JIBS team behind national index

Where in Sweden is the best place to live? JIBS' researchers know!

What’s the best place to live in Sweden? The magazine Fokus has devoted 28 pages in the new issue to this matter, based on an index created by team of researchers from JIBS. Charlotta Mellander, Sofia Wixe , Özge Öner and Mikaela Backman have examined a wide range of factors that affect life: How is the weather where you live? What conditions affect family life? How is the employment rate? And what about nightlife, house prices, libraries and health care? Based on these factors and several others, each Swedish municipality has been ranked. To get a more accurate picture, municipalities have been divided into sub-categories, depending on if they are rural, urban or metropolitan.

“An index is an index. It provides an indication, and is not a precise tool,” says Charlotta Mellander. “But it might be interesting for Swedish municipalities to see if they are at the top, the bottom or in the middle.”

The index usually gets plenty of attention when published each year, and there is a great interest among Sweden's municipalities. Charlotta and her team look forward to presenting their work.

“Creating an index is not research, but part of our job as scientists is to spread our knowledge. That’s what we’re doing here, in a somewhat simplified form. This index is based on knowledge that comes from years of research.”

2014-05-14