Startup paradise: The European country with the highest density of billionaires

According to the Financial Times, Sweden has seen billionaire wealth increase by 4 percentage points to reach 31% of GDP — the biggest rise and highest level among the world's major economies.

Sweden boasts one of the world's highest concentrations of wealthy individuals. The Scandinavian country has become a new haven for multi-millionaires.

On the Forbes 2024 Rich List, Sweden has 43 individuals whose fortune exceeds $10 billion. With a population of just over 10 million, Sweden is among the countries with the highest "wealth density" in the world.

One in every 230,000 Swedish citizens has a fortune of at least one billion US dollars.

In the United States, which has the highest number of billionaires worldwide, the ratio is one in 448,000.

The high number of billionaires can also partly be explained by the presence of some of the richest families, such as Stefan Persson, who thanks to his 36% stake in H&M holds a net worth of $17.6 billion.

Sweden is also considered a paradise for startups such as Klarna, Spotify, King — the video game company behind Candy Crush Saga — and Mojang, developer of Minecraft.

Another factor is monetary policy, which has made Sweden a "paradise" for the wealthy. Since the 2010s, bank interest rates have been very low in Sweden, making loans very cheap.

As a result, many Swedes with cash have opted for high-risk investments like real estate or new technologies, and have earned very high returns.

(MH with MaSi – Source: The Financial Times – Photo: © Unsplash)