With stunning scenery, a rich history, a culture that respects diversity, a corporate culture that has long embraced and achieved work-life balance, and an economy that is a leader in global growth, Sweden continues to score outstanding performance in the field of quality of life.

It’s no surprise that Sweden was recently ranked as the best country to live in for citizens’ affordability, safety and more, according to US News and World Report. The list includes 87 countries and for their ranking WPP and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania surveyed more than 17,000 participants around the world.

The best countries were rated according to factors such as economic stability, good job market, income equality, political stability, security, entrepreneurship, public health system, adventure, family-friendly environment, heritage, education system and others.

According to Numbeo, Sweden has an average 20.9 lower cost of living compared to the United States while the average rental housing is 57.5% lower.

The country’s health and education systems are exemplary, as the country is known for free healthcare and university education, according to US News and World Report.

The average life expectancy of residents is 82.8 years which is one of the highest life expectancies according to the CIA World Factbook.

The country also has an excellent parental leave policy: Parents are entitled to 480 days of paid leave when a child is born or adopted. In case there are two parents, each is entitled to 240 of these days. Work-life balance as well as family protection is achieved by the excellent parental leave policy, with parents entitled to 480 days of leave (with pay) either upon the birth or adoption of a child. On these days, the parents can divide them between them.

Recently, according to the report Saving Lives Like Sweden (Saving lives like Sweden) signed by leading experts from all over the world, it was announced that Sweden has succeeded in achieving the European Union’s goal of reducing smoking in the population to 5%, almost 17 years earlier.

The country has followed a strong anti-smoking policy to protect public health by banning smoking in public places, but at the same time it has adopted policies to reduce the harm from smoking by making available and affordable alternatives to cigarettes such as e-cigarettes. This strategy resulted in the smoking rate decreasing within 15 years by approximately 10 percentage points and being almost 5 times lower than the European average (23%).

Speaking to Euractiv Greece about the adoption of harm reduction policies and the benefits of digitization, MEP Emmanuel Fragos (ECR) emphasized that it is necessary to be aware of the world and the direction it is moving.

“In politics, we proceed by answering the question of whether we want to be the protagonists or the tails,” he said.

“Innovation is at the crossroads of different disciplines,” he continued, emphasizing that “we need proper research funding and collaboration with entrepreneurship and different levels of government in order to create specialized innovation incubators and clusters.”

Regarding the policies on tobacco products, the Greek MEP emphasized that it is important that citizens, and especially users of tobacco products, are informed and well aware of the consequences of their choices.

“Correct information and awareness is the key to any successful policy,” he said, referring to Sweden’s very encouraging figures as a follow-up to the policy to reduce tobacco harm.

“The key is always in education,” he pointed out.

He did not fail to refer to the Plan to fight Cancer that was recently voted by the European Parliament and argued that education and information campaigns help to adopt healthy habits, but as he typically said “at the European level it is beneficial to exchange best practices and we must to have more such opportunities”.

After all, Sweden belongs to the countries that realized in time the advantages of digital transformation and with the aim of becoming a world leader and in this field the country invests in the development of technological skills in the Swedish population. Sweden’s strategy even extends to the adoption of innovative technologies in the agricultural sector and the long-term sustainable development of the country’s rural communities by taking advantage of the new data brought by automation, robotics and AI.