Poverty in Sweden and Switzerland

I asked both of my contacts about poverty they had encountered in their professional life or any issues of poverty that they have seen on a personal level.  Below is a summary of the response from my contact in Sweden:

Poverty is not a large problem in Sweden.  In terms of school age children, even if parents lose their jobs, everything they need for school is free.  Children are given school supplies, books, food, etc.  Children are also given the equivalent of $180 a month that can be used for clothes and food.  Children with special needs are given additional resources to assist them with their challenges. 

My contact is from a rural area in Sweden.  She thinks that things are a little more challenging in the larger cities (like Stockholm) where they are struggling with immigrants.  The immigrants (many from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan) remain segregated from the Swedish population and the government is struggling to deal with the multitude of issues surrounding that situation.


My contact from Switzerland has not responded yet.  I researched information on poverty in Switzerland and found an interesting interview that occurred in November 2010 with Hugo Fasel, director of a Catholic Church charity group called Caritas.  Switzerland had just completed its first national conference on poverty and he explained some of facts surrounding poverty and what needs to be done to fight it.  According to Mr. Fasel, in Switzerland there are 260,000 children living in poverty and the key to winning the fight is education.  He stated that without a degree, young adults are having a very tough time getting jobs.  Because there are several topics that are linked to poverty, there must be various approaches and tools to address each of them.  One issue he brought up was access to technology.  He states that children without a basic home computer fall behind their peers.

Although it makes perfect sense, this was the first time I have seen someone mention lack of access to technology at home as a key contributing factor to inequities in education.  We know that classrooms have incorporated computers and computer skills into the curriculum, but not being able to carry over those skills in the home put children at a disadvantage. 

 I hope to hear back from my contact in Switzerland before the weekend is over.  I will update the post as soon as I hear from her.

Share what you have learned so far from these exchanges (or from the podcast and website)

I am surprised at how much the government in Sweden supports its people.  It seems like there are many more supports and programs available for its citizens than here in the US.  However, I believe that their tax rate in the country is much higher than ours as well.  

Describe your new insights and information about issues of poverty

I have always known that poverty is a huge problem in this country.  I grew up in Appalachia and the poverty level is very high.  The poverty rate for Kentucky is 18.1% and in Ohio it is 14.8%.  The actual county in Ohio where I grew up is 17.4%.  I do not think the federal government is doing enough to address this issue.  We have some programs (Food stamps, WIC, etc.), but they are horribly mismanaged and abused.  If the government does not step up and do something, this country will be in even worse shape than we are now.