Slide 4 of 13

Cooperation - to cooperate - to unite what's beneficial to you with what is good for the common is a goal, but above all it is a mean to make us gain power over our own everyday situation. This also shows in the cooperative development work in Sweden.

Sweden has a long tradition of cooperative associations. Studies show that there are some 200 000 local societies in Sweden with between 25-30 million members. This means that the great majority of the population is members of one or more societies. I think you know that we are around 9 million inhabitants. Furthermore, cooperative associations and the cooperative movement have played an important role in the social and democratic development of my country. During the depression in the 1930s when there were high rates of unemployment, the cooperative movement played decisive part in bringing about an improvement in conditions and increased interest in new forms of cooperatives, for examples housing coops.

Today cooperative enterprises constitute a considerable proportion of the Swedish economy. The lines of business in which cooperatives are of major economic importance in Sweden include retail trade, housing, agriculture, forestry and insurance. In some regions and in some districts, small cooperative enterprises have emerged over the last fifteen years and become a significant part of the local economy.

Comments or questions? Contact the COPAC Coordinator.
Posted: 19 July 2000