You Didn’t Know This About Sweden

[00:00:00]Today, we're going to dive into one of the biggest misconceptions I think most of us foreigners, especially from Asia, have about Sweden. [music] That it's always been a wealthy country.

[00:00:13]>> [music] >> Those of you new, my name is Shalika Marker. I grew up in Sri Lanka, lived for 10 years in England, and for the last 16 years I've been living in Sweden. [music] Today, I thought I would take a little trip down history. So, did you know that a hundred years ago, now I'm talking to all the foreigners, not the Swedes, you've done your history, you know what your country's been through. Hundred years ago, Sweden was considered [music] one of the poorest countries in Europe.

[00:00:44]In 1920s, it was quite different to the Sweden [music] that you see today. The reason I'm doing this video is because I was at the Swedish National Day celebration in Sollentuna a couple of years ago, and the mayor there started talking about a little bit about Swedish history and how far Sweden has [music] come and how we must work and strive to maintain what Sweden has built in such a short time. He went on to mention that a hundred years ago children worked on their family farms and in the home to help families make ends meet. Now, I listened to that and I it got me wondering how much of Swedish history do I know? know a lot about Gustav Vasa and all of those things, but we really talked about how hard the Swedes have [music] worked in order to get their country to where it is today. So, did you know >> [music] >> that a hundred years ago, in the 1920s, most of Sweden's population, or at least half of Sweden's population, lived in the rural areas. [music] They worked on farms, in fishing, and in forestry to make ends meet. Now, they had to work really, really hard, and tractors and all of these things were very hard to come by in Sweden at the time. So, a lot of them had to do a lot of manual [music] work. The children were expected to work on the farms and in their homes helping around. Now, schooling was very important even in the 1920s, so the kids worked before school and after school.

[00:02:21]So, they did jobs like cutting timber, peeling potatoes, pick up eggs, they would look after their younger siblings.

[00:02:28]So, there was a lot of small jobs that children did before and after school.

[00:02:34]Houses were really small at the time.

[00:02:36]People lived in houses that were like one to two rooms, common for a number of children to share one bed. Running water was a luxury, central heating, toilets indoors. I mean, you'll see this even today. I have a friend of mine, they have their summer cottage, and they don't have a toilet in the summer cottage. It's an old home. They don't have a toilet in it. You have to go out and go to the toilet. So, there were a lot of small houses like that in Sweden at the time, and they didn't have indoor plumbing or indoor toilets. We still have some of them here today. Food was scarce to come by. They had a lot of potatoes, they ate a lot of porridge, a lot of seasonal vegetables. It was very rare to have meat at the time in 1920s, and it was really quite a difficult time for the Swedes. In the 1920s, or even before that, a million Swedes emigrated to the States looking for job and land because it was so scarce here in Sweden.

[00:03:33]After going through so much hardship and being one of the poorest countries in Europe, how, you might ask, how did Sweden come this far in such a short time? And 100 years is a short time.

[00:03:47]People are living almost 100 years these days. So, I don't think it's a long time and I think the Swedes have worked so hard to get to where they are today. So, in the 1930s, things start to slowly change here in Sweden. Sweden started heavily investing in things like healthcare, workers' rights, >> [music] >> education, infrastructure. They put a lot of emphasis into working towards these things and built up the country. Now, it did help that Sweden didn't get involved in either of the World Wars or even the Cold War. They stayed out of it, so they were able to just focus on building their country. Sweden has always been a very neutral country and everybody knows that. It's a very common perception of Sweden. I think that's a pretty accurate assumption. Sweden has always been quite neutral and that has also helped them, I think, develop and become the country that it is today. Now, we could go on about all the fantastic inventions that Sweden has done. Things like the pacemaker, the three-point seatbelt that all cars have.

[00:05:00]Did you know it was developed by Volvo?

[00:05:02]Body making cars and manufacturing cars are using a Swedish invention. We've got Spotify. We've got Skype. There are so many innovative inventions that Sweden is responsible for, bringing billions into the country. A lot of musicians use Swedish singers and songwriters to create all of their music. ABBA is just a sort of drop in the water. That's one that everybody knows, but Sweden is famous for so much in the music industry. Big singers like Lady [clears throat] Gaga, they use a lot of Swedish musicians and songwriters to create all of their famous songs. Sweden has come a long way in 100 years, and us foreigners won't know that Sweden was a very poor country compared to most of other European countries in 1920s. And I think it is up to us foreigners, especially when we come in here to Sweden, we expect certain things handed to us on a platter. Free education, free health care, great infrastructure, subsidized travel, and all of these come at a cost. And I think it is a misconception by a lot of foreigners who come here who think that everything is free. And yes, you can get a lot of these things for free, but the people work really hard here in Sweden to make these things work. And I think as foreigners coming in, it is up to us to be responsible to integrate into the society and to really appreciate how much hard work the Swedish forefathers would have had to put in [music] to create the country that it is today. It is one of the wealthiest countries in Europe. I think if anybody's watching and knows more more about that, [clears throat] please do correct me in the description box below. But I really wanted to do this video so that any foreigner coming in will know that Sweden hasn't always been like this.

[00:06:59]This into the country, we must appreciate it and learn to respect their culture and their way of life. I think it's really rude to come to their country, enjoy their hospitality, even if you come as an immigrant or you come to work or you've been married somebody and come to Sweden. And I think it's really unfair on the Swedes if you come here and enjoy all of the things that they have to offer, that you [music] are negative about the country. And I do hear a lot of negative talk about Sweden. I think that's an unfair thing to do [music] to a country that's opened its arms and taken in so many people, refugees to help. And I think as foreigners coming in, we must be aware that we are coming into their country that they have worked so hard to build and that we must be [music] respectful of the culture and I think one thing you can do that really integrates you into the culture and show that you respect [music] and appreciate being here in Sweden is to try and learn Swedish. So, I hope this video has just been interesting. If anybody's watching, especially us foreigners, I'm making these videos for us so that you know that Sweden had to work really hard. It is a short period of time, 100 years. I think it's a very short time, but they have achieved so much in 100 years that if we are coming to Sweden, we must come with baggage in order to enhance or help or be a productive citizen to [music] the country, not to come here and only take what is available and what we [music] think is available for free. All Swedes working here pay very high taxes towards making sure that Sweden runs smoothly and that everybody has the same opportunities. So, thank you so much for being here and I'll see you in the next one.