Sunday, June 21, 2015

660 000 Swedes living abroad – Helsingborgs Dagblad

Four countries stand out: the United States with 150 000 Swedes, as well as the UK, Spain and Norway by 90 000 each. Tourist favorite Thailand is seventh with 20,000, doubling from the Swedes in the world’s last study from 2011, despite the undemocratic developments in the country. Partly, the increase on better metrics, simply found more Swedes this time.

– But there are many who go and settle in Thailand, says Ehnbom-Palmquist.

Therese Larsson in earlier years worked periodically at the Gran Canaria and now she lives and family on the tourist island permanently.

– The climate is the major advantage. We do not pay as much tax, but I would have preferred that it was like in Sweden, she said.

She has given birth two children Gran Canaria, and that part of the care is worse than the Swedish, she points out. The school material is not free which can be tough because the wages are much lower than the Swedish. The gaps between rich and poor is also higher in Spain.

– Now that sounds like everything is bad and it’s of course not. The social life here is amazing if you compare with Sweden. We hang out a lot more outdoors, which of course has to do with the climate.

In almost no country reduces the number of Swedes. One exception is the crisis Greece declined 3500-3 000. Another trend is Portugal, the 1500-3 500. It is very dependent on favorable tax rules for pensioners, according Ehnbom-Palmquist.

The more Swedes abroad, the more the Foreign Ministry and embassies to do. But the law gives them little opportunity to financially assist those who have been outside the Swedish borders in more than a year, when it is seen as emigrant. The important thing then is to be properly insured.

– You can always turn to the embassy for advice and support if there is anything, but to get a loan basically requires that the condition is life-threatening and that it is not there is adequate health care in place, says Patric Nilsson, First Secretary at the Foreign Ministry.

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