More Swedish dollar millionaires
There are now slightly more than half a million Swedes who own a fortune of more than $1 million (which equals around 6.5 million SEK). These statistics come from the business bank Credit Suisse’s Global Wealth Report. It also shows that the world’s population has become nearly 5 percent richer in just a year. With its increase of millionaires, Sweden is also on the list of the 12 countries with the most millionaires, and ends up at number six on the list of countries where weath has increased rapidly. Four out of 10 of the world’s millionaires live in the U.S. In spite of debt crises and the recession, the number of millionaires is increasing. But the world’s wealth is unevenly distributed. Half the world’s population owns less than 1 percent of the total wealth, meanwhile there are those who are super-rich, with assets of over $50 million. In Sweden, there are about one thousand of them. Credit Suisse predicts that the global wealth will increase nearly 40 percent in the next five years, mainly for the middle class.

Most Swedes aim for late retirement
Nearly one in four working Swedes between ages 25 and 64 is interested in working after age 65. This according to a survey by AMF, a company that offers pension solutions. In 2009, 20 percent of all working Swedes in that age bracket were interested in working beyond retirement age; in 2013 the equivalent percentage is 23 percent. The already retired are looking for jobs as well; Sweden has several organizations offering experienced labor, www.hyrenpensionar.org, www.hyrenpensionar.net or www.hyrenpensionar.biz to name but a few.

A Swedish Pompeii?
Suddenly a whole lot of people died and their homes were left untouched for hundreds of years. Researchers and archaeologists from Lund Unviersity and Kalmar Läns Museum are now investigating a 1600-year-old massacre mystery that took place on Öland. ”This find is unique in Sweden. Normally the dead are buried. Here they lie, dead, outside their houses. And everything else remains as if the moment was just frozen in time,” says Helena Victor, leader of Project Sandby fort at Kalmar Läns Museum. The 52,743-square-foot big fort can be found under ground on Öland’s east coast, but a metal detector is needed to reveal the place. Three years ago well preserved jewelry was found here, dating from the 5th century. But it is the skeletons that are causing the people working on the project to scratch their heads. ”We’ve found around ten bodies in the same area. But we have been digging in several different locations in the fort, and found bodies in the different locations as well,” says Victor. The find has been likened to a Swedish Pompeii.

Who in Sweden tips the most?
Most Swedes are good at tipping (”lämna dricks”) when they go out. And those who tip the most are in Stockholm: Seven of 10 people there (70.7 percent) tip at a restaurant, even though there’s no obligation to leave a tip since gratuity for service is already included in the total on a bill. ”People in Stockholm have more restaurants to choose from, more experience in eating out and also more experience in tipping,” says Bodil Hallin, private economist at Ikano Bank. ”I think the fact that there are more people with high income in Stockholm, which means they have the possibility (to tip), also plays a part. People are almost as generous in Göteborg and Skåne (68.6 percent and 68.5 percent, resepctively). The debit card solution company Point asked Infact to do a survey by polling 1,117 people on their habits of tipping at restaurants and for taxi trips. This survey shows the habit of tipping has to do with location. Only every other person in Småland and Norrland, for instance, tip. Hallin hails from Småland, and says: ”It would be interesting to see what a historian has to say about this. But I do think the fact that people were very poor in Småland plays a part. Times weren’t great there, a hundred years ago.” Even the habit of tipping after a taxi ride, depends of where in the country you live. Forty-four percent of people in Stockholm give something extra to the driver, in Småland the number is only 22.5 percent, and the folks in Norrland are even more stingy—only 16.8 percent there say they tip. ”In smaller towns it’s more common to use the own car more often,” says Hallin. ”I think it’s about traditions. You do what your friends have done.” The survey also shows that the habit of tipping depends on income. Eighty-five percent of the households with a total income of over 750,000 SEK ($115,000) tip at restaurants. For households with a total income under 250,000 SEK ($38,000), the equivalent number is 45 percent.