Sweden

2012 Results



Aid

Aid quality is just as important as aid quantity, so the CDI measures gross aid as a share of GDP adjusted for various quality factors: it subtracts debt service, penalizes “tied” aid that makes recipients spend aid only on donor goods and services, rewards aid to poor but relatively well-governed recipients, and penalizes overloading poor governments with many small projects.


Sweden’s aid performance

  • Score: 12.6
  • Rank: 3

Strengths

  • High net aid volume as a share of the economy (0.97%; rank: 3)
  • Prevents project proliferation; large average project size (rank: 1)
  • Small share of tied or partially tied aid (0.3%; rank: 5)

Weaknesses

  • Small amount of private charitable giving attributable to tax policy (rank as a share of GDP: 14)

Trade

International trade has been a force for economic development for centuries. The CDI measures trade barriers in rich countries against exports from developing countries.


Sweden’s trade performance

  • Score: 5.8
  • Rank: 6

Strengths

  • Low agricultural subsidies (equivalent to a tariff of 8.2% of the value of imports; rank: 6)
  • Low tariffs on textiles (6.4% of the value of imports; rank: 3)
  • Low tariffs on apparel (6.4% of the value of imports; rank: 3)
  • High level of manufactures imports from poorer countries (10.1% of GDP per capita; rank: 4)

Investment

Rich-country investment in poorer countries can transfer technologies, upgrade management and create jobs. The CDI includes a checklist of policies that support healthy investment in developing countries.


Sweden’s investment performance

  • Score: 5.3
  • Rank: 11

Strengths

  • Political risk insurance agency provides wide firm and sectoral coverage and screens potential projects for violations of human, labor and environmental rights
  • Employs foreign tax credits to prevent double taxation of corporate profits earned abroad
  • No restrictions on pension fund investments in emerging markets and provides official support for outflows of portfolio investment

Weaknesses

  • Denies domestic investors the benefits of tax incentives in developing countries
  • Loopholes in domestic legislation permit bribe payers to circumvent the OECD Convention on Bribery

Migration

The movement of people from poor to rich countries provides unskilled immigrants with jobs, income and knowledge. This increases the flow of money sent home by migrants abroad and the transfer of skills when the migrants return home.


Sweden’s migration performance

  • Score: 7.8
  • Rank: 4

Strengths

  • Large number of immigrants from developing countries entering Sweden (rank by share of population: 3)
  • Large increase during the 1990s in the number of unskilled immigrants from developing countries living in Sweden (rank by share of population: 6)
  • Bears large share of the burden of refugees during humanitarian crises (rank: 8)
  • No tuition fee for foreign students

Environment

Rich countries use a disproportionate amount of scarce resources, and poor countries are most vulnerable to global warming and ecological deterioration, so the CDI measures the impact of policies on the global climate, fisheries and biodiversity.


Sweden’s environment performance

  • Score: 7.3
  • Rank: 5

Strengths

  • Low greenhouse gas emissions rate per capita (3.5 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent; rank: 1)
  • No fossil fuel production per capita (0.0 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent; rank: 1)
  • High compliance with mandatory reporting requirements under multilateral environmental agreements relating to biodiversity (rank: 7)

Weaknesses

  • High fishing subsidies (rank: 19)

Security

Since security is a prerequisite for development, the CDI rewards contributions to internationally sanctioned peacekeeping operations and forcible humanitarian interventions, rewards military protection of global sea lanes, and penalizes arms exports to poor and undemocratic governments.


Sweden’s security performance

  • Score: 1.2
  • Rank: 27

Weaknesses

  • High arms exports to poor and undemocratic governments (rank by share of GDP: 27)
  • No protection of global sea lanes (rank: 17)
  • Has not ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM)

Technology

Rich countries contribute to development through the creation and dissemination of new technologies. The CDI captures this by measuring government support for R&D and penalizing strong intellectual property rights regimes that limit the dissemination of new technologies to poor countries.


Sweden’s technology performance

  • Score: 4.7
  • Rank: 18

Strengths

  • High government expenditure on R&D (rank by share of GDP: 7)

Weaknesses

  • Low tax subsidy rate to businesses for R&D (rank: 25)
  • Large share of government R&D expenditure on defense (rank by share of GDP: 24)
  • Does not force patent holders to license to meet social needs
  • Does not revoke unused patents