Sustainable Economic Welfare in Sweden

The report develops a pilot Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW) for Sweden (1950-1992), finding that while per capita ISEW grew by over 90%, it lagged behind the more than 100% growth of per capita GNP. The index began to diverge from GNP around 1980, eventually declining by 1992. This divergence was less severe than in the US or UK, which the authors attribute to Sweden's progressive income distribution policies and its reliance on hydropower, which reduced the negative impacts of resource depletion and long-term environmental damage in the index calculations.

• Per capita ISEW in Sweden increased by just over 90% between 1950 and 1992, which was notably less than the growth of per capita GNP, which more than doubled in the same period.
• The Swedish ISEW per capita peaked in 1980 and then showed an overall pattern of decline through 1992, falling to a level almost 10% lower than its 1980 peak, despite GNP per capita being over 8% higher in 1992.
• Sweden's progressive social policies significantly improved income distribution between 1950 and 1983, which exerted a substantial positive impact on the ISEW compared to countries like the UK.
• The monetarisation of services from domestic labour was the single largest positive addition to the unweighted consumer expenditure baseline in the Swedish index, contributing roughly half as much as unweighted personal consumption.
• Sweden's extensive use of hydroelectric power provided a 'fortuitous benefit' to the ISEW because the environmental costs of hydropower were not quantified in the index, unlike the costs of fossil fuel and nuclear energy.
• The divergence between ISEW and GNP in Sweden occurred later (around 1980) and was less marked than in the US, UK, Germany, Austria, or the Netherlands.
• Environmental costs in the index were driven by increasing losses of natural capital and long-term environmental damage, while costs from general environmental degradation remained roughly constant.

APA

Jackson, T., & Stymne, S. (1996). Sustainable Economic Welfare in Sweden. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-Report-1996-SustainableEconomicWelfareInSweden.pdf

Chicago

Jackson, Tim, and Susanna Stymne. Sustainable Economic Welfare in Sweden. Stockholm Environment Institute, 1996. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-Report-1996-SustainableEconomicWelfareInSweden.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Jackson |first1=Tim |last2=Stymne |first2=Susanna |title=Sustainable Economic Welfare in Sweden |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=1996 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-Report-1996-SustainableEconomicWelfareInSweden.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{jackson1996sustainable, author = {Jackson, Tim and Stymne, Susanna}, title = {{Sustainable Economic Welfare in Sweden}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {1996}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-Report-1996-SustainableEconomicWelfareInSweden.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }