🇸🇪 Sweden vs 🇧🇪 Belgium
Side by side on the data that actually changes your life: prices, taxes, climate, air, safety. Every number has a source and a date.
Climate (capital)
Open-Meteo historical weather
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Jan 3° · Jul 20° · Brussels
Sunny days (capital)
Open-Meteo, days with over 4.5h of sunshine
—
261 days / yr
Big Mac price
The Economist Big Mac index (euro-area countries share one euro-area price)
$7.26
—
Special tax regimes
Official tax authorities, verified June 2026
Expert tax relief (expertskatt)
Inbound taxpayers & researchers regime
Inflation
World Bank
0.7% / yr (2025)
2.5% / yr (2025)
Unemployment
World Bank, ILO-modelled estimate
8.7% (2025)
5.9% (2025)
Internet (median fixed)
Ookla Speedtest Global Index
~190 Mbps
~130 Mbps
English proficiency
EF English Proficiency Index
very high
very high
Messenger apps
OONI network measurements, last 6 months
No known issues
No known issues
Population
World Bank total population
10.6M (2025)
11.9M (2025)
Population density
World Bank, people per km²
26 / km² (2023)
386 / km² (2023)
Foreign-born residents
World Bank migrant stock
21.4% of population (2024)
20.0% of population (2024)
Life expectancy
WHO
83 yrs
82 yrs
Currency
ISO 4217
SEK
EUR
Legal
Crypto-friendly
Short-term gains
30%
33%
Long-term gains
30%
10%
Long-term holding period
—
—
Staking income
30%
33%
Mining income
57.0%
33%
General rates, not personal tax advice.
Climate, inflation and life expectancy verified 12 July 2026. Prices, taxes and air quality verified 7 July 2026. Sources shown per row.
Special tax regimes, verified
Regimes change often and many sites still advertise closed ones. We link the official source for each.
🇸🇪 Sweden
25% of salary tax-exempt · up to 7 years
Verified June 2026 · Skatteverket
🇧🇪 Belgium
Up to 30% of gross salary as a tax-free expat allowance
Verified June 2026 · SPF Finances
Numbers are half the story
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