The supermarkets for the poor that are successful in wealthy Sweden

With the highest inflation in the last four decades, Sweden —one of the richest countries in the world— is also feeling the effects of the global increase in the cost of living firsthand.

With a historic annual rise of 11.5% in November, food and energy prices have brought difficulties to part of the Nordic country’s 10.4 million inhabitants – and the future does not look very encouraging.

“The Swedish economy and households will be under pressure in the coming years,” said Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson just before Christmas. The government has warned that in 2023 Sweden will enter a deeper and longer-lasting recession than previously estimated.

With record high electricity rates, difficulties getting food at affordable prices and huge increases in mortgage payments, many Swedish households are facing a situation they are not used to.

‘Greater need for support’

The difficulties were borne out by Johan Rindevall, head of the Matmissionen social supermarket chain in the Swedish capital, Stockholm. Throughout 2022, he watched as the number of customers doubled.

“We see a greater need for support among the people we meet through our organisation,” Rindevall told BBC News Mundo, the BBC’s Spanish-language service.

To join and have access to price discounts, people need to have a low income level in relation to the rest of the country’s population. And the social entrepreneur says that the number of customers getting in touch to ask for help has increased, even among those with higher income than established by the affiliation system.

A developed country like Sweden does not define poverty by the standards adopted in other parts of the world. According to World Bank estimates, for example, the country has virtually no poor people.

Sweden uses the European Union definition of “at risk of poverty”. From this point of view, a person is at risk when living on less than 60% of the average income in the country.

According to recent figures from the Central Statistics Office, around 15% of the Swedish population is currently at risk. Twenty years ago, it was only 9.6%.

Rindevall warns that these are not people who are starving, but people with a standard of living “significantly lower than everyone else’s”.

“We have families that don’t have the option to cut back on expenses. They don’t have savings to fall back on, which forces them to reduce living expenses,” he says. And, many times, they stop buying nutritious food to keep their budget in balance.

Do not throw food in the trash

Considered a social enterprise, one of Matmissionen’s main objectives is to reduce food waste.

To do this, she sells products donated by food companies. These foods would otherwise be discarded. And so customers, many of them retired, unemployed or new immigrants, pay a third of the original price of each product.

In addition to having eight stores open in several cities, serving 25,000 members, the organization provides food for 25 shelters.

The greater demand for its services in 2022, according to Rindevall, is related to the opening of new stores, the growth in the number of refugees from Ukraine and, without a doubt, the uncontrollable rise in inflation.

This text was originally published here.