Income inequality: Atkinson index in Sweden
Sweden: Income inequality: Atkinson index was 0.1694 in 2023. ▲ Rising
Income inequality: Atkinson index in Sweden, 2010–2023
Source: UNDP, Human Development Report (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
Analysis
The most recent figure for income inequality: atkinson index in Sweden is 0.1694, measured in 2023. That is the highest value across all 14 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 17.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, income inequality: atkinson index in Sweden peaked at 0.1694 in 2022 and was at its lowest, 0.1276, in 2010.
That places Sweden 137th out of 174 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 14 years of available data.
Income inequality: Atkinson index in Sweden, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 0.1276 | — |
| 2011 | 0.1303 | +2.1% |
| 2012 | 0.129 | -1.0% |
| 2013 | 0.1446 | +12.1% |
| 2014 | 0.1377 | -4.8% |
| 2015 | 0.1482 | +7.6% |
| 2016 | 0.1502 | +1.4% |
| 2017 | 0.1455 | -3.1% |
| 2018 | 0.1532 | +5.3% |
| 2019 | 0.1524 | -0.6% |
| 2020 | 0.1405 | -7.8% |
| 2021 | 0.1522 | +8.3% |
| 2022 | 0.1694 | +11.3% |
| 2023 | 0.1694 | +0.0% |
Sweden compared with similar countries
- Sweden's 0.1694 is below the median for high income countries, which is 0.1703, 99% of the median. (54 countries reporting)
- Sweden's 0.1694 is above the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 0.1561, 1.1× the median. (47 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 0.1419 | 0.1276 | 0.1532 | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.1579 | 0.1405 | 0.1694 | 4 |
Countries ranked near Sweden
More poverty & inequality data for Sweden
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via the World Bank 8 surveys (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per person (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Fertility rate vs. share living in extreme poverty 1.43 live births per woman (2023)
- Cereal yield vs. share in extreme poverty 4,456 kg per hectare (2023)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2023)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, annual growth rate -27.03 % change on previous year (2023)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, gaps filled 41.37 (2023)
- Tax revenue as share of GDP vs. income inequality 41.4% (2023)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is income inequality: atkinson index in Sweden?
- Income inequality: atkinson index in Sweden was 0.1694 in 2023, according to UNDP, Human Development Report (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest income inequality: atkinson index recorded in Sweden?
- The highest recorded value was 0.1694 in 2022.
- What is the lowest income inequality: atkinson index recorded in Sweden?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.1276 in 2010.
- How does Sweden rank for income inequality: atkinson index?
- Sweden ranks 137th out of 174 countries with data for 2023.
- Is income inequality: atkinson index rising or falling in Sweden?
- Over the last ten years it is up 17.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Sweden data come from?
- The figures come from UNDP, Human Development Report (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Income inequality: Atkinson index. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 14 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
The Atkinson index measures inequality on a scale from 0 to 1. Higher values indicate higher inequality. Depending on the country and year, the data relates to income measured after taxes and benefits, or to consumption, per capita.