We are afraid this headline is not about another nifty start-up in Stockholm, or even Scandinavian winter. Rather it is the reality that many internationals experience in moving to Sweden – it can be hard to make friends with the locals.

Every year the expat organisation, InterNations, ranks the best and worst countries for expats along a variety of measures. This time around they surveyed 12 500 expats from 166 different countries. One category is Friendliness, a trait in which Sweden this year came close to the bottom, Swedish newspaper Expressen reports.  Swedes are described as being “private, closed and not open to conversation with new people”. In the category of Finding Friends, Sweden was last with Norway and Denmark coming 2^nd and 3^rd last respectively.

Sweden obviously did really well on other measures, and overall ranked 22^nd in terms of its attractiveness as an expat destination, flanked by Germany, Finland and Norway. As might be expected, Sweden excelled in Family Life and Quality of Life.

What we are doing about this

The challenge of building relationships with Swedes is an issue that Mundus is aware of, and we have been working to find ways to make it easier for you to connect. It’s why we already have a Society section in our daily news with ideas for icebreakers (no pun intended) at fika break.

Secondly, Mundus has formed a partnership with one of the world’s leading experts in working inter-culturally, and we will be bringing you a great app packed full of tips at how to build strong professional relationships.

And finally, this Autumn we are partnering with New in Sweden to launch a survey looking for insights into how to make your Swedish experience even better.

We are interviewing expats and diplomats that are here, the HR staff that organised their move and the Relocation Agents that supported them during the process. We will be digging deep to find out the full story about moving here. Our report will give you the insights that allow you to make the most about your move to Sweden.

Want to know more? Get in touch at info@mundus-international.com