a big difference on how much walking/standing one have to endure in various works. My
experience is that workers are walking/standing significantly more than official. In the only official work
in which I walked a lot, was as a labour inspector, it was because I took long walks from the sites I visited.
In other officials work I've mostly gone to the canteen and to various meetings. In several works jobs,
however, as inshops and in home care, I spent a large part of the working day standing/walking.
My experience is that in the tasks normally performed sitting, walking has felt as annoying interruptions of
the work. But the work normally performed walking/standing it has mostly been positive. But it does not
mean that I, in some works been pretty tired in my feet at the end of the day.
Good in chatting
Some jobs are more or less about talking to other people , such as customers. Then it´s a huge advantage to
be good at talking about things that customers want to talk about. In other works, however, I conversated
only during breaks and then mostly for social reasons. Then skills in small talk is not so important for the
overall performance.
Good in waiting
Some jobs entail a large amount of anticipation. Some people do not mind it, or maybe even like it,
perhaps because they find it relaxing. While others almost can’t handle it. If so, maybe their impatience is
evident, for example they become irritated, which is not so successful.
Good in argumenting
Many works are ultimately largely about convining others. This applies, of course, on salemen, but also in
jobs involving teaching or investigations. In the latter role it is important to investigate in such a way that
the results can be the basis for a decision. Which means that the investigation itself becomes a form of
argumentation.
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It is quite common that the employer requires that the applicant must have a certain education and for some
types of services (such as medical jobs), there is a legal requirement that those appointed should have certain
qualifications. Although the employer and colleagues generally expects, and gladly helps to
educate/demonstrate the new employees what they need to know to do the job. The reason that employers
still require some training might be that:
- It somewhat proves that the applicant is interested in the subject.
- The manager and/or colleagues might themselves have the training in question and wans to preserve its
status.
- A certain degree is proof that the person is energetic and intelligent enough to, at least, undergo training.
- The program provides basic skills that are important for the quality of the work performed.
When I chosed training (Mechanical line at the Royal Institute of Technology= KTH, Stockholm), I thought
however that it would make me a more or less complete engineer. During training, me and my classmates I
were amazed about how little, of what we thought a mechanical engineer need to know, that we really were
schooled in. After the training, I have been struck by how little of what I think I learned that I have come in
contact with after I finished. In order to find out if my experiences to some extent resembles that of others, I
asked seven companions from the same university, and six comrades who never went there, to rank a
number of skills that we, in varying degrees, were trained in.
Nearly all seven participating machine engineers considered (see table 4) that:
3. Quickly understand the function of an object.
6. Interpreting a machine drawing.
11. Analyze problems and the possible solutions' pros and cons.
16. Writing a technical report in English.
Are among the nine most important skills. Of this number 11 was the one that we trained most in the
school. The other three, I have mainly got training in through previous or subsequent lessons and/or
experiences.
Participants who are not mechanical engineers, however, showed far more agreement about what we should
master (see table 5), since almost all felt following were among the nine most important:
4. Making a resonable assessment of the functional and environmental requirements for an object.
7. The usual construction materials relevant properties.
9. Calculate the power and energy needs for a machine.
11. Analyze problems and the possible solutions' pros and cons.
12. Build basic electronic circuits.
14. Measure physical quantities such as temperature and voltage.
A comparison of the results between the groups indicates that both mechanical engineers and, in this context
laymen, believe that mechanical engineers should be able to analyze problems and their solutions.
Furthermore, the perception differ between the two groups regarding the perception of what a mechanical
engineer should master. A possible general conclusion of this may be that there is a difference between what
someone with a specific vocational training believe are core skills, compared to someone who does not have
the training. In addition, perhaps there is a difference between what the training includes and what is needed
in the subsequent professional role.
199

Table 4. What skills as a mechanical engineer should master acording seven persons 5 who graduated at the
KTH machine line.
Which of the following skills do you think a mechanical engineer included in Average Schoolmate number
in the first place should master rank the nine main (9 = most education ranking 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
important).
1. With few and adequate words describe an object's nature. no 4.14 8 3 7 3 8
2. Make a reasonable estimate of the object's size and material. no 1.71 4 2 6
3. Quickly understand the function of the object. no 4.86 6 8 5 6 1 1 7
4. Making a resonable assessment of the functional and
environmental requirements for an object.
depending on
course selection
2.71 5 7 3 4
5. Make an accurate drawing of the object. depending on 1.57 2 8 1
course selection
6. Interpreting a machine drawing. depending on 4.86 1 6 6 5 9 5 2
course selection
7. The usual construction materials relevant properties. yes 2.29 2 8 6
8. Selecting appropriate materials for a structure. no 2.29 4 1 7 4
9. Calculate the power and energy for a machine. possibly 3.00 4 4 6 7
10. Assess what is shortcomings in a design. depending on 1.57 1 3 5 2
course selection
11. Analyze problems and the possible solutions' pros and cons. yes 6.00 9 9 8 2 9 5
12. Build basic electronic circuits. yes a little 0.00
13. Assess how a design should be made. yes a little 1.00 4 3
14. Measure physical quantities such as temperature and voltage. yes a little 1.71 3 9
15. Program a computer. yes 1.29 2 7
16. Writing a technical report in English. no 5.57 7 5 9 1 8 9
17. Selecting surface treatment for a structure. no 0.00
18. Operate conventional workshop machines. no 0.43 3
19. Perform basic technical testing of a design. no 0.00
20. Set up and calculate integrals. yes 0.00
5.
Six men and one woman (mean, min-max age: 45, 41-48 years) who after graduation worked with different
types of engineering jobs such as: mechanical engineering (2 persons), verification/testing (2 persons),
insurance (1 person), sales (2 persons), technical documentation (1 person).
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Tabell 5. What skills as a mechanical engineer should master according to six persons 6 that have not gone on the Royal
Institute of Trchnology (KTH) machine line or any other technical college education.
Which of the following skills do you think a
mechanical engineer
included in Average Non
machine
engineer
in the first place should master rank the nine main (9 =
most important).
number
education ranking 1 2 3 4 5 6
1. With few and adequate words to describe an no 0.7 4
object's nature.
2. Make a reasonable estimate of the object's size and no 0.7 4
material.
3. Quickly understand the function of the object. no 1.8 5 1 5
4. Making a resonable assessment of the functional
and environmental requirements for an object.
depending on course
selection
5.2 9 9 3 2 8
5. Make an accurate drawing of the object. depending on course 1.3 7 1
selection
6. Interpreting a machine drawing. ev. depending on 2.8 3 6 8
course selection
7. The usual construction materials relevant
yes 5.5 8 8 1 7 9
properties.
8. Selecting appropriate materials for a structure. no 2.2 2 2 2 7
9. Calculate the power and energy for a machine. possibly 2.8 1 2 4 4 6
10. Assess what is shortcomings in a design. depending on course 3.5 1 6 9 5
selection
11. Analyze problems and the possible solutions' pros yes 6.0 7 7 7 8 3 4
and cons.
12. Build basic electronic circuits. yes a little 4.8 6 6 8 6 3
13. Assess how a design should be made. yes a little 0.7 4
14. Measure physical quantities such as temperature
and voltage.
15. Program a computer. yes 0.0
yes a little 5.7 4 5 9 5 9 2
16. Writing a technical report in English. no 0.5 3
17. Selecting surface treatment for a structure. no 0.0
18. Operate conventional workshop machines. no 0.5 3
19. Perform basic technical testing of a design. no 0.2 1
20. Set up and calculate integrals. yes 0.8 5
6.
Three men and three women (mean, min-max age: 45, 38-49 years) with various education, professional
life and family relationships.
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But even if education does not always make one a better craftsman than colleagues with long professional
experience, without formal training, it is, in my opinion, still worth to first learn the job at a school. This is
because:
1. As with everything else the job gets more fun the more you can about it. And part of the "useless"
knowledge school gives, provides details that the untrained have difficulty to achieve.
2. Life on, especially university level, is fun. There is no manager who decides about life. Many times the
lessons are voluntary, so if you want to you could, for example, have long soft mornings. The school
comrades are, in contrast to colleagues at work, not competitors. Which means that most of them are
happy to help each other. The holidays are numerous and long. It's easy to make friends because everyone
is new and looking for others to talk to/hang out with. Moreover, all have in any case at least one interest
in common. An interest that may not be shared by one’s old friends. Universities offer’s in addition many
opportunities to party and do other funny things. Finally, it is probably common that the pleasant life as a
student at university, is encouraged by parents and relatives.
3. It is usually almost free to study at university (although the literature can be pricey), and the state provides
money for food and housing. Admittedly, it is not so much the money, but it belongs to the student
culture to be "poor". Once training is complete, students may have to pay back some of the money. But
payment requirements are quite modest and the extra salary that training usually provides is probably by a
wide margin enough to meet the repayments.
4. The goal (to graduate) is clear and it is not dependent on what others do or do not do. Unlike at work
where the goals are often unclear or strange and in many cases they are totally in the hands of others
(which can be very frustrating).
5. A degree is proof of an achievement to be proud of.
202

Stress
Stress is a physical reaction in which the body becomes 'up'. My experience is that I have been wound up,
for different reasons in different jobs (see table 6). As an engineer, it was never any long queues of
customers who stood and stomped. On the contrary, it was often that no one asked me for anything, or asked
how it went with what I was doing, for several days. And the amount of work was rarely larger than it was
possible finnish old assignments as new ones came along. What was stressful was rather the uncertainty
about whether I did the right things right or not.
As a store employee, however, I had no requirement to perform beyond certain basic requirements like to
enter the correct amounts in the cash register and so on. However, the amount of workwas often greater than
what I had time for.
Table 6.
Some different types of phenomena that can get me stressed and how it behaved with them in a few
different jobs.
High demands
on to perform
independently
Much to do
(type long
queues)
Labour inspector 2 1
Shop assistant 1 3
Research engineer 2 2
Youth leader 1 1
Primary school teachers 3 2
Home care assistant 1 2
Bell boy 1 1
Machine designer 2 1
Jailhouse worker 1 1
Truck driver 2 2
Personal assistant 1 1
Process controller 1 1
Assistant nurse 2 2
School caretaker 1 1
Telephone operator 1 2
Gardener 2 1
High demands on to perform independently
1 = No independent performance.
2 = Independent performance without evaluation or without time pressure.
3 = Many tasks that would be performed under time pressure and the performance was
evaluated afterwards and the tasks often required that I pushed others to do their parts.
Much to do (type long queues)
1 = Long periods with nothing to do and it was accepted to, for example, read a book.
2 = I had almost always something to do, but there were no piles of work or long queues.
Which meant that I did not feel pressured to work faster and I could take quite long pauses.
3 = There was almost always more to do than I had time for.
203

One of the choices in the career is between working as an employee or as a self-employed. My experience is
that both lay-ups have their advantages and disadvantages (table 7) and I do not even know, for myself,
which I prefer.
Table 7. The role of the writer of instruction manuals as employed compared to self-employment.
What Employed Self-employed
Sallary
The average salary was higher because it
came in with the same amount regardless
of whether I was busy with a mission or
not.
Higher wage and sometimes higher "salary",
though usually lower, because my booked time
was far from 100%.
Freedom
Limited by that I must be at work
between, like, 8:00 to 16:40. In addition, I
had to obey the boss, follow certain work
practices and participate in "unnecessary"
meetings.
Very much freedom to design my own routines
and dispose time as I pleased. And a sense of
freedom which consisted of knowing that when
the current mission was finished, "anything"
could happen. But greater demands on working
much at times, since I was commissioned. And
a greater need to keep customers happy.
Workmates
Responsibility
Almost everyone I encountered daily were
colleagues in the same situation as me.
The responsibility was limited to me to
perform assigned duties in a professional
manner.
Almost everyone I met on the job represents the
client, making interaction somewhat more
demanding.
Responsibility was total and it also included
such things as ensuring that the records were
accurate.
References
Björing G (1996) Arbetsplatsutformning i trävaruindustrin – två fallstudier, Licentiatavhandling, KTH,
Stockholm.
Mathiassen S-E, Winkel J, Liukkonen, Bao S, Björing G (1996) Belastningsergonomi och rationalisering –
en fallstudie, Arbetslivsinstitutet, Solna.
SCB (2003) Lönestatistisk årsbok 2003, SCB, Örebro.
204

About getting rich
What’s wealth
Generally someone's wealth is considered to be the amount of money (or value objects) that he/she own’s.
But there are also other ways to measure wealth, such as the degree of economic freedom or in life quality.
If it is the amount of money that is discussed, the probably most established measure of wealth, is the one
that determines whether someone is a dollar millionaire or not. Those who qualify for this epithet has to have
a fortune of over one million U.S. $, excluding their home.
For those who concider welath to be cash and equivalent and intend to maximize this, it makes sense to think
about what adds value and what do not. For example, the one who puts the savings on an upscale car, then
have a much smaller fortune. While someone who invests the same amount in the stock market can, with the
right choices, and if the economy is upgoing, double the money in a relatively short time. Though despite the
that first no longer really is rich while the other has become twice as rich, perhaps the former gives the
impression of being richer, and his/her life might be more enjoyable. Besides if the person with the car runs
out of money and is forced to sell it, while the other one can buy it and still have plenty of money for other
things that are fun.
Many will never be rich regardless of how much they earn, because they constantly uses the surpluse for
additional consumption. While others never consume more than the essentials, regardless of how rich they
are. Presumably there optimum is somewhere in between. And we are all placed differently on that scale,
depending on the circumstances, upbringing, values, et cetera.
205

Why become rich
A friend of mine who is very well-traveled, usually ask people he meets around the world, about what they
would do if they won six million SEK (or the equivalent in local currency). His experience is that people in
developing countries, like the Philippines and Cambodia, says that they would start a business that they can
live on. While people in rich countries, such as Sweden, usually respond that they would save money
without further plans, in addition to various savings options such as to pay off loans or to buy shares. A
reasonable explanation for the difference, given that it is true, is that in poor countries people does yearn for
security. Something that we in Sweden have had a long time and therefore take for granted.
Yet we continue to try to get rich by playing on the racetrack and the like, why Probably, at least one of the
reasons, is that we dream about things we would like to have or do: a cool sports car, a bigger house or to do
exciting trips. Many times, such dreams, however, are quite possible to achieve even without much money.
A larger home isn’t necessarlly more expensive to live buy, if it is situated in a less requested area. New
status cars are very expensive, but after a few years, they are often only worth a fraction of the former price
and thus perfectly possible to buy even for ordinary people. Exciting and complex trips to exotic countries is
perhaps difficult and expensive to implement for families, but eventually the children become adults and
after retirement is probably time to make trips during times of year when they are cheaper. In addition,
perhaps it is no longer necessary to have such a large home when the kids have moved out and a shift to
smaller and cheaper ditto would release money for such trips, even if the pension is lower than the previous
salary. A dream that sometime in mid-life to be free from the usual paid work, can for a period be realized
through resigning from work, cut costs and live on unemployment benefits.
These simple "solutions" to reach the targets are, however, rarely attractive. Instead, it appears as most
people prefer to remain in the same rut and dream of becoming rich without actually doing any particular
approach to get there. And it is probably because for the majority of us, the only discernible path to riches is
to cut down on all costs and to work more, in any form. But I believe that most, for good reasons, concider
that to be a too great sacrifice in the present for a future that may never come. Many of them, that make
these sacrifices are, or are at the outset, so used to save and work, the day when the sweet life will appear is
constantly postponed. With the effect that life, despite the achieved wealth, is poorer than for those who did
not choose this path. This scenario I have encountered especially among many older people, brought up in a
time when saving was the main guiding principle, but also among younger people, like myself. In addition,
there are probably many who allow themselves to enjoy the wealth they have built up, but finds that the
difference between a luxury car and a cheap ditto after all is not so great. Even the freedom to do what you
want, without being bound to the duties that paid jobs entails, has its downsides. Suddenly there is a huge
amount of time that should be filled with someting. Things, which should be more rewarding than work,
because otherwise you could just as well continued to work. It is perhaps not a problem for all, but among
those who are so dedicated and hardworking that they over time gather a fortune, the problem is probably
relatively common. There are many successful people who, oddly enough, continues to work far more than
people in general, even though they have everything needed to live the rest of their lives in opulence.
206

Income and expenditure
Someone who in the long run increases their revenue and/or reduce their spending enough and invests
surplus wisely will in the long run get rich. Many dreams abut raising their incomes by starting and running
a profitable business, which can be possible if there is a viable idea, see the further in the chapter: A quick
lesson for future inventors. Or by making more money on what they already do. The most obvious way then
is then higher wage per worked hour. Though we generally have pretty limited control over the potential
rise. In addition, they tend to come only once a year and it is seldom more than a marginal increases that
roughly is eaten up by price increases on what we consume. To really raise the income it is in most cases
necesarry to work more, change jobs or take an extra job. But it is not clear that it will result in more money
at the end of the month, because spending often increas to the same extent. There is nothing wrong in that,
for those who do not suffer from it.
Go
Sallary
30 000
Electricity
300
Insurance
200
Telephone
500
Car
2 500
Risk
Rent
3 000
Intrest
on loans
2 000
Enforcement
couch
20 000
Food
3 000
Coat
5 000
Chans
Icecream
and coffe
300
Jeans
2 500
Kids
4 000
New tires
4 000
Parking
fees
2 000
Underwear
1 000
Lunch
1 600
Skiing
20 000
Vine &
beer
1 000
Vacation
20 000
Risk
Food
3 000
Spaweekend
3 000
Restaurants
1 000
Go to
Enforcement
48" HDVT
18 000
PC
7 000
Chance Gas 800
Hair
dresser
500
Press
500
Candy
200
Free
parking
Wage slave economy (in SEK). Income accrues monthly. All other transactions from the account are negative. Some
costs are fixed, such as rent, others will occur now and then, as the need for new tires to the car.
207

One, I think, common cause of poor economy is an effort to maximize the value of the consumption rather
than to optimize it. They who constantly maximizes consumption, always buy what is coolest/best/tastes the
best or is the most prestigious, in contrast to the optimizer, which instead is looking for the most affordable
choice. I.e. provides the most in the form of, for example, saturation, or living standard per invested dollar.
With the former approach, it is difficult to save money aside, because it is possible to buy just how
expensive things whatsoever. There are probably many different possible explanations for this behavior,
some guesses are:
- We are more or less bombarded by advertising. The message is always that we should consume something
and not infrequently also that we should maximize the consumption, through buying the advertiser's cool
products instead of cheaper ditto from other manufacturers.
- It is significantly more difficult, from the intellectual point of view, to optimize the value of consumption
than to maximize it.
- Lack of money appears sometimes to create a need to consume expensive goods, perhaps to show that it is
certain no shortage, or to comfort themselves.
- Optimization of consumption feels like to skimp and it's no fun.
- It is pointless to save money since I will never be rich, so then I might as well use them for something cool
right now.
Regarding the last statement a unique situation in this aspect is created by life in togetherness. To live in
togetherness means that the financial burden that a household generates, is shared by more people, which is
an advantage. Though for those who intend to save up for a future fortune it, under some circumstances,
brings a drawback. These circumstances may be if the household's revenues are placed in a common pot and
then distributed as more or less explicitly negotiated. The downside is that the one in the household wishing
to build wealth, will have difficult to argue why the money should be saved away without other objective
than to reproduce them, rather than to use the money for things that could brighten the present. Furthermore,
there may be a risk that the partner in the future claim a portion of the saved funds, with more or less good
reasons. Thus, the capital, will become a breeding ground for quarrels and discord. It might then be tempting
to, instead of saving, take the opportunity to use some of the cake to buy objects that benefit one in the
present, before the partner use it. Addition, there is less incentive for both parties to make an effort to earn
extra money or find cheaper solutions to everyday problems such as high food prices, since it is difficult
and/or cause loss of their time. Losses whose economic benefits which they wont be credited, as there is a
risk that the partner use the money for something he or she wants.
Such problems can be partially avoided through that only a subset of everyone's income is deposited in a
joint account. From which all common expenses are deducted. For the purchase of common supplies each
one has a debit or credit card linked to the account.
However, only a few, apart from the old-timers, of the ones I know have made their fortunes through minor
additional income, combined with savings.
The majority of those of my acquaintance who made it has instead inherited some money from a more or
less close relative. Although there probably are more people who made a good bit of money on real estate
transactions. But those in the latter group usually have invested, more or less the entire profit in an even
more expensive housing and thus have the same economy as before the deal. The two I know who converted
such a deal into real money have done it through selling an apartment with profit, and then moved into a
rented apartment.
In addition, I know several who have won a decent buck on gaming, though it seems to be a lot of truth in
the expression "easy come, easy go" for none of these have anything left of the money today.
The rest of this chapter is all about how any surplus can be invested.
Note! The meaning of life is to live!
208

Investments in securities
As far as I know, there are a few ways to multiply a small fortune, for those who do not want to start their
own business full time. The most common one is to invest in established financial instruments.
Shares
-I save in an intrest fund. I just took the first I saw. It is good to have a
buffert for the future and a simple way for relatives to do something good
at for instance birthdays.
One of the answers in a mini survey with the question: Do you save for
your children. The survey was conducted by the journalist Per Wallin and
presented in Svenska Dagbladet 100527 th . I think the answer quite clearly
illustrates how difficult we think it is , to think about issues of savings and
the like. Probably the responded spend significantly more time to, for
example, choose clothes to the kid.
Anyone who buys a stock, buy a share in a company. The purpose of the system is to transfer money from
people who have money with no need to use them, to people who have business ideas but not enough money
to realize them.
Different shares are worth or traded for different amounts of money. The fact that a company's share costs
more than another company's ditto, does not mean that one company is worth more money than the other.
For there are a different number of shares in different companies. I.e. 1 000 shares in company A may not be
worth more than 10 shares in company B. It may sound trite, but considering, for example, how the text in
many stock introduction offers are designed (as the one below, published in the Swedish newspaper Svenska
Dagbladet), it is not the case.
An example, among many, on how an stock
introduction offer presents various information
with less importance than information about the
total amount of shares. Nowhere in the full page
ad from where this piece is taken, that figure was
written. Thus the potential buyer has no idear of
what he or she gets for the invested money.
The greatest risk in buying shares in a company is that the company goes bankrupt and the shares thus
becomes worthless. It's not so common that listed companies goes bankrupt, but it happens (see table 1 in the
Swedish version of this book).
The majority of companies that disaapeared before 2006 had no brilliant price trend (chart 1). But the chart
is so thickly that it is almost hopeless to try to follow the price of a single company. What the chart,
however, shows is that the value of most companies stocks increased 0.5 to 2 times the rate in 1970. I.e. no
amazing development and definitely worse than the general price increase during the period (when inflation
at times was quite high).
Note that the mean curve (black), had a number of dips in the 1970s.
The first dip began between 1973 and 1974. It is called the oil crisis, because it is largely due to the oilproducing
Arab countries shock raised the oil price when they got sour since the United States and other
Western countries helped Israel in the war against Egypt. This had a negative impact on economic
development (and the stock prices) throughout the rest of the 1970s. Then came another big dip in 1976-
1977.
During the decade three former key industries, in particular, broke down and they were more or less swept
away from the Swedish business sector: shipyards that produced large boats, shipping companies and
textile/shoe industry. Which showed on the stock exchange in that the shipyard (Götaverken) disappeared
209

1971. A large part of the shipping companies (Svea, SAL, SvLloyd and Tirfing) and textile industries (Algot
and Trikåfabriken) disappeared around 1976-77.
5
4,5
4
3,5
3
2,5
2
1,5
1
0,5
0
1970
Chart 1.
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
210
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
ABV
AGA
Ahlsell & Ågren
Alfa-Laval
Algot
Armerad Betong
Asken
Atlantica
Bacho
Becker
Bergvik o Ala
Billerud
Billman
Bofors
Boliden
Carnegie
Cementa
Corona
Custos
Dagens Nyheter
Drott
Elverk
ESAB
Esselte
Facit
Fagersta
Fannyudde
Fläktfabriken
Ford
Fortia
Fosfatbol.
Förenade Superfosfat
Företagsfinnans
Garphyttan
Gränges
Gunnebo
Götabanken
Götaverken
Holmen
Husqvarna
Hylte
Höganäs
Iggesund
Jungner
Järnvägsverkst
Kilsund
Klippan
Kopparfors
Korsnäs
Marabou
Monark
Munksjö
Mölnlycke
Nitro-Nobel
NK/NK-Åhlens
PLM
Pripps
Promotion/Bacho
Providentia
SAAB
Skandia
Skaraborgsbanken
Skånska Banken
Smålandsbanken
Sundsvallsbanken
Svea
SAL
Sv Lloyd
Säfveån
Tarkett
Tirfing
Transatlantic
Trikåfabriken
Tändstickor
Uddeholm
Upplandsbanken
Wermlandsbanken
Wirsbo
Åhlen
Åkermans
Östgöta Enskilda Bank
Price trend for the now vanished companies that were on the Stockholm stock exchange 1/7-1970 until
they disappeared. Data from Dagens Nyheter around the first of July every year. The chart presents the
number of times the stock price rose from 1970 (the price 1970 is set as one for all companies). Any splits
and bonus issues during the period, however, is ignored, so the curves for some companies, in fairness,
should be gradually shifted parallel upwards. Unfortunately, the companies disappeared so long ago that
data on emissions/splits isn’t available.
Medel

For those who avoid crisis companies, it is often quite easy to increase the capital. Anyone who sees the
trend between 1970-2005 for the companies that survived (chart 2) notes that on average, the value of the
companies during the period increased from 1 to 70. This does not mean that all companies rose even close
to 70 times. Many instead appear to have hardly risen at all. If the most price rockets excluded (chart 3) its,
however, clear that all the companies rose, although some did not rise very much. Furthermore, there were a
number of dips in the curves even after 1980, i. e. around the year 1983 (the steel crisis that threatened
Garphyttan, Gränges, Fagersta, Sandviken, and Uddeholm), 1987, 1991 (banking and real estate crisis), 1998
(aside from the rockets) and 2001 (IT crash). Then there was a sharp dip in 2007 and a smaller ditto 2011 th .
So roughly every five years.
Chart 2.
Price trend (considered splits and bonus issues) for 35 years from 1/7-1970, for the large companies that
were listed during the entire period. Data from Dagens Nyheter around the first of July every year. Data
on splits and bonus issues from the companies. The chart presents the number of times the course has
risen from 1970 (the price 1970 is set as one for all companies).
211

Chart 3.
Same as chart 2 but with ABB, AstraZeneca, and Ericsson excluded.
In retrospect, noted that many of the companies that raged extra in each crash, was clearly overvalued, and
that they had the potential was promised by their past stock prices.
Approximately 2/3 of the construction & real estate companies that were listed in 1990 (chart 4) were not on
the stock market five years earlier. Many of them had started in the late 1980s, as a result of that it then
became much easier to borrow money for extravagant real estate speculations. Their fall was triggered by a
international recession (partly due to the U.S. war in Iraq, which ended in February 1991). The recession
forced the central bank to further increase the, with today's standards already sky-high interest rates, to
prevent the Swedish currency from losing value (international investors did not believe in Sweden and
dumped the Swedish currency and to counter this, the Swedish national bank raised the interest rates so that
the again would be interesting to lend money to Sweden). In addition, the recession meant that property
values did no longer increase and the demand for premises fell. The former was perhaps the biggest problem
since it resulted in the property companies, not as before, could mortgage the properties further and create
capital to pay operating deficits in the business.
212

Summary of the
interest on mortgage
loans the 1/7 –1994.
As seen in the table
the interest rates
were around 11%,
while they
nowadays are
around 2-4%.
Chart 4.
Selection of listed banks, construction and real estate companies, and their stock prices according to
Dagens Nyheter any day around July 1 (the price 1990 is set as one for all companies). Any splits and
bonus issues during the period is ignored except for those companies that are yet listed, thus the chart in
individual cases can be misleading.
213

I bought into the hype shares in one of the newly listed companies.
At the time, those
who bought shares
still got real stock
certificates. It is my
far worst deal when I
bought the shares for
the introductory
price, which was
about 118 SEK/each.
And I sold them three
years later for 1.5
SEK/each.
A large part of the banks were hit so hard by the crisis in the real estate industry,
that the Swedish government was forced to take over them to rescue the savers' money. After the crash, I
bough shares in one of the banks that survived. I chosed, however, the bank which stocks later increased the
least. Since I the 12/10-1992 bought shares in Östgöta Enskilda Bank for 10 SEK/pcs. Then I participated in
the subsequent rights issue and bought two new shares for every three old at the price of 12 SEK/each. Then
sold all the shares in 1998 for 50.50 SEK/pcs.
I had done an even better deal if I instead had invested in Handelsbanken. Since Handelsbanken lost a lot
less money on bad loans in 1992-1993 compared to the other banks, but their shares still fell like a stone, it
should thus have been pretty easy to figure out that the share was a clip. I remember that many mentioned
that it ougt to be time to buy bank shares, though the bank that was most frequently mentioned was the
Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (nowadays called SEB). But that bank did not rise nearly as much as
Handelsbanken, and besides, it was on the verge of asking for help from the State Bank Support Authority
(which was not the case for Handelsbanken).
The absolute best bargain was probably made by the one who bought, say, 1 000 shares in Handelsbanken
when it bottomed at around 24 SEK/each, which according to the Bank's Annual Report 1994 was around
New Year 1992/93, participated fully in the rights issue in 1993 and thus bought 500 shares for 35 SEK/pcs.
Total the person then would have invested 41 500 SEK. He would eventually also have received 150 shares
in the property company (Näckebro) that the bank created around the buildings they took over during the
crisis and distributed to the owners in 1996. And two years later, 150 shares in the property company that
was created around the purchased bank Stadshypoteks overdue securities (named Balder). If he or she then
sold all the shares in the spring after the distribution of the dividents in 2001, when prices were on top before
the next major stock exchange fall from 2001 to 2003, the revenue would have been over 700 000 SEK (see
below).
Sale of SHB shares = 4 500 pcs. (Because the bank implemented a 3:1 split in 1999) x 150 SEK/pcs. = 675
000 SEK.
Total dividend SHB 1 = 1 500 x 2 + 1 500 x 3 + 1500 x 3.75 + 1500 x 5+ 1500 x 6.5 + 1 500 x 3 x 3 + 1 500
x 3 x 4 = 55 500 SEK
Sale of the Näckebro shares when the company was bought in 1998 by Drott AB for the offered price 141
SEK/share = 150 x 141 = 21 150 SEK.
Sale of Balder shares when the company was bought in 2000 by Drott AB for the offered price 135
SEK/share = 150 x 135 = 20 250 SEK.
A total of 771 900 SEK besides any dividends from Näckebro and Drott.
1.
the divident from Handelsbanken was in 1993 0 SEK/share, 1994: SEK 2, 1995: 3 SEK, 1996: 3.75 SEK/share, in
1997: 5 SEK, 1998: SEK 6,5, 1999: 8, 2000: 3 SEK (x 3 , because of the split), 2001: 4 x 3 SEK/share.
214

Before the IT crash in 2001 everything that could be connected to the computer industry in general and the
Internet in particular, were super hot. This because investors, rightly, felt that the then "new" inventions (see
the chapter History of technology) would grow enormously, and hence that some of the companies that were
far ahead would become giants. Which also was the case for companies like Cisco and Google. And yet as
there are a few winners in a hype, there is usually also even more losers, i. e. companies that somehow did
wrong. Unfortunately, the majority of the listed Swedish IT companies were notin the exclusive group who
managed to scale up their business and become global dominants in their niche. This, in many cases, maybe
because the companies primarily provided consulting (10 of the 19 companies in chart 5, apart from ABB
and Ericsson). Out of the remaining nine: 7 were primarily software developers, one made hardware and one
(Netonnet) was an online store.
Chart 5.
Selection of IT companies that were listed in 2000 as well as ABB and Ericsson. The market prices,
according to Dagens Nyheter any day around July 1 (the price 2000 is set as one for all companies). Splits
and bonus issues according to the Tax authority. Nine of the companies are in some form still listed and
12 are acquired by other companies.
Out of the three companies that rose the most after the crash, two were software developers (Jeeves
Information and Protect Data) and the other one was the online store (Netonnet). Jeeves is still listed
while the other two are purchased.
The "established" companies that fell most heavily in the IT crash, were ABB and Ericsson. The former
company mainly because their newly acquired U.S. subsidiary Combustion Engineering had been sued by a
lot of American adventurers who claimed that they were worried that they would get asbestosis because
they, like, walked past the places where they installed an asbestos-clad oil boiler. The suits were so many
and on so much money that there were speculations about that the company would go bankrupt. And they
were forced to make a rights issue. Fortunately, for their part, they succeeded, however, in time to sell its
Swedish subsidiary ASEA STAL to the French company Alcatel-Alstohm before it was sued on even more
money, because of poorly designed power plant turbines. Moreover, was (and still is) ABB a very
competitive and large companies in their core business (components for the electric grid). And it was also
then easy to see that the electricity networks in many countries stood facing both small and large
modernization demands due to the age of the network and that the customers (power and electricity
companies) had plenty of money for these upgrades.
215

In addition, the electric networks are significantly larger and contains significantly more wear parts than
other infrastructure networks such as for mobile phones. The latter was (and is) Ericsson's specialty. And
Ericsson had over many years earned big money, because they were more or less world leader in that area.
But sooner or later, the networks are more or less complete and/or competitors will catch up with a following
price decrease. Probably both cases were true here. In addition, Ericsson had in many cases businessfinanced
the networks themselves and in the general recession the company's receivables from customers
became less worth. Both ABB and Ericsson survived, however. ABB through reaching a deal with the
Americans and Ericsson since they managed change operations on to a new track, that is not so dependent on
that the mobile network is constantly growing. Namely the maintenance of existing networks to their
previous customers.
In the 2002 crash, I bought ABB shares for 24.50 SEK/pcs., Participated fully in the rights issue and
therefore bought seven new shares for every ten old at the price 23.15 SEK/pcs. And then sold the shares in
2007 for 125 SEK/each.
In the ensuing crash (2007) companies fell on a broad front, but cyclical companies such as Trelleborg and
Volvo fell the most, since investors and experts thoght they had so little cash that they would find it hard to
hibernate when their customers stopped shopping. Additionally some banks (especially Swedbank) fell
significantly because they actually risked substantial losses because they had lent lots of money to the local
real estate rally in the Baltic states.
I was optimistic and did not think any of these companies would go bankrupt and therefore bought shares in
all three of them. All three investments were successful and most successful was the one in Trelleborg. Since
I bought for 37.80 SEK/pcs. in November 2008, recieved two subscription rights for each share, which I sold
for 20.80 SEK/pcs., and then I sold the original shares for 53.75 SEK/pcs. in January 2010. It made a total
profit of 58 SEK/share, which is more than double the money in just over a year.
Although Swedbank had been a fantastic bargain for those who hit their lowest price even better than me and
bought for 15 SEK/share in March 2009. And then participated in the rights issue (one share gave a
subscription rights and with two rights one could buy one new share for 39 SEK) or, like me, sold the
subscription rights for 12.40 SEK/pcs. and later sold the original shares for around SEK 90 the year after.
Generally some companies hardly dips at all in some crisis, while others decrease pretty heavily (as seen in
figure 2). Those who usually do not dip in a recession are called non-cyclic companies. And they are so
called because their products are ones that people always need, such as clothing, hygiene products and
pharmaceuticals. The cyclical companies are those that in contrary lose a lot of sales in a recession. These
include companies that sell durable goods like cars, refrigerators, construction materials and boxes for
durable goods (a very important branch in Sweden) or advertising-related products such as various types of
newsprint paper. The latter because advertising goes down in a recession and hence also the need for paper
to press ads on. Most sensitive to economic cycles is probably the companies that live on to be consultants
for companies with cyclical products.
216

As hopefully seen in the earlier reasoning the prices on the stock markets follows the general trend in the
economy. And from the end of World War II until the early seventies it was in Sweden ever-upward (see the
chapter The developments in Sweden during the 1900s). This was probably due to several factors:
- Swedish industry had a advantage compared to competitors in the rest of the Western world, because we
were not in World War II.
- During the period the use of a wide number of goods, such as televisions, cars, washing machines and more
expanded heavily. Because they did not exist for ordinary people in the past, and thus the demand for them
was high.
- There were a lot of effectivisation in all kinds of production during the period (one reason among others
was that machines took over the heavy duties), which could press down product prices, although wages
increased.
- The women entered the labor market and thus the households economy got better.
- Society as a whole got more efficient with better infrastructure (roads, telephones, etc.), equipment (cars,
computers, etc.) and more effective life (hot water, supermarkets, etc.).
When oil prices chock-increased, competitor countries came up, the infrastructure started to be "finished"
and people "had" what it took (at the time we did not replace old equipment just because that it was’nt the
latest fashion), the crises came.
In the late 1980s, it became once again a huge rush for everything and it was caused by significantly reduced
import restrictions in our export markets and that it became very much easier to borrow money. The former
increased the demand for Swedish products and the latter generated equity for all, to increase domestic
consumption.
At the end of the 1990s, the race was founded in that the "new" technologies computers, digital cellular
networks, internet and the like, developed severe (see the chapter A quick course for future inventor) and it
happened to benefit the Swedish business community in general and some companies in particular (Ericsson,
ABB, Volvo and others), because the technology created new generations of products that increased the
customers demands.
What may in the future generate a new rush for the benefit of Swedish business And what could be the
foundation for the next recession Right now there is a politically generated wave of new schools, clinics,
kindergartens, et cetera. It creates, of course, jobs. But because the market is not expanding (population in
Sweden is relatively constant) and they'll be fighting for the same money (the goverments tax incomes) this
trend can not continue indefinitely and over time the risk of setbacks in the policy increases.
Often, however, the cause of the economic crisis has been housing bubbles (as in Sweden 1991-93 and in the
U.S. 2007-2009). Perhaps China is now moving into a housing bubble, as land prices have increased in big
cities and in a short time a huge number of apartments has been built that apparently to some extent are
empty today.
In pace with population growth and the global rise in living standards, the consumption of non-renewable
raw materials such as oil and metals increases. It is partly compensated by that new discoveries are maid and
that old, previously uneconomic deposits, are extracted again. But partly because of the time it takes to start
a mine, the price of raw materials increases and hence also the value of mining companies (such as Lundin
Petroleum, Boliden and others). When all the new mines is in operation and the Chinese and the Indians
have a large amount of raw materials thirsty products such as cars and refrigerators in recycling, the value of
the raw material companies might fall again. And we thus face a commodity crash.
217

The observant viewer of charts 1 - 3 notes that most companies, especially those that were not subject to the
crisis, rather quickly was back on the track a few years after each crisis. Based on the above, the following
simple, and historically profitable, investment philosophy might be formulated:
Only buy shares in the recession and then buy in stable, but cyclical, businesses that are pulled down
by the general price decline. Preferably buy shares in companies that in the current recession have
dropped undeserved much because the other companies in the same industry (or related) has been hit
especially hard. Then sell then shares when a few years has passed of an economic boom.
It sounds simple, but many act just the opposite. The longer and steadier an upswing has lasted, the greater
risks many investors are willing to take, even though the end of the rise reasonably gets closer and closer.
While they during the stock market decline is too cautious.
Facts box in an article about savings during
the economic crisis in Greece in May 2010.
According to it, we sold more shares than
what we bought. Although the majority of
the stock exchange company in the spring
and reported rising profits and despite the
fact that the Greek economy has relatively
little impact on the world economy. The
behavior suggests that after the last year's
decline in the stock market people has
become more cautious.
One way to strategically deal with the fact that it is not until afterwards possible to knew when the
top/bottom was reached, is to act according to a well known roulette strategy. Which works as follows: start
by investing a certain amount, say 100 SEK on a choice like red/black. If the bet is lost, bet 200 SEK. If thar
also is lost, bet 300 SEK. The point is that when gamler finally wins, he will get back everything he lost and
win some. Translated into purchasing shares in a period of falling stock markets, the strategy could look like
this:
You have 15 000 SEK and you would like to buy shares for these. When you first think it's time, you invest
5 000. If the shares go up all the time you have made a profit and can be satisfied. If it continues downwards,
you invest an additional 5 000 and hope it turns around. If it does not you can also take advantage of this,
and get more bang for the last 5 000.
The catch with the simple reasoning about buying in a recession is, beyond that it will take a long time, that
when there is a sale on the stock market, there is no money and when there is money, many are too eager to
wait and invests despite the economic boom. In the latter situation, it is much more important to buy shares
in the right business. Unlike the situation during a recession, as it generally is possible to make money on
shares in any of the large stable company that have fallen much.
Some companies will rise regardless of the economy and some will fall even in the midst of a boom. That's
because they have done some kind of success, respectively a failure. Most often, however, they are small
companies whose rise or fall does not affect more than a small group of investors (and, of course, the
corporate’s employees). And their fates on the Stock Exchange does not say much about the stock market in
general. To reflect this, the small companies are more or less removed from the data that shows how the
market goes. This is done through a system called "stock market index". The system is based on the larger
market capitalization the company has, the greater the effect of price changes in the company has on the
stock market index. Unlike the mean values in graphs 1 and 2. So when it say’s in the papers is that the stock
market for examplehas risen one per cent, it means that the stock market index rose one per cent and that in
turn means that the majority of the few really big companies have risen. The small companies, however, may
largely have gone either way.
218

It does need not be difficult to, at all economic situations, find price worthy shares on the exchange. The
easiest way is to read the buying advice that is constantly published in our economy magazines. But as an
individual, it can be difficult to keep up with when a stock has become recommended 2 and thus increases in
price. In particular, it does not feel as fun to pay, for example, 10% more than the week before.
2.
The majority of all transactions occurs between institutional investors. Which means that those who
choose to make the deals does not make a personal profit (excluding any bonus). These people probably
have as their primary incentive to do a good job, without departing from the institution's investment rules.
Probably therefore many of the institutions follows the recommendations that different financial
institutions publish. The people working with writing recommendations, in turn, must of course always
come up with new ones, to show that they are doing well. As a rule they base their recommendations on
economic data in the present (mainly the current and next year's earnings). And not on an assessment of
the business strategy, products and so on.
The effect of this is that: Even if a company seems to have very good potential to increase in value on the
stock market, it may be that nothing happens with the share price despite that the market index goes up.
Since the company's figures for the moment is not good. Once they are good enough according to the
analyzists, the major investors will start buying and then the price can go rapidly upwards. The same also
applies in the reverse case, i. e. when the stock goes down.
An analysis of what
construction company,
listed on the
Stockholm Stock
Exchange, that is the
best buy. The article
focuses almost
entirely on what the
profit will be (crossed
out in yellow).
Individuals, however, can react on things that authors of recommendations do not usually respond on. I.e.
information from the company about things that tends to be positive for the share price in the long term
without having an effect on the profit at the moment, such as stock splits, extraordinary dividends and
dividends of subsidiaries.
It was noticed for instance when the Board of Directors of Electrolux presented the proposal to distribute
their subsidary Husqvarna to shareholders. Then happened, curiously enough, not much with the share price
(chart 6). The alert share speculator who believed that 1 Electrolux + 1 Husqvarna would be worth more than
1 Electrolux, had quite a lot of time to buy into the company before the price peaked in 2005-2007. The one
that, like me, bought shares for Type 80 SEK/pcs., Could a few years later sell them for 180 SEK/each. and
and also sell the "free" shares in Husqvarna for about 100 SEK/each. Moreover receive nearly 10 SEK in
annual dividend per share from Electrolux and the extra dividend of 20 SEK/ each. in January 2007. Finally
Husqvarna, in May 2007, gave the shareholders 3 A shares for every 10 shares (regardless of if the
previously owned shares were A or B shares).
219

200,00
Electrolux B
180,00
Stängningskurs (kr) .
160,00
140,00
120,00
100,00
Suggestion: extra divident 20 SEK/pcs.
80,00
60,00
40,00
Suggestion: distribute Husqvarna AB.
00-01-03
01-01-03
02-01-03
03-01-03
04-01-03
05-01-03
06-01-03
07-01-03
08-01-03
09-01-03
10-01-03
11-01-03
Datum
Chart 6. The price of the Electrolux share 2000-2011 according to its website, with some press releases highlighted.
In addition, one can argue generally around most businesses and it would not have been unreasonable to
come up with that for example:
In the early 1970s, the cars in Sweden where either made in Europe or in the U.S.. Then came a number of
Japanese manufacturers (Datsun, Toyota and Mazda) and they soon became serious competitors to the
established brands. Meanwhile, the large Swedish shipyards and European apparel industry have been
knocked out by competitiors from the East. Young Chinese companies are growing because they produce
much cheaper than the old companies in developed countries. Just as Japanese companies did long ago. They
can produce cheaper, because they have talented workforce with significantly lower wages than in the old
industrial countries. But they have basically the same costs for raw material (including energy), unknown
brands and long transportation routes to markets in the West. Which means that the less bulky, commodity
demanding and prestigious the products are, the greater the risk that the old industrial companies will be
ousted by Chinese manufacturers. And it is evident in that, for example, western companies that manufacture
computers have had it rough. As IBM, the once largest manufacturer, which sold their personal computer
manufacturing to a Chinese company and now mostly deals with professional service. What industry is the
next in line Appliance manufacturers The forest industry Truck manufacturers Software companies
The Swedish appliance Manufacturer (Electrolux), is probably not so threatened because refrigerators
require quite a lot of raw materials, are bulky to transport and requires quiet little assembly work (since they
contain significantly fewer components than for instance computers).
The forest industry has a relative advantage in that it costs a lot to build new mills, but they do not require as
much staff. Instead, they need to be close to raw materials and customers and that the wood and electricity
prices are low. The latter factors, except timber prices, speak for that the Swedish forest industry would
withstand a possible threat from the east. And concerning timber prices, this factor has so far been minimal
because the fast-growing forest closer to the equator do not have the fiber needed for many paper products.
However, a subset of the forest industry is the Internet and especially e-readers that in the long run probably
will significantly reduce the need for printing paper.
220

On the other hand, the average temperature in Sweden are increasing and it will in the long run benefits
companies that own a lot of forest land in northern Sweden (Holmen and SCA).
For truck manufacturers, I also believe that we can be hopeful, as the customers, far more than car owners,
are dependent on having vehicles that are constantly working. Because if a truck breaks down it is not just
for the driver to sits in a taxi and get driven to the destination. The truck owner is thus more interested than
private motorists in that the supplier has plenty of workshops in their area of activity and rapid distribution
of spare parts. Which have the effect that truck manufacturers, to a greater extent than car manufacturers,
buy into (for them) new markets, instead of starting from scratch. This has, in addition to technical barriers
such as that we in Sweden previously required crash tests of the cabins, made the former foreign and now
overseas manufacturers unrepresented on Swedish roads.
I think, however, that software manufacturers are in trouble because they have basically only staff costs and
no commodity or shipping charges. But so far, the industry has kept up.
As more and more of Europe’s infrastructure and buildings are already completed, the need for future
construction will be lower and lower (given a relatively constant population, which is pretty likely according
to the current population growth). This in turn is a disadvantage for construction companies like Skanska,
NCC and JM, forest industries in general and pure sawmill companies, like CF Berg, in particular.
Many countries in Europe are facing an increasing number and proportion of older people, which ultimately
favors companies with products such as incontinence protection dipers (SCA), medicines (see below) and
companies that manufacture products that reduce the need for employees, such as assembly robots (ABB) or
remote shelf labels on store shelves (Pricer).
With better and better medicines and medical equipment for the cure of major diseases, the chans to develop
future cash cows in the pharmaceutical industry decreases. And thus piling up problems for pharmaceutical
companies with expensive organization that has built its economy on the development of amazing drugs that
they could sell with a high price for during the 17 years they had patents. This applies to the listed drug
giants Pfizer and AstraZeneca. On the other hand, the population is older and therefore more in need of all
kinds of medicines. There will also be globally more and more people who can afford to buy medicines. And
the national requirements for dosing accuracy, documentation, quality control, et cetera to get permission to
sell them, are so high that it is a barrier for newcomers.
The more people that use the Internet, the less need they have for directories and thus the company that
makes these (Eniro), will earn less money in the future. They of course also offer a search service online, but
it should be more difficult to make money on that, since there are several others that are able to compete.
With smaller, cheaper and better electrical tools the need for air-powered onesought to be reduced. This in
turn discourages firms that very much earn their money on manufacturing pneumatic equipment (in Sweden
mainly Atlas Copco).
When private equity companies takes over a company, they sell off all assets that can sell, before they sell
the company further or introduces it on the exchange. Thus companies that were previously owned by
private equity firms (such as Arise, Byggmax, Lindab and Nobia) has very little assets to sell in bad times.
And hence they are very likely to fall more than average when the recession comes.
IP telephony and other services (Skype, Rebtel, Whatsapp, Viber, etc.) that allowsus to make free calls over
the computer or the mobile network and/or send free SMS messages is a threat to telephone companies (like
TeliaSonera and Tele2).
221

Some share speculators have a completely different tactics than buying in a recession and sell in the boom.
There are even speculators who buy shares and then sell them again on the same day, regardless of the
economy. They are called "day traders." The advantage compared to holding the shares for a long time is
that those who are lucky and skilled can increase the "wealth" faster. The major disadvantages of daytrading
is partly that it forces the practitioner to sit and stare at the stock prices and financial news sites throughout
the day. And also that the risk is high that it sometime leads to depressive thoughts (which is bad enough),
and also it can excite him to do really desperate deals ending with that the money disappears.
The hardest part of tactics to buy in the recession, and sell when it is booming, as previously discussed, is to
know when it is appropriate to sell. An option to sell shares is, of course, to retain them. The advantage of
this is that one avoids guessing when they are at their peak. The downside is that they perhaps will go down
quite sharply again in the next recession. But it has its advantages to retain shares for long, regardless of the
daily rate:
1. Dividend. Many companies provide an annual dividend in the range of type 2-5% of the average market
price and sometimes more. How great the next dividend is expected can be seen in the morningpaper’s stock
listings. As a rule, swedish companies hand out the money once a year, a day after the company held their
annual general meeting when the Board's proposed dividend has been decided. The dividend itself is positive
and with enough shares it’s a significant contribution to the economy. Those who are content to consume the
cash the dividend provides and owns shares in companies that they believes will continue to go well and thus
will continue to pay dividends, can stop thinking about the prices of the stocks.
2. Fun to own. It might give some people pleasure to know that they are shareholders in companies they like.
The pleasure of shopping clothes at HM may become larger as an owner of the firm. The locals can brighten
their walks through the city throug being a shareholder in any of the listed property owners whose signs
adorn buildings around the inner city. This applies above all to: Wallenstam (residential houses),
Hufvudstaden and AtiumLjungberg (office and retail properties). Ski trips may be enhanced by the
knowledge that you are the owner of a portion of Skistar. Generally every company owns something. Some
(such as SCA and Holmen) owns forests that are undervalued and in addition possible to sell to many
different buyers. While other companies' assets are primarily not for real (such assets are called goodwill)
that comes from when they acquired companies for more money than was justified by the acquired
companies' booked assets. What different company ís not allways easy to find out, but it should be possible
to find it out in the companies' annual reports. These can generally be downloaded from the respective
company's website.
3. Other benefits. Many companies offer their shareholders, in my experience, more than just dividends.
There is at least some form of refreshments at the annual meeting. Sometimes even dinner with beer or wine.
Other handle, on the meeting, out samples of their products. Several regularly publishes a magazine to the
shareholders about the industry, company and sometimes other things that might be interesting. There are
also a few companies that provides special benefits discounts on ski rental and the like (www.skistar.com):
"For those of you who own shares in SkiStar can obtain a are discount. We offer a 15% discount on prebooked
ski passes, ski school and ski rental at SkiStar. The easiest way is to book everything on the web, and
get the discount deducted directly. Do you own at least 200 SkiStar shares and are registered in our
customer database, which is updated monthly about 10 business days after the end of the month, you are
eligible for discounts."
4. Power. A large proportion of all the shares in the companies that are listed on the Stockholm Stock
Exchange are owned by individuals or organizations that exercise power in the companies through
ownership that they are represented in the boards of directors. This opportunity is open to anyone with
enough money. Which in most cases, is so much that only very few people can afford. Though there are
exceptions. In businesses such as the trading and engineering conglomerate Midway, for example, it would
with today's stock prices be theoretically possible to purchase 1% of the voting rights (100 000 Class A
shares) for just over two million SEK.
222

A variant to trading stocks is to trade stock options. A buy/call option is a document that gives the holder the
right to buy a certain share a certain date at a certain price. And a sell option implies a corresponding right to
sell a stock at a given price. The point of these instruments for a purchaser of a call option is that it is much
cheaper than the shares themselves. Thus, he might be able to afford to buy 1 000 call options when he or
she otherwise had only afforded 50 shares. If, at the pre-specified date, the shares are worth more than what
the options give the owner the right to buy them for, every option is worth the difference. I have very limited
experience with these instruments, but I can say that it is much more like lottery than what regular stock
trading is. Because they do not cause any ownership in the company that can pay dividends, et cetera.
Though it is much more likely that it's a winning tickets compared to them issued by gaming companies.
Mutual funds
Mutual funds use the capital that is inserted to buying shares according to the Fund's strategy. The strategy
can be to invest in small companies on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, major U.S. corporations or
companies with products in environmental engineering. The advantage of such funds compared to directly
owning shares in companies with the desired profile is that investors do not have to think about which
companies that are appropriate and when it is appropriate to buy or sell their shares. Moreover, it is possible
to automate a monthly saving, which means that the investments are made without effort. In addition, mutual
funds may be a beneficial option for those who want to invest in a foreign stock that is difficult to invest in
via the common channels for direct purchase of shares.
The disadvantage are however that:
1. Fund managers will continuously charge a fee for their services that reduces the capital compared with
directly owned shares. And for those who are eager for shares in foreign companies online brokers now
offer trading on far more exchanges than the Swedish. Avanza (www.avanza.se), for example, offers an
opportunity to trade directly on the stock exchange in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Germany,
Austria, Australia, USA and Canada.
2. The investors are not able to exploit information on the newspapers financial pages, or personal feelings
for a single company through increasing or decreasing the holdings in that particular company. They can
instead in can generally only act on general information about economic fluctuations.
3. Fond owner do not get information about the companies in the same way as direct ownership provides,
because they does not get corporate reports. But even for those who obtain the information by other
means, it is difficult to grasp how that information will affect the fund. Since it is hard to, in the moment,
know how much shares they own in the company. Probably the easiest way to have some information
about what the various funds, in the moment, owns is to go on the Finacial Inspections
(Finansinspektionens) website. Since all public share funds must fully disclose their holdings to the
inspection each quarter. And they post these reports on their website under the tabs "market" and "fund
holdings."
One reason that so many, despite the drawbacks, buy mutual funds instead of buying shares is probably that
we meet far more advertising to invest in mutual funds than in stocks. This is because market players earn
considerably more money if someone buy mutual funds than stocks. However, there are alternatives that to
some extent combines the advantages of the one and the other, in the form of investment companies.
The ier of these are to hold shares in other companies. On the Stockholm Stock Exchange's there are both
pure investment company that only are part owners of other companies without driving any own operations
and those that also has operations in the form of subsidiaries. The first type is in the current situation
represented by: Industrivärden, Melker Schörling, Latour and Öresund. The second is represented by:
Investor, Lundberg, Ratos and Traction.
223

The main advantage of owning shares in investment compared to owning shares in a mutual fund is that
every SEK invested in these give a share of the company's assets that are worth more than a SEK. Which is
called net asset value discount. The second biggest advantage is they can reasonably manage their
investments better than equity funds because they:
1. Have a greater pressure on themselves to add value to their capital than what individual mutual funds are,
since they are much more in media focus.
2. Everyone in the company is focused on a single portfolio, as opposed to the company that manages
mutual funds.
3. They usually have so much and so strong voting shares in the companies they own, that they more or less
control the development of these.
4. They have, due to what was described above, reasonably far more insight into each company and thus can
better assess the company's and the industry's future. And thus, they can take wiser decisions on
increasing or decreasing an investment.
5. Since they are constantly working in close contact with the companies they invested in, they gets in
contact with skilled employees that they can use in board of directors in other companies they own.
Which reasonably make the boards more intelligent and competent than otherwise.
6. They are not forever bound to a certain strategy, like many equity funds are, instead they can completely
focus on making profitable deals.
7. The portfolio and the money they manage are not affected by the market price of their shares. Unlike
standard mutual funds, which are forced to buy and sell shares in proportion to the amount of money
flowing into and out of the fund.
8. They have no requirement to always have a certain amount of funds invested. Which means that they can
better accumulate money and wait until it is time to buy.
9. The value of the investment company's holdings minus loans are often higher than their total market
value.
10. They can borrow against their equity portfolio and creates, at least in good times, a positive leverage for
their capital.
11. They usually hand out an annual dividend well above bank rates.
Net asset value per share ((value of assets - liabilities)/share), what they own and if they have representatives
in the owned companies' boards are to be found on each company's website. This in turn is reached by
example through the stock lists on Dagens Industri's website.
The disadvantages are mainly:
1. It is more difficult for investment companies to sell an investment that they no longer believe in, because
they own so much shares in their investments that if they sold them on the market the price would drop
dramatically. And even rumors that they intend to sell an investment will reduce the price of it because, if
a major shareholder sells its shares, it is interpreted at that the company in question is in troubble.
2. The risks are far less widespread because investment companies' money is invested in a much smaller
range of firms than almost any fund at any time.
3. Administrative costs are higher because the portfolio revenues shal finance a whole staff of people and the
production of annual reports, et cetera.
4. It is more complicated to buy shares than to invest in an mutual fund, since in the former case, there must
be some form of deposit account that shares "are placed in" and the buyer has to choose a bid price.
Unlike standard mutual funds. Where the buyer only needs to go to the bank and tell them to put this or
that much money in the fund.
5. It is easier to get "anxiety" over the fluctuations in value of the investmentcomany and it’s assets, because
it is show so clearly in the stock market lis, which is in amy papers and even on TVt. Compared with ditto
lists for different mutual funds that are much more obscure. Moreover, it is much easier to remember the
buying price of a single share than ditto for a mutual fund.
224

Currency trading
I have no experience of such trade, but I know a person who has traded a lot with currencies. According to
him, one can, at forex trading sites like www.oanda.com, with relatively little money but a lot of effort build
up capital in a relatively short time. It is possible that this is true. Though he had to sit with eyes glued to a
number of curves all the time he had positions in different currencies, not to miss any increase or decrease, it
seems even much more boring than day trading shares. Moreover, it is more of a zero sum game where
currencies are always going up and down in relation to each other, in contrast to the shares that may go up
across the board. For those interested, oanda has an exercise routine:
https://fxtrade.oanda.com/your_account/fxtrade/register/game/signup
Bonds
Bonds are loan documents in which governments, municipalities and companies promise to pay a certain
amount with a certain interest to the owner of the document. So it is pretty much the same as putting the
money in the bank, but with the difference that the money is not covered by the State bank guarantee and the
interest rate is usually higher. That is normally a very slow way to multiply their capital. Besides possibly if
anyone bought "used" corporate bonds at bargain prices in troubled times.
Corporate bonds are as the name suggests bonds issued by companies that need to borrow money. I have no
personal experience of corporate bonds, but I know that they are considered more uncertain than government
bonds because companies more often than states go bankrupt. Though they are reasonably safer than shares
in the same company, because as long as there is money left in the company, it is obliged to pay back the
loan at maturity. And if the company goes bankrupt, the bondholders, in contrast to the shareholders, have
right to a part of the bankruptcy estate. However, they have less potential to rise in value as shares have,
though there are sometimes opportunities to make a great deal. When, for example, ABB shares fell like a
stone the second hand price of their bonds also dropped significantly. Which meant that the relative intrest
rate got extremely high. The hook with such bonds is that the ability for individuals to deal with them is
limited. A broker (www.swedbank.se) describes it like this:
"Corporate bond gives higher yields, but in most cases also have higher credit risk and lower liquidity than
a government bond or mortgage bond.
The return varies depending on the assessed credit risk and maturity, which varies between one and ten
years. Corporate bonds have good liquidity and can at any time be bought and sold during the term.
The price of a corporate bond with a fixed coupon noted in the form of an annual effective rate and is
determined by the current market rate.
A corporate bond is a debt instrument issued by state-owned companies and major industrial companies but
also other companies to borrow money in the long run. To make it easier for investors to assess the credit
risk of the companies that issue corporate bonds the borrower allows any of the rating agencies Standard &
Poor's, Moody's or Fitch to conduct an evaluation of the borrower's ability to timely meet its financial
commitments.
More facts about Corporate Bonds
Minimum investment amount is usually 1 million
Delivery and settlement date is three business days after the end
Interest on corporate bonds available upon request
More information
Your bank mediates contact the bank specialists to help you with prices and find the best solution"
225

An equity bond is a product consisting of a bond without interest, published by the issuing agent (usually
one of our banks), and call options. The call options are in turn contracts the bank to buy a particular
company's stock at a specified price at a date in the future. Equity-linked bonds may have names, such as
tiger 2015, energy 2016 th . And that means that the issuer intends to buy options in companies in tiger
economy countries or energy companies. I've had a few different index-linked bonds. As a rule, they have
unfortunately been a pretty bad investments with little or no added value. This also applies to bonds
purchased in times of global recession that expired during a recent economic boom.
One reason for the low value growth is that the banks are taking a rather high fee for each bond. As in the
example below where the bank (Handelsbanken) takes 1 000 SEK in fee for a bond that is on 10 000 SEK.
Another reason is that the bonds have a fixed end date and who knows how the current stock market looks
like at that specific time
Another variant are the convertible bonds. They are issued by companies as corporate bonds and gives some
interest to the date the loan is to be paid back by the company. In addition, they give the holder the right to
purchase a number of shares in the company after a predetermined date for a certain predetermined price (the
conversion price), which often corresponds to the value of the bond including the accrued interest. The
benefits to the issuing company compares to the usual way to take loans or issuing corporate bonds is that
they can get a lower interest rate because buyers are compensated by the chance that the share price reaches
above the predetermined price.
The advantage compared to directly issue new shares, are that the latter, to be attractive for buyers, has to be
sold with at a discount compared with the shares that are already on the market. Because the conversion
price for the convertible bonds are usually higher than the current market price.
The advantage for the buyers of the convertible bonds is that the risk is lower compared to a purchases of the
shares, because they at least get back the money they lent, even if the price of the company's stock falls
below the conversion price. Given that the company does not go bankrupt. The disadvantages are that there
is less trading in convertible bonds compared with stocks so they can be more difficult, if necessary, to get
rid of them. Moreover, it is difficult to make a clip compared to buying shares. In addition, the shares
probably give dividends, which may even exceed the interest on the convertible bonds.
226

Retirement savings
Those who discuss private pension with me, I usually ask why they are thinking about this type of saving.
This is since for many persons it would be directly idiotic to save for the retirement, because they take
money they could use to repay loans or save to nearby investments instead of lending to them. Which had
benefited the economy at present and in the future. Furthermore, when it is time to withdraw the money,
many people probably already have inherited their parents savings in some form. Moreover, they probably
have lower costs then because the children are adults, most capital goods are already bought and
amortization and inflation has reduced the relative housing costs. Finally, the pension assets will reduce their
future housing supplement, which for many is an important source of income after retirement. The only real
point of private pension savings, is for those with savings have an income that is below the breakpoint for
state income tax. Because the rest will gain less on the tax reduction on retiremen savings than what they
will pay in tax on the savings when they take them out as pension.
Warning! A thirst after something is a stronger feeling than the
feeling that arrives when the thirst is extinguished.
That goes for the thirst after water as well as wealth.
227

Other investments
There are a variety of investments that can yield returns and eventually create a small fortune for the owner
in addition to those previously mentioned. But most of these are for the eventual success entirely depends on
how much time and skill owner contributes with. And these will be such a big part of life that it is rather a
case of a lifestyle change than an investment. For it, in my opinion, to be a matter of an investment, the
income that the object generates shall not be linked to the number of hours the owner puts into the business.
For example, according to this definition is not an investment to buy a grill kiosk and manage it yourself.
However, it is an investment to buy a multifamily house even if it is run down and renovated by the owner.
In the following a number of such investments are discusses.
Forest and land
Forest and farmland are quantified in hectares (ha). A hectare is 100 x 100 meters, for example, is something
more than a football filed, which is 0.7 ha. Traditionally forest land is valued based on the total volume of
wood of all the trees on the property put together. This volume, in a volume measure called forrst cubic
meters (m 3 sk), is then multiplied with a value that depends mainly on things like the general economy for the
moment and where the property is located, but also the tree species and their average age.
Average price per
forrest cubic meters,
according to the
leading brokerage
chain for forest
properties
(www.lrfkonsult.se).
The images are taken
from their website.
Priser på skogsfastigheter helår 2011
228

But this model is only partially true because there are other factors driving up prices:
- Proximity to a major urban area. Probably mainly because they are more interested potential buyers.
- A beautifully situated property often cost more than uglier ones.
- How well shaped the pieces of land are. With good shaped means that it is divided in a few different pieces
(each piece is called a shift), the shifts are more square than long, flat, rather than mountainous, beautiful,
close to water, et cetera.
- Fertile forest land costs more. The feritility is in Sweden with a figure called bonniteten. It tells you how
much growth in forest volume there is in a year and the figure shal be written in the prospectus, in terms of
average fertility (in Swedish medelbonitet):
- Small properties are valued higher per cubic meters than larger ones, probably because there are more
buyers who can afford it.
- High proportion mature trees raises the price.
- Low total price for the property will raise the price per cubic meters.
- Good hunting, i.e. wildlife-rich land, raise the price.
- Good forest roads.
Factors pushing prices down:
- The land is located in the backwoods.
- In areas where trees grow slowly, as in the mountain, the forest is cheaper per cubic meters, because the
trees are so skinny that one will get less volume in relation to the following work required to get new plants
to grow on the ground (which is a legal requirement), so the potential earnings per cubic meters of cutting
down the trees in the end will be much lower than for forests in fertile areas.
- A part of the forest should not be harvested (i.e. it is of type S3, see below).
- There is a recession.
- It happen to be few competing buyers.
- The seller is desperate.
- A large proportion of deciduous forest.
As a layman, it may seem impossible to estimate how many forrest cubic meters there are on the ground. But
fortunately at least the leading brokers, www.konsult.lrf.se, provides also this data in their sales prospectus.
229

The value of the forest is calculated
as told by the formula : total number
of cubic meters x average price /
forrest cubic meters, which in this
example and in the area
(Hälsingland) is 1508 m 3 sk x 369
SEK /m 3 sk = 556 452 SEK.
In addition to the 11,3 hectare
forested land listed in the table to
the right, the property also includes
5,2 hectares of land that is not
considered to have any value, and
5.6 hectares of arable land. Arable
land is valued in these parts to
between 25 to 30 000 SEK / ha,
although the income from the land is
very small or non-existent, which
means that the farmland is worth 5.6
x 25 000 to 5.6 x 30 000 = 140 000
to 168 000 SEK. Thus the summed
value of the property with the
current methods is between 696 000
to 724 000 SEK and the seller
herself wanted 700 000 SEK ,
otherwise she preferred to keep it.
Whoever buys the property may only cut down and sell the trees in the cutting classes G2, S1 and S2, and all
of that was taken down it would give 923 forrest cubic meters. The seller of that wood may in the current
situation get between 350-450 SEK/m 3 under the bark (written SEK/m 3 fub) after deducting the cost that the
harvesting causes, altogether it would be around maybe 450 000 SEK. From that one have to deduct the cost
of putting out new plants in the harvested land (it is statutory that the harvested area must be replanted with a
certain amount of plants within a certain time after harvest). The operation costs around 6-7 000 SEK/ha,
thus around 26 000 SEK. For the moment the purchase would lead to a loss of about 274 000 SEK
On the other hand, the buyer will have a piece of forest land that any grandchildren can harvest after about
100 years. But before that the trees classified as G1 and R2 will be mature for harvesting and then they will
contain many more forest cubic meters. In addition, the buyer may feel the joy of owning a part of the earth's
surface, that he for instance can hunt on (or the land can, if it is large enough, be leased out to someone
interested in hunting) and he or she might get lucky and be allowed to cut up the land for houses, in the
future. Finally, he could put a "summer cottage" on the fields in the form of a caravan or such building that
does not require planning permission (normally planning permission are not given for houses on forestland).
The cost of the future ownership is also quite low and consists of insurance against storm damage (about 500
SEK/year) and the first clearing in the young forest that provides so few forest cubic meters compared to the
effort that it requires that the owner has to injects money if he hires someone for the job. A forest owner with
bad luck can also be forced to pay for improvements to a common path, or get pests like moose, pine weevils
or spruce bark beetles. But besides clearing and measures to spruce bark beetle is the work required by the
landowner virtually nonexistent and in addition also the knowledge requirement.
230

The state think that the forest is an important
national resource, so they offer all owners
free advice and courses through the Forestry
Board (Skogsstyrelsen).
All forest owners can also join
one of Sweden's cooperative
forestry associations. It’s free
of charge and they provide
some benefits like free
counseling on site in your
forest. When it is time for
action in the forest, such as
thinning or final felling one
have, however, to pay for the
membership through that they
take a small portion of the
payment for the trees. But the
money is returned on the date
the membership ends, and in
between, they tend to give an
interest on the money well
above what the banks give.
But to make a, momentarily seen bargain in woodland it’s probably required that the purchase is made at a
time of recession and includes land with few competing buyers that drive up the price and a seller who is
willing to sell even at a lower price than what’s considered to be normal. Which is more likely if the seller is
a bank or the enforcement service.
231

Power plants
From personal experience, I know that, at least in the past, one have been able to earn a lot of money with
relatively little effort by investing in hydropower plants. When electricity was cheap (chart 7) and grants to
small hydropower plants were low or not there at all, the industry was so un-profitable that many small
hydropower plants were sold very cheap, or closed because of the necessary investments were not
considered to be viable. But with today's electricity prices, combined with the grants handed out, under
certain circumstances, to owners of small power plants, they generates annual net revenues in the vicinity of
the previous purchase price and the total investments. However, this has resulted in that the price of the few
commercially available plants skyrocketed. Additionally, the grants are not forever. For existing plants the
grants lasts only to 2013, with possible extension opportunities. For those who are renovating their power
stations, wich at least include: elimination of any deficiencies in waterways, change of turbine vanes,
renovation of the generator, and installation of a modern control system. In addition, there is a risk/chance 3
that electricity prices will eventually fall. It would be technically and economically viable, in some cases, to
restore and start-up previously closed facilities as they, at present, are guaranteed grants for 15 years. But
this requires a government permission, which unfortunately it is often almost impossible to get.
However, there are also for hydropower, some other benefits of ownership beyond the purely economic:
+ The feeling of owning something that is permanent (land).
+ In many of the small hydro power plants I have seen, the power plant building is much larger than what is
needed for the operation itself, which means that there is space to, for instance, store things.
+ Hydro power plants are naturally always on scenic spots beside a river or a larger stream. For those who
are lucky, there may be an opportunity to build a holiday home in one of the outbuildings that may belong
to the plant. Or to put a caravan.
+ The watercourse adjacent to the station means a piece of own waters.
Cons:
- Electricity prices may be on the way down.
- Subsidies disappear.
- Hydroelectric power plants require quite a lot of maintenance.
- All components wear out and replacement parts are expensive.
- Hydroelectric owners could end up in conflict with neighbors and authorities.
- Although if the power plant must be shut down the duty to maintain the dams and the like will remain, so
as to alter water levels upstream and downstream.
What determines whether an investment in hydropower will pay off is, of course, what price the product
(electricity) will be. Power plant owner may, broadly, and depending on the contract, have the same price as
the trading price on rhe spot market (often about 0,30 SEK/kWh). In addition, one gets a small amount from
the local network owner, since the plant helps to keep the voltage up in the network (maybe 0,02 SEK/kWh)
and in the current situation, grants (Type 0,20 SEK/kWh). Though later, as I said, for most small-scale
hydropower plants will disappear from 2013 and onwards. When I bought my plants at the end of the 1990s,
I received a fixed price for the electricity of 0,135 SEK/kWh + about 0,02 SEK/kWh from the network
owner. With that compensation, the production was not really profitable and therefore the supply of power
stations was rather large and at relatively low prices (around 2 SEK per kWh of annual production). Then
electricity prices rose dramatically (see chart 7) and, moreover the public subsidies increased. Nowadays, the
price might be around 4 SEK per kWh in annual production, despite the fact that revenues are likely to fall
sharply, making hydropower a bad investment at this time.
232

0,60
Average price each year
SEK
/kWh
0,50
0,40
0,30
0,20
Electricity
Energy
certifikates
Chart 7.
My electricity prices and
subsidies 2000-2011 excluding
the money from the net owner
(on average about 0,02 SEK/
kWh).
0,10
0,00
2000 2002 2004 2006
2008
2010
Year
Where are electricity prices heading Since a large proportion (approximately 50%) of all electricity
produced in the world today are produced with fossil fuels, it would be likely that the price of electricity will
follow the price of such fuels. That even if we in Sweden almost does not produce any electricity at all using
coal, gas or oil, since our network is connected to the grid in other countries. But the proportion produced by
fossil fuels will decrease. Since today's high electricity prices and the subsidies imposed on renewable
energy sources implies that the power companies are investing huge amounts of money to increase
production in the "clean" power plants (see chart 8). In addition, our neighboring countries, Norway and
Finnland are planning to increase production. In Denmark, however, production will decrease when they
close their coal-based power plants. Then add that electricity consumption will likely decrease as the devices
become more energy efficient, people choose to move to efficient heating systems for their homes and the
greenhouse effect reduces the need for heating. Moreover, the number of electricity-intensive industries
(which stands for, type 25% of the total electricity consumption in Sweden) probably will decrease in the
same way as they have done so far and the remaining will probably be more energy efficient. Overall, they
suggest that electricity prices eventually fall. The price of electricity could though be held up if we widely
started using electric cars or hydrogen cars (the hydrogen is the probably made using electricity) and/or that
we have a common electricity market with a country that has significantly higher electricity prices, such as
Germany.
Chart 8. Forecast of future electricity
production in Sweden from:
www.svenskenergi.se.
233

Regarding wind power, I have no personal experience. But I have hired the Swedish Metrologic Institute to
calculate what it would give to set one a pla once that appeared to be very windswept (it was next to the
hydroelectric power plant located in the mountains) and otherwise very suitable for me to put up a wind
turbine on because the ground was my own, it should not be a problem with the disturbing noise as it would
be relatively desolate and beside the even more disturbing rapids, I had a road to the place and my
transformer station with spare capacity was located just next door. Unfortunately it turned out that it would
not be profitable even with the grants and even though I had the chance to buy a cheap second-hand wind
turbine.
Shares in wind turbine is probably not an investment that has so much potential to increase in value or
generate a profit. However, there may be a way to reduce the private cost for electricity 3 in combination with
that it might be fun to own a part of a wind turbine.
3.
A share may cost, say, 25 000 SEK and the owner of the share has the right to purchase 4 000 kWh/year for, say
0.25 SEK/kWh (excluding taxes). Thus the investor might earn 0.10 SEK/kWh, which is 400 per year and share. A
return of 10%, therefore, with the guessed electricity prices. Other investments, such as bonds, does have a lower
interest rate but instead the investor receives the money back when the term expires. While when investing in wind
power, however, the investment is worth zero on the day the wind turbine is scrapped. There are also a few
additional drawbacks:
1. There is tax on the price reduction.
2. Anyone buying shares in wind power compounds has to buy all their electricity from the association or company.
Since you are only allowed to have one electricity supplier.
234

Apartment blocks
You can either buy expensive apartment buildings in areas where there is high demand for housing, or cheap
ditto in areas with a surplus of housing. In the first case, the risk is quite high that the ongoing operation (see
table 2) is in deficit but instead the increase in value can be large. In the latter case, there are good chances
for it to be a good operating surplus, if it is possible to fill all the rentable spaces. But the increase in value
may be the less or even negative. The best way is probably in between. i.e. to buy houses in areas that are
relatively popular but still not that expensive. Which may be exclusive locations in small towns or medium
attractive locations in larger cities.
Buying a house in bad positions or clean depopulated areas, however, is very risky. I was, for example,
about to buy a small apartment block in a small town in Dalarna in the late 1980's. Luckily, I jumped out of
the deal. About 20 years later, I saw that the same house again was for sale for about the same amount of
money, although it was then refurbished and had much higher standard than when I was going to buy it.
Later, I bought a house in one, as it turned out, lousy location in a faucet municipality of Stockholm.
Housing facilities were very nice, including several stoves and the building itself was so special and valuable
that it was even F-marked. Even so, I did not manage to find some that was willing to move into the later
empty spaces. Eventually, however, I sold the house at a profit, though it was not on equal to all work I’d
done to get the building in the condition and the pressures of having a commercial property that was loosing
money.
The operating surplus (see table 2) should not only cover the running costs but also generate savings that can
be utilized in future renovations. For sooner or later the house will have to undergo extensive renovations
and we have to save up for them, or that the value of houses has risen so much that there is room for
additional loans to cover the costs.
Table 2. Examples of data for some multifamily houses that has been for sale in a rather expansive half-big
Swedish town and calculated financial data.
Size
(m 2
rental
area)
Price
(requested)
Price /
unit
area
(m2)
Annual
rental
income
(SEK)
Annual
operating
cost of the
seller
(SEK)
Price
/
Annu
al
reven
ue
(SEK/
yearly
SEK)
Net
operating
income
excluding
interest
and
property
tax (SEK)
Interest
expense at
25% equity
investment
and 4%
interest rate
(SEK)
Real
estate
tax
(SEK)
Total
surplus
excluding
maintenanc
e costs
(SEK)
Estimated
annual
service/ma
intainance
cost
(SEK)
Net
revenue
(SEK)
Net
return
on
invested
capital
(%)
606 4 450 000 7343 517 000 146 350 12.01 370 650 133 500 9 600 227 550 32 000 195 550 17.58
440 3 540 000 8045 401 000 109 000 12.12 292 000 106 200 7 200 178 600 24 000 154 600 17.47
684 5 900 000 8626 703 000 166 000 10.99 537 000 177 000 16 800 343 200 56 000 287 200 19.47
696 5 200 000 7471 599 000 166 600 12.03 432 400 156 000 13 200 263 200 44 000 219 200 16.86
417 3 000 000 7194 351 000 103 825 12.14 247 175 90 000 7 200 149 975 24 000 125 975 16.80
234 1 795 000 7671 255 000 47 500 8.65 207 500 53 850 6 000 147 650 20 000 127 650 28.45
315 2 400 000 7619 250 000 100 000 16.00 150 000 72 000 6 000 72 000 20 000 52 000 8.67
300 1 700 000 5667 175 000 38 000 12.41 137 000 51 000 3 600 82 400 12 000 70 400 16.56
440 3 800 000 8636 350 000 50 000 12.67 300 000 114 000 6 000 180 000 20 000 160 000 16.84
The operating costs include operating expenses such as garbage collection, water, common electricity, heating,
cleaning and insurance. It does not cover the costs of maintenance, repairs, renovations and property tax.
Property tax is calculated according to the Tax Authority’s stipulated fixed maximum of 1 200 SEK for each dwelling
multiplied by the number of apartments.
Maintenance and repair costs are in my experience in the long run perhaps 4 000 SEK per apartment per year.
235

Mine and other property owners experience is that it is requires a fairly modest effort to manage small
apartment block and that it very well can be combined with other work.
To maintain the buildings in good condition and keep costs down for this it is necessary to have knowledge
of what steps need to be done and how they should be prioritized in relation to each other. To keep track of
this, systematic walk-through’s are the property owner's responsibility (see the chapter Building
management at a small scale). Furthermore, it is advantageous to be fairly handy. The financial management
is much simpler and consists mainly of a few different elements, which soon will become routine.
The biggest problem with owning real estate is none of the above. Instead, it’s the disputes that sooner or
later occur with any of the tenants because of interference, unpaid rents or damage.
However, there are also some marginal benefits of owning apartment buildings in addition to the income
and/or appreciation that they will hopefully generate:
+ The feeling of owning something lasting (i.e. land).
+ New acquaintances as tenants and artisans.
+ If necessary, perhaps a home of their own.
Cons:
- Hard to handle conflict with problematic tenants.
- The houses must be constantly managed.
- There is always a risk that something serious occurs that requires urgent and costly measures.
236

Individual homes
An alternative to investing in apartment blocks is to buy individual apartments and sublet it. In the UK it is
very common and I know several people who have done it there. In Sweden, it is less common because:
1. The rents that can be taken, without the risk of being liable to repay to the tenant, is quite low in
relation to the investment in the cities where it is easy to get tenants.
2. Property Law Associations usually does not like the business and it is reasonable to believe that they
will not let such tenancies continue for an extended period. Unlike from the UK where they have
another type of condominiums, which among other things is resulting in that the owners do not need
to ask anyone for permission to sublet.
The variants that are common in Sweden is instead to rent out summer residence’s during periods when
the owners do not utilize it themselves, or buy a bigger apartment/villa/holiday home to live in yourself
and make some of it to a separate residence for rent (or to build a smaller house on the property for the
same purpose). The first variant has the disadvantage tha,t beyond regarding mountain huts, the season is
very short.
Say that it is possible to rent out a vacation home, for example, on Gotland from graduation until school
starts again. Thus, at a maximum about 10 weeks. Suppose the landlord on average get 4 000 SEK/
week. Then a season would give 40 000 SEK. It departs perhaps 1 000 SEK for garbage collection, 3 000
for insurance, 3 000 in property taxes, maintenance (maybe) 5 000, electricity 1 500 SEK, a total of
perhaps 10 000 per season, and thus the gain will be around 30 000. A gain that is also quite easy to hide
from the tax authorities. But if the house costs 1.2 million SEK and the interest rate is 4%, the cost of
capital after tax deductionsis type 40 000 SEK. A back business thus. But if the owner uses the house in
the second part of the year, or live in the guest house during the high season, the rental may be a way to
finance a dream that he or she would not otherwise be able to afford. But the risk is always that it will
not be leased out or that a tenant generates costly repairs.
If the dwelling is on warmer latitudes, however, the season is much longer and the chance of a positive
return is much higher.
.
237

Building management at a small scale
There are a lot of demands of economic, social and technical nature required from a multifamily house
owner. In addition, he/she has to go through all of the possibilities offered on various technological
"improvements". And he should also develop the product to, if possible, improve the economy. This chapter
summarizes information needed to perform the administrative task successfully, but isn’t obvious to know
about. Especially for those who, more or less involuntarily and without the guidance of experienced
colleagues, ended up as house owners. Which might be the case for those who are elected to the board of the
Housing association where they happened to live.
238

Regulatory requirements
Just as in all other areas, the property management industry is regulated by laws and government directives,
the most relevant ones are probably the following:
Subletting
You as a property owner decides 1 (Justitiedepartementet 1970:994) if to allow subletting or not. And there
are several reasons not to do it. The most important one is that the second tenant is not a contract party with
you and therefore it may be more difficult to make him liable for damage in the house. While the first
tenant/association member may not want to be a part of the discussion between you and his tenant.
Moreover, it can reduce the affinity of the house, especially in the case of condominiums.
1.
Besides if the first tenant because of age, illness, temporary work or study in another location, long-term mobility,
special family circumstances or similar circumstances have good reasons for subletting and you do not have
reasonable cause to refuse it.
But regardless of if the first tenant has any of these reasons or not, he or she must first get your consent
before the rental begins. Otherwise it is a basis for dismissal. To some extent, reduce the risk of any
problems, you can ask for the following documentation of the lease:
1. The tenant's reason for subletting.
2. Rental period.
3. The tenant contact information while the letting is in progress.
4. Contact information for the second tenant.
5. Contact information for those who will be responsible for the apartment under the first tenant's absence.
6. Something to show that the second tenant is committed to the building regulations and other relevant
guidelines.
7. If the lease is for more than 2 years, the second hand tenant has better right to stay than the first tenant (i.e.
he can not get rid of his tenant if things go bad). To counter this, the parties should sign a contract in
which the second tenant waives any claim to tenure. Such contracts can be downloaded from
www.hyresnamnden.se.
Contact information
The property owner is responsible (Justitiedepartementet, 1970:994) to post contact information in a
conspicuous place in the house.
Housing temperature
The property owner is responsible (Justitiedepartementet, 1970:994) to provide elements or the like in
residential apartments. And they shall be (Ministry of Health, 1983:616) maintained satisfactorily heated by
the property owner, except where the residents themselves account for the heating cost.
Home finishes
The landlord must (Justitiedepartementet, 1970:994), with certain exceptions, and with reasonable intervals
provide wallpapering, painting and the like. Tenants, however, has the right, at their own expense to paint,
set up wallpaper and the like in the apartment. If that reduces the apartment's utility value, the landlord has
the right to have compensation for the damage.
239

Fire alarms
In newly built residentials, there must be smoke/fire alarms. But there is no requirement about that for older
homes. The Swedish authorities 2 , however, recommend (Statens Räddningsverk, 2007:1):
"In every dwelling there should be at least one working smoke alarm on every floor. The detector should be
installed according to the manufacturer's instructions and placed in such a way that a fire can be detected
early. The detectors should be installed so that a sleeping person can be woked up by the signal.
The detector should be checked regularly, and when the home is not used for a long time. There should be
procedures for regular replacement of batteries according to manufacturer's instructions.
Smoke alarms or other devices shal be placed according to the manufacturer's instructions and adapted to the
building or the property layout. The distance between the detectors in an accommodation should normally
not be larger than 12 meters. A smoke detector usually covers about 60 m 2 . "
2. Former Swedish Rescue Services Agency (Statens Räddningsverk).
Broadband
The property owner has no obligation to provide broadband.
Mailboxes
Under current rules (Post- och Telestyrelsen, 2008:6) should mailing to residents in the apartment block in
the first place be placed in mail boxes on the ground floor. But if there are no such boxes, the mail should be
delivered to the traditional letterboxes on the apartment doors.
Noise
A dwelling (Socialdepartementet, 1983:616) should provide adequate protection against noise.
Fireplaces
Fire inspection of fireplaces that are installed for the sake of cozyness, shall take place every 8 years (Statens
Räddningsverk, 2005:9). The interval between cleaning sessions for the same is decided by the
municipalities, but MSB recommends that the municipalities shall require that they are swept every 4 years.
Often the chimney sweeper in the area know when the fire control and cleaning should be done and they
announce the property owners when it's time. My experience is that they want to come more frequently since
it is provided for fireplaces that are used frequently, and that’s probably rarely the case in apartment
buildings. Thus, it can be relatively easy to convince them to list the fireplaces among those with a
maximum range.
Energy audits
Energy audits shall be conducted every ten years (Justitiedepartementet, 2006:1592, 2006:985). It shall be
made by a person who is certified to do so. The result of the declaration shall be posted in a conspicuous
place in the building. The result shall also announce if there an radon measurements and OVK has been done
and approwed. A copy of the declaration shall also be submitted to the Building and Planning Authority
(which is handled by the provider).
Storage
The property owner is required to provide storage in the house or its vicinity to the tenants
(Justitiedepartementet, 1970:994).
Garage doors
If they are motorized, they shall, as a rule, be inspected every two years (Bovereket, 1994:25). If the
inspector notes serious shortcomings (Miljödepartementet, 1999:371), he should notify the municipality.
Which in turn may issue a fine to the property owner unless the deficiencies are corrected within a specified
time.
240

Deicing and snow on stairs, etc.
If someone falls and hurt themselves because the property owner mismanaged the snow removal and/or
sanding of building roads and stairways on the premises. The property owner can be sentenced to pay
damages to the victim (Justitiedepartementet, 1972:207).
Elevators
Elevators should be checked once a year (Boverket, 1994:25) by a person who is certified to do so. If the
inspector notes serious shortcomings (Miljödepartementet, 1999:371), he should notify the municipality.
Which in turn may issue a fine to the property owner unless the deficiencies are corrected within a specified
time.
Littering
Nobody is allowed to litter outdoors in a place that the public has access or visibility to (Miljödepartementet,
1998:808).
When the lease ends
If it is a lease of a dwelling (Justitiedepartementet, 1970:994), the tenant may terminate the lease so that it
terminate at the earliest in the end of the month, three months after the termination (i.e. if the contract is
terminated on December 15, the property owner have the right require rent until March 31). When the lease
period has expired, the tenant has to leave the apartment the next day and at the latest 12 pm that day keep
the apartment available for the next tenant to enter it. But if the day on which the apartment is to be left or
accessed is a Sunday, other public holiday, Saturday, Midsummer Eve, Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve, it
shall instead take place on the first following week day.
The condition of the building
According to the Planning and Building Act (Miljödepartementet, 1987:10), the facades of the building shall
be kept in a tidy condition and maintenance must be adapted to the building's value from the historical,
cultural 3 , environmental and artistic point of view as well as to the surrounding area. Installations which are
for fire protection and accessibility for the disabled has to be held in good condtion.
3.
If the house is of particular historic interest one may in some cases receive funding from the provincial government
to ensure the conservation of the interesting details, see the www.lansstyrelsen.se.
PCBs
Anyone who owns a house that was equipped with sealant or anti-slip flooring mass during the years 1956-
1973 has to examine whether it is a PCB product (Miljödepartmentet, 2007:19). If so, the owner has to
ensure that the PCB product is removed by 30 June 2011. If the products has been used inside the house, you
can, however, wait until 30 June 2013.
Radon
Radon is a material that emits radioactive gas. The gas can, at high levels and years of exposure, cause lung
cancer. The Welfare Board (Socialstyrelsen, 1999:22, 2004:6) recommends that if the annual mean of the
measured concentration turns out to exceed 200 Bq/m 3 radon air 4 should be considered a nuisance to the
residents' health. Measurements is done through hanging a absorbing device in one residence per floor (and
all homes in the basement and ground floor) for 3 months under the period October to April.
Measures to reduce radon levels can, for instance, be improved ventilation.
4. Radon gas is measured in becquerels per cubic meter (Bq/m 3 ) air. Normal level is estimated to be about 100 Bq/m 3
in average in Swedish homes. In 2003, the Building and Planning (Boverket, 2003) estimated that out of a total of
approximately 2.3 million multi-family housings in Sweden, about 115 000 has a radon concentration above 200
Bq/m 3 .
241

Snow on roofs and balconies
According to the Minsitry of justice (Justitiedepartementet, 1993:1617):
“snow and ice that could fall and injure people or property in a public place shall without undue delay be
removed from roofs, gutters and similar devices. This shall be done in such a way that it does not thereby
uccure risk of persons or property to get damaged. The responsibility for the actions of the first and second
paragraphs rests on the owner or as a result of an use agreement, or any other basis is in the owner's
place."
Snow on apartment balconies, however, is the tenant's responsibility.
Waste disposal
There should be spaces or facilities for the disposal of household waste, which can be used by all residents
(Boverket, 1993:57). And these should be no more than 50 meters from the building's entrance.
The obligation to also handle bulky waste the property owner can, however, through a paragraf in the lease
agreement, be released from that obligation. If a tenant, despite that, leaves bulky waste on the property,
he/she can be charged for the costs it causes the landlord. For other types of waste, such as paint cans, paper,
packaging, and batteries the property owner is not required to keep any waste disposal system.
Cleaning
The law (Justitiedepartementet, 1970:994) states that if the sanitary conditions are not reasonably acceptable
the house is not concidered to reach the minimum acceptable standard. What different people consider to be
an acceptable level is very different. My experience is that some tenants do not seem to care about it at all,
while others are directly finicky. The easiest way to find out how it is on your particular house is probably to
ask the residents and then try to draw conclusions about a level that hopefully will satisfy the majority. One
important thing to consider is whether any of the residents are allergic to dust or fur. Then you should try to
adjust the cleaning so that it is possible for him/her to stay in the house.
TV antenna
The property owner is responsible (Kulturdepartementet, 1996:844) to provide the public Tv channels: TV1,
TV2, TV4, SVT 24 and Children/Knowledge Channel in each dwelling at no cost to the residents. If a
significant number of households is connected to the network, use it as their principal means to receive TV
broadcasts. TV1 and TV2 shall in principle be provided with analog signal while the rest can be provided
with digital signals.
Roof
All buildings shall (Miljödepartementet, 1987:10), if there is a chimney on the roof, have devices for
ascension to the chimney, and protection against falls from the ceiling. For buildings built after 1960 there is
also additional requirements depending on when the house was built.
Telephone
The property owner is not obliged to provide phone contacts.
Laundry
The property owner is obliged to provide means to wash clothes in the house or its vicinity
(Justitiedepartementet, 1970:994).
Water heater
Electric water heaters that are bigger than 500 liters shall undergo installation inspection and periodic
inspection (Arbetsmiljöverket, AFS 2005:03). In addition,they shall undergo additional inspections if they:
- Has undergone substantial repair or alteration.
- May have been damaged.
- Must be used with significantly changed operating conditions.
- Are stationary, but have been moved.
- Is to be used after the life length, according to the manufacturer, has expired.
242

Water traps and floor drains in homes
Tenant shall (Justitiedepartementet, 1970:994) take good care of the apartment and it’s appurtenance during
the rental period. He/she is obliged to pay all damages that has incurred, even if it is caused by negligence,
or by any guest. This means that the tenant is obligated to ensure that the apartment traps or floor drains are
not plugged. If it is plugged, the tenant shall correct the error.
Water
To avoid legionella bacterias 5 in the tap water (Boverket, 1993:57) hot water in houses built after 1993
should at least be 50 ° C hot in each tap. But it must not be hotter than 65 ° C then there is a risk of scalding.
But regardless of the house's age the water should not be harmful to health (Socialdepartementet, 1983:616).
Boverket recommends that, in order to prevent the growth of legionella bacteria, one should clean hot water
heaters regularly, remove blind pipes, and sometimes flush the system through with 70 ° C water for 5-30
minutes.
5. They can cause pneumonia and we are infected by that we breathe them in water droplets.
Kitchen ventilation
Sweeping of kitchen ventilation 6 in homes is now voluntary. But Mandatory Ventilation Control (OVK) is
(Boverket, 1991:36) shall be done every 6 years if the house has natural ventilation or only fan controlled
exhaust. If the house also has a fan-driven supply ventilation, the inspection interval is 3 years. Those who
have accepted checks made before the introduction of shorter intervals, however, has the right to wait until
the time of expiry. The verification is done during the heating season, ie. between October to March. The
property owner shall (Miljödepartementet, 1991:1273) allocate a certificate of verification, in a conspicuous
place in the building.
6.
Exhaust ducts and associated equipment from stoves in restaurants and catering shall however be fire safety
checked every two years (Statens Räddningsverk, 2005:9).
243

Technical management
A central part of the technical management is to have control over the actions that needs to be done and how
they should be prioritized in relation to each other. To keep track of this, sytematic inspection rounds ought
to be done (see table 1) of that which is the property owner's responsibility. On such inspection rounds, it is
advisable to bring:
1. Knife.
2. Flashlight.
3. Pen and paper.
4. Bit screwdriver with assorted bits.
5. Wrench and polly grip.
7. All relevant door keys.
8. Radiator aeration key.
9. Lubricant for hinges and locks.
The steps you find necessary to do, in case you do not have the financial means to do everything at once, has
to be put in an order of priority. An alternative to this is to make a maintenance plan. But it is more or less
the same thing, since even if a particular action is scheduled to be performed a certain period, it will still be
postponed if it then something more important has appeared, or if the situation hasn’t got more urgent. An
appropriate order of priority can be (the higher the priority, the more motivated the action is in relation to the
cost of it):
1. Preventing obvious risks of injury.
2. Secure property survival 7 .
3. Enhancing the capacity to bring in incomes 8 .
4. Reduce costs.
5. Raise property value 9 .
6. Raising comfort/satisfaction in the house 10 .
7. Others 11 .
7.
8.
9.
I.e. correct deficiencies that if it is not corrected quickly will cost much more to correct it later.
For example, if a local is vacant, it is often very rewarding to tidy it it then can be rented by someone.
It can have a major mental value, even for those who are not thinking about selling the property, that it becomes
more valuable. Furthermore, the measures probably also improve the comfort. But what is reasonable to invest
depends very much on where the house is located. An investment in the backwoods might not add value to the
same extent as the cost. While it may be the opposite in attractive locations. What is value of increasing is
problably things that is emphasized in ads for condominiums and real estate .
10.
11.
Some comfort measures are inexpensive and therefore well justified, such as to remove blemishes. While others,
such as installing elevators, is more doubtful. But what is cheap/easy vary over time. For example, it is cheap to fix
small damage of the painting if a painting company is contracted for a larger work.
As a property owner one almost constantly gets propositions about all sorts of "improvements" that appear to have
little positive impact regardless of viewpoint, such as systems with key tags or automatic laundry booking.
244

Table 1a. Proposed checkpoints for inspection round on the roof (the explanations following tables).
Where What Remedied Now or Later (why).
Roof panel Rust Now (risk for holes in the panel and it gets more
expensive as time goes on, because the need for
grinding increases and that is what takes the most
time).
" paint is missing Later (risk for rust, but not acute).
tile
Broken tile or tiles
loose
Now (risk of water ingress and it gives a bad
impression and it is also inexpensive to fix, if it is
easy to access).
Ladders & gang
ways
Rust
Now (if it is severe, otherwise in connection with
another paint job).
" Inadequate screwed Now (danger of falling).
Roof towards street
or walkway
No snow fences
Now (cheap to install snow fences in relation to
what it costs to shovel the roof + you do not have
to put up warning signs).
Gutters etc. Rust Later (they shall be changed, but it can wait until
there are holes in them or when other measures that
require a skylift are to be done).
" Paint is missing Later (they will rust and it gives a bad impression,
but painting can wait until other measures that
require a skylift are to be done).
" Leaves Now (causing corrosion and / or water splashes on
the facade and it is alsoan inexpensive task if it is
accessible).
" Fixing faulty Now / later (depending on how it is accessed and
the risk that it fall down).
Antennas " Now / later (depending on how it is accessed and
any risk of collapse).
245

Table 1b. Proposed checkpoints for inspection round in the attic.
Where What Remedied Now or Later (why).
The entire wind Mold smell Now (cause and remedy should be investigated, see moisture
damages).
Timber structures The wood is black Now (that it should be looked into now, for it can be an ongoing
leakage, see moisture damages).
" Visible mold Now (for several reasons, see moisture damages).
" Small holes mostly in large
diameter timber that appears
to be made of pests
Now (cheap since the pest removal companies are paid by
property insurance, see pests).
Penetrations through the
roof
Storage
Leaks
Unmarked and there is more
storage than the number of
apartments
Now (risk for water penetration when it rain, , see moisture
damages).
Now (cheap to put up a notice with labeling requirements and they
can reveal if there are stores that can be rented out).
Common areas Private objects Now (cheap to put up notices about removing things and it
increases the pleasant atmosphere).
Lighting Broken fixtures Later (expensive tog bring in an electrician just for that, but cheap
if you have an electrician there for other reasons, and it increases
the pleasant atmosphere).
" Broken bulbs Now, switch to LED lights (cheap, because you can do it
yourself).
Ventilation ducts Cracks, holes, etc. Now (it is spread warm air in the space, causing condensation ,
see moisture damages).
Fans Noise Now (it does not get better, and it's easier to fix before there are
bearing failure if it is a ball bearing that sounds, if it's the fan belt
it has to be tightened, or if the fan wheel wobble because it is
dirty, it is also easy to fix).
" No maintenance routine Now (i.e. create a maintenance routine).
The underside of the roof Visible leaks
Now (risk of water entering the rain, , see moisture damages).
246

Table 1c. Proposed checkpoints for inspection round in stairwells and entrances.
Where What Remedied Now or Later (why).
The entire stairwell
Things are kept in the
stairwell
Now (see fire, moreover, it is cheap to put up notices about
removing things and it increases the pleasant atmosphere).
Handrails Inadequately secured Now / later (depending on whether you can fix it yourself or
need to bring in a carpenter. In the latter case, it should be
coordinated with other measures).
Surface Color damage Now / later (if you have touch-up paint and can do it yourself
is repentance an easy way to increase the pleasant atmosphere
otherwise it can wait and coordinated with other paint jobs).
" unjustified holes Now / later (if you can do it yourself, joining / filling is an easy
way to increase the pleasant atmosphere otherwise it can wait
and coordinated with other paint job).
" Discoloration / spots Now / later (depending on who does it).
Stair switch Broken Now (risk fo electrical shock especially for the cleaning
person).
" The bulb in the switch does
not light up
Now / later (depending on whether you have such light bulbs).
Lighting fixtures Defective Now (very much discomfort).
" Broken bulbs Now, switch to LED lights (cheap, if you can do it yourself and
it causes a lot of discomfort).
window Hard to open Later (when they are painted, especially since they should not
be since then it may get rain on the floor).
" Dirty Taste and amenity issue
Apartment doors
" Broken glass on the
letterboxes
Different / Ugly nameplates Taste and amenity issue
Later (ie when you still need bring in a glass artisan).
" Tape pieces, etc. from
previous appropriations
Now (if you can peel it off immediately).
Common doors Stains et cetera Later (in conjunction with another painting).
" Door holder broken Now (cheap to fix and annoying).
" Grinds Now (easy if you have a lubricant).
Entrance doors
Door closers do not close or
closes too hard
Now (for several reasons, in particular, if you can fix it
yourself by increasing/decreasing the spring pressure on the
closer).
Entrance floor Mottled, soiled, dull Matter of taste if you think it's worth crystalizing (stone and
marble). or polishing (linoleum).
247

Table 1d. Proposed checkpoints for inspection round in the apartments.
Where What Remedied Now or Later (why).
All doors
The lower edge is scraping the floor Now (destroying the floor and easy to fix, i.e. more wear rings).
" Defective insulation strips Now (simple, provides better noise reduction).
" loose doorknobs Now (if it is just a matter of tightening the screws).
" Grinds Now (easy if you have the lubricant).
Entrance door Defective bell Later (if it is not easy to fix).
Fusebox
Broken (eg glass gone). or missing
fuse holder
Now (dangerous).
" Unmarked fuses Later (no acute risk and it takes some time to do if there is no marking in the
other apartments that matches with the current).
Heat radiator Thermostat missing Now (easy to fix, and without a thermostat, they go at full power).
" Stains of water under the radiators Now (risk of water damage, , see moisture damages).
" They are not hot enough Now (simple, i.e.: 1. Unscrew the thermostat low (note: the nut is sometime
locked with a locking screw). 2. Exercise the valve pin. 3. Lubricate the
valve pin. 4. Air the element (if they are in need of aeration they usually
make some noise. 5. Balance the system (i.e., reducing the flow to the hot
element and increase to the cold ones ).
Fireplaces Lacks spark protection Now (easy to fix and there is a risk of fire, see fire).
" They are in use even though they
are not OK
Ventilation The valves are closed
valves
Now (risk for fire or smoke in the house, see the fire).
Now (easy to instruct that the valves should be a little open even in the
winter otherwise the ventilation will not work properly. The function can be
checked through holding a lit cigarette lighter near the valve. It is okay if
the the flame is folding outwards to the valve. Intakes are often under
windows (so that the radiator heats the incoming air).
Balconies Bearing structures corroded Now (in serious cases there is a risk för accidents).
Window and
balcony doors
Exterior paint damage on
windows/balcony doors
" Strain between frames & -
door/window
Floor and
ceiling
moldings
Gaps between floor / ceiling and
sockets
Now (relatively cheap to fix compared to replacing windows/doors, see
facade damage).
Now (cheap points in terms of energy savings and comfort provided that the
ventilation will still be acceptable. Which is not obvious because the
ventilation in old houses were designed so that fresh airwould enter between
the frame and the window).
Now / later (cheap if you can fix it yourself, it increases comfort and looks
nicer).
Floor Squeaks, fails or leaning Never (it is usually just comfort issue and expensive to fix).
Walls &
woodwork
Color Injuries & holes
Bathroom Mold smell Now (see moisture damages).
" Unsealed holes or penetrations in
walls
Now / later (if you can do it yourself it is an easy way to increase the
pleasant atmosphere otherwise it can wait and be coordinated with other
paint jobs).
Now (it can be moisture behind the moisture barrier, see moisture damages).
" Loose sink or toilet Now (the pipes can break, see moisture damages).
" Exhaust ventilation clogged Now (easy to fix directly and prevents moisture damage, make mold &
dampness).
" Ventilation clogged Now (it prevents moisture damage, see moisture damages).
" The clamping ring in the floor drain Now (risk of moisture damage, see moisture damages).
is loose
" Open joints / cracks in the plastic
carpet or vinyl flooring
”
248

Bath, toilet
and kitchen
Unsecure electrical installations
Now (dangerous).
" Water is dropping Now / later (i.e. when it is appropriate, for it is distracting and increases the
consumption of water).
" The water beam is weak or straggly Now (it's easy to clean the filter when you're there).
Kitchen Clogged filters in the ventialtion Now (i.e. tell the resident to clean the filter).
hood
" Leaking water under the sink Now (risk of moisture damage in the kitchen furniture/floor, see moisture
damages).
249

Table 1e. Proposed checkpoints for inspection round in the basement and other premises.
Where What Re medied Now or Later (why).
Whole basement
A smell of mold since there is
moisture trapped behind the
dense layer
" Mold smell due to inadequate
ventilation
" Traces of pests Now (see pests).
Walls
Now (cause and remedy should be investigated, see
moisture damages).
Now (it can be easy to fix by making more ventilation
holes).
Color that bulges / has released Now / later (see moisture damages).
" cracks Now / later (see cracks).
Floor
Heater
Floor paint / carpet bulges / has
released
Dirt filter on the return line is
clogged
" The settings on the control
panel faulty
Now / later (see moisture damages).
Now (cheap and otherwise the system does not heat
properly).
Now (set right at once).
Water heater The safety valve has got stuck Now (as it suggests that it is broken, which is
dangerous).
" Rust spots or drips rusty water
out of the overflow pipe
Now (if there is rust holes in the water heater it will
spray a lot of water, see bad water pipes).
Expansion tank low water Now (that is fill with water). Note If the water level
drops, it may indicate a leakage in the system.
Water pipes galvanized Now (high risk for holes, see bad water pipes).
' Poor suspended Now / later (cheap to fix when you have a suitable
craftsman in the house and they could fall down which
in turn causes water damage).
' Uninsulated long distances Now (cheap to fix in relation to energy sawings and / or
temperature losses and condensation problems).
"+ sewerpipes Poor suspended Now (cheap and they can fall or break, resulting in
water damage and discomfort).
Sewerpipes
Rust spots (often in the bends
and horizontal parts).
Now / later (see bad sewer pipes).
Laundry room Dirty Now (easy to fix with grants and / or changes cleaning
routines, but it increases comfort and reduces much
mismanagement).
" The color falls from the walls
because of the large quantity of
hot and humid air
"window Condensation ”
"drying room
The drying machine consumes
a lot of electricity
Now (it prevents moisture damage and can be simple to
partially remedy with improved ventilation (holes in the
door.) And cleaned air intakes in the ventilation see
moisture damages).
Now (it cots a lot of money, better to install a dryer
cabinet/ dry tumbler).
" Electrical installations Broken or wrong Now (risk for electrical shock).
" drying cabinet Lint in the fan / fan filter Now (cheap and easy to fix at once).
Garbage room Constantly odors Now / later (depending on whether there is a simple
measure to improve the ventilation or not).
" Very much garbage / often full
containers
" Improper waste (electronics,
glass, etc.).
Now (easy to order larger / multiple barrels).
Now (i.e. investigation about what it would cost to get
more fractions collected, it can be very affordable).
250

Table 1f. Proposed checkpoints for inspection round outdoors.
Where What Remedied Now or Later (why).
External lighting
Consumes electricity + lights
wrong times
Now (change to CFLs with ambient light sensor, simple to do, they
last longer, use less energy and glows only when needed).
All surfaces Grafitti Now (see break-ins and vandalism, in addition it is often easy to
do yourself with the right solvents, which for example regarding
spray paint is thinner).
Brick facades Minor cracks in rocks or joints Never (see facade damage, brick facades).
" Clogged drain holes in the bottom Now (easy to fix and prevent moisture damage in the materials
behind the bricks).
Plastered facades The plaster has come loose Now / later (depending on whether they can be addressed without
building an advanced scaffold, in the latter case it will probably be
quite expensive. Contact plastering firm for quotation, see facade
damage, plastered facades).
" The plaster has come loose from
the wall it sounds muffled and the
surface layer is soft (a knife goes
easily through).
Wooden facades The color has come loose Now (see facade damage, wooden facades).
"
" Mold and discoloration Now (cheap to fix at an early stage, see facade damage, wooden
facades).
" The paint is loose "
" The wood is rotten, a knife goes
easily through
Stained wood
Oak door etc.
Plate work
Dry, cracks, has not been oiled in a
few years
Have not been oiled in a few years
(sun-bleached surface).
The paint has come off and / or
rust
Now (it's hurry before even internal structural components are
damaged).
Now (easy to fix, i.e. oil it).
"
Now (cheap to fix (paint). Before it becomes more rust if it is easy
to acces without a scaffolding, also it looks much neater).
Drainpipes etc. Fixing faulty Now / later (depending if it is possible to acces without skylift or
the like and when appropriate craftsmen are in place for other
reasons).
Drainpipes Holes Now (since there will be water leakage damaging the façade and it
can be easily fixed with the appropriate tape).
Drainage wells Filled with leaves, sand or water Now (they do not work, making water flow on the facade and or it
become puddles).
The whole place Rubbish Now (it does not get better by if nothing is done about it, i.e.
cleaning. And rubbish is unpleasant and increase the risk for
vandalism, see burglaries and vandalism).
" Weeds Partly a matter of taste, but easy to fix the worst
" High grass Partly a matter of taste, but property owners are expected to cut the
grass
" Unkempt bushes and trees Now (easy to fix).
Paths and gangways Icy Now (someone can get hurt, and it may be enough to place a
sandbox there).
Swings
Large cracks in the rubber in the
mounting of the tires seat
Now (it is mandatory (Ministry of the Environment, 1987:10). To
maintain them so that the risk of accidents is limited).
Fixed playground Too little sand around them Now (kids can hurt themselves when they jump).
equipment
" Poorly fastened, degenerated ropes
or rotted wood parts
Now (kids can hurt themselves).
251

References to table 1
Fire
Property owners should work with systematic fire prevention. As the owner of appartment buildings 12 could
be meet by:
- Make sure that things never are kept in hallways or stairwells. Because they can be an obstacle for
residents who are trying to get out and for the fire department when they are trying to get in.
- Ensure that there is at least 2 13 escape routes to all areas where it usually lives of people.
- Make sure that what is intended to be firewalls 14 really is.
- Ensure that there is some form of ventilatin of smoke in the stairwell (if the house has more than two
floors). Ventilation can consist of smoke hatches, or windows on each floor.
- Ensure that there is at least one smoke detector in each dwelling.
- Ensure that the smoke detectors function is tested at least once a year. Which is done by pressing the test
button or by holding a newly extinguished candle under it.
- Be ware of unwary residents and inform them, if necessary, on how to use fire places 15 without spreading
smoke in the premises. Or install stowe guards 16 to those who are likely to forget pots on the stove.
12.
If there are workshops, care, or meeting facilities or if it is a historically important building there are other more
comprehensive regulations.
13.
In older apartment buildings where it is difficult to make alternative escape routes in the form of fire stairs on the
exterior façade, authorities accept, however, that the fire brigades ladders is concidered to be the second escape.
14.
Since most fires occur in individual homes the most important fire walls are those who separates the apartments
from the stairwell. Partly to reduce the risk of fire spreading from a burning apartment, but above all to prevent
smoke to spread out into the stairwell and into other apartments.
15. Example of instructions for firing in a fire place:
Obtain firewood.
Note! Plastic or similar must not be used as it can make the furnace so hot that it bursts.
Pack the wood so that the air supply to the fire is good. The fire burns more even if the wood is placed on a
foundation consisting of cross placed logs.
Increasing the flow of fresh air in your home by opening the inlet air vents or windows.
Open the damper in the fireplace completely.
Check if there are a flow thgoug the stove by holding a lit cigarette or a lit candle near by. If the flame turns in the
direction of the fire place the flow and the direction of the flow is OK, if it on the other hand turns into the room, it
is not OK.
The latter may be remedied through heating up the chimney. This in turn can be achieved by inserting a few leaves
of a magazine inside the small gaps of the oven sides and then close the hatch.
If that does not help increase the amount of supply air to the room by further opening the apartment airs vents or
windows.
Light the fire.
When the wood caught fire: close interior doors and open the small dampers in them.
When the stove is hot: close the upper damper slightly.
Note1! Never leave burning fireplace with open outer and inner doors unattended.
Note2! Never light a fire with wet wood, garbage or painted/oiled wood. Because then increases
the risk that it is tar in the smoke, which in turn increases the risk for soot.
Note3! If it begins to get smoky in the apartment: Open the top damper completely and possibly also
a window and close the gaps.
Note4! Wait a few days to empty the ash.
16. A stove guard is a gadget that you yourself can plug in the cooker 3-phase sockets before the stowe contact. When it is activated
it breaks the power to the stove.
252

Bad water pipes
It is common in older houses that the cold water pipes are wholly or partly made of galvanized iron. These iron pipes rust
internally and in the end it will be holes in them. It is a serious problem because it is so high water pressure in those pipes that
it will spray large amounts of water before someone comes to turning off the water. In addition to this serious risk, the flow in
them will gradually decrease with time, because of that the internal corrosion cake expands and makes the active diameter
smaller and smaller. Moreover, there will be rust spots around the taps because the water carry small amounts of rust through
the pipes. It is most urgent to replace the iron pipes where they are connected with coppe ones. This because the metal ions
will migrate from the less noble metal iron to the more noble copper ditto if there is some water on the pipes. which often is
the case because cold water pipes in general is colder than the air in the space in general, and thus there is condense on them.
Bad sewer pipes
Drain pipes in cast iron will rust. Which in turn leads to the hole that sewage is running through becomes smaller and smaller
in the same way as in cold water pipes. Also sewer pipes may rust so that it becomes leakage and sewage flows into the floors
and walls. The most sensitive points of the system are the horizontal bends because there water hits the tube walls and the
wastewater can also become stagnant instead of just run through as it does in the following sections. Moreover the horizontal
pipes in the kitchen and bathrooms is made of much smaller dimensions than the standing sewage tribes, and that in turn
makes them easier to to clogg.
Replacing old sewer pipe is not expensive but many times these are built into floors and walls. Why it is expensive to expose
the tubes and the remake the floors/walls afterwards. It is therefore reasonable to take the opportunity to renowate the surface
layers of the bathrooms or kitchens in the same time. But otherwise there are simple and affordable ways to renovate old
sewer pipe without replacing them, such as relining.
253

Facade damage, wooden facades
The paint on wooden facades, as well as all other exterior painted surfaces, degenerates over time (see figure 1). Which allow
water to penetrate the wood and eventually destroy it. The more sunlight and/or water, the painted surface is exposed to the faster
the process. It is usually the worst at the bottom because all the water that hits the wall above the surface sooner or later runs down
there, but sometimes also because it splashes up from the ground or from plants nearby.
Picture 1. Paint that is degenerated.
Facade damage, plastered facades
Even plastered facades degenerates over time (see figure 2 & 3). The more water that ends up on the façade,
the faster it goes. Which means that finally the plaster is destroyed. First in the bottom, but often also at the
top. The more the plaster releases the more water comes in between plaster and wall, and the faster the
plaster releases further.
Picture 2- 3. Plaster damage. The plaster has come loose from the wall and are just joined together through the outer
layer of spray plaster. The surface bulges out a bit and if someone tests with a knife tip on the surface it goes through.
The stage before this is that it sounds muffled when knock on it with the knife, but the tip does not go through. When
it collides with perfectly healthy plaster, however, the sound is a lot less muffled.
254

Facade damage, brick facades
Brick facades usually have nearly infinite lifespan. Minor cracks in the joints or cracked stones are often just
an appearance issue and restorations may become more visually disturbing than the cracks. Especially if it is
about to replace a few cracked stones (which is a pretty extensive work).
Dampness damages
Water that enters the building elements can cause major damage. The most obvious internal traces that it to some
extent has happened, in addition to dripping water or puddles, is often:
- Stained (darkened) wooden surfaces 17 .
- Dark spots on the wallpaper or paint.
- Carpets that are bubbled.
- Color that has bubbled or is loose.
- Odor of mold (smells like and old cellar).
- Plaster that bulge, is discolored or has loosened 18 .
17.
18.
This discoloration can, besides normal soiling, be due to that the water has seeped into the wood and started the
process of decomposition. There may well be an ongoing process or a previous ditto, now stalled due to, for
example, that the roof sealed. If the spots are cooler than the surrounding areas (which means they are wet), it is
either because there is an ongoing water leak or water condenses on the surface. The latter is due to the hot air
(which may contain more water vapor than colder ones, without feeling damp) is cooled down on a colder surface,
such as a poorly insulated room corners. When air is cooled, it can not hold as much water and thus the water is
transformed to visible water, i.e. condenses.
In order to determine whether the wood is healthy, you should test it with a knife. If the knife goes in easily, the
wood is rotten (See figure 4) and has thus lost much of its buoyancy. For proper functioning of the structure it
should then be replaced with new wood. Then you should consider how water enters. For example, by waiting until
it rains if the reason could be a leakage in an outer wall or ceiling. If not, or if that and leaking water installations
are excluded and the stains are dry one should, a day when it's cold outside, test if the spots are moisty. If this is the
case, the spots are due to condensation.
If inspection indicates leaking roof, facade, or water installations the problem must be addressed immediately to
avoid serious damage. If it is a question of condensation, however, it is not as urgent and the measures to be taken
are different. They are then mainly to improve the ventilation of the space. In addition, if it is a cold atic of the
solution can also be to reduce ventilation (SP, 1995:6) or to seal the floor, so that hot air does not penetrate from
below.
Try tapping the plaster. If you the hear a hollow sound, the plaster probably has come loose. In the case of minor
damages on basement walls, it can be sufficient to knock down the loose plaster and cower the holes with a water
permeable plaster (lime plaster) and ditto color (silicone resin paint). If the damage to basement walls, however, is
extensive or if they are otherwise disruptive and is also found in inner walls, it can be a matter of pumping out
water from under the floor. If the damage is located on the exterior walls and the ground outside the house consists
of permeable materials like soil, it may instead be a matter of digging up around the house, drain and cover the
foundations with a barrier layer. If the surfaces around the house are made of asphalt or the like, which more or less
frequently is the case around house in stone cities, a thorough investigation of what is the cause of the problem, is
required, before any actions are planned.
255

Window damage
Window joinery degenerates gradually and it starts at the bottom (see figure 5-7). But it is a fairly extensive and
expensive 19 to replace windows, but cheap to maintain them. If they are in good condition and they are designed so
that repainting can be made from inside the apartments.
Picture 5 & 6. Incipient window damages on about 15 years old windows.
Picture 7. Window damages that has gone so far that the wood is bad.
19. If the current building is located so that residents are exposed to much noise from road or rail, Trafikverket may be
willing to pay for new exclusive triple-glazed windows in the bedrooms that faces the road or railway.
256

Burglary and vandalism
Researchers (Boverket 1998) state that:
- The less private a place feels, the greater the likelihood that there will be crimes committed. For example, it
is more likely that an unlocked bike standing alone in a courtyard will be left alone than if it is placed on the
pavement. And the clearer the borders between the public and the private are, the better. Among other
things, possible intrusions become more obvious.
- In buildings that give the impression that no one cares, there is a higher risk for vandalism.
One conclusion to be drawn from the latter is that property managers constantly must ensure that it is not
rubbish inside or outside the buildings. And you should ensure that graffiti and broken windows are repaired
as soon as possible. Regarding the problem researchers recommend the introduction of symbolic barriers
such as fences with gates, lock on the doors, and more.
Cool or drafty
Many complaints from residents are about cold and/or drafty homes, so if that is the case, you probably will
sooner or later find out. It may be due to lack of insulation or a insufficient heating system. The overall
quality of the Insulation is quite clear shown in the energy declaration. If the house has high energy
consumption, it can be wise to add some additional insulation. If so, is the simplest and cheapest additional
insulation can be done through injecting loose wool on the attic. It takes a few hours and cost less than 10
000 SEK for a small apartment block.
But if the house is drafty it does not necessarily show in the results from the energy declaration. Draft is
generated when cold air enters, mainly through skirtings and cornices of the walls and around the windows.
Even if the house in general is well insulated. The draft might be flet on the back of the hand if it is cold
outside. It can also be seen in the form of dirt from the dirty outside air which has penetrated through the
structure. Alternatively, you can let the heat shoot house. If the problem lies in one of the following, they are
so easy to fix that it should be done before further investigations are carried out:
- If draft penetrates through gaps under/above floor or inbetween the walls and the roof: Loosen the ledges
and dense root cavities and/or injecting grout into the gap inbetween.
- If it is drafty around the windows: Remove the liners inside or (if so) outside and caulk with mineral wool.
- If it is drafty between the window frames/door panels and frames: Install or replace existing seals. But be
aware that the window seals, in older houses, which originally were more permeable (made of fabric) were
supposed to be air inlets. That is why the radiators are mounted underneath (to heat the air that came in
through the sealings). So if the gap is sealed, it may be required to provide the window with a slit valve to
make the ventilation acceptable.
Mold and rot
Musty smell reminiscent of that in potato cellars, may be due to mold. Mold spores are everywhere. They
can, put it simply, be said to be the organism "seeds". for spores to grow up, it requires more moisture than it
normally is indoors (that there is water in the form of condensed droplets or water soaked wood) and nutrient
(= wood and the like). Mold in itself does not degrade the wood strength, but it smells so bad that it is
difficult and unhealthy to live with. Decay, however destroys wood.
These problems can often be quite easily reduced, by taking up vents at a few different places to the space in
question.
Pests
Some pests can in a relatively short time eat parts of a wooden structure. It can be difficult to directly find
the animals. However, you can sometimes see suspicious pinholes in, for instance, wood rafters and perhaps
wood dust around or below the holes.
257

Cracks in masonry or cast walls
Small cracks in such walls generally have no technical significance, but if it is large and deep horizontal
cracks, the wall has lost part of its load-bearing function. The cracks may be due to that the ground under the
wall sinks (see picture 8). If theground continues to sink, there is also a risk that the wall finally collapses.
To investigate, you can cover the craks. If the cracks develop, they will be visible again. Alternatively, you
can bring in experts who can assess the risks the cracks entails.
Picture 8. Cracks in a basement wall because the ground beneath the wall had sunk, and the wall was not
supported by piles. When we drilled holes in the wall, we found that it was about 0.3 meters
between the ground and the underside of the wall. To ensure the function we built a beam
construction, resting on piles down to bedrock, outside of the wall. The design did both keep the
wall upright and took over it’s load supporting function.
258

Contractors
When an action is decided, remains the often most difficult part of the work, namely, to ensure that it gets
done. For smaller jobs, there are usually no other option than to hire craftsmen on a current account. Since it
is not reasonable to request quotes for small jobs, moreover, it is not certain that it will be cheaper because
they have to take in account possible problems that probably wont occure.
However, for larger projects, it is often worthwhile, if possible, to bring in quotes from several contractors,
especially if you do not already have very good contact with a suitable one. For example, the quotes for my
last purchases from seemingly similar firms were distributed as follows:
- Work 1: 570 000 SEK 1 090 000 SEK and 976 000 SEK.
- Work 2: 34 016 SEK and 87 200 SEK.
Whether you intend to use a trusted contractor to perform work on current account or with fixed fee one
should make document that at least is a list of what to do. Since regardless of how careful and conscientious
the contractor is, it is easy to forget.
In more complex cases, it may be wise to hire a structural engineer who designs the plans and also hopefully
reconcile during the work, that it is properly done. Since even a sloppy firm for a layman in the field may
seem to do very serious work. As a layman it might also be difficult to assess the severity of the possible
carelessness. In addition, in many cases, it is mandatory to appoint a quality manager. Which the
construction company hopefully can provide.
Notwithstanding other circumstances, it is usually easier for yourself and cheaper, the more small tasks you
can collect to a single contractor. Since the contractor's travel and start-up time is shared between more
tasks. Moreover, the latter, in particular in the case of painting, can use delays in a more efficient manner.
Finally, it is important to have a well-known rule regarding projects in mind at all planning of future
projects:
Small projects often take more time than what was planned, and big ditto pull often cost more than
planned.
259

Financial management
The current financial management consists of several different elements (see table 2).
Table 2. Ongoing financial management of properties in addition to accounting and audit purposes.
Financial management includes
Keeping account of incomes and expenditures
Handling out rental fees 20
Reconciliation of incoming rents
Requirements management / debt collection
Verification of supplier invoices
Payment of suppliers 21
Payment of expenses, salaries, fees, taxes and social contributions "
Register / unregister as an employer
Calculation of taxes and social contributions
Writing reports to the tax authorities about the above "
VAT returns
Rental negotiations
Difficulty and Comments
Easy if you concider the Internet-connected bank account
as cash book
Simple and not even necessary to do
Simple can be done for example in an Excel table with one
row per rental item and a worksheet per year
Could be psychologically stressful
Can be difficult to determin what is reasonable
Easy registration on Internet banking
Easy
Easy once you learned it
Quite difficult since only the costs 22 accruing on the VAT
premises may be deducted against the tax you pay
Usually quite simple
Preparation of leases Simple with standard contracts 23
Respond to inquiries, tax proposals, etc.. from authorities "
20.
21.
22.
For the collection of rents some property owners chooses to send monthly invoices to the tenants, other sends them
quarterly while others never announces payments (other than when the rent increases). Which is to be preferred
depends on factors such as:
- The real estate market in your area. The more difficult it is to get tenants, the greater the likelihood that they
misbehave with the payments and the greater may be the need to remind them to pay.
- The age of the tenants. The younger customers, the more likely it is that they pay the fee online. And those who
pay via the Internet often have no need for a bill. Unlike those who pay at the bank or through example. private giro
in letter form.
- The share of commercial customers. Commercial customers would like to have a basis for any payment, but it is
not obvious that this is so.
For payment of the ordinary bills, I consider that there is no alternative that beats Autogiro. A phone call to order
form and possibly an envelope with a stamp. Thereafter it forever solved. Other bills are usually not so many that
the payment process is burdensome.
Neither dwellings or premises is normally subject to VAT. But you are entitled to ask the Tax authorities to decide
that a part of the house become subject to VAT. The first advantage is that you can offset the VAT on the costs
premises causing you (for heat, garbage collection, water and repairs) receives a portion of the tax which the tenant
pays you. Without cost for the tenants, provided that they receives tax from their customers. Le t's say that the room
is 10% of the rentable area. Then, one could assume that it consumes 10% of the common VAT coated utilities. In
this case, the deduction of the corresponding part of the VAT for these costs, ie. 10%. But it may be that it is a
business requires more heat (say 15%) and produces more rubbish (say 20%), though it consumes very little water
(eg 5%). If you have numbers that support this think that it would be reasonable to actually pull off these more
accurate fractions of VAT. But the Tax authorities (Skatteverket, 2008) suggests that one should deduct the same
fraction of each charge. Which means that you either have the option to go to 10% of such tax or a weighted
average of the various expenditure items. The other advantage is that you get the VAT you paid to renovate/build
the premises back from the Tax authorities.
23. Leases and other formal documents, is wise to download from the Internet.
260

In most cases, the income is fairly given in advance and the most dramatic thing that happens is that a tenant
or a condominium member stops paying or that a previously leased space becomes redundant. Some
expenses, such as property tax is also not possible to do anything about. Other expenses like water, regular
garbage collection and district heating are only possible to reduce through reducing consumption. Still other
costs such as insurance, electricity, cleaning and interest may be reduced partly by reducing consumption but
also by choosing other suppliers. The difference in the economic impact of an active choice, however, is
often quite small (see table 3).
Table 3.
Differences between three different suppliers of the same product for an ordinary apartment building with
about 30 apartments and modern technical standard in Stockholm.
Type of cost Annual consumption Yearly cost with
the cheapest
supplier
(including VAT)
Yearly cost
with the “in
between”
supplier
Yearly cost
with the most
expensive
supplier
Morgage costs 5 000 000 SEK in loan and non
fixed intrest 24 75 500 77 500 82 000
Cleaning
Weekly cleaning of common
25 25 625 26 850 44 000
premesis.
Electricity 20 000 kWh non fixed price 26 18 040 18 460 19 060
Insurance Self risk 8.000 17 187 54 000 58 752
Sum 136 352 176 810 203 812
At the time of writing the "variable" interest rates is low, i.e. around 1.6%. Which means that for those
property owners who have variable rates the interest expense represent a much smaller proportion of the
costs than before. But if interest rates were higher or for the owners who have interest rates that are tied to a
higher percentage, the interest expense might in many places, by far, be the largest item of expenditure if the
house is mortgaged up to (say) three-quarters of its market value. If the owner now choosed to fix their
interest rates, they would during a five-year period be approximately 4.4%. Which on a five million SEK
loan make a cost difference of about 140 000 SEK/year compared to variable interest rates. At present, it is
thus obviously a good deal to have variable interest rates. But a year earlier the variable interest rates were
around 6%, and then those tied their interest rates a few years earlier at, say, 3% in both 2007 and 2008
made a decent profit on this. Those who consider themselves experts in the field, however, tend to more or
less in unison claim that variable interest rates always pays off in the long run.
A financial transaction that can be very profitable is to buy the land if it is a leasehold and the municipality is
willing to sell it. For example, I as a representative of a property owner was offered, by the municipality to
acquire the leasehold of 1.6 million SEK. And the rent for the land was 127 000 SEK/year, thus it would
have been a profitable business to borrow money and buy the land whatever interest the owner had paid to
the bank (up to 7.9% interest).
24.
25.
26.
A low, medium, and high "variable" interest according http://www.konsumentbankbyran.se/artikel/:s link to today's
rates: http://svt.se/svttext/web/pages/231.html.
Two entrances, one elevator, two staircases swept and wiped, door glass cleaned, scrapers emptied, window sills
and handrails wiped once/week.
A low, medium and high electricity price according to the Energy Market Inspectorate website:
http://www.ei.se/elpriskollen/min-berakning/jamfor-avtal/.
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In the case of condominiums, the situation is a bit special. In that way that often both the association and the
individual members has loans on the house. There are several reasons for this, mainly:
- They choosed to put some of the cost for the purchase of the property on the condominium associations so
that it would not seem too expensive to become a member.
- The association has taken loans to finance a renovations because they received interest subsidies from the
goverment for this.
But the thing that speaks against this is that the individual members have a reduction on their income tax for
interest on loans that are their own, which they can not get on the association's loans. Therefore some
condominium associations who have loans now choose to shift the loan to the members and then reduce the
fee accordingly. Which might be worth thinking about for associations with large loans and no assets (i.e.
rental units) that can be sold in the future and create capital to solve the loans. One benefit in addition to the
direct economic effect is that it can increase the value of the condominiums. Another advantage is that the
members under certain circumstances can deduct capital when calculating the tax when they sell their
condominium.
262

Social management
My experience is that one usually do not need to contact ones tenants. But if that is the case, apart from the
notifications about upcoming technical measures, it is mainly because they have not paid the rent/fee.
Some of these pay sometimes too late but they always arrange it within a week or so and then it is not a real
problem. Since you still do not have any interest on the money. Then there are those who have missed one or
more payments that they are behind, but otherwise handles it. They are more of a problem but still nothing
compared to those who stop paying and instead delivers a lot of stories about that money is coming, et
cetera. The former kind one may be forced to live with if the house is located in a place where it is not
natural to have all of the apartments occupied all the time. As it is in many places in Sweden. The latter
variety, however, can in the long run be costly and a mental torture. Then it can in my opinion be worth 29 to
start an eviction process if the tenant does not want to move voluntarily, even if the home/premises is not so
easy to rent out. An eviction process, in Sweden, works so that you write a letter to the tenant where you
explain that he/she will be kicked out, but that he can regain the right to stay if he/she pays within three
weeks from the time he/she got the message. If it is a dwelling one must (Justitiedepartementet, 1978:314)
then also write to the social welfare department in the municipality. Standard forms for the above letters are
available for download on the Internet.
29. Since the process of getting rid of the tenant may take time, like six months, and you probably will not get
any rent during the time it becomes very costly. It demonstrates how important it is to be wary when
accepting tenants with documented payment problems.
To get rid of a residential tenant for other reason than he/she does’nt pay the rent, it requires according to
my experience:
1. He/she has misbehaved, for example. been disturbing, quite often and for a longer period.
2. The disturbances have been documented.
3. Social services have been approached.
4. He/she have had written warnings.
5. There are witnesses (preferably independent ones, such as police officers).
The documents you have as evidence shal be sent to the court for rental matters. They then requests a
response from the tenant after which there is a trial. On the trial the property owner and the tenant submit
their views of the matter and any witnesses tells (under oath) their observations. Then the property owner
state his claim, then it's all finished. Afterwards the judges committee discuss through what sentence they
feel is appropriate.
However, if there is a business tenant who is dismissed, it is, in my experience, much easier. But more
expensive, since they usually are entitled to compensation equivalent to one year rent and the costs for
moving.
263

For many social problems that can occur, there are no laws governing what residents can or can not do.
Instead, it is common sense that applies. To increase the residents' awareness of what this means, you can
attach the regulations, such as those below, to the lease agreements:
Tenant agrees to:
- Not play music or otherwise creating noise, evenings and nights (weekdays. 22:00 to 7:00, other days
22:00 to 10:00 a.m.).
- Not carry out noisy work such as nailing, drilling or vacuuming, evenings and nights (weekdays. 20:00 to
07:00, other days 20:00 to 10:00).
- Not smoke in the house's public areas.
- Not park a car or other vehicle so that it interferes with the traffic flow on the site.
- Keep the supervision of any pets so they do not disturb, damage or pollute somewhere on the property.
- Observe that it is required to maintain order and condition on the property and to ensure that this is also
followed by both household members and guests.
- Not install anything on the facade.
- Not place any objects in the entrance, staircase, attic and basement corridors.
- Follow the rules and guidelines for booking and use of the laundry room.
- Not change the apartment's fixed equipment.
- Not leave windows or balcony doors open during the cold part of the year.
- In winter, keep the apartment heated so that the water does not freeze in the pipes.
- Not place a flower box or the like on the outside of the window or balcony railing.
- Not grill on the balcony or terrace.
- Not flush fluids (eg cooking oil) or objects that could jam the property drains.
- As soon as possible notify deficiencies arising in the apartment as well as the possible presence of vermin
to the landlord.
264

Increase the area that generate revenue
Increase revenues
The most obvious way to increase 30 this surface is to build another house on the property or extend the
existing houses. But there is often a much easier and cheaper way. Since in the majority of the properties I
managed, there has been scope for increasing the area that generates revenue by converting non-revenue
generating space, in the following ways:
- Convert common areas such as corridors and stairway enclosures to individual surfaces, ie. expand any
adjacent dwelling/office or make a completely new 31 dwelling/office.
- To rent out storage spaces that the property owner previously utilized.
- To rent extra storage space that was formerly freely used by a tenant.
- Create patios for individual apartments 31 perhaps with direct entrance 32 to them.
- Create parking spaces.
A variant of converting surfaces, which has more positive effects than just that the lettable area increase, is
to remake the laundry room to an office or a home. Combined with the installation of washers and dryers in
every apartment. In addition to that some of the technical problems that may be associated with a general
laundry facility are eliminated, the costs for electricity and cleaning of the laundry rooms will be eliminated.
And the satisfaction among the majority of the residents will probably increse. It is also relatively easy to
convert a laundry room into a home, since many laundries have windows and the space is already equipped
with heating, electricity, water and sewage.
30.
31.
32.
In addition to that the revenues increases, the value of the property also increase. Since the market value of rental
properties is determined by multiplying the leased area with a market value per square meter (for example, 10 000
SEK/ m 2 ). This value per square meter is determined primarily by the price of recent sales of other rental
properties in the area. So in the example of one square meter price of 10 000 SEK/m 2 , an expansion of the leased
area of 50 m 2 increase the property's value with 500 000 SEK, provided that the property is fairly similar to the
previous properties sold in terms of condition, standard and location.
Planning permission is usually needed.
If is condominiums it is more appropriate to sell the right to indefinitely occupy the land in question, since the
next member may not agree to pay a periodic fee. Which will force the board to decide whether the association
will clog the patio door or allow the member to use the area outside the door as his private domain without paying
for it.
265

Raise revenue without increasing the leased area
Any of these things can certainly be made in each apartment block:
- General increase of the rents 33 .
- Rental rate increases when someone moves out 34 .
- Conversion of surfaces with low income to areas that generate higher ditto 35 .
- Splitting apartments into several units 36 .
- Cutting the land 37 .
- Lease space for comersial signs 38 .
- Lease space for a mobile phone station 39 .
- Get paid for other services 40 .
33.
34.
In order to increase the rents it is required 41 (Justitiedepartementet, 1970:994) that you make an agreement
about this with the tenants. Then you write a letter to each of them and propose a rent increase from a date no
earlier than two months and one day in the future. In the message, you should also state that they will be required
to pay the higher rent, if they do not object it before a certain date (at least two months ahead). The notice shall
also contain your contact information, as well as an information about that they can appeal to the Rental court and
how they can do that (suggest that they contact you with a letter in which they apose the suggested new rent and
you take the matter to the court).
If an apartment is empty, you can yourself 41 determine the future rent. But the new rent should not be significantly
higher than rents for comparable apartments, in order to avoid the risk of losing a potential future dispute about
the rent in the Rental court (Justitiedepartementet, 1970:994).
41.
Assuming that the house is not covered by an agreement with the tenant association for negotiation, for then
you have (Justitiedepartementet, 1978:304) to negotiate the rent increase with them.
35.
As for instance remaking a garage into an office or residence.
Note! Building permit is required.
36.
You can usually get more rent per square meter out of smaller apartments. Additionally, it may be easier to get
smaller apartments leased out.
Note! Building permit is required.
37.
38.
If it is possible to cut off part of the land and then sell it, it can be a very good deal. If you believe that it is
possible for the property in question and the cut off portion would be worth enough money, you just have to call
the municipality and ask if they allow cutting of the plot.
A billboard on the property can give anything from nothing to several thousand SEK a month, depending on the
location. If there is a suitable location on the property, it may be worthwhile to ask companies or shops nearby
which is worse positioned in terms of the number of passing people.
Note If the building is in an city zone it requires planning permission to put up signs.
39.
Even a mobile phone mast can give several thousand SEK a month if the situation is very suitable for a mobile
phone operator with a network of their own. But if this is so, the operator has probably already contacted you.
Otherwise, the operator is probably pleased with the capabilities they already have in the area around your
property.
Note! In order to mount up a mobile phone mast on a property one needs a building permit.
40.
There are property owners that offers additional features such as electric outlet for heating of cars, broadband,
washing machine in the bathroom, freezer, security door, exclusive kitchen cabinet doors or alarm.
266

References
Arbetsmiljöverket (2005:03) Besiktning av trycksatta anordningar, Solna.
Boverket (1991:36) Boverkets föreskrifter om funktionskontroll av ventilationssystem, Karlskrona.
Boverket (1993:57) Boverkets byggregler, Karlskrona.
Boverket (1994:25) Boverkets föreskrifter och allmänna råd om hissar och
vissa andra motordrivna anordningar, Karlskrona.
Boverket (1998) Brott, bebyggelse och planering, Karlskrona.
Boverket (2003) Inomhusmiljö Delmål 8 – Underlagsrapport till fördjupad utvärdering av miljömålsarbetet,
Karlskrona.
Justitiedepartementet (1993:1617) Ordningslag, Stockholm.
Justitiedepartementet (1970:994) Jordabalk, Stockholm.
Justitiedepartementet (1972:207) Skadeståndslag, Stockholm.
Justitiedepartementet (1978:304) Hyresförhandlingslag, Stockholm.
Justitiedepartementet (1978:314) Förordning om underrättelse och meddelande enligt 12 kap. 44 §
jordabalken, Stockholm.
Kulturdepartementet (1996:844) Radio- och TV-lag, Stockholm.
Miljödepartementet (1987:10) Plan- och bygglag, Stockholm.
Miljödepartementet(1991:1273) Förordning om funktionskontroll av ventilationssystem, Stockholm.
Miljödepartementet (1998:808) Miljöbalk, Stockholm.
Miljödepartementet (1999:371) Förordning om kontroll av hissar och vissa andra motordrivna anordningar i
byggnadsverk, Stockholm.
Miljödepartementet (2007:19) Förordning om PCB m.m. Stockholm.
Näringslivsdepartementet (2006:985) Lag om energideklaration för byggnader, Stockholm.
Näringslivsdepartementet (2006:1592) Förordning om energideklaration för byggnader, Stockholm.
Post- och telestyrelsen (2008:6) Post- och telestyrelsens allmänna råd om utdelning av post vid
tillhandahållandet av samhällsomfattande posttjänst, Stockholm.
Skatteverket (2008) Muntlig information lämnad vid Skatteverkets informationskväll om frivillig
momsregistrering av lokal, Stockholm.
Socialdepartementet (1983:616) Hälsoskyddsförordning, Stockholm.
Socialstyrelsen (1999:22) Tillsyn enligt miljöbalken – radon i inomhusluft, Stockholm.
Socialstyrelsen (2004:6) Socialstyrelsens allmänna råd om ändring i allmänna råden (SOSFS 1999:22) om
tillsyn enligt miljöbalken – radon i inomhusluft, Stockholm.
SP (1995:6) Uteluftsventilerade vindsutrymmen över vindsbjälklag, SP Sveriges Provnings- och
Forskningsinstitut, Borås.
Statens Räddningsverk (2005:9) Statens räddningsverks föreskrifter och allmänna råd om rengöring
(sotning) och brandskyddskontroll, Stockholm.
Statens Räddningsverk (2007:1) Statens räddningsverks allmänna råd och kommentarer om brandvarnare i
bostäder, Stockholm.
267

Work environment
The legal requirements for the work environment is described in Chapter 2 § 1 of the Work Environment
Act:
"The work must be satisfactory with regard to the nature of the work and the social and technological
developments in society."
This is important for the society, especially since occupational injuries/illnesses costs it a lot of money. In
addition, we believe it is especially sad when someone is injured when he or she is "doing his duty". That's
why thegoverment finance research on health and safety problem (on our universities), develops regulations
(Arbetsmiljöverket) and make sure the rules are followed (Labour Inspectorate, Arbetsmiljöinspektionen).
These efforts, combined with technological developments, appear to have had an effect. For 2010, it was not
more than about one in five working person, who at any time during the last twelve months had any
problems caused by their work (Arbetsmiljöverket, 2010, National Statistics Report 2010:4, Work-related
complaints in 2010).
It was different before!
If this picture had been
taken today, what would
we have thought was
wrong in the workplace
268

Here are some suggestions:
Ergonomic deficiencies, see Work Environment Authority(Arbetsmiljöverket) regulations on ergonomics,
AFS 1998:01, the models on page 38, 42 and 45:
- The mechanics are sitting on stools without backs, which reduces the ability to rest their backs.
- Its surface is hard and small. This means that the pressure on the buttocks and thighs becomes
inappropriate.
- Neither the stool nor the work bench has a height which is adjusted to the individual, therefore the load on
the musculoskeletal system increases.
- They work with their hands further away from the body than the length of their forearm's, perhaps without
being supported. It forces neck- and shoulder muscles to work hard in order to keep the arms raised.
- It seems to be no space to put items on, thereby increasing the risk of inappropriate postures.
- Lighting conditions are unsuitable, when there is sunny it will be very much light on the sunny side
compared to the dark shadow side and it increases the risk that the mechanics are forced to sit weird to see
properly. When the weather is overcast or before the sun rises the lighting is weak with shadow formations,
which in combination with that the work requires precision further creates improper postures.
- It seems to pulleys for the belt transmission hanging on the wall. Probably they change them if the speed of
each machine needs to be changed. They seem to be heavy. Replacing them will therefore make the
musculoskeletal load high in extremely unsuitable postures.
Since the processing equipment obviously is made before the date of the rules about CE marking came into
force, the equipment shall instead comply with Annex A of the Work Environment Authority regulations on
the use of work equipment (AFS 2006:04). And it does not meet these requirement regarding at least:
- The belt transmissions is uncovered. This means that the belt when it breaks, could be thrown at someone
and also there is a risk to get caught between the belt and the pulley.
- The processing machines do not appear to have individual stops and perhaps a general emergency stop is
missing, which increases the risk of that an incident (like something stuck between tool and anvil) will lead
to a serious accident.
- The processing probably creates chips that dizzy in the air, but the steps taken to capture these, are
inadequate. Risking the operators nuisance and health.
- The lack of protection that prevents the ejected chips or pieces of a grinding wheel from hitting the
operators. In addition the operators have no individual protective glasses.
Probably the noise from the processing is high, but the workers do not have any hearing protection. It creates
discomfort and the risk of hearing damage (AFS 2005:16 Noise).
269

Compared to when the picture was taken, the physical environment in most workplaces has become
enormously much better (although there is still places with miserable working environments, e g, foundries).
Today we, judging by the Labour Inspectorate demands on workplaces (chart 1 + 2), instead mostly struggle
with untidy chemical cabinets and poorly documented work environment systems.
Chart 1. The number of workplaces that any of the Labour Inspectorate inspectors visited during the period 2006-
2010. Roughly speaking, on around half of the visited sites they had such serious shortcomings regarding
the work environment, that they chosed to demand improvement. Which in itself is not saying that there
are shortcomings in around half of all workplaces, because the inspectors often choose places where they
believes that there is some sort of reason for a visit. The diagram is taken from the Work Environment
Authority's website (www.av.se).
Chart 2.
The nature of the demands (taken from the Work Environment Authority's website). Teknik (technology)
related issues are often ventilation, truck-related or non-CE marked machines. Problems regarding
Yrkeshygien (industrial hygiene) are usually about the handling of chemicals. And they are often about
that the locker with chemicals is messy and safety data sheets about some/all products are missing.
Medicinska och sociala frågor (Medical and social issues) are often relate to ergonomics.
All employers are required to, on a theoretical level, constantly improve the work by writing various
documents such as minutes from work environment meetings, policy documents, et cetera. If the
inspector deems that the employer's efforts in this area are not good enough, he or she require
improvements in the Systematiskt arbetsmiljöarbete (systematic work environment work).
270

Although physical deficiencies in the work places are still common (for example, the Labour Inspectorate
issued around 8 000 requirements with technical nature at the approximately 34 000 visits in 2010). The
shortcomings are often well known and relatively easy to identify. In addition, appropriate measures are in
many cases developed and established. And regulations and to some extent also advices on how to solve
problems ca be downloaded from the Work Environment Authority website: www.av.se. In addition, their
experts and labor inspectors are both willing and forced to provide free advice.
But there are, of course, still more and more poorly illuminated problems that causes suffering at work. One
reason may be that the work environment work has not fully kept pace with the changes from the time when
the picture was taken (late 1920s).
A time when most people served in agriculture and the tools/methods that were available to
facilitate/enhance the work was less than today (see the History of Technology). The deciding factor in the
success for the farmers was mainly the weather, i e such that he could not influence. The responsibility for
the results was therefore not primarily laying on the actor. While with today's all practice and all the ways to
compensate for unfavorable external factors, the demand on the farmers as well as others, to make wise
choices increases.
The dominating bottlenecks and consumption limiters at that time were the lack of inputs/raw materials,
transportation problems, and for many companies probably also the lack of affluent customers. But the labor
cost and the real needs of goods were considerably larger than what was awailable on the market.
The road to today's global market went through local industrial enterprises, that by today's standards,
produced small quantities of a wide variety of different 1 products and sold them, above all, on the local
(Swedish) market. The competition was limited by high custom tariffs and transport costs and the needs
remained high relative to the production. The situation was thus that the firms and other organizations had
fairly modest demands from the market.
Today it is the opposite since the workforce is expensive and the availability of, virtually all products in the
western world is much larger than the demand, resulting in greater market demand on all actors.
An important principle that permeated the development of the former industrial society, was to manufacture
in relativelly larger units would be more efficient and therefore the products would become cheaper. In order
to streamline (and thus increase) the production, the manufacturing process was carefully studied and special
techniques were used to increase the effectiveness of each manufacturing step.
It was not only in manufacturing processes that were streamlined down to the individual tasks. Food flow,
for example, went from that each familly produced their own food. Via rural merchants who themselves
built their stores and purchased the items they considered necessary and then processed them further by
weighing and packaging to customers. To grocery store chains with a more or less fixed store concept, a
standard assortment of pre-packaged goods with almost given prices, ordering and delivery systems from
given wholesalers and national advertising campaigns.
The idea that one or more in an organization develops ways to streamline the operations, compared to that
each individual does it, has its advantages. In particular, as a country merchant probably had neither the
energy nor the time to do it himself, since he had his days filled with more urgent tasks. But over time, some
of the organizations that were successful, has grown to enormous colossi that are significantly less
competitive than their younger competitors.
1.
The truck, marine engine and bus manufacturer Scania, for example, made in the early 1900s also bikes and cars.
And Husqvarna, which currently only produces small outdoor power equipment, then also manufactured bicycles,
guns, sewing machines, kitchen equipment and motorcycles.
271

These organizations try to somewhat offset this by pressing the financial responsibility further down in the
organization. Each squad leader and maybe even the one, that for example, is managing the vegetable
department of the store shall be responsible for the economy. In a store, such a division of the
responsibilities probably is fortunate for all parties. Work becomes more fun because he or she is in charge
of the vegetables, it will be less wastage, better profitability and higher customer satisfaction.
In public administration and business elements they can’t increase revenue, but instead live on a given
budget, financially responsibility, however, mostly will be a matter of being stingy. The system counteracts
that individual team managers incur large costs on the organization, but on the other hand they do not
encourage efficiency. It may on the contrary lead to that the team managers just seeks increased funding,
even if it is not needed. Or are reluctant to delete such a service that is no longer needed, because then it will
be hard to get them back, the day they are needed. Moreover, it can have the effect that the individual squad
leaders let groupmembers do thinsg he does not have skills for, rather than hiring organization's experts as
these experts cost money through an internal billing system. One way to reduce the costs then is to introduce
various forms of bonus systems, especially, for the managers.
One advantage with giving someone a bonus, in addition to the regular salary, is that they have an incentive
to do something uncomfortable. As managers, after all, are quite a few, it is probably a fairly inexpensive
way to increase efficiency, but the risk is that the system creates reluctance among those who did not receive
any bonus. In addition, it has been shown 2 that, at least among children, system based on direct rewards for
each service that is performed causes that the momentum is transferred from the desire to satisfy to the
desire to get the reward as smoothly as possible.
Another way, which is applied fairly often in the city of Stockholm to bring down costs is outsource
operations. Large companies such as Ericsson, has hung on trend (or been pioneers) and traditional support
functions such as cleaning, canteen and telephone is now operated by people who are not employees of
Ericsson. In return, the company has itself become a major provider of support functions in
telecommunications. According to the last annual accounts that has been published (2010) 31% of Ericsson's
operating income was from the business that supplies services (Global Services). The explanation for that it
may be cheaper for the customer to hire large service providers like Securitas or Ericsson despite that the
supplier has to make a profit on the deal, could be that it combines the scale's ability to develop effective
working practices that makes the service less labor intensive, with goals that are clear and easy to test for all
employees (the more time I can charge the customer, the better I serve my employer). Another advantage for
the customer, in addition to potentially lower costs, is that it is easier to kick out a supplier that does not
behave than to change their own organization. But for those who are employed in a kindergarten or clean up
at an Ericsson development department, the change means a greater responsibility for the employer's
performance and survival compared with when they worked for the City of Stockholm or Ericsson.
2.
A "classic" example of this is a study (Lepper and others, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1973) in
which American scientists divided a few kids into two equal groups. Both groups were asked to do a painting and
the children in one group were promised a reward when they were ready. As everyone was finished with their
paintings their performances were judged and it turned out that those who received no reward performed better.
272

Service production has in some cases gone so far that some industrial products are now sold as a service
rather than a physical product.
The ad says: Rent your
laundry equipment.
The benefits for the customer to purchase a service, the provision of laundry equipment, instead of buying it,
is tentatively that he:
- Not have to worry about whether the devices are good or not (which is not reasonably so easy for someone
who is not an expert on, for example, washing machines).
- Not have to worry about maintaining the machines.
- Almost always have machines that work.
- Spreads the cost over a longer period.
for the manufacturer of the devices, the concept has significant advantages such as:
- He decides when it is time to replace a machine and thus can plan the exchanges from the situation in his
production.
- The manufacturer can plan the work of the maintenance technicians better so they constantly have enough
to do.
- The influx of money becomes smoother.
- A closer contact with the customers, resulting in that the risk that he choose another supplier probably will
be less.
- The total amount they earn is probably higher.
But with this development, the responsibility for the company's earnings is shifted from a collective (those
manufacture the machines) to individuals (those serving the machines on the field). In addition, there will be
more people involved with customers and thus have responsibility for how the company is perceived.
273

In the past, the production equipment (like earth, smithy, mill) were the manufacturing company's most
important resource. But as the production equipment in many industries have become relatively cheaper and
the production is constantly upgraded or moved to other locations, the value of existing facilities has
dropped. Instead, the brand has gone from having a subordinate position to the most valuable thing the
company owns. Most clearly the brand value is probably seen in political parties and sport clubs, such as
football clubs. In the latter, there is often no real assets at all, in addition to any cash. And a fairly large
portion of the revenues comes from sales of products with the brand on them. But the public perception of
brands is quite whimsical, for example (see the clipping in the Swedish version of this book, taken from the
Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet):
- Private electric companies have better reputation than the goverments electric company that is owned by all
the citizens of Sweden and also sponsors of the national ski team.
- A private chain of food stores have better reputation than the cooperative one.
All of these trends (more tools to choose from, more requirements from the market, economic responsibility
at lower levels, bonus systems, "all" become service providers, more and more employees are responsible for
the brand and instability in the value of this growing resource) leads to:
More and more of the workers with high demands that they shall constantly perform intellectually.
This in turn increases the amount of times when it may be wrong. And thus increases reasonably, overall, the
fear of doing something wrong. And fears are notoriously not fun and fear increases the risk of envy,
discomfort and general negative mood. The responsibility for curbing the negative part of this development,
rests on the employers. It should thus be that efforts to terminate any increased fear, was part of their
mandatory work environmen workt.
The tools the employers have available for this purpose consists, primarily, of the policies and goals
regarding work environment and work conditions that they shall write. But my experience, from when I was
working as an Labour inspector and studied and discussed many such policies, is that they do not affect these
risks. It may be that this aspect is not captured by the rules about how work environment policies should be
designed. See Work Environment Authority’s requirements regarding work environment policies (from the
Authority's website):
"A prerequisite for conducting a well-functioning work environment work, is that the employer express its
interest and commitment for the work environment. The policy should show the employer's overall objective,
focus and consequently funds for the long-term work with the work environment.
The policy must be applied by all of the staff. The overall work environment policy should be the basis for
the development of more specific targets within each department/unit within the company.
In it must be stated how working conditions shall be for a satisfactory work environment to be achieved. The
policy should address both physical, psychological and social conditions that are relevant for the work
environment.
The policy shall be so tangible that it can be followed up. It must therefore be adapted to the conditions in
each department/unit in the business."
These requirements have been interpreted (Prevent, 2007, Systematic work with Health - Environment -
Safety, Prevent, Stockholm) with phrases such as:
"We shall by far meet all the rules that apply to our work environment."
"Each employee shall comply with the rules applicable to the work environment and point out any flaws that
are detected so that they can be corrected as quickly as possible."
"The work shall be developing for all the employees."
274

In general, work environment policies obviously don’t contribute to a reduction of any fear of making
mistakes or fail. It is not only a safety issue since the fear of making mistakes can also paralyze the entire
organization. Moreover with the rapid changes in society what was formerly righ, can now rather quickly be
wrong. And no matter how hard one works to do well, the result will be bad, if the efforts a spent on the
wrong things. It's basically the supervisor's responsibility to ensure that the employees are doing the right
things the right way. But since they can not be present in all the everyday choices that arise (it would not
even be desirable to constantly have a boss hanging over your shoulder) the employees are guided by what
they believe is the goal for their respective groups.
We've probably all taken part in lots of activities where there has been problems because the participants had
different goals, more or less depending on that the goals hasn’t been discussed. It may have been a trip
abroad with friends, a night out with a friend, a cozy evening at home with the partner, or thewhole
relationship with the partner. The good friends perhaps felt that the goal of the trip was to constantly be as
drunk as possible, while you wanted to go to museums. The friend may primarily wanted to go out with you
to have an excuse to meet girls. A cozy evening for your partner might be a prelude to sex, while it for you is
to enjoy good food. The purpose of the relationship was for you to have someone to enjoy sex with, but your
partner looks for a life partner. To avoid such problems in the future, one could set common goals for every
activity one in the future did with others. Though it would probably not be very successful, especially in
terms of activities with peers.
Employers, however often formulate goals for their business. These goals seems mostly to be coined to
provide guidance for the company's board or perhaps to impress the market, which can be seen in the
visions/goals formulated by two of the largest Swedish companies, according to their websites:
Ericsson:
"To be the prime driver in an all-communicating world.
Core values
Respect, professionalism and perseverance are the values That are the foundation of the Ericsson culture,
guiding us in our daily work - how we related to people and how we do business. "
"Our core values of respectability, professionalism and perseverance are Reflected not only in our work
place but overpriced in the business we do with our Customers and in our dealings with society. We believe
in third thing every individual Equally and with fairness.
Our annual employee survey shows That 90 Percent of our employees feel the company's core values are
relevant to Them. This attitude Contribute to our company culture. It is overpriced supported by our
managers, who make sure the core values are part of everyone's work every day."
Which, despite the fact that 90% of the employees apparently believe that the core values are relevant for
them, do not give any guidance for how the individual employee should act in his daily choices.
Although Ericsson, according to the latest annual report, aims to be an attractive employer, in any case, for
the key personnel:
"Attracting and retaining highly qualified employees
We believe that our future success largely depends on our continued ability to hire, develop, motivate and
retain engineers and other qualified personnel needed to develop successful new products, support our
existing range of products and services to our customers. There is still intense competition for skilled
personnel and highly qualified managers in the telecommunications industry. We are constantly developing
our corporate culture and our policies on payments, promotions and benefits and to take other steps to get
our employees to feel involved and reduce staff turnover. However, there is no guarantee that in the future
we will be able to attract and retain employees with the right skills."
275

Volvo AB (according to its website):
"Our promise and dedication
With size comes responsibility and since we are the second largest producer of heavy trucks in the world we
take that responsibility seriously.
When it comes to committing to safety, quality and the environment we are second to none, and These core
values are the foundation on Which our solutions arrest.
Quality philosophy
Quality is the guiding principle in everything we do. It is in focus When we build a Volvo truck.
Making the world a safer place
We know what we have to do to Increase Safety on the roads, in vehicles and for unprotected road-users. We
Participate in discussions on safety, Because by doing so we learn more as we head into the future.
Taking sustainability seriously
We know That we are part of the problem, but we are overpriced part of the solution. Read more about how
we take action."
Regarding staff Volvo writes in the introduction of the pages about career at Volvo:
"Your development is our priority
Your professional career takes up a large portion of your daily life, and a stimulating working environment
is there present naturally essential for your wellbeing.
At Volvo Trucks, we pay much attention to creating a workplace That Provides our employees with
opportunities to use and expand Their skills, knowledge and creative potential. Because we know That your
competence, commitment and enthusiasm are essential to our availability to succeed."
The more difficult it is for the individual employee to get some guidance from the goals, the greater the risk
that he will be perplexed and thus perhaps paralyzed. Or that he, in the choice between trying something new
that he has not yet fully mastered, but in the situation would be better, stick to the old and proven. These and
the previously described problems would to some extent be reversed with better formulation of goals from
managers. Goals like:
It is better to do the right thing wrong than the wrong things right.
But we will probably never see such guiding words from the management in any commercial organization.
Possibly formulation like:
Our aim is continous improvements, even if it causes us failures and hardships.
Such formulations would, if the management successfully demonstrates that they are serious, probably both
reduce the general fear of making mistakes and reduce the risk that the organization is paralyzed.
276

Languages
A quick lesson in languages
Swedish, French, Spanish, German, Dutch
This chapter is intended as a starting point for anyone who wants to learn basic conversation in Swedish,
French, German, Dutch, or Spanish before a trip to one of the language areas. The language is very
simplistic.
Regarding word order, I suggest you start by making sentences that directly translates the English word
order. That will usually make you understood, and it is probably often even correct.
Do not think too much about pronunciation. It gives quite quickly once you start practicing your skills in an
appropriate country.
The Swedish grammar, however, is described in the next chapter.
277

Nouns
English Swedish French 2 Spanish 2 German 3 Dutch
commercial /
retail
affär/butik magasin asunto Laden winkel
orange apelsin orange naranja Apfelsine sinaasappel
arm arm bras brazo Arm arm
asked bad bain bano Bad bad
bank bank banque banco Bank bank
bar bar bar bar Bar bar
legs (limb) ben jambe pierna Bein been
gasoline bensin essence gasolina Benzin benzine
car bil voiture automóvil Auto auto
bread bröd pain pan Brot brood
bus buss bus autobúss Autobus bus
pants byxor pantalon pantalones Hose broek
cigarette cigarrett cigarette cigarillo Zigarette sigaret
drinking glasses dricksglas verre copa Glas glas
beverages dryck boisson bebida Getränk drank
shower dusch douche ducha Dusche douche
fish fisk poisson pescado Fisch vis
girl flicka fille nina/muchacha Mädchen meisje
aircraft flygplan avion avión Flugzeug vliegmachine
foot fot pied pie Fuss4 voet
photography fotografi photo foto Fotografie fotografie
stamp frimärke timbre sello Briefmarke postzegel
breakfast frukost petit-déjeuner desayuono Frühstück ontbijt
get får mouton carnero Schaf schaap
street gata rue calle Strasse4 straat
ice cream glass glace helado Speiseeis ijs
pork gris cochon cerdo Schwein zwijn
cucumber gurka concombre pepino Gurke komkommer
handbag handväska sac à main bolso Handtasche handtas
hotels hotell hôtel hotel Hotel hotel
dog hund chien perro Hund hond
jacket jacka veste cazadora Jacke jasje
railway järnväg chemin de fer ferrocarril Eisenbahn spoorbaan
coffee kaffe café café Kaffee koffie
2.
3.
4.
Both French and Spanish has, apparently, a number of hooks on the vowels. Do not think too much about what they
mean, but read the words as if the hooks were not there.
In German, all nouns are written with a capital first letter.
German double-s (ß), it is pronounced as if it was two s after each other.
278

Nouns continued
English Swedish French 2 Spanish 2 German 3 Dutch
veal kalv veau ternero Kalb kalf
map karta plan mapa Karte kaart
cat katt chat gato Katze kat
skirt kjol jupe falda Rock rok
clock klocka montre reloj Uhr klok
clothes kläder vêtements ropa Kleider kleren
cow ko vache vaca Kuh koe
sausage korv saucisse salchica Wurst worst
female kvinna femme mujer Frau vrouw
chicken kyckling poulet pollo Küken kuiken
church kyrka église iglesia Kirche kerk
kitchen kök cuisine cocina Küche keuken
meat kött viande carne Fleisch vlees
lamb lamm agneau cordero Lamm lam
food livsmedel vivres víveres Lebensmittel levensmiddelen
lunch lunch déjeuner almuerzo Lunch middagmaal
soda läskedryck boisson refresco Limonade frisdrank
onions lök oignon cebolla Zwiebel ui
husband man homme hombre Mann man
food mat nourriture comida Essen eten
medicine medicin médecine medicina Medizin geneeskunde
dinner middag dîner cena Abendessen avondmaal
minute minut minute minuto Minute minuut
milk mjölk lait leche Milch melk
mouth mun bouche boca Mund mond
museums museum musée museo Museum museum
mosquito mygga mostique mosquito Mücke mug
pièce de
mynt
coins
monnaie
moneda Münze munt
month månad mois mes Monat maand
bill (at the
restaurant)
nota addition cuenta Rechnung rekening
key nyckel clé llave Schlüssel5 sleutel
cheese ost fromage queso Käse oosten/kaas
money pengar argent dinero Geld geld
pepper peppar poivre pimienta Pfeffer peper
5.
Ü is called German y.
279

Nouns continued
English Swedish French 2 Spanish 2 German 3 Dutch
plastic plast plastique plástico Kunststoff plastic
boy pojke garçon chico/muchacho Junge jongen
police polis police polica Polizei politie/polis
oficina de
postkontor bureau de poste
post office
correos
Postamt postkantoor
potato potatis pommes de terre patata Kartoffel aardappel
restaurant restaurang restaurant restaurante Restaurant restaurant
suitcase resväska valise maleta Reisetasche koffer
rice (cereal) ris riz arroz Reis rijst
rooms rum chambre habitación Zimmer kamer
back rygg dos espalda Rücken rug
salt salt sel sal Salz zout
note sedel billet billete Banknote bankbiljet
second sekund seconde segundo Sekunde seconde
hospital sjukhus hôpital hospital Krankenhaus ziekenhuis
shirt skjorta chemise camisa Hemd hemd
shoe sko chassure zapato Schuh schoen
sun sol soleil sol Sonne zon
soup soppa soupe sopa Suppe soep
spirits sprit alcool alcohol Spirituosen alcohol
station station station estación Station station
trail stig sentier sendero Pfad voetpad
stocking strumpa chaussette media Strumpf sok
Sweden Sverige Suède Suecia Schweden Zweden
bed säng lit cama Bett bed
taxi taxi taxi taxi Taxi taxi
tea te thé té Tee thee
telephone telefon téléphone télefono Telefon telefoon
hour timme heure hora Stunde uur
WC toalett toilette servicios/banjo Toilette toilet
tomato tomat tomate tomate Tomate tomaat
water vatten eau agua Wasser water
wine vin vin vino Wein wijn
garlic vitlök ail ajo Knoblauch knoflook
postcard vykort carte postale tarjeta postal Ansichtskarte prentbriefkaart
road väg chemin carretera Weg weg
eggs ägg œuf huevo Eisenbahn ei
beer öl bière cerveza Bier bier
280

Weekdays and months
English Swedish French 2 Spanish 2 German 3 Dutch
Monday måndag lundi lunes Montag maandag
Tuesday tisdag mardi martes Dienstag dinsdag
Wednesday onsdag mercredi miércoles Mittwoch woensdag
Thursday torsdag jeudi jueves Donnerstag donderdag
Friday fredag vendredi viernes Freitag vrijdag
Saturday lördag samedi sábado Samstag zaterdag
Sunday söndag dimanche domingo Sonntag zondag
January januari janvier enero Januar januari
February februari février febrero Februar februari
March mars mars marzo März maart
April april avril abril April april
May maj mai mayo Mai mei
June juni juin junio Juni juni
July juli juillet julio Juli juli
August augusti août agosto Augus't augustus
September september septembre septiembre September september
October oktober octobre octubre Oktober oktober
November november novembre noviembre November november
December december décembre deciembre Dezember december
281

Verbs
English Swedish French 2 Spanish 2 German 3 Dutch
work arbeta travailler trabajar arbeiten arbeid
visit besöka rendre visite visitar besuchen bezoeken
stay bo habiter habitar wohnen wonen
dance dansa danser danzar tanzen dansen
question fråga demander preguntar fragen vragen
understand förstå comprendre comprender verstehen verstaan
walk gå marcher ir gehen gaan
hot heta appeler llamarse heissen4 heten
find hitta trouver hallar finden vinden
hear höra écouter oir hören horen
boil koka bouillir cocer kochen koken
get komma venir venir kommen komma
cost kosta coûter valer kosten kosten
buy köpa acheter comprar kaufen kopen
promise lova promettre prometer versprechen loven
listen lyssna écouter escuchar zuhören luisteren
read läsa lire leer lesen lezen
remember minnas rappeler recordar erinnern herinneren
reduce minska diminuer disminuir vermindern verminderen
see (view) se regarder observar sehen zien
sleeping sova dormir dormir schlafen slapen
running springa courir correr laufen springen
fry steka cuire asar braten braden
sell sälja vendre vender verkaufen verkopen
speak tala parler hablar sprechen spreken
be vara être estar sein zijn
like vilja vouloir querer wollen willen
courage våga oser atreverse a wagen wagen
go åka aller viajar fahren rijden
love älska aimer amar lieben liefhebben
eating äta manger comer essen eten
4.
German double-s (ß).
282

Figures
English Swedish French 2 Spanish 2 German 3 Dutch
zero noll zéro cero null nul
one ett un un eins één
two två deux dos zwei twee
three tre trois tres drei drie
four fyra quatre cuatro vier vier
five fem cinq cinco fünf vijf
six sex six seis sechs zes
seven sju sept siete sieben zeven
eight åtta huit ocho acht acht
nine nio neuf nueve neun negen
ten tio dix diez zehn tien
eleven elva onze once elf elf
twelve tolv douze doce zwölf twaalf
thirteen tretton treize trece dreizehn dertien
fourteen fjorton quatorze catorce vierzehn veertien
fifteen femton quinze quince fünfzehn vijftien
sixteen sexton seize dieciséis sechzehn zestien
seventeen sjutton dix-sept diecisiete siebzehn zeventien
eighteen arton dix-huit dieciocho achtzehn achttien
nineteen nitton dix-neuf diecinueve neunzehn negentien
twenty tjugo vingt veinte zwanzig twintig
thirty trettio trente trienta dreissig 4 dertig
forty fyrtio quarante cuarenta vierzig veertig
fifty femtio cinquante cincuenta fünfzig vijftig
sixty sextio soixante sesenta sechzig zestig
seventy sjuttio soixante-dix setenta siebzig zeventig
eighty åttio quatre-vingts ochenta achtzig tachtig
quatre-vingtdix
nittio
ninety
noventa neunzig negentig
one hundred hundra cent cien hundert honderd
thousand tusen mille mil tausend duizend
4. German double-s (ß).
283

Other words
These is a lot of words, which aren’t in the groups described above. Some of the most important are listed
below.
Colours
English Swedish French 2 Spanish 2 German 3 Dutch
blue blå bleu azul blau blauw
brown brun brun marrón braun bruin
green grön vert verde grüne groen
yellow gul jaune amarillo gelb geel
red röd rouge rojo rot rood
black svart noir negro schwarz zwart
white vit blanc blanco weiss 4 wit
Miscellaneous
English Swedish French 2 Spanish 2 German 3 Dutch
goodbye adjö au revoir adiós auf wiedersehen adieu
never aldrig jamais jamás niemals nimmer
all alla tous todos alle allemaal
always alltid toujours siempre immer altijd
angry arg en colère enfadado böse boos
behind bakom derrière tras hinter achter
cheap billig bon marché económico billig billijk
good bra bien bueno gut goed
next bredvid à côté de junto a neben naast
they de ils ellos er ze
you du tu tú durstig je
expensive dyr cher costoso teuer duur
front framför devant delante de vor voor
from från de de von van
ugly ful laid feo hässlich 4 slecht
old gammal vieux viejo alt oud
happy glad gai achispado fröhlich opgeruimd
good (tasty) god plein de goût apetitoso gut lekker
hello goddag bonjour buenos das guten tag goedendag
4. German double-s (ß).
284

Miscellaneous continued.
English Swedish French 2 Spanish 2 German 3 Dutch
he han lui él er hij
she hon elle ella sie ze
hungry hungrig avoir faim hambriento hungrig hongerig
right höger droite derecho recht rechter
in i dans en in in
today idag aujourd'hui hoy heute vandaag
yesterday igår hier ayer gestern gisteren
tomorrow imorgon demain manana morgen morgen
nothing ingenting rien nada nichts niets
I jag je yo ich ik
cold kall froid fro kalt koud
short kort court corto kurz kaart
a little lite un peu poco wenig een beetje
long lång long largo lang lang
many många beaucoup muchos viele vele
no nej non no nein neen
you ni vous ustedes sie jullie
new ny nouveau nuevo neu nieuw
close nära proche cerca nahe nabij
next nästa prochain próximo nächste naaste
and och et y und en
about om si si ob als
when när quand cuando wann wanneer
on (top) på sur en auf op
later senare plus tard tardío später later
large stor grand grande gross 4 groot
thanks tack merci gracia danke dank
earlier tidigare plus tôt más temprano früher vroeger
dry torr sec seco trocken dor
tired trött fatigué fatigado müde moe
thirsty törstig assoiffé sediento durstig dorstig
for (position) under sous bajo unter onder
young ung jeune joven jung jong
beautiful vacker beau guapo schön schoon
hot varm chaud caliente warm warm
we vi nous nosotros wir we
at (location) vid près de a an wijd
wet våt mouillé mojado nass 4 vochtig
left vänster gauche izquierdo link links
4. German double-s (ß).
285

Crazy Swedish
The Swedish language is full of illogical things that have made it harder for me to master it. Especially when
I was little, but even in the present day and especially at times when I have to write something without using
a word processor. This paper describes the oddities that I have or have had the most difficult to master.
Basic rules
They are really quite few rules one need to knew, to be able to master most of the Swedish language.
The letters and the spelling
The language consists of a number of sounds which, when joined in different ways, forms the words that
constitute the language. Each sound has its own symbol (which are called letters) and each letter always
corresponds to the same sound 1 .
The letters most frequently used are:
a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, u, v, x, y, å, ä, ö.
Besides these, there are some unusual letters, like: q, w, z, é and à.
The words are spelled throug in a row write down the letters that are heard 1 when saying them.
1. Besides regarding the letters: a, e, i, o, u, y, å, ä, and ö (called vowels). They can be pronounced both
fast and slow, depending on the words involved. Where they should be pronounced quickly they are
called short vowels otherwise long vowels. To emphasize that a vowel is pronounced, followed by
two of the same of any of the other letters (called consonants).
How we read
We read written text from left to right. The words are delimited by that there are gaps between them.
Clauses and sentences
A clause is the words we want to say in a row without a break, in order to facilitate the listeners
understanding. clauses usually begins with the phenomenon that it applies, for example: jag (I), han (he),
bilen (the car).
It then describes what happens:
jag slår (I beat)
han tänker (he thinks)
billen rullar (the car rolls)
Then follows any addendum about the phenomenon that is the subject of what is happening and/or relative
conditions:
jag slår Per hårt (I beat Per hard)
han tänker långsamt (he thinks slowly)
bilen rullar fort (the car rolls slowly)
If there are several statements that need to be said at the same time for the listener to understand, we take
first a little break and then we continue with the next clauser and perhaps further next. These different
clausers are separated by the sign: , sometimes in combination with words such as: och (and), or (eller), att.
As we have said all the clausures we want to, we take a little longer pause before we continue. All of the
statements that we say before a longer break together form a sentence, such as:
jag slår Per hårt, för han tänker långsamt, och bilen rullar fort
286

Capital letters and paragraphs
Sentences begin with a capital letter 2 and ends with a point 3 .
2.
3.
A capital letters is a variant of the standard character. The capital letters looks like this:
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, (Q), R, S, T, U, V, (W), X, Y, (Z), Å, Ä, Ö,(È), (Á).
Instead of point, we can use the sign: ! Which indicates that the sentence should be read as an
exclamation or a solicitation. Or: Which indicates that the sentence should be read as a question.
The key words are nouns
The most important in the language are the words for the things you need, such as food, water and toilet.
These and all other words for things are called nouns. There are also a whole host of other nouns that are not
things, such as animals and emotions. Most of the words in our language are actually nouns.
One can recognize nouns in that they can be combined with en or en massa: en bil (a car), en kärlek (a
love), en massa silver (a lot of silver), en massa glädje (a lot of joy).
If there is more than one unit of a given noun the suffix –ar is added.
bil
bilar
Wh en we talk about a certain 4 noun instead of any of that kind, we remove the word en before and add -en
at the end of the noun. Instead of saying the word for this particular noun, we can even say den. Moreover,
we can be really determined by doing both things at the same time and perhaps point on the thing referred to.
Indeterminate something decidedly more firmly even more firmly
bil en bil bilen den bilen
kärlek en kärlek kärleken den kärleken
4.
If the current noun is so determined to have a unique name, such as a specific person of the male sex, we
can adress himwith the word han (him), or by using the person's name. But then the rule above does not
apply. That is to say, we never say den about "Kenneth". Nor do we say "Kenneth-en".
Because in a text we highlight that this is a specific name on a specific person by spelling the name with a
capital letter in the beginning. This also applies when we relate to objects with a "personal" name (which
is not so common to do except for the geographical locations, cuddly toys and cars).
When we talk about more specific nouns we add an additional suffix: –na (bilar-na).
If a noun owns something, we describe it either by adding one word that tells that this is the case Anna har
en cykel (Anna has a bicycle), or by adding -s after the noun that owns: Anna-s cykel (Annas bicycle), bilars
reservdelar (cars spareparts), bilarna-s brister (cars shortcomings).
287

Events are described with verbs
When a noun is doing something, it is described with words that are called verbs. Cykla (cykle), simma
(swim), and älska (love) are examples of verbs.
If we do that at the very moment we add -r at the end of the verb, as:
jag cykla-r
vi simma-r
katten bada-r
någon älska-r
If we will do it in the future, we'll add words before the verb:
han ska cykla
Peter tänker simma
vi kommer att bada
Anna planerar att älska
If it is already done, we describe it by adding -de :
Anna cykla-de
Pelle simma-de
ni bada-de
We can also describe that we have already done something in a more vague way, by adding a word before
the verb and add -t to it:
Olle har cykla-t
Kalle hade simma-t
vi hade bada-t
andra har älska-t
If the action is performed by someone or something other than the subject of the action we add instead -s to
the current verb:
cykeln cykla-s av Kalle
bilen ratta-s av Ulla
We may also, in certain situations add -nde, to the verb, in order to express things like:
en skriva-nde herre
en fungera-nde bil
288

How nouns are
All words that describe nouns are called adjectives. Röd (red), snabb (fast) and stark (strong) can 5 be
adjectives.
When we describe how a noun is in relation to other nouns we add suffixes: -are or -ast to the adjective:
min bil är röd
min bil är röd-are (än din)
min bil är röd-ast (av alla bilar).
Sometimes we also add -e after -ast to describe such things as:
min bil är den rödaste du kan tänka dig
Some adjectives, unlike röd, has an opposite. These opposites are formed by that o- is added before the
word:
adjective
lika
rak
vänlig
opposite adjective
o-lika
o-rak
o-vänlig
5.
But they are adverbs when they describe a verb, an adjective or another adverb. For example, snabb is
adjective in the sentence: en snabb bil but it is an adverb in this sentence: hon springer snabbt. Adverbs
are formed as in the example before by adding -t to the current adjective.
Figures
All specific number are described with figures. Figures may well be expressed in words and also with
symbols called digits. These figures can then be combined to all different numbers.
We only have figures for the first ten integers 6 in our language, they are written: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
Other figures are formed by combining these figures in different ways.
Number between nine and one hundred are formed throug that the number ten is added after the current
figure (perhaps an implied multiplication): fyrtio, femtio.
Larger numbers formed by the word for the current ten potens 7 is added to the figure:
ett + hundra = etthundra.
två + hundra + tusen = tvåhundratiotusen.
en + miljon + två + hundra + tio + tusen + två + hundra + fyrtiotre = enmiljontvåhundratiotusentvåhundrafyrtiotre.
6.
7.
Numbers are either integer or decimal. Integer is used to count objects, such as the number of people in
the queue at the kiosk. But all objects is not whole. For example, you can have a half bar of chocolate.
Numbers as a half or four and a half, are decimal. Decimals are described by taking the next lower
integer, after it we put a comma and then the decimal digits, for example: 3,14.
10 = tio.
100 = hundra.
1000 = tusen.
Are examples of ten potenses.
289

The most confusing exceptions
Ch sounds the same as stj
Some sounds have, for some strange reason, been interpreted to different letters in different words. This
applies on, for example:
E–sound, which mostly is spelled with e but sometimes with é (as in entré).
J– sound, which can be spelled with: j (jul), dj (djur), gj (gjuta), hj (hjul), and with lj (ljus). Despite that it
would have been possible to spell all the words with just j: jul, jur, jul, jus.
K–sound that oddly enough sometimes is written: k (kappa), c (camping), ch (och), ck (lack) and q
(quenell). Instead of with k all the way: kappa, kamping, okk, lakk, kenell.
S–sound that can be written s (söka), c (cykel), sc (scen) och z (zenit).
A sound that can be spelled with ch (chef), g (geni), j (jalusi), sch (schack), sh (sherry), sj (sjö), sk (skena),
skj (skjul) and stj (ärna).
Another sound that can be written with tj (tjuta), k (känna), kj (kjol) and ch (chili).
Å–sound that besides with å can be written with o as in offer.
R–sound that mostly is written with just r (rullar) but in some cases it is instead rl (karlar).
V–sound which in rare occasions is written with w (bowling) or with u (quartzur).
This means among other things that certain similar spelled words can be pronounced in several ways and
then mean different things:
loge (barn, is pronounced as it is written) and loge (dressing rooms in theaters, pronounced: låsch)
Polen (the country, pronounced Pålen) and polen (for example a battery pole, is pronounced as it is written).
290

Short vowels are not always followed by a double consonant
In some cases, the vowel is followed by only one consonant, even if it is short:
Right
Kam
Bom
Men
In
Kan
should be right
kamm
bomm
menn
inn
kann
The common factor for these words is that the short vowel is followed by –m or -n. Though to make it extra
confusing, there are also words with short vowel followed by -mm or -nn, such as: damm and lamm, or
hann and vann.
If the short vowel is followed by -m or -n, which in turn is followed by a vowel it will sometimes be -mm or
-nn: hammare, rummet, funnen och henne.
In other cases, it will not be so:
Right
planering
laminat
Honom
should be right
plannering
lamminat
honnom
In cases where the short vowel followed by -nn, which in turn is followed by a consonant it will sometimes
be two -nn:
finns, gynnsam och minns.
And sometimes not: hantel, infall och hangar.
This strange things also applies to other consonants: mist, talk, trots and halt.
Compared to: knussla, knollra, kuttra, pillra.
In other words, a long vowel is followed by two or more consonants: helt, lekstuga och slöjd.
Furthermore, there are even cases where a long vowel is followed by two equal consonants, like:
Right
kollega
kommun
should be right
kolega
komun
291

The letter k is very special because we never write two k: after each other no matter how short vowel is
except in a few words: kökkenmödding och hakkors.
When it should be two k we instead usually writes ck:
Right
vacker
spackel
mack
should be right
vakker
spakkel
makk
If there happens to be a short vowel sound followed by something that should be spelled: ks. We usually
writes: x, and sometimes cc:
right ought to be right, or even better, or at least
sax saks sakks sacks
lax laks lakks lacks
successiv suksessiv sukksessiv sucksessiv
But for that "rule" you can also find exceptions such as: bensinmacks.
And when a word that ends in two equal consonants is merged with another word that begins with the same
consonant, we, completely illogical, remove one of these:
Basic words right ought to be right
kall + lager kallager kalllager
metall + legering metallegering metalllegering
292

Sometimes it is not en but ett
About a quarter of all nouns we do not mix with the en word ...
Instead we have decided that it shall be ett … And if we points out an ett word we say det instead of den.
It's called en bil but ett äpple and when the äpple is pointed out we say: äpplet, rather than the logicall en
äpplen and den äppleen.
If you talk about a man we say, as previously mentioned, han instead of den. And if it is a woman or a
group, we say hon and de. These, and other similar words, are extremely irregular:
base pointing out owning retrospective
han honom hans sig
hon henne hennes sig
den den dess sig
de, dom dem, dom deras sig
Though it ought to be:
han hanen hans sig
hon honen hons sig
den denen dens sig
de deen des sig
There are more words like that such as:
Base pointing out owning retrospective
jag mig, mej min, mitt mig
du dig, dej din, ditt dig
man en ens sig
det det dess sig
vi oss vårt oss
ni er era er
Though it ought to be:
jag jagen jags sig
du duen dus sig
man manen mans sig
den denen dens sig
vi vien vis sig
ni nien nis sig
293

More is not always –ar
All pluras are not described with the endings: –ar or –arna (bil, bilar, bilarna). There are exceptions where
only one or two letters different from the rule as:
one more pointed out
cykel cyklar cyklarna
kvinna kvinnor kvinnorna
sko skor skorna
ärende ärenden ärendena
bank banker bankerna
mus möss mössen
Though it ought to be:
cykel cykelar cykelarna
kvinna kvinnaar kvinnaarna
sko skoar skoarna
ärende ärendear ärendearna
bank bankar bankarna
mus musar musarna
Other words violates these simple rules in much rougher way:
one more pointed out
ess ess essen
land länder länderna
hus hus husen
år år åren
datum datum datumen
When it ought to be:
ess essar essarna
land landar landarna
hus husar husarna
år årar årarna
datum datumar datumarna
Or worse words that are not even based on singular form such as: ris (rice).
A piece of this instead named ett riskorn instead of as logically should be:
one more pointed out
ris risar risarna
294

Var means the same as är but in the past
Some verbs do not follow the rules. Instead of doing something about this, we have chosen to continue to
use them, and contented ourselves with giving them a name of "irregular verbs". The most common of these
crazy things is the word to be changed very much between the various forms:
then then, diffuse now future
var har varit är (kommer att) vara
Instead of for example:
varade har varat varar (kommer att) vara
There are a lot more strange verbs like:
rätt borde vara rätt
dåtid nutid framtid (ska +) dåtid nutid framtid (ska +)
brann brinner brinna brinnade brinnar brinna
satt sitter sitta sittade sittar sitta
sprack spricker spricka sprickade sprickar spricka
bet biter bita bitade bitar bita
teg tiger tiga tigade tigar tiga
fick får få fåade får få
bjudit bjuder bjuda bjudade bjudar bjuda
blev blir bli blide blir bli
kom kommer komma kommade kommar komma
mindes minns minnas minnasde minnasr minnas
trivdes trivs trivas trivasde trivasr trivas
gjorde gör göra görade görar göra
tog tar ta tade tar ta
sa, sade säger säga sägade sägar säga
visste vet veta vetade vetar veta
lät låter låta låtade låtar låta
kände känner känna kännade kännar känna
höll håller hålla hållade hållar hålla
hette heter heta hetade hetar heta
bar bär bära bärade bärar bära
drog drar dra drade drar dra
låg ligger ligga liggade liggar ligga
la, lade lägger lägga läggade läggar lägga
satte sätter sätta sättade sättar sätta
slog slår slå slåde slår slå
föll faller falla fallade fallar falla
åt äter äta ätade ätar äta
stal stjäl stjäla stjälade stjälar stjäla
grät gråter gråta gråtade gråtar gråta
sålde säljer sälja säljade säljar sälja
vande vänjer vänja vänjade vänjar vänja
skilde skiljer skilja skiljade skiljar skilja
295

The rule of adding a -t after the verb when we vaguer terms wants to describe that something has been done
has, of course, also a number of exceptions, such as:
grund right ought to be right
känna (har) känt (har) kännat
binda (har) bundit (har) bindat
tiga (har) tigit (har) tigat
finnas (har) funnits (har) finnast
har (har) haft (har) hart
-ast is not always more extreme than -are
Many relative conditions described with-are and-ast (eg gul, gulare, gulast), but not all. There are
exceptions where only a few letters different from the rule as:
stor större störst
When it ought to be:
stor storare storast
And far worse examples, where few letters are preserved through all three forms:
bra bättre bäst
When it ought to be:
bra braare braast
Or even worse on the opposite to large:
liten mindre minst
Instead of:
liten litenare litenast
And perhaps worst of it is that certain words not even have all forms, for example:
få färre
Consistent names were:
få fåare fåast
A few descriptive words, just even have one level:
höger
Where it could be called:
höger högerare högerast
296

Then for some reason you use mer (more) or mest (most):
höger mer åt höger mest åt höger
If the noun, the adjective describing, is a ett-word for some reason –t is added after the adjective:
en– word
en vacker anka
en vacker bil
en söt raket
ett– word
ett vackert träd
ett vackert fordon
ett sött maskingevär
But this exception does not apply if the adjective already ends with -t:
en– word
en elegant anka
ett– word
ett elegant träd
If the adjective ends with –n with an en-word, they will end with -t or-nt with an ett-word. If they, however,
end with -d, the d is changed to a -t,and if it ended with-dd it becomes-tt:
en–word
En naken anka
en klen bil
en sprängd anka
en ond bil
en klädd anka
en glad anka
ett–word
ett naket hus
ett klent hus
ett sprängt hus
ett ont fordon
ett klätt hus
ett glatt träd
In the last example, we add an extra-t without the-dd, to further fuss.
But there is no difference between en or ett-words if they're even more beautiful, or the most beautiful:
en– word
en vackrare anka
den vackraste bil
ett– word
ett vackrare träd
det vackraste fordon
Or in sentences where en or ett aren’t present:
en–word
ett–word
vackra anka
vackra träd
vackra bil
vackra fordon
If several nouns referred to in a clause, it I, according to the rule, marked with the suffix -ar on the noun.
But in addition, we for some reason add -a to the adjective if it is in the basic form:
right
röda bilar
sköna skor
gulliga barn
ought to be right
röd bilar
skön skor
gullig barn
297

In this context, the adjective liten is extra strange because we believe that it is not even possible to say:
bilarna är för litena, because it should be: bilarna är för små.
In some cases, also the adjectives changes in several ways when there are several nouns that are referred to:
one
en skriven regel
en gammal gubbe
several
tre skrivna regler
två gamla gubbar
In addition, we sometimes also make a difference between whether it is a man or woman that is referred to:
Woman
min kära Anna
den driftiga kvinnan
man
min käre Olle
den driftige mannen
But it is:
Woman
min älskade Anna
man
min älskade Olle
Not:
min älskada Anna
Further, there is a lot of exceptions to the rule that the opposite adjective is formed by adding o-:
excist not excist excist contrary to the contrary
tråkig otråkig 8 kul okul 8
ful oful 8 snygg osnygg 9
dum odum 8 intelligent ointelligent
8. The word does not excist.
9. The word excist but means something else.
And thre are words ending with -are which are not adjectives. For example, tillbringare is a noun and not a
form of tillbring, thus one can’t say:
tillbring tillbringare tillbringast
ång ångare ångast
Finally, we also have words that end with -ast without being adjectives: fantast and pederast. Thus someone
who is a pederast is not necessarily more extreme peder than others.
298

Twenty should be called tvåtio
Numerals up to one hundred would according to the basic rule be:
Noll, ett, två, tre, fyra, fem, sex, sju, åtta, nio, tio,
tioett, tiotvå, tiotre, tiofyra, tiofem, tiosex, tiosju, tioåtta, tionio,
tvåtio, tvåtioett, tvåtiotvå, tvåtiotre, tvåtiofyra, tvåtiofem, tvåtiosex, tvåtiosju, tvåtioåtta, tvåtionio,
tretio, tretioett, tretiofyra, tretiofem, tretiosex, tretiosju, tretioåtta, tretionio,
fyrtio, fyrtioett, fyrtiotvå, fyrtiotre, fyrtiofyra, fyrtiofem, fyrtiosex, fyrtiosju, fyrtioåtta, fyrtionio,
femtio, femtiett, femtiotvå, femtiotre, femtiofyra, femtiofem, femtiosex, femtiosju, femtioåtta, femtionio,
sextio, sextioett, sextiotvå, sextiotre, sextiofyra, sextiofem, sextiosex, sextiosju, sextioåtta, sextionio,
sjutio, sjutioett, sjutiotvå, sjutiotre, sjutiofyra, sjutiofem, sjutiosex, sjutiosju, sjutioåtta, sjutionio,
åttatio, åttatioett, åttatiotvå, åttatiotre, åttatiofyra, åttatiofem, åttatiosex, åttatiosju, åttatioåtta, åttationio,
niotio, niotioett, niotiotvå, niotiotre, niotiofyra, niotiofem, niotiosex, niotiosju, niotioåtta, niotionio.
But they doesn’t.
299

If Swedish was consistent
If all the crazy things described above were eliminated and we kept to the basic rule, written Swedish would
look as follows (in italics) instead of the current way of writing (plain text).
Somm andra barnar sprinngade jag mykketare änn vad vuxenar görade.
Som andra barn sprang jag mycket mer än vad vuxna gjorde.
Eftersom avståndar varade korrtare i jags värd okk jag tykkede denn kännades uppfrisskandeare att
sprinnga änn att gå.
Eftersom avstånden var kortare i min värld och jag tyckte det kändes mer uppfriskande att springa än att gå.
Jag slitade ut alla löparskoar på litenare änn enn år.
Jag slet ut alla löparskor på mindre än ett år.
Jag fårade ny löparskoar för enn par år sedan, de varar deen storaste jag har hart.
Jag fick nya löparskor för ett par år sedan, de är dom största jag har haft.
Menn denn hänndar sällann att jag annvändar deen.
Men det händer sällan att jag använder dom.
Fasst nu sprinngar jag okk varar på väg till jags sysster.
Fast springer jag och är på väg till min syster.
Honns hus liggar någon killometer från jags.
Hennes hus ligger någon kilometer från mitt.
Vi ska drikka kaffe okk äta tårta. Denn ska bli godat.
Vi ska dricka kaffe och äta tårta. Det ska bli gott.
Which is pretty far from the Swedish language of today.
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A quick lesson in writing
Probably most stories are never completed. Sometimes, perhaps because the authors do not think they will
be good enough. Wich gives them such agony that they can’t continue, or get stuck in constantly edition of
the already written. The editing should wait until the whole story is finished and everybody that gets stuck,
should keep in mind that very little of all that is written is good. What you find in bookstores is just a small
part of all the stories written. The small part that the editors thought was good enough. So it may not be so
likely that they find that your story is good enough. But it doesn’t matter! Even if no one else will even want
to read it to the end, you have at least written it. You have created your own world, with your people and
your environment. It's fun and something to be proud of.
I think that most people who have an idea for a novel, first get an idea of the story. It's usually the story as it
is creative in a novel, the rest is a craft. There are of course exceptions, novels with new thinking on how for
instance environments are described. It does not mean that such novels are entertaining reading, maybe it's
the opposite. There are even novels that did not have its own story at all, but are still very entertaining. This
course does not dwell on such matters, rather it is about the craft of decorating a story with events, people,
environments and dialogue.
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Set-up
In order for a story to become a book it is requires that the author finds the appropriate words to describe it.
In addition, the words has to be put together so that they will form an agreable text flow. The text should
also not be too sprawling and it should fit for the intended story. To achieve this in a good way, the author,
in my experience, should think through and take a position in a number of important issues here summarized
as set-up. After that, as a rule, the same appropriations should be maintained throughout the story. These
important questions are:
- Telling shape, i.e. the relationship between you and your main character. Often the author's main character
is the author (I-form), even more often, the author is outside, and the main character is depicted in (his/her
form). There may also be several I (rare) or several he/she (common) whose thoughts the reader follow
through the novel.
- Telling eyes. With this its ment the eyes that sees what happens in the story. If it strictly follows one person
everything is usually seen from that person's point of view. If the story, however, follow more people the
telling eyes usually are placed on an all-seeing observer that both can see people and events from the
outside and can go into the brain of any of the characters.
- Telling brain. Different people who look at the same event note different things and they make different
associations. No matter how many pairs of eyes that see a course of events, it is usually the same brain that
interprets what is happening.
- Telling language. What words the telling brain uses to describe the events.
Many novels are always seen through the protagonist's eyes. It is thus the same eyes, brain and language that
sees, interprets and embodies the whole story. Those who choose such appropriations can choose any real
person that he/she thinks would be suitable for the role. Then, just imagine how that person would
experience the story. What the person would have noticed of the environments and events, what he/she
would have said, done, and thought about the other characters, and finally how he/she would have described
all this. For those who made a good choice, the text is then more or less generated by itself. On the other
hand, if a person is choosen that he or she can identify with, it wil be a lot harder to produce text.
Here are some examples of how the story would look like with a few different set-ups. The story is about a
man who comes home unusually early from work one day and then finds his wife in bed with a man. When
he becomes aware of this, he briskly leaves home and back into his car, thinking about what he should do
and decides to take revenge.
Version 1.
Narrated in the first person. The I-person (telling eyes and telling brain) is cowardly, bitter and he thinks
everyone wants to fuck with him. The telling language of the text is an interpretation of the main character's
inner monologue. With this appropriation and him as the main character is it tempting to believe that the
revenge cosists of that that he makes small discrete viciousness things against his wife. Contagious units
which are not seen so clearly, so that he does not need to stand up for them, or is forced to confront his wife.
"Typically, the manager did not even bother when I said that it felt as if I have a fever. So he would never do
if it was Frederick or Thomas who said they felt bad. Then he would probably say "but oh oh, gee, yes it was
sad to hear, but then you should get home to rest. Hope it passes soon. Do not worry about the meeting, I say
to them that you are sick. " Now, he just said "oh well, get well then." It did not even seem like he thought I
was sick. I might have coughed a bit just to emphasize how damn it feels, but it might just have sounded
ridiculous. Luckily I did not. But I'm actually sick, definitely, I usually do not puff when I walk down the
stairs. I usually don’t even do that when I go up the stairs. Perhaps my condition, is poorer Damn there is
Sven. He comes in my direction. He will surely ask, in his cheeky way, how I feel. Should I say that I feel
bad and thus have to explain my symptoms. Or should I say it's good. But then he is to wonder why I leave
so early. Maybe he will think that I leave out of sheer laziness. Consider also if I do not come tomorrow, and
I say I'm fine now. Then he will think that I stay at home for the smallest thing. Though what if I say that I
feel sick and he thinks I do not look sick. Then he is definitely think I'm simulant or hypochondriac.
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Damn, I have to hide myself, it's the only way. But anyway, it is too late already, he has seen me. But now I
feel actually even a little worse or it might just be cold here in the hallway. But I have the jacket on me and
freezes anyway, though it's indoors. Maybe I'll snap the jacket as if I really am freezing. Then it’s probably
obvious that there is something wrong with me.
Now he nods at me, he surely wants to shake hands. How should I explain it without it being weird, I mean
that maybe we should not take each other's hand because I might infect him with a dangerous infection.
Should I maybe just forget to explain it but just stretch out my hand. But then he is to think that I'm selfish
when taken him by the hand. He may be thinking, "that guy will do anything to show that he knows me.
Even if it means I get sick." But how shall I say it now then, he barely usually wait for an answer when he
asks how I am and stretches out his hand. Then I have to, in a few seconds, say that I have a fever and do not
want to shake his hand. He damned happy look also remains, as if he thinks it is fun to see me. Should I also
look happy now then, but then it surely is less likely that I'm sick. I'll be taciturn, I think. I usually so it ought
to seem natural. Now that I am sick, he understands how much effort it is for me to walk all the way to the
car.
- Hello Mats, what's up
- Hello, nothing but I got fever, but how about you then
- Ouch, must hurry to the meeting, but get well!
Damn, did not ask how it was with him, but he did at least not reach out his hand for a shake. But why did he
not do that Is’nt he interested in me anymore. Is it just because we do not work on the same project
anymore, Was it only therefore that he was so nice to me before."
This is a fairly simple appropriation to elaborate on for anyone who has a picture of the main character's
mind. It will be easy to add page to page, but there is a risk that it becomes quite tedious in the long run.
Moreover, it can be difficult to get dialogues, environmental descriptions as well as events into the story in a
smooth way. That's probably why this set-up is quite unusual.
Version 2.
This set-up is designed in the same way as, for instance, many hard core criminal stories. The main character
is witty, confrontational and uncompromising. The story is here seen with the eyes of an all-seeing observer.
Eyes who sees the protagonist sometimes from the outside and sometimes from within. The telling brain is
pretty cool and do not waste time thinking about emotions. Everything is described with a narrative language
that uses appropriate words for the phenomenas that occure in the history.
With this approach, it is reasonable to think that the main character pretty quickly decides to beat up the man
in the bedroom. Then the story woul maybe focus on how he face society and the legal system for his deed.
"- You Bosse, I go home now, have a fever, I think.
- Well, yes, get well then. Think you come tomorrow
- I hope so.
- By the way, is there anything I need to know, do you have something that needs to be done today, or what
- No, I can take care of it all when I come back, bye.
- Bye, but the phone, you have programmed it
Mats gave him a sharp look that clearly showed how stupid the question was. Then he left the manager's
room without further altercation.
It was raining outside. The drops came down hard and cold on his nearly bald head. He stretched out the
steps, even though his breathing increased. However, he did not bother to pull up the jacket's zipper because
the car was just a few rows away. A puddle had formed outside the driver's door. It was so deep that the
water reached up to the instep of his black walking shoes. When he stepped into the car, he touched the neck
seal so that a trickle of cold raindrops runned down the inside of the collar of his shirt. Quietly he cursed the
automaker and thought as so many times before: the next time I buy a car for adults not some little silly
Japanese sports car. Then he inserted the ignition key and started the engine."
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Version 3.
Here the man is very ordinary. He likes life, loves his wife and their home. He gets devastated by grief when
he discovers his wife in bed with the man and his whole world crumbles. The design would be suitable for
an all-seeing observer that allows the readers to follow other characters actions and thinking as well. The
telling brain interprets a rather ordinary way, with references to common Swedish homes. The telling
language is as close to normal spoken language as possible to further enhance ordinariness.
With this approach the lead character might decide to go home to his best friend and take some beer with
him and his wife while he eases his heart. He sleeps in his friends house friend in a week, while he text-and
maybe makes a few phone calls to negotiate with his girlfriend about the future of their relationship. The
revenge could be that he begins to search the Internet for a mistress.
"The bad feeling had been there since the morning, but at lunch he was almost sure. Otherwise, when he felt
a little sluggish in the morning, it got better after lunch and coffee. But now there was hardly any difference,
even though he chosed a healthy lunch, with lots of vegetables and had a slice of lemon in the water. The
appetite was also worse, even though he hardly said anything during the entire lunch, both Thomas and
Fredrik were ready before him. Otherwise he usually almost always eats faster than at least Frederick. In
addition, he froze, despite that had added a pullover over the shirt. Both Thomas and Fredrik just had t-
shirts, and they seemed to be comfortable whit it.
- Hey, isn’t it cold in here
Fredrik looked a little surprised at him and shook his head. Thomas asked, with a slight hint of concern:
-What do you mean, Mats, you have a fever or, it's warm in here.
Back in the office he was not even able to move the mouse to remove the blue color on the screen and the
text about the operating system, so he was convinced. He rose from his chair, picked up the jacket from the
hook and started walking toward the door. Thomas and Frederick looked at him, waiting.
- I will go home now, I must have some cold or something. Lisa have been home for a few days, that's
probably her cold that Ihave received.
- Yeah! Said Thomas, they're like little viral bombs. But it's okay, we tell the boss. Is ithere something else
that we should do
Mats shook his head as he thanked them and felt a bit of heat from their kindness spread in his body. Then
he went as fast as he could, without even turning off the computer or reprogram the phone. He did not have
to stop and talk to anyone during the walk down to the car, except for one guy from the design department,
who greeted him when passing. The weather was autumnal with a light rain that would otherwise not have
disturbed him so much during the short walk to the car. Now it made him freeze so that his hands were
shaking. He had to sit for several minutes with the climate system on maximum heat, before he released the
handbrake, put in a gear and drove away."
In this version it is suitable to take in a bit of all sorts of more or less irrelevant facts, to give the reader a
sense of recognition. Just stir in personal experience of car rides, arguments, and more.
Version 4.
Which is a copy of the previous version, but now he's changed to me.
"I had a feeling it in the morning, but at lunch, I was almost sure. Otherwise, when I'm feeling a little
sluggish in the mornings, it gets better after lunch and coffee. But now there was hardly any difference, even
though I chosed the healthy lunch, had a lot of vegetables and put down a slice of lemon in the water. The
appetite was also worse, even though I hardly said anything during the entire lunch, both Thomas and
Fredrik were ready before me. Otherwise, I almost always eat faster than at least Frederik. I even freeze
despite that I wear an extra pullover, while Thomas and Frederick just wears t-shirts, and they do not seem to
freeze.
- Hey, isn’t it cold in here
Fredrik looked a bit surprised at me and shook his head. Thomas asked with a slight hint of concern:
-What do you mean, Mats, do you have a fever or, it's warm in here.
When I came back from lunch and found that I hardly manged to move the mouse I realized that I had to be
sick. I rose from the chair, picked the jacket from the hook and started walking toward the door. Thomas and
Frederick looked at me, waiting.
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- I will probably go home now, I must have some cold or something. Lisa have been home for a few days,
that's probably her cold that I received.
- Yeah! Said Thomas, they're like little viral bombs. But it's okay, we tell the boss. Is there something else
that we should do
I shook my head while I thanked them and felt a little heat from their kindness spread in my body. Then I
went as fast as I could without even turning off the computer or reprogram the phone. I did not stop to talk to
anyone during the walk down to the car, except for one guy from the design department who I greeted when
passing. The weather was autumnal with a light rain that would otherwise not have troubled me so much
during the short walk to the car. Now it got me to freeze so that my hands were shaking. I had to sit for
several minutes with the climate system on maximum heat, before I released the handbrake, put in a gear and
drove away."
It got worse, right
If you let the main character observe and tell us what is happening it is, as I said, important to note that the
text match how it would have sounded if the imaginary protagonist had told the story himself. Furthermore,
one should avoid describing events that he would not have thought it would be interesting to tell. It is also
important to remember that people usually leave out all unnecessary environmental descriptions in oral
storytelling. In addition, most people use a more undifferentiated language with many repetitions, for
example, "he came, then she came," compared with conventional written language.
305

Environments
As a rule the scene in which an event takes place is described in an environment description. Often the
description of the event begins with that the environment is described, but occasionally the two are described
in parallel and other times the environment is described throgh the description of the event. As in the
example below:
"Roberts skinny figure disappeared into the pine grove, where the bark gleamed golden and yellow in the
morning sun. He walked in a brisk pace as long as they saw him. He walked without any direction, went
about obstacles like bushes, passed around holes and uprooted trees and sat his foot where the ground was
the easiest to cross."
From "The new land" by Vilhelm Moberg.
Or this, which is taken from an autobiographical tale about a safari in Africa. Note how the author used a
number of metaphors for us to understand how it was.
"The sunshine was unbearably oppressive. The heat in my back felt as if someone had hurled spears in it. I
crawled under a bush to eat an orange and let the juice slowly run down into my throat that was like dry
sand. It was the sweetest sense of relief I have ever felt. When I emptied the sand out of my shoes, I knew
that my muscles would torment me less, the next day."
From "Leopard in my arms " by Michaela Denis.
In the following quote the environment (and the events there) are watched by an all-seeing observer. In the
quote ten describe the environment and events by the all-seeing observer gone into the brain of one of the
drama's main characters looking at his reflections, which the telling brain then have summarized.
"In this mess, this half-mil long and several hundred meters wide chaos of an escaping army, one after the
other of the laws and war articles expired without anyone really cared, rode captain Pilfelt at eight o'clock in
the evening."
"Two things Pilfelt particularly noticed. At the field office's wagons they were busy throwing bundles of
incriminating letters and papers on the fire. And over at the king's tent, slightly tucked away by a birch
grove, packed at best down the royal silver dining equipment for four hundred forty eight people and the
barrels with the Saxon gold they had squeezed out of the occupied territories before marching against
Russia."
From "A time for outrage" by Lars Widding.
It's pretty easy to make an environmental description. Take an environment that you know and filter it
through the selected set-up. But since it is so easy, one could quite easily fill out an entire novel only with
environmental descriptions. And how amusing would that be On the other hand, a novel entirely without
environmental descriptions gets a bit boring as well. Though it is probably almost impossible to write a story
without any environmental descriptions because every noun is an environment description. The question in
this context is: Which scenes should be described and what should be described in them
The answer depends on what the purpose is, it could be that:
- Create an image of one or more of the individuals in the story, such as that they are poor or snobbish,
because the image is needed for the understanding of the later events.
- Filling out the pages, which unfortunately seems to be common in some novels.
- Communicating information about the viewer. It may be the main reason because the viewer's attitude
towards what he/she looks at may explain the later behaviour.
- Describe an atmosphere. May also provide an explanation for someone's behavior.
- Create excitement. If a site is described more accurately than previously described locations it creates a
premonition that here it will happen something important.
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Anyone who has ambition to make a good description of a scene in a story should generally use as few
words as possible to describe it. This is especially true in environments that are not important to the story or
environments that everyone knows. For example, it would be quite tedious to read a long description of the
inside of a regular taxi, unless it is so that the viewer in the story has never been in a car and therefore looks
astonished at everything.
But it is, in spite of the above, usually not sufficient to describe an environment with only an adjective,
because then it becomes quite meager. Say for example that a person in the story stand on a sidewalk
expecting to be picked up by a regular taxi, but instead he gets picked up by a limousine. In the limo it will
then happened something that is so important for the further development of the story, that the car requires
some form of description. This could be described as:
In the viewer's eye’s
"In the queue of cars slowly rolling along the street he could see a long white car with tinted windows and
flags on the wings. One such car that he had seen the movie stars come in, to premieres and galas."
Or:
"Far away in the line of cars behind the rusty car that rattled, he saw a long white car that resembled to a
cream cake. When it came closer, a yellow light began to flash in one corner and the car turned towards him.
He felt a thrill from his eyes down to the toes, imagine if it was meant for him."
From the outside, with eyes that do not sit on any of the participants (in the same way as in a
movie):
"A white limousine pulled up to the curb and parked next to him."
This description might be suitable for a thriller, but not at all suitable if it was a romantic story where the
love of his life awaited him in the back, ready to propose to him.
Or:
"A luxurious car veered toward the curb and parked next to him."
With the last description, there is a risk that the reader gets stuck in to wonder what the author mean by
luxurious and that he thus loses pace in the reading. It is usually better to describe something so that the
reader thinks it sounds like an exclusive, beautiful or ugly thing/place compared to simply writing that.
Some environments are more difficult to describe than others. Take a look at the environment in the
photograph below. What can you write about it
307

Probably it's autumn, it rains, it looks pretty wet and the water puddle is big, the road turns to the right, a car
is passing. But why would a writer want to describe any of this It depends on what will happen there. Let's
say that it shortly will be a traffic accident in which one of the characters are involved. Then maybe it would
be important to describe the place in detail, if the accident is caused by water puddle.
But if the site is only one place that the protagonist passes on her to a place where something will happen,
this puddle should probably not be devoted that many words. The reason to write about it could then be to
illustrate how terrible the conditions were during her walk. Below you ca see a few attempts:
In the viewer's eye’s
"She froze and the clothes were wet. The legs were so tired that it seemed doubtful whether she would be
able to go all the way. Even a puddle in front of her, but she didn’t care anymore. The shoes were already
soaking wet, but the puddle appeared to be deep, so she forced herself to take a detour around it."
Or with a little more emotions involved:
"The rain had held on for so long now that everything felt wet. The pants were wet, the shoes were wet, and
the hair felt like she just got out of the shower. The drops were cold, the air was cold and the wind was
blowing. Before her there was a giant puddle, she could barely care about it. Did it make a difference if she
took a detour around it The shoes were soaking wet anyway. Was it by the way going in the right direction
She saw no signs that could give her any information about the name of the road, but it wouldn’t make any
difference, really. Her steps were formed by the hopelessness of the trip, but she began after a moment's
hesitation to circule the puddle."
From the outside
"The raindrops continued to cool her, but now it was blowing too. She turned onto Hook Road, but stopped
abruptly. For the next step, she had set foot in a deep puddle that spread out before her. Instead of continuing
along the roadside, she went across the road to the other side. "
Or with more focus on the weather:
"The rain was industrious and she had been exposed for so long now that it had penetrated her jacket and wet
the blouse. It made the cold even more palpable. Moreover, the wind had increased and soon it would be
dark. Despite these circumstances, she chosed to take a detour around a large puddle that was in her way."
308

It may be easier to find something to write about an environment that is created for an event that will
happened. For example, a table setting for a coffee break.
In this case, the author, for example,
may describe the furniture, the table
setting, point out that there is no milk
cartons or the fact that the table is set
for five persons. It is of course
depending on what's going to happen
there and who made the table setting.
If it were set for a birthday party, one
would, tentatively, write that the table
setting was pretty meager, but if it on
the contrary, was set for a regular
coffee break at work .....
Here are some different types of environmental descriptions taken from a number of novels.
In the viewer's eye’s
Many novels are written so that it is clear that there is a person (usually the protagonist) who observes the
environments. For those who choose this approach, it is important that they are described in a manner
consistent with the viewers supposed personality. The easiest way to do this is probably to try to imagine
what the person in question would have told you about if he had told you about the scene. So maybe
Norman Mailer did when he wrote this (note that it is written in I-form and present, which is unusual):
"So often I go to these emerald green swamps in the end of the town, I think of the pilgrims. The coastal
dunes farther out are so low that you can see the ships along the horizon even when the water is invisible.
Sport fishing boats seems to travel in caravans across the sand. If I have a drink inside, I start laughing,
because opposite the memorial plaque over the pilgrims, not five ten feet from the stable where the United
States began, is the entrance to a big motel. It may not be uglier than any other giant motel but it is certainly
not more beautiful either, and the only tribute to pilgrims is that they call it the "inn". The paved parking is
as large as a football field."
From "Tough guys don’t dance" by Norman Mailer.
The novel "The Window" (see below) is very rich in environmental descriptions, and about half of the 100
first lines of the book contains text that describes an environment. As the following excerpt in which a small
digression on garden walls that leads us to understand that the main character is in an exclusive area. The
novel is written entirely in the I-form and the past, but the description is strangely impersonal.
"The road was lined with estates surrounded by walls and fences. Some had high walls, some had low walls,
some with an ornate iron fence, some were a bit old-fashioned and coped with large hedges. The street had
no sidewalk. There was no one who walked in this area, not even the mail man.
The evening was warm, but not as hot as in Pasadena. It was a hypnotic fragrance of flowers and sunshine, a
gentle rustling of garden sprinklers behind hedges and walls, the clear crackling sound of lawnmowers that
delicately moved over peaceful lawns."
From “The Window" by Raymond Chandler.
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In the following excerpt, we see the environment through a viewer's eyes, but the text is written in he-form:
“Where he lay the hill sloped slowly, but further down it was steep, and he saw the dark path of dust control
agents shelter from the wind through the pass. Next to the road was a creek and further down the pass he saw
a sawmill by the stream and the water that fell over the dam, white in the summer sun."
From "To whom the bell tolls" by Ernest Hemmingway.
From the outside
Objectively
In a "factual" description the author gives the impression to only describe hard-boiled facts about the
environment. Sometimes without involving the actors feelings about it. In the event that such set-up is
chosen, it is particularly important that the scene match reality (in the case of that a real environment is
choosen) or is logical and reasonable (fictional setting) otherwise it may create irritation among the readers.
Objective environmental descriptions are pretty common in some mysteries, such as the following two
examples. In some factual detective stories, there is pretty much scene descriptions in others it is less. In the
novel "The Man on the Roof" (see below) contains about 40% of the first 100 rows environmental
descriptions. As in this text, in which one of the main character sees a corridor in a hospital.
"He was already on the steps and opened the right half of the door, which squeaked wretchedly on
unlubricated hinges. Another couple of steps and a door and he was in a sparsely lit corridor. On one side
were rooms for the patients, the other appeared to reserved for cleaning rooms, linen storage and
examination facilities. There was an old black wall phone that shall be fed with small coins. Rönn stared at
an oval white enamel sign with the laconic inscription LAVEMANG "
From "The Man on the Roof" by May Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö.
The detective story "The hatred" by Ed McBain, however, is much more economical regarding
environmental descriptions. There are hardly any at all. Perhaps because the nstory takes place in a fictional
city. This author probably inspired May Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö a lot. In any case, it is them who translated
this story into Swedish.
"The photographer's name was Jody Lewis and the sign above the entrance to the premises one could read
the word JODYS plain and simple. The shop was housed in a one-story brick house with a storefront, where
various tests on the result of the photographer's previous activities could be seen. Across the street, about
seven feet from the curb was a two-story house. This house had six windows facing the street. From one of
the windows upstairs the photo shop was clearly visible."
In the window stands a man with a rifle and wait for someone he's going to kill.
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However, it is not necessarily to all the time describe how the environment looks. Sometimes it can benefit
the story better to write a little story about some details in it, which the author of the next quote has done.
"The school had a central radio system, small speakers were bolted to the wall above the classroom doors
and above the entrance to the kitchen. Two weeks earlier, they had taken down the framed portraits of the
old and bloodhound like wrinkled president and replaced him with the newly elected one, admittedly bald
and with glasses but otherwise appeared virile and assertive, with steel in his eyes, sharp chin and carrying
voice. It was the voice that was heard from the speaker when Werner and Leo stepped into the kitchen, there
was a broadcast from the parliament and the president began with the words: "Dear representatives of the
Finnish people ...""
From “The danger of being Skrake" by Kjell Westö.
The novel "The new land" (588 pages) is quite choosy on environment descriptions, especially towards the
end. In the 100 pages (over 3000 lines) at the end of the book there is less than 400 lines that can be
considered to contain environmental descriptions. In the beginning, however the scenario is painted in a
moderate number of descriptions, such as in the novel's opening paragraph, in which the following
description is read. It is really not a description of the setting in the ordinary sense, i.e. it’s not a
scenographic description. Instead, the aim was probably to give the story a poetic introduction and a picture
of the new era in America.
"A giant trees was knocked over by a storm and had fell on a path that ran along the shores of the Ki-Chi-
Saga, a lake in the Chipewain indians country. It lay untouched where it had fallen, obstructing walkers on
the trail that went a detour around the roots. No one got the idea that it could be cut down and rolled to the
side. With time a new trail was made, that went in a big hook around the tree. Instead of moving away the
obstacle the Indians moved the way. So was the big tree there and as the years went by moss spread over it.
A man's age passed by, and the fallen tree began to rot. The path around it was now well used, and no one
remembered anymore, that it once had been a different route here. Hunters wasted over the years a lot of
time to go around the tree, but this people utilized their time wasting it. One day a man of a different skin
color walked the trail. He carried an ax under his arm and walked heavily in footwear, which had been made
in another continent. With his ax he cutted the tree in some places and threw it away."
From "The new land" by Vilhelm Moberg.
311

People
Anyone who wants to make it easy for himself occupy all roles in the history with people who he knew in
reality. Then it's basically just to try to see them with the telling eyes and interpret the seen with the telling
brain.
But all the people in a story need not be described. A simple rule of thumb is that the more important the
person's character is the understanding of the history, the more detailed description of him/her. And the more
central a person is in the story, the more detailed description. If a person appears in many places in the text
the description of him should be spread out on several of these occasions. And a large part of the description
should be in what he says and thinks and/or how others perceive him.
There are a number of different ways to describe people. They are mainly:
1. A person in the story observes the one that is to be described and he/she reflects about the appearance.
2. The person described reflects about himself.
3. An all seing observer sees and reflects over the person.
Some examples of these different ways to describe people:
1. In the viewer's eye’s
"Peter Olausson took off his hat, revealing a bald circle on the skul. He seemed a decade older than Karl
Oskar, as a forty-year man. It appeared on his clothes and was heard in his voice, that he was no newcomer
to America. He used the same mixed tongues as Anders Mansson in Taylors Falls, one of the first Swedes in
the Territory."
From "The new land" by Vilhelm Moberg.
In the following text, taken from " Tough guys don’t dance" by Norman Mailer, the author has chosen to
focus on some other physical properties. By allowing the person to be a former American football player, the
readers gets a picture of the whole personality. The reference to a fire hydrant also says a lot about the main
character.
"He was a shorter, blonde Greek-Norwegian on his father's side and on the mothers Portuguese, with a
physique like a fire hydrant. He was the second, second shortest who had ever played in the football's big
league (though he only stayed there one season)."
It is also quite fastidious with personal descriptions in the novel. It takes ten pages before the first
description of the appearance of any person in history. And the description is very brief:
"A blonde who was strikingly similar to Patty Lareine sat with her company less than three meters away
from me."
Another example:
"A fair-haired man in a brown suit, black glasses, and the now familiar hat came in the vestibule and went
discreetly between planted trees and plaster vaults to the cigar counter."
"Leslie Murdock was wearing a cool greenish suit and his hair looked wet as if he had just taken a shower.
He sat leaning forward, looking at his white suede shoes and spun the ring he had on his finger. He had with
him his long cigarette mouthpiece and seemed a bit lonely without it. Even his hair seemed to droop a little
more than it had done in my office."
From "The window" by Raymond Chandler.
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2. In the eye’s of the described
It happends that authors describes someone by letting him/her see themselves, perhaps when he or she looks
in the mirror, as in this example:
"When Connie came up to her room, she did as she had not done for a very long time, she took off all her
clothes and stood naked in front of the large floor mirror. She did not know what she was looking for or at,
but she moved the lamp so that she stood in full light.
And she thought, as so many times before .... what a naked human body seems brittle, easily hurt, a little
touching, somehow not quite finished, unfinished.
She had been considered to have a beautiful figure, but now she was out of fashion. A little too voluptuous,
not enough boy slim. She was not very tall, a bit Scottish and sat, but there was a certain beauty in her long
sloping curves and lines. Her hull had a slight brown shimmer, it was something bright on her arms and legs,
her body should have been plump, bulging, but there was something missing. Instead of mature her firm,
sloping curves had started become flat and a bit harsh."
From "Lady Chatterley's lover" by DH Lawrence.
3. From the outside
Objectively
This description is rather wordy, but then it is a key person who is introduced in the story.
"The man in the attic was wearing beige lumberjack jacket and black ski pants, a machine knitted black polo
shirt and brown boots. The mustache was long but well-groomed and a shade lighter than the smooth sloping
pinned hair. His face was narrow with clean profiles and contours finely cut and behind the frozen mask of
accusatory dissatisfaction and adamant insistence were almost childish traits, weak and perplexed and
appealing and yet a little bit calculating. The look in those bright blue eyes were steady but empty. He
looked like a boy who has suddenly become very old."
From "The Man on the Roof" by May Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö.
Anecdote form
In the first quote describes a group of individuals with very short anecdotes about their merits. The quote is
taken from a novel that takes place in one location, at a time when it might have been not so much focus on
clothes and appearance, but more on the person abilities. In the second quotation although a person's
clothing is described, but only with a few words.
"Neither on the Ön or in Ecksträsk there were some so dexterous children like Skrattars. The girls could milk
cows at the age five, the boys digged ditched and cutted trees at twelve. They worked for the sake of peace,
laughing, chattering all the time."
"His name was Robert, and was the eldest son of Nordmark. He had a pair of sailor pants that sat low on the
hips and fluttered cavalieric down at his ankles. He was said to be a communist."
From "Hjortronlandet" by Sara Lidman.
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All persons in history should be described in different ways and different characteristics should be
highlighted for each of them, otherwise it easily tedious and confusing, such as the following, exaggerated,
example:
"Three men stood on the loading dock, the one who stood next to the entrance to the warehouse building was
long and rather narrow, his hair was carbon black. He seemed to have a Latin American descent, perhaps one
of his parents was from South America.
The other man, who stood looking down from the loading dock was long and rather narrow, his hair was
carbon black. He seemed to have a Latin American descent, perhaps one of his parents was from South
America. The third stood by a pile of pallets and he was also long and rather narrow, his hair was also
carbon black. He seemed to have a Latin American descent, perhaps one of his parents was from South
America."
Besides that the text is ridiculous, it will become completely hopeless to distinguish between theese three
men. Of course, the author must focus partly on the characteristics "they had a slightly Hispanic appearance"
and partly on what distinguishes them, such as:
"Three men stood on the loading dock, they were dark-haired and reminded him of some Latin Americans he
knew. The one who stood nearest the entrance to the warehouse was dressed in a dark suit, shirt and tie. The
man seemed a little misplaced as he stood on the dirty loading dock, thought Richard. The other seemed to
fit in much better, in his blue overall. He stood lokking down from the loading dock, as if he was looking for
something on the ground. The third, who was leaning against a pile of pallets, was ordinarily dressed in a
pair of jeans."
Generally, it is better not to enumerate a list of clothes, hair and so on, but instead takes up some, for the
person characteristics or clothing and describe them so that they are saying something about its wearer. As in
the following example, which describes an old woman in a bygone era:
"and is wearing her thick, black green doffel coat that reached down to her feet. On the coat a striped,
homespun apron and a thick black woolen shawl tied around her head. The frozen chin protrudes from the
shawl as a red button, her eyes blinking at the sun, tears flowing out due to the bright light, the creases in her
cheeks are like cut with a knife."
From "The road under the stars " by Moa Martinson.
The same woman could be described also, for example like this:
"It's day and the sun is shining. In the sunlight stands the old woman. Her face is worn and her chins are. She
wears a coat, a black woolen shawl and a striped apron."
But it gets very boring, right
314

It is obviously important that people feels real, which means that they should have both good and bad sides
(otherwise they will be uninteresting), and secondly, that the described characteristics match. These rules
may seem ridiculously simple, but they are not always followed. The first rule I see many violations of in
American action movies. There are heroes who are so talented that I just hope it will go to hell for them. The
latter rule, there are many violations of in literature. One common such is that the characters often argue
much more logical and lucid than a real person in the same situation would do. But it's probably something
that the authors choose in order to make it easy for the reader to follow the story. However, what is
completely unnecessary is to not adapt the wordings in the thoughts to the character. Below the thoughts in
the mind of a teenage thug, who in the story is described as stupid, unpredictable and completely without
compassion, is quoted:
"Lukas was clearly annoyed over his friend who took far too lightly on the problem and who always
considered himself to be the one who knew the best. What others thought, he did not often care about, unless
it happened to coincide with his own opinion, of course.
He had just a little over two months left of the school year on Wheleskolan, an establishment which he
regarded as a pure torture chamber. Then a fall semester and a spring one - and then working life."
From "Domination" by Björn Hellberg.
315

Events
Events referred to everything that happens in a story beyond that people are talking to each other. A novel
consists, as well as a film, of a number of events or scenes. An event is a story in itself, and it takes place
during a certain time period. Between each event there may be time-lapses.
Each event should bring something to the story and they should also have different tempo 3 and perhaps to
some extent also different tense 4 .
Together, the events makes up the entire story. In the least complex stories event are added to event in a
strict chronological order, without obvious gaps and it is the same person that the reader follows all the time.
In very complicated stories, however, the reader follows several persons experiences and there are time gaps
in between the events.
2.
3.
4.
A common trick to keep the readers interested is to, in the midst of an exciting event, pick up another thread of the
history during a few pages.
Events that are supposed to be more exciting should be pretty straight, written with shorter sentences and fewer
digressions from the events. This is because the reader of these passages are anxious to know how it goes and then
maybe read faster. Thus there is a risk that he is losing the thread if the text is complicated.
Exciting events is getting less exciting in the past tense because it means that they occurred in the past, giving the
reader the feeling that the event is over and that it ended in a way that was successful for the protagonist.
Key elements of an event should be described in greater detail than unimportant ones. For example, it would
seem odd to describe a sequence of events as follows:
"He stepped on the brake pedal, gently at first, then a little harder, and finally he pressed it as hard as he
could. Yet he almost touched the tree with the bumper. When the car stopped, he released the brake pedal.
He quickly moved his right handfrom the steering wheel to the handbrake lever, closed his fingers around
the handle, and pulled it. Then he moved the same hand to the ignition switch and closed his fingers around
the key. In the next second he turned it to the left so that the engine stopped. Only then, he released the
steering wheel with his left hand and brought it down to the left thigh. The right hand he laid on the right
thigh, and then he twisted his left leg outward against the car door. A few sunbeams found their way through
the foliage and into the windscreen. The rays dazzled him a little, but it did not bother him. However, he
realized how dirty his glasses were. He took them of and laid them on his lap. Then he moved his right hand
to the glove compartment and opened it as if to search for something. He searche around among the things in
the compartment without really see what was in it. Perhaps he was too nearsighted to actually see anything
without the glasses on. After a while he pulled out his hand. In his hand he held a pack of paper napkins. He
grabbed the pack with his left hand, dropped it with his right hand and took the now free hand a grip on a
napkin. Which he carefully wprapped around the right lens and then he began to rhythmically rub back and
forth. The movement was repeated on the left lens, with a clean section of the napkin. When he had rubbed a
few times on each of the lenses, he tested the result by putting on the glasses. He seemed pleased, for he did
not repeat the procedure. Instead, he stuffed back the pack with napkins in the glove compartment. The use
napkin threwed into the same place. He seemed relaxed now, he sat with half-closed eyes with his head
resting against the headrest without barely even move a finger.
Ulrika walked past the car seemingly without taking notice of the man who sat in it. However, he watched
her carefully. When she was just behind the car he ran out of it and stuck the knife in her stomach. Then he
drove off the fastest he could."
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The events should, as well as the text in general, be described through the set-up. The set-up not only
determines which words are appropriate, but also which events that should be described. If the set-up is that
the story is seen through the eyes of a lovesick young man, which also is the telling brain and telling
language, it is reasonable to think that a meeting with one for him attractive woman is more well described,
than if the set-up is that the man is completely disinterested in anything but engines. Here are some examples
of how various authors have described events.
In the viewer's eye’s
The first quotation is taken from a text in which the telling eyes are sitting on a very naive girl in the upper
teens. In the second, they sit on a young man interested in fishing and in the third on a cool male detective.
" We ate entrecote with béarnaise sauce and fries and drank cider. For dessert, I made a chocolate pudding, it
was an instant pudding.
We were in a really long time with math. I sat very close to him and did everything so that we could leave it.
In the end I said I could not manage more and thought we'd watch TV.
I sat close to him and took his hand. We looked each other in the eyes, and his mouth was shaped as if to
kiss. We leaned against each other and slowly, slowly we kissed. Then we did not want to let go, we
continued to kiss for hours. He squeezed my breasts, and I put my hand between his legs. I thought we'd go
up to my room, he nodded and looked very serious.
On the way to my room, I came to think of the Bruins in bed and that I had the pink sheets with small bears
on. It is just not right, he must feel that he was going to bed with a twelve year old. So I thought we'd take
my parents' room instead. He just nodded seriously.
Then we made love, it was embarrassing, both for him and for me. I think he came before he did put it in me.
When I grabbed his dick, it felt that quite soft and sticky. I pretended not to notice it and aimed it towards
my vagina. There was a halt, the dick was so soft and I was so tense that it had been hard to even get a finger
in it."
From the "Small and big crimes" by Elisabeth Nilsson.
"We drank a few beers that night, without disclosing Riggert as the source, I tried to ask Werner if he
actually asked Vera to move because he did not want to share his humiliation with her.
He was silent a long time, then he said quietly that people do not know the real reasons for their actions.
Then I repeated my question, he changed topic, and afterwards we talked no more about it.
In the morning we looked up my rod and my reel and went out to fish for a few hours at Tistelskär,
Ytterharun and Hästkobben. It was half overcast, a warm breeze from the southwest, it was high tide and the
beaches smelled strongly of seaweed, all the conditions were perfect.
But we got no fish. "
From "The danger of being Skrake" by Kjell Westö.
"I went around and looked at the wheel. No nameplate. I wrote down the registration number on the back of
an envelope, for all eventualities, and went into the house. He was not in the hall or in the hallway upstairs. I
stepped into the office, looked at the floor after mail, could not find any, I could not stay longer if I wanted
to get down to town before three. The sand-colored car was still in the parking lot and was still empty. I
stepped into my and started and drove out into the lane. "
From "The window" by Raymond Chandler.
317

The following quote is taken from one in it’s time, very popular novel. Note how easy it is written with a lot
of "I did it, then I went there." It works quite well in the novel, I think. Perhaps because the telling eyes and
the telling brain belongs to a young man in the 50s and it is reasonable that a young man at the time, would
tell a story in this way.
"When I came out of the skating rink I felt a little hungry, so I went into a drug store and took a cheese
sandwich and a glass of Malted Milk. Then I went into a phone booth. I was gonna call Jane and see if she
had come home yet. I had the evening off and thought that if I called her and she was at home, I could take
her out to dance or something. I had never danced with her, even though we had known each other for quite
a while."
From "Catcher in the rye" by JD Salinger.
In the novel "Mia and Stefan" by Elisabeth Nilsson the same events are depicted with two grants. The text
is quite "tight" as if the protagonists are upset, which probably was the author's meaning.
Appropriation one where he says his eyes, tells your brain and tells cairns:
"Finally she sits down again, but now she has a chocolate bar in his hand. She takes the fan several rows at
once and she did not even ask if I want. But actually, I would probably not have any chocolate. But she
ought to at least ask me. A little bit enough good by the way. Not much, but a number were each good.
Several lines at once will just disgusting, but a range would brighten up. By the way, it's so much fat in
chocolate, so I would never take more than one line. Now she pours the entire cake itself. She just stuff
themselves with it. She already is a bit småfet as it is. Maybe I should take a few lines, just because she does
not gorge himself all over the cake and become smällfet. But on the other hand, she's just less attractive in
the market then. Then she can sit there in a dull second in some suburbs and take care of our children. She
thinks some eat the whole cake at once. It looks disgusting crap out. She does this to tease me, or what it is.
It can not be that she thinks it's good with a whole bar of chocolate in your mouth at once. In itself becomes
the caries attack shorter, but it teaches well she shit in. What the hell, now she sneezed also the shit out of
the dashboard. It looks the shit out disgusting. Should I scold her now I say somewhat sarcastically instead:
- Mia darling, was the chocolate was good "
Appropriations two where she tells her eyes, tells your brain and tells cairns:
"A third of a chocolate bar, then you have to run well at least three kilometers, she thinks before two lines to
go into the mouth. They were pretty easy to get in for the other pieces had already melted into a batter. The
batter smears all over your mouth. Stefan still does not look in her direction. Maybe she would ask if he
wanted, just before she put the last line of the mouth. Just like that Ulrika had made when she was little. He
would not get more than a line in any case. It felt good to do something so useless. As little as to spank
herself. The two last rows of chocolate has just started softened, then it starts to tickle the nose. You can not
stop it. She can not even count to five, which still had not been the case before she sneezes so that it
becomes brown chocolate thoughtfully across her side of the dashboard. It looks really nasty out. As if
someone had defecated on it. Stefan looks at her, but he says nothing. But he looks at least scowl. After
looking for a while on the dashboard, he asks if the chocolate was good. Mia nods, but Stefan does not see it
right then he looks down the road."
318

From the outside
Objectively
Anyone who uses "objective" descriptions should describe the essence of the event, as in a newspaper
article. And use the proper language, with appropriate term for the phenomenas depicted.
"Early on Easter Sunday morning, just as the business class passengers on the SK901 has got a light meal
served before the approach to Newark, a fire bomb was thrown through the living room window of a house
in Charlottenlund. The villa is owned by the head of a pharmaceutical company that uses tests conducted on
laboratory animals in England. A BBC documentary has recently revealed that the animals live under
miserable, indeed barbaric conditions and are subjected to extreme suffering. "Stop animal testing!" And "A
taste of your own medicine!" Reads the flyer found outside the house, which fortunately was empty because
the director and his family had traveled to Mallorca on Easter holiday. Large parts of the living room is
burned, but the fire department, which is alerted by an early morning newspaper delivery man, quickly gets
control over the fire. There are no other witnesses or trace of the perpetrators, but the ocher yellow walls are
spray painted with meter-high letters saying green guerrilla. The director, a modern bellwether of humanistic
philosophy and high ethical profile, want despite the shocking notification not to dramatize "the event" and
would not have neither the police or the press involved. But the police are already looking "very seriously"
on the case, and the press, well, the witness was newspaper. So Cats strategy works - the new strategy
provide much greater coverage in the media than to free minks. Jyllands-Posten places the story on the front
page. Yet it has barely begun."
From “The crown princess" by Hanne-Vibeke Holst.
Through the dialogue
In some novels, the events consist mostly of someone saying something to another person. Then it can be
effective to build the events around the dialogue, such as in the following two examples. Note how the
author, in the first example, has added some descriptive words for each "he said" or "she asked."
""Hi, honey, "she said and walked over and kissed him with her coat on. "I was afraid you would have gone
to bed!"
"Of course I have not!" He said, stroking her hair out of her face.
"You must be very tired."
"Absolutely, but also turned up," she said, straightened up and looked out over the living room. Even there it
was flowers everywhere.
"Who are they from" She asked overwhelmed.
"All sorts. Your mom, my parents, your sister and brother in law, your friends, old boyfriends, the neighbor
under us, the neighbor on top, the housing association, the children's nursery .... I have borrowed a lot of
vases. "
"God how touching!" She exclaimed, and fell down at the other end of the couch.”
From "The crown princess" by Hanne-Vibeke Holst.
"- 4251 Archer Street, said Meyer. We ask the first traffic constable we catch sight of.
It took ten blocks before they saw any police. They ran up to him and asked for Archer Street.
- Archer Avenue, you mean
- Yes. I guess so.
- Tell me then what the hell you mean. And run over to the curb! You blocking traffic!
- We just wanted to know ....
- I've already heard what you wanted to know. Are you trying to pick a quarrel
- No officer, said Meyer. "
From "Hate" by Ed McBain.
319

Dialogue
Some books are very dialogue-based while others are almost entirely without dialogue. An example of the
former type is “The crown princess", which at times almost entirely concists of dialogue, while “The new
land" is an example of the latter. Moberg's book contains no more than an average of about three
comments/statements per page. The rest of the text primarily describes events and what the various
characters are thinking.
Which is best depends on what kind of story it is. If there is a story that resembles a movie and it takes place
over a finite period of time, makes it very suitable to have much dialogue. In some cases, if it is about one
main character, you may include "everything" that is said. It is quite common in some thrillers in which you
get to follow a protagonist both in personal and professional life during the short period that the criminal
investigation is ongoing.
A dialogue characterized either by writing what each of the conversators says (see quote below) or by
describing the conversation. Additionally both ways could, of course, be combined. One thing that is
important in the first case is that what is said reflects the image of the speaker thay you want to form. In the
latter case, however, the summary shal be in line with the stet-up.
" Grönkvist walked up to one of the pillars. He found a box with three buttons above the other. At the top
there was a keyhole with a key in. The middle button was big and red. It was clearly an emergency stop
button.
- Wait, screamed Sten, there might be some footprints or fingerprints there.
- What, you think it's a murder or something Haven’t you a little too much imagination. Just because you
happened to stumble on two homicide investigations it’s actually still not usual.
- Well, you never know, it seems like a rather strange accident, don’t you think
- Okay, we put barrier tape around the area with these buttons too, but I've already been there once with
barrier tape, just so you know.
- However, we have to fucking lift the truck. Objected the doctor.
- I can stand at a distance pushing with this rod lying here on the floor.
- Damn, do not touch it, said Sten. Maybe it's very important information on the rod there. He might have
done suicide.
- It's called comitting suicide. Enlightened the doctor in a serious way.
- Thanks! Sten responded visibly irritated.”
From "The truck lift" by Fredrik Andersson.
If the previous dialogue was described in text, it could look like this:
"The uniformed policeman was eager to try the lifting device. But he was stopped by Sten, which in pretty
upset terms pointed out that it could mean that he spoiled any traces, such as fingerprints, from a possible
perpetrator. The policeman questioned Sten’s hints that maybe a crime had been committed, because it
seldomly a crimes behind deaths. Sten persevered and pointed out that the fact that the accident seemed
rather strange. The police officer thought that it was best to obey Sten, but he hastened to, in a snide tone,
tell Sten that he probably already had destroyed some of the potential evidence by walking in the area in
question. Then the doctor entered into the conversation by, in an irritated way, saying that they promptly
should lift up the truck so that the corpse could be examined. The officer suggested that they should operate
the truck lift with an iron bar that happened to lay nearby.
Sten stopped him by, with some irritation in his voice, saying that it would be unwise because it could be
valuable traces of an offender on the iron bar. He in the same time fired a theory that the deceased himself
may have used the bar to reach the controls while he lay under one of the truck's wheels. The sloppy way
Sten expressed his thought led the doctor to give him a short lesson in the Swedish language."
320

It could certainly be done in a much more palatable way, but regardless of how it is written, it will probably
be more tiring to read than an ordinary dialogue. As a dialogue can summarize pretty much of a person's
state of mind in words such as "he shouted." In addition, the words different people use says a lot about
themselves, their mood and the situation in general. Finally, the text becomes more varied because the author
can (and should) let different people speak in different ways.
The greatest risk with including a lot of dialogue is that it can become tedious, everything that is said doesn’t
need to be in dialogue form. There should be an object for each replica, so remove the replicas that do not
add anything. For example, the dialogue:
- Hello you! The man waved happily.
Stina waved back and returned the greeting in the same clamping cheeky way:
- Well hello to you you you old rascal!
- Good to see you, it was a long time ago!
- Yes, it really was!
- How are you
- I feel good how about you
With advantageusly could be replaced by "They exchanged greetings and polite phrases about their health
before the man asked her if ...."
In some novels, comments begins and ends with quotes , i.e.: “ sign. While they in others starts with: “-“, as
in the examples below.
"- So
- The diagnosis is largely positive. Good news.
- Huh
Gunvald Larsson looked so stunned that he almost seemed dangerous and the doctor hastened to say:
- Yes, if he had been alive, of course. Pretty good news.
- What does that mean
- That he had been able to recover.
Blomberg thought about it and modified the statement.
- Well, relatively restored in all cases."
From "The man on the roof" by May Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö.
Previous dialogue would quotes look like this:
“”So”
“The diagnosis is largely positive. Good news.”
“Huh”
Gunvald Larsson looked so stunned that he almost seemed dangerous and the doctor hastened to say:
“Yes, if he had been alive, of course. Pretty good news.”
“What does that mean”
“That he had been able to recover.”
Blomberg thought about it and modified the statement.
“Well, relatively restored in all cases.””
I think it becomes cluttered with quotes, furthermore it becomes somewhat confusing when you want to
indicate that a sentence is a quotation.
321

It is not necessary that the people in the story expresses themselves in the way that real people would have
done in the same situation. The key difference is often that the replicas are shorter than they are in a real
conversation. This isin order to not to confuse the readers and to maintain the tempo in the text. Here is a
dialogue taken from the "To whom the bells tolls" by Ernest Hemmingway. It is probably not so likely
that two people in their situation in real life would have talked like this, but it is very beautiful and erotic, I
think. And it creates a much more romantic and charged atmosphere than what a genuine dialogue would
have done.
"- But there has been something done to me.
- By who
- By several.
Now she lay quite still, as if the body was dead and turned her head away.
- Now you can not love me any more.
- I love you, he said.
But something had happened to him and she knew it.
- No, she said, and her voice had become lifeless and thin. You can not love me. But you might want to take
me to the home. And so I go to the home and I will never be your woman and nothing.
- I love you, Mary.
- No. It's not true, she said. And then she came to the last, miserable and hopeful:
- But I've never kissed a man.
- So kiss me now.
- I wanted to do all the time, she said. But I do not know how to do. Where there was where they did
something, there I struggled against until I saw nothing. I fought until - until - until one sat on my head - and
I bet him - and then they tied my mouth and held my arms behind my head - and then there were others who
did something to me.
- I love you, Mary, he said. And no one has done anything to you. You, you no one can touch. No one has
touched you, little bunny.
- Do you believe it
- I know that.
- Can you love me And again was warm to him now.
- I can love you more.
- I'll try to kiss you real good.
- Kiss me a little.
- I do not know how to do.
- Just kiss me.
She kissed him on the cheek.
- No."
Often it is quite clear who is saying what, especially if the replicas are short, but sometimes it must be
described. The basic variant of this is, of course, "he /she said" (provided that persons have different sexes).
But it gets boring pretty quickly. The most common variation is to switch to using the persons names, or a
clearly distinctive characteristic such as "boy" and "man." The word "said" can advantaegously be altered
with other words like: whispered, moaned, screamed, yelled, etc. In addition, the text can be varied by
sometimes, before the replica, write who is going to say it, for example:
"He looked into her eyes and whispered slowly:
- I love you!"
Instead of:
"- I love you! He whispered slowly as he looked into her eyes."
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The confusion regarding who says what becomes much bigger if there are more than two people conversing.
In this situation, one is often forced to after each replica tell who uttered it. Then it might not at all be
possible to use the "he said/she", as all may be men or women. The basic rule is then to use the names. But it
will obviously pretty quickly get tedious. A common allternativ is to find other determinations for some
people, such as in the following example in which one of the players called the "police officer" while the
main characters “Gunvald Larsson” and "Kollberg" are called by their names:
"- Get on them boys, commanded the police in command. Now enough is enough.
More white batons were drawn and became visible.
- Stop, roared Gunvald Larsson with his stentorian voice.
All activity ceased.
Gunvald Larsson stepped forward and said:
- What is it about
- I clear the area in front of the roadblock, said the older of the two police men.
The gold stripe around his sleeve showed that he was a first police assistant.
- But this is fuckin nothing to block, Gunvald Larsson said angrily.
- No Hult, said Kollberg."
It is usually better that people in the dialogue does something that shows their feelings than to write that they
are in a certain state of mind.
"- Fucking asshole! She said and slammed the door."
Sounds better than:
"- Fucking asshole! She said angrily."
323

Inner monologue
What often distinguishes different fictional stories from each others the most is how the characters thoughts
are described. Incidentally, the story might pretty thin, but the characters reflections make it big and
exciting. And opposite: a fantastic scenario without reflections can become sluggish. However, there is
hardly any novel that has no reflections from the characters. At least sometimes the author switches from
describing a phenomenon to describe how a character is experiencing this "the car looked almost blue in the
weak evening sun," or something similar.
In some stories the author has obviously tried to create an internal monologue that is about how people in
general think. The aim was perhaps to give the reader a wise message. In other (less common) the author
strives for to reflect how a real person would be thinking in the same situation. The latter is unusual for
several reasons, but the main one is probably that a real chain of thought would be too long and messy for
someone to be able to read it. Descriptions of internal monologues are therefore usually a sumary 1 and more
rarely printed in its entirety. Take for example the following three examples. The first describes the main
characters thoughts without teeling the actual thoughts. The second is more specific, without being literally
described. The third may give the impression that the whole thought is literally described (it is just part of
the reasoning that is quoted here).
1.
If there is a summary of the thoughts, it is, of course, the telling brain that has made it and then his/her shape fits
the best. But if it is the whole chain of thoughts that are written it might just as well be I shape (as in the third
example).
"He was walking in stocking feet back and forth, between the window and the door in the narrow house and
gathered all his attention on tomorrow's future work; arranged chores in his head, handed them; countered
objections in advance, overcame obstacles, and after one hour of work, he had peace and rest in his head,
now felt thoroughly and aligned as a passbook in which all records have been inserted in its place and sumed
up, so that one in a moment could see the score."
From "Hemsöborna" by August Strindberg.
"If one could possibly suggest a visit to Skrattars or if she has to settle with Nordmark. The older Nordmark
boys called her Kladda and Lellfarmora and it was certainly sneer. But their imagination was not enough to
find new annoyances."
From "Hjortronlandet" by Sara Lidman.
"It actually seems to be so, I said to myself while my eyes wandered from the lower lip to the lower lip
through the room, all the less sympathetic properties of the human animal, pride, greed, gluttony,
debauchery and all the others, was clearly announced in that little brink of red skin. But you have to know
the code."
From the short story "The wife change" by Roald Dahl.
324

Introductions
Some think that the first sentences of a novel is especially important. Maybe it's not uncommon for writers to
agonize long before these, in their opinion, important sentences.
For those who find it difficult to get past the beginning of the novel, it can be a smart move to start, for
example, in the middle of the story, or when things starts to happen. Thus rounding the problem with that the
decisions about how to start and about the set-up must otherwise be taken simultaneously. With this
arrangement, both the introduction and the set-up may emerge by themselves. It doesn’t do so much if it's a
few pages that are a little un-stringent in the middle of the text.
To continue elsewhere in the story, I think, incidentally, is a trick that works in all situations when I have
stalled and is getting nowhere. Then I go on to describe an event, an indefinite number of pages further on in
the story. It does not matter exactly what happens in the event or if it is linked to the rest of the story. Just if
the set-up is the same, I usually mix it with the rest of the story soon enough. And if that doesn’t work, it's
not so bad if I have to delete it. I have at least been relieved from the situation where I came nowhere and
instead continued to write (which is fun).
Some introductions are a bit cryptic and mysterious, like this:
"No month, can as January last for eternity.
Thus it begins. Late in the evening he sits with the old play. In the circle of light over the desk the characters
a brought forward. They live and speak. Love, suffer and dye for his pen and the world out there in his own
winter darkness is neither clearer nor more permanent than theirs, but precisely even the same. Just evenly.
As also is intended. Such is the idea of the play. Bewitched and enclosed he bends over the table - encased in
heavy insight, ignoring the black pain that runs like a vague recollection down the spine. Dipping the penn in
inkwell, feel the heatfrom the lamp over the back of the hand. The penn against the paper; balancing on
words, on the razor sharp edge between reality and reality."
From "The fly and eternity" by Hakan Nesser.
The story's protagonist should be presented fairly early in the story, otherwise there is a risk that the reader
starts liking the wrong person. It is often useful to begin the story when the main character encounters
something that changes his life. As in this piece of text that begins with the protagonist's journey to the place
of drama.
"He came like a storm on an April evening with a Höganäs jar in a belt around his neck. Clara and Lotten
were there with the rowboat to pick him up at Dalarö, but it took ages before they came in the boat. They
would go to the tradesman and have a barrel of tar and to the pharmacy to by a lotion for the pig, and then
they would go to the post office to get a stamp, and then they would go down to Fia Lövström to borrow the
rooster and finally, they had ended up at the inn, where Carlsson invited them for coffee and cake."
From "Hemsöborna" by August Strindberg.
Many stories, however, have not such a obvious event to begin with. Then they can the instead begin with an
anecdotal description of the main character, which Sara Lidman did in the story "Hjortronlandet".
"Franz was so succesfull as a crofter that the neighbors occasionally called him a farmer.
But early in his life, perhaps before he was born, he had suffered any injustice that has never ceased to fret
him. He could not, like the neighbors, settle with the circumstances as a crofter as a fully valid reason to be
angry, there was another reason that applied only to him. It is difficult to have forgotten why, when
resentment squeaks and hisses.
He had been newly married when he came to Ön and with a woman who brought horse, cow and
housewares. Instead of having a baby, she had carried stones. She was the crofter wife that the state
commissioners must have dreamed of as their tenants but never dared to describe in any contract."
325

Alternatively, the story can begin with a proclamation of what kind of history it is and who it is telling it, as
in this example:
"If you really want to hear this story, you probably expect that I should start by saying where I was born,
how shitty my childhood was, what my parents were doing before I came into the world and such drivel, as
in David Copperfield, but I do not feel like it. Firstly, I am so tired of it, and secondly my parents would
have a stroke if I revealed anything about their private lives. They are very sensitive on this point, especially
my father."
"I will begin to tell you about the day I left Pencey Prep. Pencey Prep is thus a school in Agerstown,
Pensylvania. You've probably heard of it."
From "Catcher in the rye" by JD Salinger.
It is not obvious that the novel begins with the start of the process that is to be portrayed. Take the story in
which Mats and the unfaithful wife, it is also reasonable that the story begins when he met her. Or maybe it
starts when his father is unfaithful to his mother, or ...
Say we start when Mats meets her at the university. Then one pretty soon realize that either it will be a long
haul until the excitement begins. Or a sharp jump in the history from teenagers in love to the occasion when
he finds her in bed. If one instead would start when Mats walk through the door and finds his wife in bed,
the risk would be great that the reader gets a little too overwhelmed. Who should the reader sympathize
with
I think that if the story is about Mats revenge, it would be appropriate to start with a few pages about him,
for the reader to understand that it is he who is the main character. Then to present the problem (his wife is
unfaithful), then ....
The story would then certainly be improved by that that the author occasionally added flashbacks from their
life together. Mats maybe wonder if she has stopped loving him. Has she ever done it and so on. In such
inner monologues it is probalby very suitable to write about things like the first time he saw her.
326

Checklist
- Do not poke and modify your text before you have finish typing the whole story, or at least finished a
section. Otherwise, it's easy to get stuck and thus never become ready.
- Wait a few days before you go through what you have written. Then try to read it as if you've never
seen it before, in that way it may be easier to see the shortcomings.
1. Set-up, check that:
- You haven’t accidentally changed the set-up somwhere.
2. Spelling
- Remember that word processing program, such as "Word", do not select the words that appear in the
program's dictionary. Which means that the wrong word is spelled correctly.
- It is easy to make double space sometimes. You can easily correct that, if you use "Word", and with the
function "Replace" replace all double spaces with simple ones, i.e. "__" is replaced with "_".
3. The language, check that:
- It is a proper mix of long and short sentences. Remember that when it's exciting, it is often useful to
have more short sentences.
- Several sentences in sequence does not begin in the same way. If so, you should rearrange a bit.
- Not different tenses are accidentally mixed in one event.
- The words fit the situation.
- The words are not repeated too often. If so, consider synonyms that you can replace them with
sometimes. Check in particular that it is not too tight between the words he/she. If so, you can:
a. Replace a part of them with the word, as an example, for the body part that does something, such as
"the hand closed around the handle" instead of "he gripped the handle."
b. Replace some of them with his/her such as "Her eyes swept over the room" instead of "she looked
around the room."
c. Remove sentences.
d Remove the word he/she sometimes the sentences works anyway.
e. Replace some of the he/she with the person's name or nickname.
4. The story, check if:
- There are longer pieces of text that do not add anything. If so, remove them.
- It is possible to understand why things happen. Otherwise: supplement.
- It has the potential to give the reader what you want it to provide, for example, excitement, humor,
eroticism and romance.
5. Environments, check that:
- There isn’t a lot of unnecessary environmental descriptions. Major events should probably have a more
well described scene than unimportant ones. Unless it is a very special place that the unimportant event
takes place in.
- The environments are described in various ways.
- The descriptions match the intended observer (the telling eyes, brain and language). Otherwise modify.
6. Dialogue, check that:
- The reader will recognize themselves in how the different people talking. If an individual often use
slang terms in the beginning he should probably continue to do so (unless there is a specific point in that
he changes his way of speaking, which may be the case).
- All the people in the story are not using the same language.
- what the characters say fits with how they are described.
- The words fit the situation.
- It is possible to follow who says what. Sometimes you may need to add some "he said" or "she said" for
the reader to keep up. But one should certainly not have such clarifications after each comment.
- There is not too much unnecessary dialogue.
327

7. People, check that:
- Someone have not accidentally changed name through the story.
- That it in every situation is clear to the reader which person it is about at the moment.
- Each person looks the same throughout history.
- All persons are described in different ways.
- That the character and personality traits that you want to front for each one are clear enough from the
descriptions.
- Every person isdescribed with just enough details so their character is visible for the reader. Everybody,
or even not a single one, doesn’t need to be described by appearance.
8. Events, check:
- That there are motives to include each one of the events described in the text.
- The length of the descriptions of the events. Pay particular attention to ensure that important events are
not only been swept away in a couple of sentences. Or that there is a lot of unnecessary descriptions in
the middle of an exciting event, which makes the reader lose momentum.
- The course of events seems credible.
- That it is possible to understand what is happening.
328

About proverbs
Proverbs are complete sentences with exact wording, which are used to transfer life experience.
My mother often used such sentences, for example:
One should not cry over spilled milk.
When a toy of mine was broken.
Or
Too little or too much will spoil everything.
When she thought that I, for instance, had too much salt on my food.
One advantage of using proverbs, instead of an in the moment composed sentence, is that it reduces the risk
of having to explain further. Since, for example, the implied criticism, is not said directly, and thus is more
difficult to deal with. Additionally, the user can escape criticism, because standard phrases like proverbs are
often used a little carelessly.
And proverbs does by no means preach a single path through life. On the contrary, there are many proverbs
that speak against acts that other encurage (see table 1 in the Swedish version of this book). For the benefit
of those who master many proverbs, since they have appropriate words of wisdom, whatever the outcome
are of each adventure.
1.
Nordiska museet (The Nordic Museum) in Stockholm continuously collect information on various
specific issues from a variety of reporters around Sweden. One of these reports from a collection of
proverbs and sayings, is presented in its entirety in the Annex in the Swedish original text. It contains
approximately 700 proverbs and sayings that a 78-year-old and a 46 year old living in a village in
Ångermanland told a reporter in 1937. This particular report was selected from a large number of reports
on this subject, because it is written with a typewriter and therefore easy to read compared to most of
others that are handwritten. Although all sentences listed in the Annex are not proverbs, according to the
definition above, all sentences in the annex are from now on called proverbs.
329

Nowadays I rarely hear someone use proverbs. This could mean that the practice has declined. Though it is
difficult to know, because it would require a comparison of randomly selected conversations from then and
now. Which is impossible. The voluminous collection of proverbs presented in the annex, told of as few as
two people, however, indicates that this is the case. Because I doubt that it is at all possible to find someone
in Sweden today, which can count up even half as many proverbs.
A small interview study 2 (see table 2 in the Swedish version of this book) indicates that only about one-fifth
of the proverbs in the annex is widely known today, one third are completely unknown and moreover twothirds
of them are not used.
Some proverbs, as below, vindicated those who didn’t do something about their situation and mocked those
who tried. Such proverbs might fit better in the old days, when it was even more difficult than it is today to
change environment and living conditions 3 .
No. 18 in the Annex: Anyone who can do everything is a bungler in it all.
No. 52: You have to learn to crawl before you can walk.
No. 53: Do not fly higher than the wings can take you.
No. 267: Anyone who want to climb high often fall down.
No. 359: One should not flutter before flying.
No. 454: You know what you have, not what you get.
No. 539: Lucky in games and unlucky in love.
No. 544: The one that can not not, can something else.
No. 654: Shoemaker stay with your shoes.
While today we rather praise those who do the contrary to the spirit of these proverbs. These are called class
travelers, visionaries, entrepreneurs and other positively charged epithets.
2.
Seven persons (2 women and 5 men aged 36-47 years, mean age 42 years, living in Stockholm) were asked if they
had heard or used a sample from the Annex. The sample consisted of every 20 proverb, except if my interpretation
of the dialectal text was too vague or too lacking in rhythm. Then, the next proverb is chosen instead. And when it
had the same problem I chosed the 19 th proverb.
3.
Among other things, because there were fewer jobs to choose from, since the professional choices of the majority
of the population, only stood between different forms of natural resource use. Since just over 100 years ago,
agriculture employed about half of the working population according to the Central Statistical Office’s Yearbook
1901(SCB 1901). Nowadays, however, it is not more than about 1% is engaged in agriculture (SCB 2005).
330

Quite a number of proverbs in the Annex calls for hard work all day long:
No. 26: Work makes rest sweet.
No. 27: Diligence is a virtue.
No. 28: Those who want to live has to work, and those who want to be free has to die.
No. 29: The more you work, the more you can get.
No. 90: Early up and late to bed.
No. 235: On the farmland of idleness no virtue flowers grows.
No. 449: Work ennobles man.
No. 697: He who does not sets seeds will neither harvest.
Which does not fit so well in today's society where machines do most of the hard work, and those who work
in general both can’t and don’t work more than forty hours a week.
Other old proverb calls for frugality:
No. 74: A bird in the hand is better than ten in the bush.
No. 83: Patch your pants and pay your debts.
No. 315: He who saves has.
No. 669: Small crumbs are also bread.
What may not be so valid today as we constantly are exposed to a variety of advertising with the opposite
message.
Some proverbs are prejudiced, other nasty while additionally others reinforce unequal gender roles (see table
3 in the Swedish version of this book). This means that any user may be perceived as offensive.
331

Moreover many of the old proverbs were built on, probably, easy to understand phenomena in the former
farming community. Which for us in today's post-industrial existence can be difficult to understand, for
example:
No. 403: Small tussock often topples large loads
Who has any real experience carriages stability today And thus no real sense of the figurative meaning of
the expression. If you look at the literal meaning, it seems odd that a single wagon arrived without tipping
over because the old roads were probably dotted with tufts. Shouln’t then larger tussocks overturn cars more
often in relation to their presence A translation of the proverb to a modern phenomena might clarify the
spirit:
Small road bumps often topples large trucks
But everyone know that it is not true and thus the sentence lacks meaning. A relevant interpretation in
modern terms would instead maybe be:
Small bugs often crash large programs
Suggesting a deeper meaning that has something to say beyond the purely banal. That is that the major bugs
are so obvious that they are detected by the program makers and thereby eliminated even before the program
is released on the market. While some of the smaller remains, and thus constitute a source of problems for all
future users.
332

There are many more proverbs in the annex, with clear allusions to ancient agricultural society. And
according to a number of interviewed persons 4 , few of these works today (table 4 in the Swedish version of
this book). Of the 20 selected from the annex, only two was considered to be working by all the
interviewees. The fact that all respondents in only one of the 20 cases did the same interpretation, points in
the same direction. In other cases, they stated a number of different interpretations including "do not know".
Not even when I chose proverb that I heard often and asked three persons 5 with a similar background about
their interpretation, our interpretations agree in meaning in more than a third of the cases (table 5 in the
Swedish version). Although the participants also have heard many of the proverbs previously (all had heard
74 of the in total 84). It clearly shows how great the risk of being misunderstood by using proverbs and
hence the problems with using them.
And we probaly need proverbs less today than before. Knowledge mediated in single sentences was
probably more needed at a time when most people only went to school for six years. Nor could learn more
by reading books because the availability of books was very limited. In addition, they could not learn
anything by traveling or see cautionary tales at the movies or TV. Since the first one was very unusual and
that the latter two were impossible.
Though it may establish new proverbs that are better suited for today's society. A source of new proverb
could be advertising slogans that remain even after the respective advertising campaign is long since
forgotten. That may be the case with, for example (which works very much better in Swedish):
Also wine fixes Chlorine.
See on your shoes, others do.
You are what you eat.
Other sayings perhaps are created by television personalities. Such sentences that originally were spread
through television programs, are similar proverbs in that they are used by many people in different parts of
the country. But for the intended effect to be present it is require that the audience knows the original sketch
or preferably have seen it. The latter suggests that it is more of a mass-media version of local expressions
that are just scattered among the people who are related to the expression's origin.
4.
5.
Five men and one woman (36, 40, 44, 45, 45 and 47 years) living in Stockholm were asked to give me an
interpretation without that any of the others were present. And they were asked if they thought the saying
was usable today. I.e. that those who heard the saying would interpret it in the way that each interviewee
thought was correct.
Three men in my age that I know well and who know each other, were asked one at a time without
anyone else present if they have heard the saying, and they were asked to give me a explanation.
333

Leasure time
Crazy children books
334

Many children books and comics are about animals that wear clothes.
Isn’t it crazy
In nature they newer wear clothes, or have you seen that
Why doesn’t the animals in the forrest have clothes
335

Is it due to that there ain’t any botiques in the forrest
Or is it because animals don’t have money
There is, however, also humans that do not have any money,
But still they have clothes.
336

Animals maybe not knew how to use a washing machine
And how would they get dressed
When they don’t have any fingers.
337

In comics animals even speak with each other.
And surely two dog can communicate in some way.
But what do you think they say
338

How can a dog talk to a bird
But if they didn’t talk, the stories would probably be pretty boring.
339

There is comics about ducks driving cars, but ducks cant drive.
Why don’t they fly as other ducks
340

Have you read any fairtails
There crazy things also happends.
As princesses kissing frogs,
Or sleeps on giant piles of matrasses.
341

Other little girls are eaten by volwes but survives in their stomachs.
342

The history of amusements
343

Entertainment is what we consume in order to amuse us or to at least make boring moments a little less
boring. There are those who think that the work is fun and it's good, but it is not entertainment, as it aims to
raise money for ones livelihood. There are also people who work with entertainment and they have hopefully
fun at work, but for them it is a job, not entertainment. The same applies to other activities that the
practitioners certainly think is funny, but isn’t primarily aimed to entertain them, but instead is to, for
example, give better physics and/or fitness. What is amusing, however, varies from person to person. Some
prefer to look at the theater, others choose to watch football, while additionally others prefer to watch art.
This chapter briefly describes the development of the today, perhaps, most common forms of entertainment.
Given that much has been lost, even in the most well-documented ancient cultures such as the Roman
Empire, we do not know much about how ordinary people entertained each other in the past. But probably
most had very little time for activities that neither contributed to the household or satisfied bodily needs. Still
less had the means to consume the more exclusive cultural/amusing arrangements that possibly were offered.
Their pleasures, in addition to sex and drunkenness, were probably simple live music, theater, dance, sports
and games (see the chapter Games in the 1800s). The visual art that was available was everyday items,
which they, a visitor, or a local craftsman had produced. Reading was out of the question for the majority,
even in Western Europe, as the art of reading did not become widespread until the late 1800's and printed
texts before that was both expensive and rare. In addition, non of the currently common types of
entertainment: recorded music, radio, film, television and computer games was yet invented. All of these
techniques, except television and computer technology, is almost contemporary with when we widely were
taught how to read. Around the same time, oddly enough, even the older entertainment forms radically
developed. Maybe it is because:
-The conditions for travelling were improved, including the advent of railroads and steamships (see the
chapter History of Technology). This gave the opportunity for greater exchange between practitioners in the
form of international art exhibitions, concerts and competitions.
-With industrialization, which occurred in the 1800s, a greater proportion of the population got paid in cash,
allowing different consumption compared to before.
-Industrialization made that more moved in together in urban areas, where there was enough consumers to
organize different types of public events.
-Additionally industrialization resulted regulated working hours and even though the days were long, there
was a vindicated end after which the workers had free time. Unlike in the past when there was always
something to do on the farm until it was time to sleep.
-Industrialization also meant that some of the material needed to create entertainment became cheaper and
thus more common (like paper and sports equipment).
-The breakthrough of nationalism in the 1800s, which meant that, to a far greater extent than previously, we
praised our own nation, its merits and accomplishments, whether it came to visual art, music or sports.
When it comes to sports the explosion is to some extent due to the invention of the lawn mower, which was
patented in 1830 in Great Brittan by Edwin Budding, which made it possible to create and maintain modern
sports fields.
344

Visual arts
Paintings
After visiting a significant number of people in their homes, I can say that it now is less popular than it used
to be to have painted or embroidered art on the walls, and instead it is more popular to adorn the walls with
sparse elements of professional photography.
It depends, of course, on what is modern for the moment. And the reasons why fashion changed in this way
could be to:
Relatively speaking, probably painting and embroidery become more expensive than photos and posters as
the two former requires much more hands-on (which has increased in price). While both photographs and
printed matter has been, relatively speaking, less expensive.
We spend, on a group level, considerably less time knitting et cetera these days, and thus makes less
handmade creations to hang on the walls.
Color matching has become a fashion that ordinary people probably could not afford before, when they had
to settle with what they got. With the effect that the colors, for example, in the living room was as they were,
and thus there was no "harmony" to interfere with a colorful painting.
No matter what, painted visual arts has dropped in importance in the West in recent years, but it has at least
importance from a historical perspective because:
- Its history extends well before the advent of new technologies.
- It has created works that can be sealed (and by some) considered enjoyable even today.
- It shows that it throughout history have been changes, despite that the technological advances in the field
almost stood still.
During the European period called the Middle Ages (concerning art history it span from the fall of the
Roman Empire to the beginning of the Renaissance in the 1400s) the Catholic Church was a major buyer of
art. Therefore medieval artists often decorated churches and the motives were angels, Jesus, and others.
During the period, the technology to depict people went from big heads on little bodies to more human
proportions.
The Renaissance, in turn, continued to the beginning of the 1600s. The period is from the cultural
perspective characterized by that the art of printing came to Europe, and of an increasing interest in the very
much much more advanced cultures of ancient Greece and the Roman Empire (the word renaissance comes
from the French word renaissance which means rebirth). The trend began in what is now Italy, and for
painting it meant that the artists were highlighted more than ever, with celebrities such as Michelangelo di
Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475-1564) and Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) and the fact that it became
more common, the artists also received orders for non-religious subjects, such as portraits of wealthy
individuals.
During the Baroque period (type 1700-1790), as before, the artists continued to use dark colors and religious
themes in their works. Great artists were among others, Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) and Rembrandt van
Rijn (1606-1669). Baroque was followed by a style known as romanticism whose representatives, as Caspar
David Friedrich (1774-1840) and Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851), was very keen on depicting
the nature, such as beautiful landscapes.
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Then came a whole wave of styles, some of which apply today while others are currently dead. Some of the
most important ones are illustrated by the following examples that in some different ways, with watercolors,
depict this fruit dish.
Neoclassical
I e. with detail, clear and brilliant colors,
often with designs from ancient Rome and
Greece.
Neoclassicism began in the 1760s and
peaked between 1780-1790 with Jacques-
Louis David (1748-1825).
Impressionistic
The style is characterized by coarse brushstrokes without
finesse and the artists depicted the light shifts in a new way.
Instead of, for example, make a shade blacker could it be
purple. Claude Monet (1840-1926) was the inventor in 1867
with the painting Sunrise. Other artists such as Pierre-
Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) latched onto.
Pointilism
Similar to
impressionism, but
everything is painted
with tiny color dots.
The style was created
by Georges Seurat
(1859-1891) in the
1870s.
Expressionistic
The artists were trying to express their
feelings in their work, with strong colors
and by intentionally distorting the image.
The style emerged in the early 1900s, and
the most famous representative was Henri
Matisse (1869-1954).
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Abstract
It is difficult to see that the painting
depicts a fruit bowl. And that is the
very meaning of abstract art. The
artists aim was instead to reinterpret
what they saw.
The style began in the 1900s with
Paul Cézanne (1839-1906).
Cubism
The cubism is characterized by
that the motifs are depicted in the
form of a variety of more or less
square "puzzle pieces". Pablo
Picasso (1881-1973) and George
Braque (1882-1962) were the
most famous pioneers.
Surreal
The fruit bowl is no longer
just a fruit bowl, but maybe
almost a human head.
Because surrealists wanted
to explore the subconscious
feelings for things. The style
began in the 1920s and
known surrealists are, for
example, André Breton
(1896-1966) and Salvador
Dali (1904-1989).
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Naive
The naive artists painted
consciously "childish"
paintings.
A famous Swedish
representative of the style
is Olle Olsson
“Hagalund” (1904-1972).
Since then there has been a particular style called photorealism where artworks consisted wholly or partly of
photos, press clippings and the like. It began in the late sixties and continued well into the seventies. Front
figure in photo realism in the 1960s was Richard Estes (b. 1932).
And pop art that parodies everything commercially superficial, mass-produced, consumer-oriented, volatile,
and impersonal. Famous artists include Andy Warhol (1928-1987) and Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997).
348

Photo art
Most cases in which someone takes a photograph, the aim probably only is to document an event or a person
for themselves and their loved ones' sake. In addition, a lot of pictures are taken to sell goods or to illustrate
articles. But in addition, there are photographic artists and those creating pictures to entertain a general
audience. For one who does not appreciate artistic photography, however, the entertainment value is zero.
Though those who choose to study a book with art photographs, goes to galleries or photo exhibitions must
surely find something amusing in this.
Since a practical shooting techniques wasn’t invented until 1826, artistic photography has a very short
history. In addition, the art form has not, as the painted art, passed through a number of different eras with
different styles. Older photographs depicts, as well as newer ditto, often people who somehow are posing for
the camera and the finished work depicts a relatively objectively who stood in front of the lens. For example,
of the 261 photographic works of various ages who were sold on an auction in Stockholm May 4, 2011
almost half (128 of them) depicted people. Forty of these persons were celebrities and 27 were more or less
naked persons.
It also appear as images of celebrities and/or naked people are more popular that buy photographic art, as
photos of celebrities on average paid 26 400 SEK (for the works that were sold), and for the more or less
naked motives customers paid in average 26 862 SEK. While the works that depicted urban environments,
landscapes, country houses or anything else, on average, in average was bought for 15 869 SEK, 13 110, 10
000 and 21 203 SEK. Moreover, a majority (73%) of the photos in the auction was black and white, as the
first generations of photos.
The examples of
photo objects in
an ad for
Bukowskis
photo auction
November 10-15
2011.
349

Music
Various forms of drums, pipes simple and stringed instruments existed long before the Christian era began.
The period between 0 and 1000's was in the West dominated by Gregorian church singing. The secular
music, however, we do not know so much about, but it is likely that it in many respects was similar to
church music, but the lyrics were about such things as women or nature. Which means that probably most of
what characterizes contemporary Western music have come here or was created thereafter. Some of the most
important events on the road might be:
In the 900s the earliest yet preserved notes of music was created.
The bow was invented in the 1000's.
From the mid-1100s the church singing evolved into polyphony.
1600s: Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) created the first opera. The hornet began appearing as an orchestral
instrument, the flute was spread and violin became the main instrument. In addition the clarinet was
constructed in 1690 by a German named Johann Christoph Denner.
The predecessor to the piano (hammer piano) was invented in 1709 by Bartolomeo Cristfori (1655-1731)
and it revolutionized the music-making in the sense that it was the first string instrument that could be
played at different sound levels. This since the hammer piano is based on the technique of that a hammer
strikes the string when the key is pressed, the same way that today's pianos and grand pianos. Which enabled
the string to he hit with various hardness, in contrast to its predecessors, such as the harpsichord, which
snapped the string. But the hammer piano did not out compete the predecessors in orchestras until about in
the 1770 th .
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) composed the Four Seasons 1725 th .
George Frideric Händel (1685-1759) released in 1742 Messiah. In the same era lived also Johann Sebastian
Bach (1685-1750), and he composed an awful lot of different pieces of music for various instruments like
organ and violin.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) composes Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute 1785-1791.
In the 1700s music was made public, which meant that one, like nowadays, could pay an entrance fee "to go
to a consert". Unlike from the past when art music largely been served only to the princes and nobles, who
often had their own orchestra.
1815, the metronome was invented by J Mälzel.
In the early 1800s the hammer piano was improved and thus the contemporary piano was born.
In the 1800s there were famous composers from a variety of countries:
Current Czech: Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884) who composed the Moldau motive.
Norway: Edward Grieg (1843-1907) father of The mountain king’s hall.
Italy: Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), creator of operas such as Aida, Rigoletto and La Traviata.
Current Germany: Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) who composed Destiny symphony, Felix
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847), Robert Schumann (1810-1856), Richard Wagner (1813-1883), creator
of the operas Tannhäuser, Lohengrin and Der Ring des Nibelungen, and Johannes Brahms (1833-1897).
Austria: Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) with the symphonies The Military Symphony and The London
Symphony.
350

In addition, musicians was given a lot more appreciation and they did tours around Europe, such as the
pianists Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) and Franz Liszt (1811-1886), the violinist Niccolò Paganini (1782-
1840), and female singers as Jenny Lind (1820-1887).
1841 the saxophone was invented by A Sax.
Approximately 1900 the drum kit was introduced in orchestral music.
Well into the 1900s the classical music dominated what was offered to the public. A typical day in 1932
(According to Dagens Nyheter 1932-07-05), for example, the non-classical music on the radio consisted of a
vocal duet with Signe and Daniel Hertzman, a Russian folk song, a tango, a polka, a foxtrot and a song
accompanied of banjo and piano. In addition classical music was played for another hour in the day (see the
chapter on radio).
The modern music evolved from the black folk songs of the Southern United States during the late 1800's.
The first variant is called the blues and its commercial breakthrough came in 1920, when Mamie Smith
became popular with the song Crazy Blues. Blues popularized the instrument cluster: guitar, piano, bass,
drums and harmonica.
In parallel with the blues developed a special way of playing with improvisations that became known as
Dixieland jazz and the harmonica was replaced by trumpet, saxophone and others. 1919 begins the spread in
Europe and it had a breakthrough during the 20 - and 30-century. Thereafter came what was called the
swing, but from the 1950's and onwards it has been marginalizated of rock 'n' roll and its successors. Among
countless more or less famous orchestra conductors or instrumentalists in jazz are Duke Ellington (1899-
1974), Glenn Miller (1904-1944), Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) and Benny Goodman (1909-1986).
351

When the modern electric guitar instruments (like Gibson Les Paul, 1952) and bass (Fender Telecaster 1951)
came, and began to be used. The blues artists got a whole new sound (rhythm and blues). Rhythm and blues
soon developed further to what is now called rock 'n' roll. Among those who broke through with the new
style were: Bill Haley (1925-1981, "(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock", 1954) Elvis Presley (1935-
1977, singing "Jailhouse Rock"), Jerry Lee Lewis (1935 -, sang "Great Balls of Fire"), Chuck Berry (1926 -,
"Roll over Beethoven", "Maybellene", "Sweet Little Sixteen", "Johnny B. Goode", "Memphis tennessee"
and "No Particular Place to Go"), Bo Diddley (1928-2008, “You Do not Love Me", "I'm a Man"), Carl
Perkins (1932-1998, "Blue Suede Shoes"), Little Richard (1932 -, "Lucille", "Long Tall Sally", "Good Golly
Miss Molly"), Buddy Holly (1936-1959, "That'll Be the Day") and Fats Domino (1928 -, "Is not That a
Shame", “Blueberry Hill”, "I'm Walkin").
In Europe came a little rougher bands like The Beatles (1957-1970, "Can not Buy Me Love”, "Twist and
Shout", "She Loves You", "Yesterday"), and The Rolling Stones (1960 -, "I can 't get no Satisfaction", "Play
with Fire", “Honky Tonk Woman”, "Paint It Black").
Until these and other British bands hit the U.S. dominated the charts with the buttery singer Rick Nelson
(1940-1981), Neil Sedaka (1939 -, "Oh Carol", "One Way Ticket (To The Blues)", "Breaking up is hard to
do” and "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen") and Connie Francis (1938 – sang “Stupid Cupid"). And it came
not so much until the hippie movement came with fuzzy band (which is called psychedelic rock band) as:
Mothers of Invention (1964-1969, then named the band Frank Zappa & The Mothers and then only hot
Frank Zappa concluded that Zappa died in 1993, "Camarillo Brillo", "Bobby Brown"), The Mamas and the
Papas (1964-1968, "California Dreamin”, "Monday, Monday"), The Doors (1965-1973, "Light My Fire",
"Hello, I Love You") and Jefferson Airplane (1965-1972, "Somebody To Love","White rabbit").
352

In the 1960s, however, created the United States, from blues and gospel music, including soul, by artists
such as. James Brown (1933-2006, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag", "I Got You (I Feel Good)", "It's a Man's
Man's Man's World"), Stevie Wonder (1950 -, "You are the Sunshine of my Life”, "Superstition"), Otis
Redding (1941-1967, "Sittin 'on the Dock of the Bay"), Marvin Gaye (1939-1984, "Mercy, Mercy Me",
"Sexual Healing"), and The Supremes (1959-1977, performed including "Where Did Our Love Go" and
"You Can not Hurry Love").
At the end of the 1960s created the British an even rougher
style, with heavy distorted guitars, as well as high and more or
less screaming vocals. The style came to be called hard rock
and early representatives were bands like Led Zeppelin (1968-
1980, "Stairway to Heaven"), Deep Purple (1968-1976,
"Smoke on the Water”, "Child In Time"), Black Sabbath
(1968 -, "Paranoid", "Iron Man"). Since then, the style
evolved in different directions but be characterized by heavy
guitar sound.
During the 1970s, spread a style that developed on the
Caribbean island of Jamaica with the foreground figure of
Bob Marley (1945-1981, "Get Up Stand Up", "Could You
Be Loved"). Style is characterized among other things by a
certain basic rhythm that is repeated in a large part of the
songs, as well as on most other music outside the
mainstream of their own clothing and hair fashion.
Addition was added in the 1970s, disco and punk to the list of rock 'n' roll offspring. The last style was
developed in American cities like New York and Philadelphia. The songs were characterized by rhythmic
rhythm and simple lyrics which made them very easy to dance and sing to. The latter will partly also from
New York, but also from the UK. Though it is not characterized by rhythm without a slamrig soundstage and
ragged clothes. Famous American band was the Ramones (1974-1996, "Sheena is a Punk Rocker", "Rock 'n'
Roll High School"), Blondie (1974-1982, "Heart of Glass", "Atomic", "Call Me") and Talking Heads (1974-
1991, "Burning Down the House", "Psycho Killer"). Among the British bands include: The Sex Pistols
(1975-1978, "Anarchy in the UK", "God Save The Queen") and The Clash (1976-1986, "Jimmy Jazz", "Lost
in the Supermarket", "Guns of Brixton", moreover the band's lead singer also adorns the front page of this
chapter).
353

The first electronic instruments were also created during this decade, and it led to both the straps easily could
have with a piano-like instrument on tours (which widened soundstage), and partly to a whole new type of
music using only electronic instruments was born (synth music). The wimp known early examples of the
latter type was created by the German group Kraftwerk with extremely monotonous songs like "Autobahn",
"Trans Europe Express" and "The Robots". In the early eighties, more easygoing synth music emerged with
groups like Alphaville (1982 -, "Big in Japan", "Forever Young"), Wham (1981-1986, 'Wake Me Up Before
You Go-Go", "Careless Whisper" ), Soft Cell (1979 -, performed "Tainted Love"), Depeche Mode (1980 -,
“Just can not Get Enough", "Master and Servant") and The Human League (1977 -,"Do not You Want Me").
Later styles like grunge (including Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam), hip-hop (broke through in the mid-
1980s, with groups like Run DMC and Public Enemy) and rap were introduced.
Today, the supply of, and the means to listen to, music are enormously greater than ever before in history.
What allows the common man of today, in contrast to previous generations, to listen to music more often
and also while they are doing other things. But despite this, many still go to live performances
(approximately every seventh person in Sweden sometime during a twelve month period go to a classical
concert or opera, and nearly a third go at least one pop-music concert (Kulturvanor i Sverige 1987-2009,
Statens konstråd, Stockholm, Sweden)).
354

Radio and moving pictures
Radio
1922-25 Private radio broadcasting.
1925 The national ”Radiotjänst” got
monopoly on radio and started regular
broadcasting.
Radio programs on an average day in 1932 (according to
the newspaper Dagens Nyheter). Note the "Today’s
herring prices" at 12.45. It may further be noted that talk
radio dominated. One explanation may, of course, be that
we could not get information from television. But in
addition probably also the habit of consuming music was
much smaller than today.
1955 The second radio channel started.
1958-62 Two private radio stations (Radio South and North) sent advertising funded radio with popular
music in Sweden, from boats stationed outside our territorial waters.
1962 Swedish radio starts a third channel focused on popular music.
1977 Swedish radio started local broadcast stations on various locations around the country.
1979 Organizations were allowed to broadcast radio shows, short-range, the so-called community radio.
1993 Advertising-funded radio was allowed.
At the end of the millennium most people (approximately 80%) listened 3 hours per day on the radio
(RUAB's Newsletter No. 1 in 2000, the study of radio listening in Sweden in different periods during the
years 1999-2000, RUAB, Stockholm). And we had, like, 40 analog radio channels in the Stockholm area
alone.
355

Moving pictures
The technology to create moving images are, of course, even younger that the technique to create snapshots.
And in terms of content, this art form therefore have had even less time to undergo development. But since
the media has considerably more degrees of freedom, development has been greater from the first movie to
today's products. One of the earliest recordings of moving pictures are from 1895 andit depicts a train
arriving at a railway station. The movie was obviously a sensation then, but by today's standards, probably a
very boring movie. The early films were characterized on the whole, by the imperfection of the technology:
Film was so expensive that the producers went cheap on this by taking very few pictures per unit of time.
Which in turn had the effect that the actors' movements seemed somewhat spavient.
The films had no sound track, because the technology did not yet exist. Instead any conversation was
illustrated with text.
The technology to copy text into movie pictures, did not excist. Instead, the movie makers had to film text
boxes. Since it had become very dull films if these boxes had been regular, the dialogue was restricted to a
minimum. This in turn had a huge impact on the story. All dialogue-based stories were out of the question
and also it became desirable that the images spoke for themselves. Overall, the actors often acted silly and
the stories were childishly simple to understand.
According to an ongoing vote on the big website for movie buffs: International Movie Data Base
(www.imdb.com), 59 of the world's 250 best films are made as late as the 00s (table 1 in the Swedish
original text). Then the 1990s (39 films), the 1950s (32) 1980s (29 pieces), 1970 (24) 1960 (25) and 1940
(16). Only 15 of the top 250, according to their voting, was done before 1940.
This can partly be explained by that some of those who vote are very young and have not yet had time to see
old masterpieces from the past decades. But it also suggests that film to a greater extent than other forms of
art is perishable. Which I know from myself, since it often happens that I get very disappointed when I see
an old movie that I liked when it was new. It may then be explained by that the medium has undergone a
much more extensive development than other forms of art over the last 100 years.
Although we now easily and cheaply can watch movies at home, still (2007-2009) approximately every 6
persons in Sweden at any time during a twelve month period went to the movies (Kulturvanor i Sverige från
1987 till 2009, Statens Konstråd, Stockholm, Sweden).
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TV
1920-50's television technology advances, see
the chapter History of Technology.
1950's experimental broadcasts starts in Sweden.
1956 Swedish TV broadcast starts officially.
1958 The first news show “Aktuellt” starts.
The big TV hit in the 50's was the Double or
nothing, also called Ten thousand Crowns
question. A quiz show that aired in some
different variations from 1957 to 1961.
1962 The first satellite linked live broadcast.
1969 A second TV-channel (TV2).
1970 Color TV.
1979 Test broadcast of text-TV.
TV-programs Thursday February 1, 1962
(according to Dagens Nyheter).
In the 1960s some popular TV series were created, such as:
- Cowboy series about the splendid family Cartwright, produced in 430 episodes from 1959.
- The series of the bizarre Addams Family which was broadcasted from 1965 in Sweden.
- The British action series about the aristocrat Simon Templar, i. e. The Saint (1962-1969).
In the 70's other popular TV series were produced, such as the police series Kojak from 1973. The British
action series The Persuaders about two millionaires who fighted evil 1971-1972. The long runner about the
siblings who inherited a haulage (Heirs 1972-1977). Western series about the good family McCahan 1976-
1979.
357

TV programs on an average day in 1982 (from the Dagens Nyheter January 4, 1982). Then we had two
channels that broadcast from the afternoon until about 23:00.
From the 1980s many will remember the television series Dallas (1981-1993) about the rich Texas family
Ewing and the Swedish series “Varuhuset” (1987-1989) about the staff at a department store.
1987 Sweden got commercial television with the launch of TV3.
1991 TV4 launches their commercial terrestrial TV.
At the end of the 1900s almost all (9 of 10) looked on TV for about two hours on an average day (Media
Survey 2000, Nordicom, Gothenburg). The majority saw on more than one channel, but about a third looked
at only one channel. Special TV channels such as film, news or sports channels was seen by less than 10% of
the TV viewers. And in 2011 at least 38 channels sent TV directed to a Swedish-speaking audience.
358

Performing arts
Circus
Circus is created when a number of some different entertainment forms are presented together in one
package. Already in the Roman Empire they had circus performances including trained animals, jugglers and
acrobats. The circus of Rome is thought to have been Influenced by the Greeks, with chariot racing and the
exhibition of animals as traditional attractions. Afterwards circus disapeared until Briton Philip Astley in
1768 erected a show in London with the, nowadays, traditional circus content tightrope walkers, jugglers,
dogs, and a clown. Thus he (re-) established almost the whole concept, except that the American circus
director Joshuah Purdy Brown introduced the circus tent 1825 th . Thereafter circus nothing really happened.
Until in the 1970s in France, as an attempt to renew the traditional circus, they removed the animals and
instead mixed theater into the show. The whole idea was to have a certain theme, such as camping holiday,
which was illustrated by elements of juggling, clowning, acrobatics, fire-eating and more.
This beautiful building was built in Stockholm during the late 1800s as an arena for circuses. Suggesting that
the circus was a much more common form of entertainment 100 years ago compared to today.
359

Dance
To move the body to the rhythm of an instrument man has been doing a long time. And at some point in
history, we began to organize the aimless jumping. Some movements were selected and combined to
"dances," and various dances were ritually tied to various gods and occasions: a dance when they wanted to
promote a hunting tour, another when fertility was promoted and so on. In time, however, the dance became
an art form, which was refined and developed by artists. This took place in the royal castles around Europe.
A dance like "minuet", for example, arose at the Italian renaissance hoof as a formalization of folk dances.
With solemnly marching, bowing and curtsying movements that fitted the snobbish courtiers and the heavy
court clothes. At the same time, there was a movement in the opposite direction. Ordinary people embraced
court dances and made "folk dances" out of them.
What we now call classical ballet arose probably from a combination of the solemn court dances and
professional artists virtuosa and acrobatic performances. A typical 1600/1700 century balet consisted of a
prologue and an epilogue, which was danced solemnly with the respective time court dances along with
bows and curtseys. In between, a number of independent "acts" was presented with virtuoso dancing or
clown tricks, performed by folk dancers, professional artists or sometime even dramatic and danceable
talented aristocrats.
What we call classical ballet emerged in the 1800s as a reaction against this. Ballet should be coherent
stories and they would be played as theater, though mutely, with a language of gestures, each gesture had its
special significance.
Today's dance entertainment consists, however, to a large extent of other dance than ballet. A review of the
dance performances offered at www.ticnet.se period 111028-111127 showed that of the 25 different
performances for and with adults, five were classical ballets. But a substantial majority of the rest can be
categorized in the concept of modern dance. It is much freer in movement patterns and gestures than what
ballet is. The first versions came in the late 1800s and since then the movements, music and other
expressions has been diversified by different choreographers and their creativity. A deeper description of the
development of dance is unfortunately much more difficult compared to other art forms, because the dance
moves to a much lesser extent than other art forms allows documentation.
Today (2007-2009) about every 10th person in Sweden under a period of twelve months at some point are
spectators to a ballet/dance performance (Kulturvanor i Sverige från 1987 till 2009, Statens Konstråd,
Stockholm, Sweden).
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Musical
The musical is said to be descended from the British "musical hall," a kind of cheap show for the working
class who came in the 1800s. But it may also be that the musicals really (beyond the name) are rather
modern operettas and the difference mainly lies in that the singers do not sing in that high-pitched way that
is so typical of operas/operettas. No matter why, during the 1920s to the 1950s musicals had a lot of
commercial success on Broadway in New York. A whole host of new musicals came every season and some
of them are given even today, but most of what is given nowadays is younger (see examples in table 1). And
musicals appears to still be popular since more than one in three of us in Sweden during a twelve month
period sometime goes to see a Musical (Kulturvanor i Sverige från 1987 till 2009, Statens Konstråd,
Stockholm, Sweden, data from 2007 to 2009).
Table 1.
Some even today known musicals, their creators, and the last time they were made in Sweden.
First
given
Composer Lyrics writer Latest given in
Sweden
Theater boat 1927 Jerome Kern Oscar Hammerstein Now in Uppsala
West Side Story 1957 Leonard Bernstein
Stephen Sondheim (lyrics),
Arthur Laurents (libretto)
Hair 1967 Galt MacDermot James Rado and Gerome Ragni
Jesus Christ
Superstar
1972
Evita 1975
Cats 1981
The Phantomen
of the Opera
1986
Andrew Lloyd
Webber
Andrew Lloyd
Webber
Andrew Lloyd
Webber
Andrew Lloyd
Webber
Now in Göteborg
Now in
Stockholm
Tim Rice Stockholm 2011
Tim Rice
2012 in Malmö
Trevor Nunn Stockholm 2009
Charles Hart Stockholm 1995
Les Misérables 1980 Alain Boublil Claude-Michel Schönberg Now in Malmö
Mamma Mia 1999
Björn Ulvaeus and
Benny Andersson
Lyrics by the composers, libretto
by Catherine Johnson
Göteborg 2007
361

Opera
A very large proportion of today's most
popular operas were created in the
1800s (63 of the total 99 in table 2). Of
the other 12 already created in the
1700s to 17 in the 1900s. But the
majority of the works from the 1900s
were made before the 1930 th .
Table 2.
Original title
The 99 most popular operas according to www.arkivmusic.com sorted by when they premiered, the year of
the first performance, how many recordings they have of the respective object (which can be assumed to be
a measure on how popular various works are), as well as the creators of the works.
Först
spelad
No. of
recordings
Composer
L'Orfeo 1607 30 Claudio Monteverdi
L'Incoronazione di 1642 23 Claudio Monteverdi
Poppea
Libretto
Dido and Aeneas 1689 48 Henry Purcell Nahum Tate
Giulio Cesare in Egitto 1724 18 Georg Friedrich Nicola Haym
Händel
Rodelinda, regina de'
Longobardi
1725 7 Georg Friedrich
Händel
Nicola Francesco Haym
Lo frate´nnamorato 1732 3 Giovanni Battista
Pergolesi
Castor et Pollux 1737 6 Jean-Philippe
Rameau
Orfeo ed Euridice 1762 52 Christoph W. Gluck Ranieri de Calzabigi
Iphigénie en Tauride 1779 13 Christoph W. Gluck Nicolas François Guillard
Idomeneo, re di Creta 1781 39 Wolfgang Amadeus Giambattista Varesco
ossia Ilia e Idamante
Mozart
Die Entführung aus dem
Serail
1782 55 Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart
J. G. Stephanie
Le nozze di Figaro 1786 112 Wolfgang Amadeus Lorenzo da Ponte
Mozart
Il dissoluto punito, ossia 1787 127 Wolfgang Amadeus Lorenzo da Ponte
il Don Giovanni
Mozart
Così fan tutte 1790 97 Wolfgang Amadeus Lorenzo da Ponte
Mozart
Die Zauberflöte 1791 87 Wolfgang Amadeus Emanuel Schikaneder
Mozart
La clemenza di Tito 1791 28 Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart
Fidelio, Op. 72 1805 85 Ludwig van Joseph Sonnleither
Beethoven
La pietra del paragone 1812 4 Gioachino Rossini
L'italiana in Algeri 1813 25 Gioachino Rossini Angelo Anelli
Il barbiere di Siviglia 1816 65 Gioachino Rossini Cesare Sterbini
La Cenerentola 1817 33 Gioachino Rossini Jacopo Ferretti
362

La donna del lago 1819 10 Gioachino Rossini
Der Freischütz 1821 29 Carl Maria von
Weber
Guillaume Tell 1829 15 Gioachino Rossini Victor-Joseph Étienne de Jouy och
Hippolyte Louis Florent Bis
Norma 1831 59 Vincenzo Bellini Felice Romani
La sonnambula 1831 31 Vincenzo Bellini Felice Romani
L'Elisir d'Amore 1832 51 Gaetano Donizetti Felice Romani
Lucia di Lammermoor 1835 71 Gaetano Donizetti Salvadore Cammarano
I puritani di Scozia 1835 32 Vincenzo Bellini Carlo Peopoli
La fille du régiment 1840 19 Gaetano Donizetti Jean François Alfred Bayard
Nabucodonosor 1842 27 Giuseppe Verdi Temistocle Solera
Der fliegende Holländer 1843 48 Richard Wagner Richard Wagner
Don Pasquale 1843 28 Gaetano Donizetti
Ernani 1844 28 Giuseppe Verdi Francesco Maria Piave
I due Foscari 1844 7 Giuseppe Verdi Francesco Maria Piave
Tannhäuser 1845 42 Richard Wagner Richard Wagner
Attila 1846 12 Giuseppe Verdi Temistocle Solera
Macbeth 1847 39 Giuseppe Verdi Francesco Maria Piave
Luisa Miller 1849 23 Giuseppe Verdi Salvadore Cammarano
Lohengrin 1850 45 Richard Wagner Richard Wagner
Rigoletto 1851 76 Giuseppe Verdi Francesco Maria Piave
La traviata 1853 120 Giuseppe Verdi Francesco Maria Piave
Il trovatore 1853 86 Giuseppe Verdi Salvadore Cammarano
I vespri siciliani 1853 16 Giuseppe Verdi Salvadore Cammarano
Simon Boccanegra 1857 27 Giuseppe Verdi Francesco Maria Piave
Faust 1859 36 Charles Gounod Jules Barbier and Michel Carré
Un ballo in maschera 1861 60 Giuseppe Verdi Antonio somma
La forza del destino 1862 43 Giuseppe Verdi Francesco Maria Piave
Les pêcheurs de perles 1863 14 Georges Bizet Michel Carré and Eugène Cormon
Tristan und Isolde 1865 72 Richard Wagner Richard Wagner
Don Carlos 1867 53 Giuseppe Verdi Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle
Roméo et Juliette 1867 16 Charles Gounod
Die Meistersinger von
Nürnberg
1868 50 Richard Wagner Richard Wagner
Mefistofele 1868 18 Arrigo Boito Arrigo Boito
Das Rheingold 1869 77 Richard Wagner Richard Wagner
Die Walküre 1870 90 Richard Wagner Richard Wagner
Aida 1871 107 Giuseppe Verdi Antonio Ghisalanzoni
Die Fledermaus 1874 43 Johann Strauss Karl Haffner and Richard Genée
Boris Godunov 1874 34 Modest Mussorgskij Modest Mussorgskij
Carmen 1875 90 Georges Bizet Henri Meilhac and Ludovic
Halévy
Götterdämmerung 1876 76 Richard Wagner Richard Wagner
Siegfried 1876 74 Richard Wagner Richard Wagner
La Gioconda 1876 22 Amilcare Ponchielli Arrigo Boito
Nibelungens ring 1876 36 Richard Wagner See above
Samson et Dalila 1877 21 Camille Saint-Saëns Ferdinand Lemaire
Jevgenij Onegin 1878 26 Pjotr Tjajkovskij
363

Pirates of Penzance 1879 14 Arthur Sullivan William Gilbert
Les contes d'Hoffmann 1881 34 Jacques Offenbach Jules Barbier
Parsifal 1882 52 Richard Wagner Richard Wagner
Manon 1884 24 Jules Massenet Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille
The Mikado 1885 17 Arthur Sullivan William Gilbert
Otello 1887 68 Giuseppe Verdi Arrigo Boito
Cavalleria Rusticana 1890 56 Pietro Mascagni Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti och
Guido Menasci
I Pagliacci 1892 64 Ruggero
Ruggiero Leoncavallo
Leoncavallo
Werther 1892 34 Jules Massenet
Falstaff 1893 57 Giuseppe Verdi Arrigo Boito
Manon Lescaut 1893 42 Giacomo Puccini Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica
La Bohème 1896 92 Giacomo Puccini Luigi Ilica och Giuseppe Giacosa
Andrea Chénier 1896 40 Umberto Giordano
Tosca 1900 114 Giacomo Puccini Luigi Ilica and Giuseppe Giacosa
Pelléas et Mélisande 1902 27 Claude Debussy Maurice Maeterlinck
Adriana Lecouvreur 1902 21 Francesco Cilèa
Madama Butterfly 1904 75 Giacomo Puccini Luigi Ilica och Giuseppe Giacosa
Salome, Op. 54 1905 36 Richard Strauss Richard Strauss
Die lustige Witwe 1905 28 Franz Lehár Victor Léon and Leo Stein
Elektra, Op. 58 1909 33 Richard Strauss Hugo von Hofmannsthal
La Fanciulla del West 1910 32 Giacomo Puccini Guelfo Civinini och Carlo
Zangarini
Der rosenkavalier 1911 50 Richard Strauss Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Ariadne auf Naxos 1912 60 Richard Strauss Hugo van Hofmannsthal
Gianni Schicchi 1918 26 Giacomo Puccini
Bluebeard's Castle 1918 23 Béla Bartók Béla Balázs
Wozzeck, Op. 7 1925 24 Alban Berg
Il finto arlecchino:
Symphonic Fragments
1925 2 Gian-Francesco
Malipiero
Turandot 1926 59 Giacomo Puccini Giuseppe Adami and Renato
Simoni
Oedipus rex 1927 23 Igor Stravinsky
Lulu 1937 19 Alban Berg
L'Histoire de Babar 1940 12 Francis Poulenc Jacques Brel
Trouble in Tahiti 1952 10 Leonard Bernstein
The Turn of the Screw 1954 11 Benjamin Britten Myfanwy Piper
364

Theater
Probably the church dominated the theater under Middle Ages, as the surviving documentation of European
theater from that time describes miracle plays, which are religious stories about saints and the like. These are
not considered to be very amusing, however, earlier Greek works are recommended (see chart 1). Though
most of the plays that are considered to be excellent were written in the 1800 - or 1900's. And theater interest
is probably greater today (2007-2009) than in the past because more than 40% of us in Sweden during a
twelve month period sometime watch live theater (Kulturvanor i Sverige från1987 till 2009, Statens
Konstråd, Stockholm, Sweden).
The playwrighters from the 1600s that has survived the ravages of time the strongest are William
Shakespeare (1564-1616). He wrote plays such as: Romeo and Juliet 1594-1595, A Midsummer Night's
Dream 1595-1596, and Hamlet 1600-1601.
The century was also the French drama's heydays, with playwrights such as Molière (actually Jean-Baptiste
Poquelin, 1622-1673), author of works such as "Tartuffe" (published in 1664, and it is about a scammer who
eventually gets caught), The Misanthrope (1666, about a person who always tells the truth), the greedy (in
1668, about love and greed) and The Imaginary Invalid (1673, about a hypochondriac).
1700 century's greatest playwrighters were:
Voltaire (actually, François-Marie Arouet, 1694-1778) who created the tragedies according to the French
model, such as Zaire and Merope.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) who wrote his famous work "Faust" from 1808 until his death.
The work is about Doctor Faust, who sold his soul to the devil.
Johann Christoph Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) with dramas like Mary Stuart (1800) and William Tell
(1803/04).
Some of the 1800s most famous playwright was: August Strindberg (1849-1912, whose most famous work,
"Miss Julie" from 1888 is about unrequited love), Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906, who among other works wrote
the play "A Doll's House" in 1879 on a woman who is stuck in a marriage in which she is not happy) and
Anton Tjeckov (1860-1904, who wrote, for example, in 1895, "The Seagull" about four people who love
someone they can not have). Ie. plays dealing with the things that concern us all.
Already in the 1630s the theater buildings looked about the same as today, with a stage at the front and then
a number of rows of chairs and maybe balconies. In the 1800s, the scenery would be as realistic as possible,
like a room with the fourth wall removed and the actors were to a greater extent than before instructed to act
like in reality. In the 1900s the modern stage technology came with headlights, hidden microphones and
recorded sound. Nowadays generally the standard is not realistic scenery, instead they shall be sparsely built
and the emphasis is on their mood abilities combined with lighting effects.
Amount (pcs.)
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Before 0-
0 1000
Recomended plays
1001-
1500
1501-
1600
1601-
1700
1701-
1800
1801-
1900
1901-
1985
Chart 1. Worth reading
plays of non-Englishspeaking
authors from
different centuries,
according to a panel of
experts (Lesley
Henderson (Editor),
World Literature,
Second Edition, St..
James Press, New
York).
Publication year
365

The performances given on the dramatic theatre in
Stockholm during the autumn 2011 and spring
2012 are (in order of age): The Misanthrope
(1666), The Miser (1668), Two masters servants
(1745), Robber (1781), Hedda Gabler (1890), To
Damascus (1898), Dr. Glass (1905), the Ghost
Sonata (1907), Paradise Beach (about 1945), death
of a Salesman (1949), Duet for one (1980), Fanny
and Alexander (about 1982), night is the mother
(1982), Five known musician killed in series crash
(new) Say you're hungry (new), Thieves (new),
Remont (new), Merchant's contract (fairly new),
Rosamunde (fairly new), Grandma's black eyes
(new), C (new ), Letter from Eric Ericson (new),
Mira goes through the room (new), Älvsborgsbron
(new).
In the thirties, however, does
not appear to classic pieces
have been in vogue, judging
from the theater program in
Dagens Nyheter July 5, 1932.
366

Sports
People probably has competed in more or less orderly forms in most cultures since very long time. The best
known example is the competition that was held every four years in the Greek city of Olympia 776 BC to the
393 rd . There were competitors and spectators from all over the then Greek kingdom. The contestants
appeared completely naked, with oiled bodies. That’s maybe why married women weren’t allowed to visit
the games.
The competitions included multiple race distances of about 200 m and up, wrestling, boxing, type free
fighting, discus and javelin, long jump, pentathlon (running, jumping, discus throwing, javelin and
wrestling) and racing by horse and wagon.
Other sports that we probably have practiced and competed for long is:
Swimming. There is apparently evidence that the Egyptians were engaged in swimming before the year zero.
However, it is unclear whether they competed in this.
Skiing has been used in Scandinavia since many centuries and it is reasonable to believe that some of these
skiers tested their skills in competition with each other.
Weightlifting competitions has probably been going on since prehistoric times. Someone managed to lift a
heavy stone and challenged someone else to do the same.
Armwrestling contests appear as illustrations in Egyptian tombs constructed long before the year 0.
Archery competitions were held in China around the year 1000 BC.
Fencing. In the 1100s the pretend battles became a popular sport and entertainment form. The fighting
developed into tournament as seen in the movie Ivanhoe. The medieval knights needed the sword to
penetrate armor. But they, however, were too heavy to fence with. But with the introduction of firearms the
armor no longer meaningful, and again there was a need to use lighter swords. At the same time fencing
somewhat took the tournaments place as an entertainment form.
Curling was found in both Scotland and the Benelux countries during the 1500s. It is known since someone
found a curling stone from 1511 in Scotland and a Dutch painter in 1560 depicted a curling game.
Tennis. The first ball and racquet sport that was played in Europe emerged in France in the 1100s. In this
game, they used their hand to bat and it was played in courtyards with high walls. The racket was then
developed in stages, from that in Italy the hand was protected by a glove (which meant that players could hit
harder), via that they intertwined their fingers with a leather rope, to simple wooden racquets in the 1300s.
Racket string with sheep intestines came about 1500 and then the main component of this sport was more or
less fully developed.
In addition to the aforementioned sports, as well as some Asian martial arts most sports is considered to have
been designed mainly during the 1800s and early 1900s. Table 3 presents a number of examples.
367

Table 3. Examples of sports that more or less were developed in the 1800s.
The sport was
Start year for the sport
probably developed in as we know it today
Badmington India (i.e. UK) 1860s
Bandy UK 1800s
Baseball Canada (i.e. UK) 1845
Basketball USA 1891
Billiards Europé 1800s
Table tennis UK 1875
Cycling UK 1800s
Darts UK 1800s
Football UK 1860s
Golf UK 1800s
Handball Denmark In the beginning of the 1900s
Hockey Kanada (dvs Storbrit.) 1800s
Canoe UK 1850s
Motorsport Europé In the beginning of the 1900s
Orientation Sweden About 1890
Rugby UK 1863
Volleyball USA 1895
Badminton. People have been playing games that resembled badminton for many hundreds of years. Games
been to fit a ball (sometimes equipped with springs) between themselves using bats/rackets or hands and the
ball was not allowed to touch the ground. English soldiers in India added, during the mid-1800s, the net and
a number of new rules and with this was the modern sport of badminton born.
Bandy. The sport originated in Britain when people began to play field hockey on ice. 1875 the first
documented match took place and in 1882 a number of bandy teams agreed on common rules.
Baseball. Like so many other sports people have played games that resembled baseball for a long time. What
happened around 1845 was that the Americans then decided on a lot of the rules that are broadly used today.
The following year, they played what is considered to be the world's first baseball game.
Basketball. Basketball has been around since the 1600s. But basketball in its current form was created in
1891 in the United States. The inventor's idea was that it would be a fun and useful way for young people to
move. A few years later (1893) was the first competition in basketball held
Billiards. A game with balls on a table appear to have existed in Europe in the 1400s. From there evolved the
various billiard games developed gradually to reach their current forms and tools in the 1800s.
Table tennis. 1875 created the British the first rules of the game. 1891 celluloid balls wer introduced. 1897
the first championship was held, in 1927 an official world championship was held for the first time. 1988
table tennis became an Olympic sport.
Cycling as a sport arose with the invention of the bicycle, which occurred gradually during the 1800s, with a
major breakthrough in 1885 (see yhr chapter History of Technology).
Darts. Man has has thrown arrows since at least the 1500s. The game was developed in the 1800s by the
British (metal darts and standardized rules) and it became a popular pub sport. A national championship was
held in 1927 and the official world championships began 1977.
368

Football. They have found evidence that football was played in China before the year 0. At the time, it was
played, like today, with two teams and two goals. The ball was made of leather and stuffed with hair. The
game, called by the Chinese Cuju (kick ball) gradually became very popular, but it for some reason died out
in the Middle Ages. Although the Indians of Central America played something like football before the year
1000. European football began, however, in England in the 1100s as a brutal game with two teams and a
ball. The goals could be many kilometers apart and the teams could have as many players as they liked.
When people in the 1800s to a significant extent crowded together in cities (see the chapter History of
Technology), there was no longer room for this bulky sport. The practitioners were forced to adapt the game
and the field was limited and the rules became progressively more rigorous and standardized. 1863 it was
decided, for example, that the ball could only be touched with the feet and the first real football clubs came
1872 nd . Over time the sport spread to the rest of the world and in 1904 FIFA (Fédération Internationale de
Football Association) was founded. 1930 FIFA organized the first World Cup, which was held in Uruguay.
Golf. The world's first golf club is in Scotland and it was launched in 1744, but the game is supposed to have
been there longer than that. In the late 1800s, the Scots developed the game so much that it was quite similar
to the golf being played today.
Handball. A game similar to handball is said to have been played since ancient times. But modern handball
were played in the late 1800s in several countries. The game was developed, however, especially in
Denmark in the early 1900's. 1938 the first World Championships was played and 1972 the sport became
Olympic.
Ice hockey. This sport may have it’s origin in Holland in the 1500s, but today's Ice hockey comes from the
1800s when British soldiers stationed in Canada, just as with bandy, played field hockey on the ice. 1855 the
first documented ice hockey match took place.
Canoe. Since the canoe probably is the oldest form of transport, it is reasonable to believe that at least some
canoeists, long before our era, competed over who first reached a certain point. Though it was an established
fitness and competitive sport in the UK in the mid 1800's.
Motorsport. Motor sports are of course not older than motor vehicles, which came at the end of the 1800s.
The first car race was held in 1895 in France and the first motorcycle race was held two years later in the
UK. 1907 started the motorcycle races on the British Isle of Man which has run every year. Nowadays there
are a whole variety of motorsports with cars, boats, motorcycles and so on.
Orientation. This sport was founded through Swedish military exercises in the late 1800s. The first
competition was organized for Swedish officers in 1893.
Rugby. This sport is considered to have started in 1863 in the UK when they who wanted to play football
with only their feet and they also wanted to use their hands went in different directions. They later chosed to
call their sport rugby.
Volleyball. The sport was invented in 1895 in the United States. The sport spread across the world.
Contemporary rules and playing style was developed in the early av1900 century. The first world
championship was held in 1949 for men and for women 1952 nd . 1924 a volleyball demonstration was held
during the Olympic Games and the sport joined in the Olympics 1964 th .
During the latter part of the 1900s, a also a lot of sdditional sports has came, most of which is still quite
small. In a hundred years maybe some of them are very large while others, now even more popular sports, is
almost extinct. There will probably be new sports, enabled by future technologies. The strange thing is that
there are currently some cases where both the technology and the interest excist (for the latter, at least
interest in related sports), such as:
- Obstacle swimming.
- Underwater swimming.
- Running and shooting.
369

Probably there has been audience to the sport as long as they have existed.
But with the advent of mass media in the form of newspapers (figure 2 and 4), then the radio and later
television, a new kind of sports consumption has emerged. With consumers who neither exerts the consumed
the sports themselves, or see them live.
Number
of
pages .
Year
Chart 2.
4,5
4
3,5
3
2,5
2
1,5
1
0,5
0
Sport pages in Dagens Nyheter the first Sunday in May
1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
The number of pages (broad sheet) with sports news of the first Sunday in May issue of Dagens
Nyheter every 10 years from 1910 to 2000. 1910 the Swedish sports journalism seems to have
been almost entirely focused on giving prospective competitors and ditto public information
about when and where the events took place. Ten years later mostly they referenced results
from different competitions in a manner very similar to that which can be seen mainly in
provincial press today. Another ten years later there were already some "modern" sports
journalism in the form of interviews, analysis, and speculation about the sports and their
players.
Today (2009), more than one in ten people (14%) in Sweden in go to a soccer/hockey game at least once a
month and every third has gone at least once during the last twelve months (Kulturvanor I Sverige från 1987
till 2009, Statens Konstråd, Stockholm, Sweden). And according to Statistics (Statistical Yearbook of
Sweden 2002, Statistics Sweden, Örebro, Table 615), the majority of men and many women (men 58%,
women 39.2%) at some time during the past 12 months has visited a sporting event. Furthermore, there are
even several Swedish-language TV channels that only broadcast sports, in addition, it is possible via satellite
dish to bring in foreign sports channels, and there is also an ample opportunity to follow different sports over
the Internet.
370

Games
Playing cards may have been used in China as early as 1120 and in large parts of Europe, we played cards
from the 1400s. The deck used had like today 52 cards and four different color suits: spades, hearts,
diamonds and clubs.
On the sunken warship Wasa a board game was found, whicj is a dice game very similar to today's
backgammon. Thus, the dice game in any case has been played in Sweden since the 1600s. The dice used
looked like today's dice and they could be made of bones.
Chess is said to have existed since at least 500 AD, and the game came to Sweden in the 1500s or earlier. In
the "finer" families kids learned to play chess already from the time they were small.
From the 1300s onwards, skittle alleys were popular in Germany. The game was very similar to modern
bowling except that the bowling lanes lacked automation. In Sweden, has skittles occurred since the 1500s.
The above mentioned examples dominated games into the 1900's, when the modern board games and later
the digital games were introduced. In Sweden Monopoly was released in 1938, Thief & Police in 1943 and
in the 1950s came Scrabble, The Lost Diamond and Finance.
With the so-called arcade games, games went over from a social activity to a one-man job. The first wave of
arcade games came to Sweden in the 1940s and consisted of pinball. Pinball games evolved from the
Fortuna game that is said to have been invented in the 1700s. It consisted of a game plan leaned slightly and
with holes at various points. The player shot off a ball with a stick and was hoping that the ball ended up in a
hole with a high score. At the end of the 1800s the stick was replaced with a spring-loaded pusher, the board
was covered with glass and the unit was equipped with a device to automatically count the scores. In 1933
came the electric rifles which repelled the balls that came to it. 1934 the machines were equipped with lights
and sound effects. 1947 came flippers, then it has not happened so much with the pin ball machines other
than that with time they got more flippers and to the skilled player could deal with multiple balls
simultaneously.
The first TV/computer games excisted apparently already in the 1950s, but well into the 1970s the games
that were available were simple black and white variants of, for example, tennis. One played with simple
game consoles plugged into the TV. The arcade game with a TV screen that came in the 1970s, however,
was far more advanced, with a color screen and more controls. The most popular, as I recall, was the Space
Games Asteroids (1979) and Defender (1980), were both two-dimensional and the latter was to operate a
small spaceship and shoot down as many enemy vehicles as possible before they shot down one yourself. A
recent milestone in the computer games world was the little handheld complete computer game Donkey
Kong who came in the 1980s. A more advanced handheld gaming device called the Game Boy was launched
in 1989 by the Japanese company Nitendo. In addition came in the decade a whole host of games besides
Donkey Kong, such as: Pac-Man (1980, the game was to ride around in a maze and eat the monsters) and
Super Mario (1985, also a maze game, but with much more advanced graphics ). In the 1990s, home
computers were developed at a furious pace, and video games with them. An early jättehit many played in
the beginning of the decade (old and young) was the puzzle game Tetris (created in 1984). In the 1990s
came the first high-end gaming console TVs (Sony PlayStation, 1994) and some of the games that were
released were: Civilization (1991, the player created a country), Wolfenstein (1992, shoot enemies), Myst
(1993, exploration of a mysterious island), Collin McRae Rally (1998, run a rally car), Sims (1999, guiding a
family) and Counter-Strike (1999, war game).
371

Text art
Books
In the Middle Ages, and long after, it was only a minority who could read. Many languages did not even
have any written variant. And those who could write doesn’t appear to have used their skills to create things
that pleases, because the texts that are preserved are contracts and government affairs. Which meant that they
only needed to be written in one or a few copies. For mass reproduction, however, it would have required
some form of printing technology and a "cheap" press.
In China, they began to print texts on paper long before the year 1000 (the paper was invented in China
around the year 105). From there, also, as far as we know, the first printed book comes: Diamond Sutra from
868 th .
The world's first novel, The Story of Genji, was however, written by a Japanese woman around 1001 th .
To Europe, both paper and printing technology came much later and it was only in the 1400s that the
technology was effective enough for mass production of printed matters.
At that time there was still no written language in America, Australia, Africa (excluding North Africa and
some other areas), and northern Asia. The oldest books are thus Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Arabic and/or
European.
1688 the first English female professional writer, Aphra Behn (1640-1689), published her novel Orooniko.
1719 Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) was published, and 7 years later Jonathan Swift (1667-
1745) published Gulliver's Travels.
1876 Mark Twain (1835-1910) published "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer."
1841 came the first detective novel, Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849).
In the 1800s, literacy increased radically with the introduction universal compulsory schooling in many
countries and mass-produced books, catalogs, etc. became much more common. This reasonably increased
the total reading very much. And also the amount of quality literature appears to have increased since a large
part of what still is considered to be worth reading came after 1800 (chart 3).
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Before
0
0- 1001-
1000 1500
Recomended litterature
1501-
1600
1601-
1700
1701-
1800
1801-
1900
1901-
1985
Novels
Short stories
Poetry
Prouse
Number of works.
Publication year
Chart 3.
Readable books by non-English-speaking authors from different centuries, according to a panel of experts
(Lesley Henderson (Editor), World Literature, second edition, St.. James Press, New York).
We have continued to read books even in our days (2007-2009) since most people (more than 8 of 10
persons in Sweden) during a twelve month period read a book (Kulturvanor i Sverige från 1987 till 2009,
Statens Konstråd, Stockholm, Sweden).
372

Journals
The world's first daily newspaper came in 1660 in the German city of Leipzig. The first British newspaper,
The Daily Currant, was published 42 years later. In Sweden newspapers had it’s breakthrough in the latter
half of the 1800s, and a fairly large proportion of the newspapers we have today (in 2000) stems from this
time (figure 4). The content of an ordinary newspaper in the 1800s was quite thin. Dagens Nyheter (founded
in 1864), for example, contained in 1865 only 4 pages. There were no pictures and the text consisted mostly
of short news items and announcements. The lighter entertainment part consisted of a passage from a novel
that was serialized.
400000
The publication of dailys in 2000
350000
300000
250000
Issue size
200000
150000
100000
50000
Chart 4.
0
1787 1801 1815 1829 1843 1857 1871 1885 1899 1913 1927 1941 1955 1969 1983 1997
Starting year
Start year for the Swedish newspapers that were still printed in 2000. The height of the stack
corresponds to the issue's size 2000. Multi colored bars mean that it was founded more than one
paper that year. With newspapers is here ment newspapers and local papers, usually in the
tabloid/broadsheet format.
Even a few of the monthly magazines founded in the late 1800s (chart 5) are still published: Östra
Småland missionsblad (from 1876), Stridsropet: official organ for the Salvation Army in Sweden
(1883), Jordemodern (1897) och Transportarbetaren: halfårsberättelse för Sv. Transportarbetareförbundet
(1897). Though the majority of today's monthly magazines are much younger.
….
12
10
Periodicals 2011
Number of titles that are still printed
8
6
4
2
Chart 5.
0
1876 1886 1894 1904 1914 1924 1934 1944 1954 1965 1975 1985 1995 2005
Starting year
Magazines that came out once a month in 2011 sorted after when they began to be issued. Magazine
counted as periodicals shall be produced less frequently than newspapers and usually they shall not
contain daily news, but instead specialist knowledge, culture material or entertainment.
373

Picture art
Gunnar Björing
374

Probably everyone appreciates a representation of something dear, as their newborn babies Though other
than the child's relatives may not be attracted by the picture.
It is probably also common to appreciate photos of places that matter much.
Those who are not connected to Stockholm, however, does probably require more from the picture, to give
them something positive.
A picture of the, probably in the eyes of many, fine houses in the Old Town may appeal to more than just
Stockholm lovers, even if the houses are depicted on a cloudy day.
375

Adorable landscapes generally maybe gives many observers a positive feeling, even if they have no
connection to the place.
The theory is supported by the participants 1 in this study,since they, in median, ranked landscapes the highes
along with pictures of people (table 1).
Table 1. Participants' rankings of a number of scene modes for shooting.
What motive do you prefeer Rank, 5= Participant number Median
best.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ranking
Landscapes 5 3 5 2 4 2 5 4
Flowers 3 1 4 1 3 1 3 3
Naked bodies 1 2 1 5 1 5 2 2
Towns 2 5 3 4 2 4 1 3
People 4 4 2 3 5 3 4 4
Though "artistic" photos, i.e. those sold in the photo galleries, rarely have beautifull landscapes as the motif.
Wonder why that is Maybe because anyone who is in the picturesque location with a suitable camera, takes
about as good pictures. Which in turn results in photographic artists who take pictures of landscapes have
difficulty getting their pictures sold. Unlike if he/she takes photos of things that no one thought to depict and
somehow manage to make it beautiful.
For example, of the 261 photographic works that were sold at Stockholm city’s art auction the May 4, 2011
only 5% depicted a landscape (table 2 in the Swedish original text). Instead most of them (49%) portrayed
people. And photos of people were also best paid, at least if they were famous or depicted naked, although
there probably were few of the buyers who had any personal connection to the photographed subjects.
1.
Four men and three women were asked to participate in the study, and all said yes. The average age was 43 years
(median: 46 years, min - max: 37 - 50 years) and they had varying levels of education, occupation, income, family
and housing conditions.
376

One reason could be that the art photography market does not reflect the general opinion. Participants in this
study were asked to rate a selection of the photographs that were sold (table 3), with no other basis than
copies of the pictures. The results indicate that, to some extent, that is true.
Table 3. Participants' rankings of copies of five selected photos.
Rank which of those pictures you foremost would
Participant number
Median Final
like to buy (5= first chice)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ranking price-
Ingrid Bergmans upper body without clothes
. black/white foto by Åke Lange.
3 3 4 3 1 5 3 3 21 000
Light throug a skylight in a factory taken by Emil Heilborn. 5 4 3 4 4 4 4 4 18 000
Broken glasses on a white back ground by
Gunnar Smoliansky.
2 2 2 2 3 1 2 2 15 000
Naked body parts by Eva Klasson. 1 1 5 5 5 2 5 5 9 000
A can of soda and a bottle with a car in the back ground
colour photo by Tunbjörk.
4 5 1 1 2 3 1 2 6 000
377

What does the general public think is an art photo Participants were asked to rank a number of more or less
commonplace images from an artistic perspective.
According to those interviewed in this study, photo number four and five are the most artistic (table 4) or in
other words, perhaps the least un-artistic. The results indicate that an odd motive like cooked macaroni,
looses against the standard motifs such as Stockholm a beautiful winter day (picture 4).
Table 4. Participants' rankings of the photographs above.
Which of those 6 pictures are the most Participant number Median
artistic rank 6= best
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ranking
Picture 1 4 1 4 3 3 3 3 3
Picture 2 5 2 2 2 2 4 2 2
Picture 3 2 3 3 6 5 5 4 4
Picture 4 6 4 6 5 4 2 6 5
Picture 5 3 5 5 4 6 1 5 5
Picture 6 1 6 1 1 1 6 1 1
378

73% of the photographic works at the studied public auction was black and white. Does that mean the photos
are generally more artistic ifthey are black and white The majority of participants in this study do not
appear to believe that it generally is the case, because they found the three subjects below, looks best in color
(14 of a total of 21 votes were for the color photos).
379

Some of the photos that were sold at the auction depicted only a small part of a larger object, such as a
portion of a door with a little bit of the facade. Does that mean the detail images are generally more artistic
than whole images According to the results, it can be so because of the two pictures below, 10 of totally 14
votes was in favour for that the detail was more artistic than the "big picture."
What is it that that the public concider to be the most important in a photographic work, and why does some
people pay so much for them, even though everyone can take photos themselves The majority of the
participants (4 of 7) felt that the most important thing is the motive (table 5). But there was disagreement
about why some people payso much money for photographies that others have taken (table 6). The most
common response (3 of 7) was that it's trendy/modern to have exclusive photography.
Table 5. The most important thing in a photographic work, according to the participants in this study.
What is the most important in a
Participant number
Median
artistic photo Rank 7= most imp. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ranking
Sharp details 6 1 2 2 1 3 1 2
The combinations of colours 2 5 3 3 3 2 2 3
The colours 3 4 1 4 2 5 3 3
The motive 4 2 6 6 4 6 6 6
The feeling 5 6 4 5 6 4 5 5
The message 1 3 5 1 5 1 4 3
Table 6. Participants' answers to the question in the table header.
Why do some people pay so much for photographies
Trendy.
Dont know.
Dont know, maybe because the motive is a celebrity
or a celebrity has taken it.
Trendy.
Trendy.
Partly because they collect it and it has a value and partly because
they like photos.
They have so much money, investment.
380

Jus as regarding photography, everybody can to some degree paint, but far from all create paintings that
appeal to others. What is needed to lift a painting to real arts
According to those who participated in this study, the color combinations, the colors and the subject are the
most important features to consider, to determine if a painted work is good (table 7). That they in median
ranked the motive higher than the feeling and the message suggests to some extent that they believe that it is
relatively important that paintings depict something. Though they thought it is more important with feeling
than photo-like images (because the detail along with the message was ranked lowest).
Table 7. Participants' rankings of a number of properties for painted artwork.
What is the most important in a
Participant number
Median
painting Rank 7= most imp.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ranking
Sharp details 5 1 3 2 1 6 1 2
The combinations of colours 3 5 4 5 3 4 3 4
The colours 6 4 5 6 2 3 2 4
The motive 4 2 6 4 4 5 5 4
The feeling 3 6 1 3 6 2 6 3
The message 1 3 2 1 5 1 4 2
A review of the first 150 art pieces at Auktionsverkets auction of contemporary works April 13, 2011 (table
8 in the Swedish original text) showed that most of the paintings depicts something, without being
"photographic" images. The 18 works that did not depict anything (the non-figurative) was on average
cheaper than the figurative, which also indicates that a painting should preferably depict something. In
contrast to my speculation above, the photo-like images were more popular than other categories because
they were on average sold for more money than all other types, except paintings of a city/house and those
who depicted flowers.
381

A reasonable assumption is that the higher the price the painting reaches at the auction the better/more
meaningful it is. To investigate the hypothesis, the participants were asked to rank a selection of ten
paintings in different styles, with a large spread in the final price, without any information on the works, in
addition to a picture of each of them. They, however, ranked several of the cheapest paintings higher than
much more expensive ones and the most expensive was by the majority ranked the lowest or second lowest
(table 9). It suggests that some paintings are not expensive because many find it particularly appealing.
Table 9. The participants' ranking of the ten selected pieces from the auction and their final price.
Rank the following 10 paintings so that 10=
Participant number
Median
the best
Simply painted upper body of a boy,
by Sigrid Hjertén.
Naive Stockholm motive with sailing ships painted
by Einar Jolin.
Un-descibable, a number of pieces in different
colours by Gösta Adrian-Nilsson (GAN).
Old Stockholm view over the roof tops by
Carl Einar Fredriksson.
Final
price
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ranking
5 1 5 1 10 4 9 5 320 000
9 3 10 5 3 10 8 8 360 000
6 5 3 10 2 3 5 5 220 000
8 4 9 6 6 9 6 6 14 000
A few things on a zink painted by Einar Jolin.. 7 2 4 4 7 7 7 7 16 000
A few trinagles in different colours by
Olle Baertling.
Many trinagles in different colours by
Bertil Öhlund.
4 10 1 2 4 2 1 2 1 650 000
3 8 6 7 8 1 2 6 13 000
Naked woman in a couch by Isaac Grünewald. 2 6 7 8 5 8 10 7 75 000
Skater who looks weird painted by GAN. 1 7 2 9 1 5 4 4 350 000
An ”impossible” geometry of squares by Oscar
Reutersvärd.
10 9 8 3 9 6 3 8 27 000
382

One explanation for the differences in ranking between participants and between participants' median
ranking and final prices, could be that there are different aesthetic values. Take these five cups for coffee as
an example:
Person A is delighted by the naive style and therefore concider the first of the examples to be the finest.
B is, perhaps for nostalgic reasons, fond of 50th century aesthetics and therefore think that cup # 2 is the
most beautiful.
C likes follow what is fashionable and thus, in the current situation, concider number three to be the hottest.
D thinks that frailty is nice and is therefore the thin-walled cup with blooms is the most beautifull one.
E since childhood likes flowers and the color blue, and therefore prefer the fifth cup.
Alternatively, our perceptions of various works of art is rooted in feelings that they generate. As Edvard
Munch's painting The Scream, which probably can give anyone anxiety.
And judging by the responses to the issue described in table 10 of the Swedish version of this book, it seems
like painted works convey different emotions to different observers. Perhaps it was so that those who
participated in the bidding, for some reason, felt more concerned than the average person to the respective
object.
Another possible explanation is that more expensive works has other qualities that make them more
meaningful. But the participants in this study had a far from common view of the possible qualities that the
works had (table 11 in the Swedish version). This suggests that also the perception of a paintings qualities
are highly personal.
383

Additionally another possible explanation for the price difference, is that those buyers who pays a lot are
looking for investments that they think they can recoup in a number of years.
But in general, investments in Swedish art is no brilliant deal 2 . Since they only generate an average return on
a few percent per year from the mid 80's and some 20 year thereafters. An investment with related risks such
as that it can be stolen, bleached by the sun or degenerate in other ways.
Perhaps those who buy art, has realized that it is not a brilliant investment. Though they ignore it because
they believe that a painting fits so well with the rest of the decor that it's worth the money.
Selection of image details in Dagens Nyheter residential annex 2012-01-05.
Which to some extent wasconfirmed by the participants in this study, because two of them said that the
purpose of art is to decorate (table 12). Several, however, gave answers meaning that it shall touch the
viewer, and it can’t reasonably in line with the idea that it will shall match the rest of the decorations.
Table 12. The participants' answers to the question in the table header.
What do you think is the purpose of picture art
Memories, it shal be beautyful.
That it concerns.
It shal make you happy, one shall get happy when looking at it.
Decoration, something to rest your eyes on.
Affect society and the beholder, decorate.
It shall touch the beholder.
I shal be beautyful and have a message.
2.
Andersson E, Bjorkman H (2007) ART AS AN INVESTMENT - A study of Swedish investment in quality
paintings in the period 1985-2006, Bachelor of Stockholm School of Economics.
384

The purpose of sports consumption
Why does some of us waste time and sometimes even money with viewing when other exercise
To get an answer to the question, I asked nine persons 1 about what they believe is the purpose of looking at
sports.
The only one of those who do not watch sports, replied that he for his part did not see any point in it. While
the other expressed a positive opinion about the activity. Five of the respondents used the word "exciting" in
combination with words such as: relaxing, inspiring, adrenaline rush. Two of the others (who are both avid
sports consumers) replied that it gives entertainment for the moment. The last of the interviewees said that it
is more meaningful than any other TV entertainment, because the events are not rigged.
The results thus indicate that a common reason to watch sports is because it's exciting.
Is it okay with any sport According to the participants in this study, it is not so, on the contrary just a few of
the 33 listed sports will do (table 1).
In addition, they had to explain why those sports are worth looking at, while others are not. The responses
can be divided into three main groups:
1. 80 of a total of 297 responses (33 x 9 = 297), was about that the participants likes to consum sports in
which Sweden participates, and to a question about why most responded something like: it's fun when
Sweden do well, and it is exciting when Sweden is participating.
2. 81 responses meant that they like to see the sport even though Sweden is not participating. The reason
was in 13 cases that they have a personal interest in the sport because they exercised/exercise it, or
otherwise has participated in the exercise (such as a parent of a child who is a practitioner). Others look at
the sport because they for some reason like to consume it.
3. 136 responses was that they do not watch the sport. The most common reason given was that they are not
interested in it (85 replies) or that the sport is boring/dull/tough to watch (35 responses).
1.
Seven men and two women, on average, they were 48 years old (median: 46 years, min - max: 38-75
years). They consume sports in varying degrees, from a person who barely looks at all to a couple of
persons that look almost every day on any/some of a variety of sports.
385

Table 1.
Which, of a selection of sports, the participants are not watching, watching if Sweden is participating or
watch even if Sweden does not participate. Green = the majority watch even if Sweden does not participate,
yellow = the majority watch if Sweden is participating, red = the majority do not watch.
Sport Newer watch Watch if Sweden
participates
Watch even if
Sweden does not
participate
Badminton 7 1 1
Bandy 1 1 7
Basketball 7 1 1
Billiards 7 0 2
Table tennis 2 6 1
Boxing 1 4 4
Wrestling 4 5 0
Curling 2 7 0
Cycling 6 1 2
darts 5 0 4
Football 1 2 6
Athletics 1 2 6
Fencing 7 2 0
Golf 6 1 2
Gymnastics 5 0 4
Handball 1 4 4
Floorball 8 0 1
Hockey 1 5 3
Canoe 4 4 1
Skating 4 0 5
Cross country skiing 1 4 4
Motorsport 3 0 6
Orientation 8 0 1
Rowing 7 2 0
Rugby 8 0 1
Sailing 7 1 1
Swimming 3 5 1
Biathlon 0 4 5
Skating 5 3 1
Shooting 5 4 0
Downhill skiing 3 4 2
Tennis 1 5 3
Volleyball 5 2 2
Quite a number of specified patriotic reasons for why they watch some sports. Perhaps, like the sudden
passion for skiing when Ingemar Stenmark was at his peak in the early 1980's. A comparison (table 2)
among a sample of Swedish successes and data from a much larger study of Swedes' favorite sports (sponsor
Insight AB 2009), also suggests that many mostly watching sports where Sweden is relatively good.
386

Table 2. Selection of Sweden/Swedes' success in the World Cup, Olympics, European Championships or other
major competition since 2003 in the 33 sports listed according to Wikipedia and the respective national
association's website. And how popular these sports are according to a large study of Swedes interest in
sports 2 . Green = the majority in this study watch even if Sweden does not participate, yellow = the majority
watch if Sweden is participating, red = the majority do not watch.
Sport 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Intrest
2009 2 (1=
most)
Badminton EC-bronze. - - - - - - -
Bandy WC-gold. WC-silver. WC-gold. gold +
silver in
WC.
WCsilver.
Silver +
gold in
WC.
WC-gold. 2 WCgold.
WCbronze.
20
Basketball - - - - - - - - -
Billiards - - - - - - - - -
Table tennis - WC-bronze. - - - - - - -
Boxing - - WC +
EC-gold.
- - - - - -
Wrestling WC-gold +
WC-silver.
2 WC-gold. - - - - - - -
Curling
WC-bronze,
EC gold +
EC-silver.
WC-gold, EC
gold + ECsilver.
WC-gold,
EC gold +
EC-silver.
WC-gold,
ECbronze.
- - - - - 15
Cycling - - - - - - - - -
Darts - - - - - - - - -
Football - - - - - - - - - 2
Athletics 2 gold, 1
silver 2
bronze i WC.
Fencing
Golf
WC-bronze.
gold i LPGAtour.
2 WC-gold, 3
OG-gold.
gold i LPGAtour.
3 gold + 1
silver + 1
bronze i
EC-gold,
2 WCgold.
gold i
LPGAtour.
3 gold + 1
silver + 1
bronze i
EC-gold, 2
WC-gold.
gold i US
woman
open.
- - - - - 3
- - gold i
LPGAtour.
- -
Gymnastics - - - - - - - - -
Handball - - - - - - - - - 7
WC-gold.
WC-gold,
gold +
silver i
OG.
Hockey WC-silver. WC-silver. WCbronze.
WCbronze.
WC-gold.
Canoe WC-gold. - - WC-gold. - - - - -
Floorball WC-gold. WC-gold. WCbronze.
WCgold.
WCsilver.
WCsilver.
WCgold.
- WCbronze.
WCbronze.
WCsilver.
Skating - - - - - - - - - 8
Cross
2 gold, 1 2 gold, 1 silver - - - - - - - 6
country
skiing
silver 3
bronze i WC.
3 bronze i WC.
Motorsport EC-gold i
rallycrOGs.
- - - - - - - - 9
1
Orientation
3 EC-gold,
WC-gold.
- - - - - - -
Rowing . . . . . .
Rugby - - - - - -
387

Sailing WC-silver. gold + silver
WC-silver.
- - - - - - -
Swimming 5 silver + 2
gold i EC.
5 gold + 2
silver + 7
bronze i EC.
- 3 silver + 1
gold i EC.
- - - 3 silver
+ 1 gold
i EC.
- 10
Biathlon - - - - - - - - - 5
Skating - - - - - - - - -
shooting - - - - - - - - -
Downhill
skiing
WC-gold.
gold in the
world cup.
Tennis - Silver in
Wimbledon.
2 gold + 1
silver i
WC, gold
in the
world
cup.
- - - - Silver in
french
opend.
- - - - 4 (alpine)
Silver in
french
opend.
- 17
Volleyball - - - - - - - - -
2. The 20 most popular sports in 2009 according to Sponsor Insight (see the article in the Swedish version of this
book), 1 = the most popular sport.
Patriotism as a general factor does not surprise me, but regarding the interviewees it’s really a bit strange.
Since I know the majority of those interviewed well and does not notice much patriotism in general. A factor
that could be an explanation, or another proof of the same phenomenon, is that the media does not raise
Swedishness up other than in competitions. While in Sweden we still produce a lot of products like toilet
paper, white goods, cars, et cetera, the origin are not an argument in the Swedish marketing. With an
exception for food, but also regarding Swedish food we do not, to any great extent, require that it shall be
cooked in a "Swedish" way. Though in terms of competitions where Swedes participating media is very
much focused on our performances. It is written, such a huge amount more about Zlatan Ibrahimovic
movements than any of the foreign players on the same level. This is perhaps because there are few other
venues where countries meet in a reasonably fair way. Aside from the popular event Eurovision song
Contest, where Swedish success is met with national frenzy.
Nationalism does not explain everything. First, because two of our strongest sports, hockey and orientation,
does not seem to be particularly popular to watch, not according to this study or the study by Sponsor
insight. And partly because we seem to like figure skating and football despite the total lack of real
international Swedish success for a long time.
Regarding football it may be due to that the sport has proven to be the most exciting of, at least, the greatest
American ball games (E. Ben-Naim, F. Vazquez, S. Redner (2007) What is the Most Competitive Sport J.
Korean Phys. Soc. 50, 124). The researchers analyzed results from over 300 000 games in hockey, football,
baseball, basketball and football. Their results showed that the bang-rate (the weaker party's chance of
winning) was highest for football, followed by baseball, hockey, basketball and finally American football.
The reason is simple: there are usually far fewer "points" made per game in football compared to the other
sports studied, which means that a game to a greater extent can be determined by an misstake from either
team. Thus, the outcome of the match is more uncertain and hence the game more exciting.
In the largest sports magazine (Aftonbladet sports supplement) football also often dominate the collumns
(table 3). Not only Swedish club team and the National football team's actions are analyzed, also foreign
club matches are discussed.
388

Table 3. Roughly the number of pages in Aftonbladet sports (a random day, fairly evenly spread across the year).
Green = most text on the day, yellow = second most. The 11/9 was 13 of the 16 pages of hockey about the
burial of national team goalkeeper Håkan Liv (Who had recently died in a plane crash in Russia). If the
pages are excluded football dominate even in that number.
Sport 110729 110911 120124 120316
Badminton 0 0 0 0
Bandy 0 0 0 0
Basketball 0 0 0 0
Billiards 0 0 0 0
Table tennis 0 0 0 0
Boxing 0 0 0 0
Wrestling 0 0 0 0
Curling 0 0 0 0
Cycling 0 0 0 0
Darts 0 0 0 0
Fencing 0 0 0 0
Athletics 4 0 0 0
Football 4 4 9.8 3
Golf 0.7 0 0 0
Gymnastics 0 0 0 0
Handball 2 0 2 0.7
Floorball 0 0 0 0
Hockey 3 16 2 10
Canoe 0 0 0 0
Skating 0 0 0 0
Cross country skiing 0 0 0 0
Motorsport 1 1 0.2 2
Orientation 0 0 0 0
Rowing 0 0 0 0
Rugby 0 0 0 0
Sailing 0 0 0 0
Swimming 1.3 0 0 0
Biathlon 0 0 0 0
Skating 0 0 0 0
shooting 0 0 0 0
Downhill skiing 0 0 0 0.3
Tennis 0 2 1 0
Volleyball 0 0 0 0
But not even the most diehard football consumers I know, sees anything just because it's football. What is it
that makes a game interesting/entertaining to watch To some extent find out why, the participants were
asked to rank a few different football matches (table 4). It may be noted some patriotism even among these
responses, at least among the respondents who ranked matches with Swedish men and/or women's national
team high. Though the fact that most rated a match with the women's national team significantly lower than
a champions league match (where Swedish teams never are involved) or a match in a World Cup that
Sweden does not participate in (then not even some Swedish players participate), suggesting that the
pleasure of watching football for some/many are about something else than patriotism.
.
389

Tabell 4. Rank fotboll matches.
Rank fotboll matches, 1-5, where 5=best Average Participant number
ranking 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
A match with your Swedish favourite team 2.3 3 - 1 2 5 2 2 1 2
A match with the Swedish national team (men) 4.3 4 - 5 5 4 4 3 5 4
A match with the Swedish national team (women) 2.1 1 - 2 4 1 1 1 2 5
A champions league match 3.1 2 - 4 1 3 5 5 4 1
A World Championship if Sweden do not participate 3.3 5 - 3 3 2 3 4 3 3
The participants thougth, on average, that the most entertaining matches are those where there are many
goals (table 5). Although football is a sport with pretty few scores compared to other sports and to the end,
according to the source above, is more uncertain in matches with less scores. Moreover, it is often more
goals in the much less popular, lower divisions than in the higher (figure 1). The most hardcore football
consumers of the respondents rated however, all the "players are attuned" as the most important factor in
whether a game is entertaining. Attuned players are apparently good at knowing where they have each other.
Which means that the attacks are straighter and faster, and thus the game more action-filled. Perhaps thats
the meaning of sports consumption for the relatively many who follow European club football at the top
level, with no private or national affinity to the teams.
Table 5. Rank fotball matches.
Rank fotball matches, 1-5, where 5=best Average Participant number
ranking 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Many goals 3.9 5 - 1 5 4 5 2 4 5
It is even 3.1 4 - 4 4 2 2 3 2 4
Many free kicks 1.9 1 - 5 1 3 1 1 1 2
They play very tight 3.4 2 - 2 2 5 3 5 5 3
Many famous players 2.8 3 - 3 3 1 4 4 3 1
6
5
Average number of goals per match
4
3
2
1
0
Allsvenskan Superettan Div. 1 norra Div. 2
Div. 3
Göteborg A
Div. 4
Göteborg A
Div. 5
Göteborg A
Div. 6
Göteborg B
Div. 7
Chart 1. The average number of goals/game in 2011 from the top and down down in the Swedish serial system for
men’s fotball.
390

The purpose of pets
From a human perspective, the animals could be divided into those that are not in our buildings (wild
animals) and those who occasionally are (vermins and domestic animals). Among the vermin are animals
that are quite nice as barn swallows and unpleasant ditto as cockroaches and wasps. Domestic animals
include both pure farm animals like cows, bees and pigs, pure pet ones like hamsters and animals that can be
both beneficial and companion animals such as cats, dogs and horses. Why farmes have cows or some other
livestock is easy to understand, since they probably are an important part of their business. And holding
them generates money for what is needed to live. But the pure pets and most of the cats and dogs that are in
Sweden entails costs (tables 1a - 1d) and no income to their owne’s. In addition, the animals must be handled
(se table 2 in the Swedish original text) and the owner must ensure that it has got company, otherwise he
may be subject to legal actions. Yet many buys a pet, why
Table 1a. Samples sale prices for different animals, according to the first ten ads on the Internet (Stockholm area)
where the goods was only the animal without peripherals.
Average
Ad
number
price 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
(SEK/pcs.)
Dog 6 400 10 000 3 500 2 500 10 500 5 000 8 500 2 500 2 000 11 000 8 500
Cat 3 273 100 100 800 1 000 330 12 000 8 000 10 000 350 50
Guinea pigs 272 150 300 150 500 600 150 400 150 50
Budgerigar 286 500 150 150 250 350 400 200
Snake 275 275
Rabbit 200 300 0 200 300 200 0 350 100 299 250
Rat 70 100 40
Hamster 147 50 200 200 50 200 150 75 250
Aquarium fish 17 20 15 15 25 15 15 25 15 10 10
Table 1b. Veterinary expenses (SEK), according to a veterinary clinics website.
Groundfee
Vaccination
Passport Castration Idmarking
Nail
cutting
Killing
Dog 540 470-500 550 Male
2 900,
female
6 100
Cat 540 420 550 Male 690,
female
1 150
640 170 900,
cremation
520
170 600,
cremation
260
Table 1c. Insurance cost at Agria for veterinary care for 3 year old animals.
Male Female Average Total insurance Comments
(SEK/year) (SEK/year) life
length
(years)
cost (SEK/life)
Dog 2223 2097 12 26 676 If it is a girl that lives for 12
years
Cat 870 814 12-18 13 050 If it is a female that lives for 15
years
Rabbit 320 320 5-15 3 200 If it lives for 10 years
Rat 515 515 2-3 1 545 If it lives in three years
Hamster 320 320 3 960 If it lives in three years
391

Table 1d. Total feed costs apart from any dog treats and such.
Average food Comments
life
length
(years)
(SEK/life)
Dog 12 18 944 If the dog lives for 12 years and always eat
Doggy original in the amount recommended
by the manufacturer for a 10 kilogram dog.
Cat 12-18 10 693 If the cat lives for 15 years and then only eat
ICA's own feed according to package
recommendations.
Ten people were interviewed about their experiences of pets. The majority (7 out of 10, table 2) have or have
had cats and five have or have had a dog. Overall, there were participants with the experience of all the listed
types of pets, except snakes. Their responses about the pros and cons of the species they had (table 3), can be
roughly summarized by saying that dogs and cats seem to have more/heavier advantages over the other.
Although the participants listed about the same benefits for cats as dogs and even though dogs needs to be
walked (which in my eyes are insanely boring walks because dogs constantly stop and smell on lampposts
and the like), many people choose to get a dog instead of a cat. It could be due either to the cat's
disadvantages are greater or because the dog's benefits are heavier.
Table 2. The participants' pets.
Have you or your family
had any of the following
pets and if so, how many
Yes
Totalt
number
Big dog 4 12
Cat 7 39
Guinea pigs 3 4
Budgerigar 3 4
Snake 0 0
Rabbit 4 7
Rat 2 2
Hamster 2 4
Small dog 4 8
Aquarium 3 26
1.
Seven men and three women, on average, they were 46 years old (median: 46 years, min - max: 39-56 years). All
had had at least two types of animals in at least one of the family groups they lived in.
392

Table 3. The participants' perception of the advantages and disadvantages (divided into categories), with the species
they have had as pets. The respondents often named several advantages and/or disadvantages.
Advantages Sum of answers Disadvantages Sum of answers
Big dogs
Funny 3 The are horny from time to time 1
Social 2 Must have food 2
Sweet 1 Should be taken for walks 3
Soft 1 Can not be alone for too long 1
Can not hide their feelings 1
Smal dogs
Gave exercise 1 The are horny from time to time 1
Funny 3 Must have company 1
Social 1 Should be taken for walks 3
Cuddly 2 Hard to go away 1
Easier than big dogs 1 They must have food 1
Cats
Cuddly / cozy 3 Hungry / nag about food 1
Social 3 No cons 1
Fun 1 Can interfere 1
Personal 2 Destroy furniture 2
Sweet 1 Cat box must be emptied 1
Takes care of themselves 1 Pain when they die 1
They are calm 1 Hard to transport them 1
Homely 1 Hard to go away 2
Nice to socialize with cats 1 Hares 1
Must keep track so they do not run away 1
Taking over the bed 1
Can not be alone for too long 1
Guinea pigs
No benefits / do not know 2 Much trouble for what they give 1
Some company 1 Poops a lot 1
Do not know 1 Do not know 1
Budgerigar
Pretty funny 2 Poops everywhere 1
Non-allergenic 1 Blatant 2
Social 1 Must keep windows closed 1
Can learn to talk = fun 1 Must be taken care of 1
Rabbit
No benefits / do not know 3 Anti-social 1
Sweet 1 Much trouble for what they give 1
Hard to go away 1
Rats
No benefits / do not know 1 Much trouble for what they give 1
Fun to play with 1 Running at night 1
Small in food 1 Cage should be cleaned 1
Hamsters
No benefits / do not know 1 Much trouble for what they give 1
Fun to play with 1 Running at night 1
Small in food 1 Cage should be cleaned 1
Aquarium
Beautifully 2 Must be managed 2
No benefits / do not know 1 Much trouble for what they give 1
A little fun to follow 1
Non-allergenic 1
393

Though in addition to the drawbacks mentioned by respondents (table 4), I have listed further disadvantages
with dogs:
1. They are more expensive in everything from purchasing, commissioning to feed and veterinary
care/insurance and finally cremation.
2. Many dogs disturb neighbors and/or the environment by constantly barking at everything and everyone.
3. Dogs smell bad when they are wet.
4. They makes the house untidy, as they shake hair and dirt out of the coat.
5. They require extensive fostering to function as desired.
Thus, dogsought to have someone/some very strong advantages compared to cats. One advantage
highlighted in literature where dogs are involved is that they give love, see the following quote from The
psychology of love by Natahaniel Branden (translated from English to Swedish and the back again):
"The next event that was so crucial for my thinking occurred one afternoon a few months later when I sat on
the floor and played with my dog, a Fox Terrier named Muttnik.
We shoved aside and playfully punched each other. I was fascinated that Muttnik as much seemed to
understand that my intentions were playful. She growled and stabbed and fought back but was always so soft
in her movements that one could clearly see the total fearlessness. The incident was not unusual and most
dog owners know it. But suddenly I was struck by a thought: I asked a question to myself that I never asked:
Why do I have so much fun What is it that gives rise to my joy
I realized that my reaction was partly due to the joy I got from considering the healthy self-confidence of a
living creature. But it was not there in the first place. It was rather the interaction between the dog and
myself, the feeling of interacting and communicating with a living consciousness.
If I thought of Muttnik as an automaton without consciousness and perceived her actions and reactions
exclusively mechanical, my joy went away. It was the consciousness that was the important factor.
Then I thought again about how it would feel if I was stranded on a deserted island where Muttniks presence
would have a tremendous impact on me, not because she would mean much for my physical overliving, but
since she would give me a kind of camaraderie. She would be a conscious being who I could interact and
communicate with - just like I did now. But why is this valuable
With increasing excitement, I realized that the answer to this question would explain a lot more than
affection for a pet. 1 this question was also the psychological principle underlying our longing for human
company - the principle which would explain why a conscious being looking up and appreciate other
conscious beings, why consciousness value another consciousness.”
Perhaps this text explains the point of getting a dog and possibly it apply to some extent, even on cats, but
not animals that to a small extent interact with humans, such as rabbits and to an even lower degree:
aquarium fish.
394