Top 10 Things I HATE about SWEDEN

I like Sweden. I like living here. But that doesn't mean that Sweden is a perfect country - far from it! This is a video about the top 10 things I hate about Sweden.

This video is from the perspective of a Swede who has lived his entire life here, but hopefully I've had some influence from other cultures as well. So this might not be a typical Swedish perspective on the problems about living in Sweden.

I cover a wide range of topics, from the Swedish consensus mentality where everyone always have to come to a common agreement during a meeting, to the semi-state owned companies PostNord and SJ. But I also dive into some sensitive and controversial topics. So make sure that you're not too thin-skinned if you're a Swede watching this video.

Worth noting is that this won't be a list similar to what you find if you just google "things people hate about Sweden". Many complaints that foreigners have about the country are not necessarily things I agree with. The supposed coldness of the Swedish people, for example. That's not a bug - it's a feature! That's how we are, and how I believe people should behave.

All in all there might be a few surprises and some obvious items as well. For example... No one really approves of the recent crime waves with gang wars we've had in Sweden! That's probably a universally hated thing...

#sweden #hate #swedishlife

[ThreeStarVagabond]

If I haven't scared you away from my videos yet, join the Facebook group so you won't miss any new ones being posted every week!

[tareqalsharqawi]

Lovely video and very realistic and honest feedback, thank you so much

[xdemgeo]

I love how you are very honest and upfront you are about your thoughts, even on sensitive topics. That is very refreshing and interesting to hear especially from a Swede.

[DikWhite]

I guess nowhere is perfect. I left the UK many years ago because of the lousy summers and ended up in Turkey where, despite the many negative issues, at least the summers are good and the cost of living is affordable (for those of us with a foreign income at least). Thank you for running through your list of gripes. No alcohol anywhere to be had here today either (but only because it's Election Day.... let's see where this country is now headed.) Cheers!

[mikeouwen]

Been living in here for 3 years. You are so on point.

[NilsXZ]

I stumbled upon your channel whilst just looking for videos to admire about Sweden haha! Thanks for the tips you made about avoiding scams and generally being such a great tour guide. I’ve been dreaming of going to Sweden since I was 8, and I personally won’t stop at nothing to go there, so till then, I’ll be binging your channel❤

[cashawX]

Haha! I actually saw you filming this on Igelsdammsgatan yesterday, I was sort of hoping you were filming another episode of "Worst Stockholm architecture" and including the new apartment blocks they have built at the top of that road...

[Shakespearept]

Great video. Fascinating. Hit on some interesting issues. A culture of conformity is pretty alien to me in the US. I've only been to Sweden once, but I still remember eating at the house of a family friend and it was an amazing, memorable meal. Very luckily, they didn't serve surströmming. 👍👍👍 Also "an indecision of Swedes decided nothing at all" is a great sentence. Sounds like a headline for The Onion.

[JKaizen]

My boyfriend and I are making plans to move to Sweden in the next couple years and your videos are a great source for us. You are funny and provide a fantastic point of view. You deserve MANY more views. Thank you so much for your Swedish content, we will be watching everything you have. 😁

[jmkass]

I can relate. I have lived in Sweden for 8 years and even speak pretty good swedish, but I haven't managed to make any swedish friends, I froze my ass off for the most part of the year, I got charged 90kronor for a bread, lettuce and cheese sandwich, and invevitably, when covid hit, I got a major depressive episode which drove me to move the hell out of there to Spain, where I've been happily living for 2 years now.
Now, don't get me wrong, it's not that Sweden is bad. I love some things about it, like Allemansrätten, safety, endless green nature and blue lakes everywhere, but those are thing that make this country good for visiting, not for living. Sweden has way too many restrictions and I just never felt free there. High salaries is not at all what makes life good.
Thank you for the video.

[rogernichols]

My wife and I had a few days in Stockholm a while ago and because it was done on a shoestring, we took some snacks with us from our home in UK. Just as well! We had one fairly simple 2-course Swedish lunch and the bill nearly broke our budget completely. Yes, I realise we should have saved up a bit before we travelled but snacking was the most logical thing to do in order to stay fed. (Ironically, a large part of the snacking was from Swedish Vasabrod, bought at our local UK supermarket! Coals to Newcastle syndrome or what?)

[tylerespindola]

And even after that list i still would love to live in Sweden

[amarum]

Being a Sweden that's now been living overseas for over 20 years I have to say that besides from the alcohol monopoly (and yes, I remember when you couldn't buy anything on Saturdays either), the rest of the items aren't really much of a deterrent and I actually miss the winters. Luckily I now reside in an area of Australia where the snow fields are only an hour away so I do get some winter and snow, however I still haven't gotten used to celebrate Christmas in 35-40C weather. Looking forward to travel "home" to Uppsala this September for the first time in 15 years and introduce my kids to it all.

[f.goossens]

Great video. :) We moved here to Jamtlands lan over a year ago. I'm Scottish so am used to rougher weather than we get here. My husband is Flemish, so he fits in more with the European vibe here. We're in a very small village and the people, with only a few exceptions, have been kind and actually friendly to these two old incomers.
I'm with you on Postnord! Oh gosh, the sheer number of parcels we don't receive, argh! And the cost of living...in just our one year, food prices have risen appallingly, along with utilities such as electricty. But our income hasn't gone up accordingly, so it's tougher living here than elsewhere perhaps.
For all that, I just spent a beautiful winter hand feeding red deer that came to visit us daily, enjoying the snow (believe me, in my Scottish Highlands we used to have the same snow for the same length of time. A couple of decades ago it seemed to vanish overnight and I missed it!) and just bought my first set of skis. Which was probably stupid as I'm almost totally blind and over
Nowhere is perfect. Sweden is a beautiful, almost mythical and often breathtaking country. The people are who they are, and we as incomers have no real right to expect them to change to suit us. (I speak as an introvert here too) but as with all countries now, the politicians seem to be the thorns on this particular rose. My number one gripe would be the technology love in Sweden...all Swedes seem to adore tech. But I'm an anti tech, emf sensitive, wannabe off gridder. That's hard as we bought a home filled with smart tech (unknowingly) and I'm slowly getting rid of it. I suspect that is frowned upon here. :)

[ResonatingSweden]

Hej, As someone from a warmer country who moved to the north of Sweden, I see different things than what you said. We used to have seasons in southern Europe when I was little 30 years ago, but now it's only 35C+ and during "winter" it might rain for a day or two and might snow for 1 night and it's back to 20C+ in December-Feb. I quite like having actual 4 seasons. I really missed the snow and being able to wear anything else but a T-shirt.
As for racism and discrimination I am also blond with green eyes, so I don't see that immediately, but when I speak Swedish with an accent they ask me where I'm from and change their attitude no matter that I look like them or speak Swedish.
So you are mostly right, but also things are a bit different 4-5h drive north from Stockholm. Thank you for the video! Greetings from the High Coast! 🌲❄🦌🌞

[fredrichenning]

I have lived "permanently" in Sweden for more than half a century and seen a helluva lot changes. Privatization was heralded as "the" solution to all the problems. Well, I admit that certainly improved telephone services, but failed miserably as regards the postal service and the railways (as pointed out). Back then, a letter posted on Monday arrived on Tuesday. Now, you might see it in 4 or 5 days -- or not at all (as pointed out). And public transportation is a sad laugh (as pointed out).

[sarnia]

Great video. I agree about most of it, except the weather. Generally I like the Winters, although this one lasted a bit too long. The Summers since we moved to Sweden 2 1/2 years ago have been fantastic though. We can sit outside nearly every evening throughout the Summer without getting cold. On the British island that I come from there were one or two evenings throughout the whole Summer where it was almost warm enough to sit out until 20.00.

The biggest issue I have (in Gävle) are the mosquitoes. There’s a few about already and they’re huge, like something from Jurassic Park!

SFI and Svenska som andra språk try teach immigrants about Swedish society and traditions from my experience. Unfortunately after that it just stops.

[sagiraj]

You are informative and funny! Thank you for all the information : )

[megaman]

All countrys have their issues. Love to live here and i dont regret moving here one bit.

[etrigueros]

Great video, very honest video. You should come to Panama so I can give you a huge list with no end.