Administrative apparatus

How large is Sweden’s public-sector administrative apparatus?

How many people work in communications, HR, policy analysis, organisational development and other support and governance functions in the Swedish public sector — and what does their standardised salary cost amount to?

Primary sources: Statistics Sweden salary structure statistics 2025 (central government, municipalities, regions) and the Swedish Tax Agency 2025.

Last updated: 21 Aug 2026View changelog

Fact pageSources checked 21 Aug 2026

All verified rows in the data. Default view.

Standardised salary cost incl. employer contributions

58.2 bn SEK

People

77,900

Standardised annual gross salary

44.3 bn SEK

Weighted mean salary in basket

47,353 SEK/month

This is not an estimate of waste. The figure shows the standardised salary cost of the occupations and sectors included in the selected definition. Change the definition yourself below.

How to read the figures

Occupational codes (SSYK) describe jobs, not social value.
Public funding or an administrative job title does not mean the work lacks value.
The same function can be core activity in one organisation and support activity in another.
That is why you build your own basket — the page does not decide for you.

Build your own definition

Toggle occupations and sectors. Every value is recalculated directly from the raw data.

Occupations

Management and organisational developers (2421)Planners and policy analysts (2422)HR specialists (2423)Communications and PR specialists (2432)

Sectors

Central governmentMunicipalitiesRegions

People

77,900

Standardised annual gross salary

44.3 bn SEK

Standardised salary cost incl. employer contributions

58.2 bn SEK

Weighted mean salary in basket

47,353 SEK/month

Cost by occupation and sector

2025 · bn SEK · Sverige

Cost by occupation and sector: Central government moves from 21.59 (Planners/analysts) to 2.48 (Communicators) — down 19.11 bn SEK. Full values are available in the data table below (2025, Sverige).

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Cost by occupation and sector · bn SEK · 2025 · Sverige
Occupation	Central government	Municipalities	Regions
Org. developers	No data	6.17	2.30
Planners/analysts	21.59	12.38	6.14
HR specialists	2.35	2.81	No data
Communicators	2.48	1.96	No data

Method: Standardised cost = headcount × mean monthly salary × 12 × 1.3142. Missing sector × occupation cells are never counted as zero.

Source: Statistics Sweden, salary structure statistics 2025 · Swedish Tax Agency 2025 (accessed 2026-08-21)

Central government
Municipalities
Regions

Distribution by sector

2025 · bn SEK · Sverige

Distribution by sector: People moves from 34,800 (Central government) to 10,500 (Regions) — down 24,300 bn SEK. Full values are available in the data table below (2025, Sverige).

Method: Standardised cost = headcount × mean monthly salary × 12 × 1.3142. Missing sector × occupation cells are never counted as zero.

Source: Statistics Sweden, salary structure statistics 2025 · Swedish Tax Agency 2025 (accessed 2026-08-21)

Central government
Municipalities
Regions

Distribution by occupation

2025 · bn SEK · Sverige

Distribution by occupation: People moves from 54,200 (Planners/analysts) to 6,100 (Communicators) — down 48,100 bn SEK. Full values are available in the data table below (2025, Sverige).

Distribution by occupation · bn SEK · 2025 · Sverige
Occupation	SSYK	People	Cost (bn SEK)
Planners/analysts	2422	54,200	40.10
Org. developers	2421	10,600	8.47
HR specialists	2423	7,000	5.16
Communicators	2432	6,100	4.44

Method: Standardised cost = headcount × mean monthly salary × 12 × 1.3142. Missing sector × occupation cells are never counted as zero.

Source: Statistics Sweden, salary structure statistics 2025 · Swedish Tax Agency 2025 (accessed 2026-08-21)

Sector × occupation

Every verified cell shows headcount and mean monthly salary. Cells without verified data are marked as missing and are never treated as zero.

Sector × occupation
SSYK	Central government	Municipalities	Regions
Org. developers2421	No data in the current source material	7,900 people49,500 SEK/month6.17 bn SEK	2,700 people54,100 SEK/month2.30 bn SEK
Planners/analysts2422	28,400 people48,200 SEK/month21.59 bn SEK	18,000 people43,600 SEK/month12.38 bn SEK	7,800 people49,900 SEK/month6.14 bn SEK
HR specialists2423	3,100 people48,000 SEK/month2.35 bn SEK	3,900 people45,700 SEK/month2.81 bn SEK	No data in the current source material
Communicators2432	3,300 people47,700 SEK/month2.48 bn SEK	2,800 people44,400 SEK/month1.96 bn SEK	No data in the current source material

Missing cells: Central government × 2421, Regions × 2423, Regions × 2432.

Salary, headcount and cost

2025 · SEK/month, people, bn SEK · Sverige

Salary, headcount and cost: Mean salary moves from 49,500 (Municipalities) to 49,900 (Regions) — up 400 SEK/month, people, bn SEK. Full values are available in the data table below (2025, Sverige).

Salary, headcount and cost · SEK/month, people, bn SEK · 2025 · Sverige
Sector	Occupation	SSYK	Mean salary	People	Cost (bn SEK)	Data year
Municipalities	Org. developers	2421	49,500	7,900	6.17	2 025
Municipalities	Planners/analysts	2422	43,600	18,000	12.38	2 025
Municipalities	HR specialists	2423	45,700	3,900	2.81	2 025
Municipalities	Communicators	2432	44,400	2,800	1.96	2 025
Central government	Planners/analysts	2422	48,200	28,400	21.59	2 025
Central government	HR specialists	2423	48,000	3,100	2.35	2 025
Central government	Communicators	2432	47,700	3,300	2.48	2 025
Regions	Org. developers	2421	54,100	2,700	2.30	2 025
Regions	Planners/analysts	2422	49,900	7,800	6.14	2 025

Method: Standardised cost = headcount × mean monthly salary × 12 × 1.3142. Missing sector × occupation cells are never counted as zero.

Source: Statistics Sweden, salary structure statistics 2025 · Swedish Tax Agency 2025 (accessed 2026-08-21)

Central government
Municipalities
Regions

From gross salary to salary cost

Standardised annual gross salary: 44.3 bn SEK
+ employer contributions 31.42 %: 13.9 bn SEK
= Standardised salary cost incl. employer contributions: 58.2 bn SEK

Occupational pensions, premises, IT, equipment, sick-leave effects, consultants and internal overhead are not included and are not estimated.

Comparison of definitions

Comparison of definitions — People

2025 · people · Sverige

Comparison of definitions — People: People moves from 6,100 (Narrow) to 77,900 (Broad proxy) — up 71,800 people. Full values are available in the data table below (2025, Sverige).

Method: Standardised cost = headcount × mean monthly salary × 12 × 1.3142. Missing sector × occupation cells are never counted as zero.

Source: Statistics Sweden, salary structure statistics 2025 · Swedish Tax Agency 2025 (accessed 2026-08-21)

Comparison of definitions — Cost

2025 · bn SEK · Sverige

Comparison of definitions — Cost: Cost (bn SEK) moves from 4.4 (Narrow) to 58.2 (Broad proxy) — up 53.8 bn SEK. Full values are available in the data table below (2025, Sverige).

Method: Standardised cost = headcount × mean monthly salary × 12 × 1.3142. Missing sector × occupation cells are never counted as zero.

Source: Statistics Sweden, salary structure statistics 2025 · Swedish Tax Agency 2025 (accessed 2026-08-21)

Separate module — not part of the basket

Influencing information and communication

In its 2024 report, the Swedish Agency for Public Management found that 130 government agencies reported activities of this kind for 2022, roughly SEK 1.0 billion — about half staff costs and half purchased services. A further SEK 0.5 billion was passed on, mainly to civil-society organisations and to municipalities and regions. The agency stresses substantial methodological uncertainty and difficult definitions.

Own activities · 2022

≈ 1.0 bn SEK

Staff ≈ 0.5Purchased services ≈ 0.5

Passed on · 2022

≈ 0.5 bn SEK

Mainly to civil society, municipalities and regions.

These amounts are not added to the main basket. They are expenditure, may overlap with the salary cost of the occupations above, and refer to 2022.

Adjacent data point — never part of the basket

Culture, popular education and media

Public expenditure on culture, popular education and media 2024

34.9 bn SEK

Culture only, excl. popular education and media

28.0 bn SEK

These are operating expenditures. The main basket is an occupation-based standardised salary cost. The two cannot be summed methodologically.

Official mapping in progress

Statskontoret · Fi2026/00207
Assignment: map administrative costs in central government.
Reporting deadline: 4 December 2026
Central government currently lacks a single definition of administrative costs that works across all agencies. The forthcoming report may provide a better official basis, and this page's data model is built so that it can be added without a rebuild.

Method

Included

Headcount per verified sector × occupation cell (SCB, 2025).
Full-time equivalent mean monthly salary (SCB, 2025).
Standardised cost = headcount × mean salary × 12 × 1.3142.
Ordinary employer contributions of 31.42 % (Swedish Tax Agency, 2025).

Not included

Occupational pensions.
Premises, IT and equipment.
Sick-leave effects and staff turnover.
Consultants and purchased services.
Internal overhead.

• SCB's mean salaries are full-time normalised monthly salaries; headcounts in published tables may be rounded.
• The standardised cost is not the same as the booked actual wage bill for any organisation.
• Items that are not included are not estimated — no figure is used without verified source data.
• Missing sector × occupation cells are never counted as zero.
• An occupational code says nothing in itself about social value, and the same function can be support in one organisation and core activity in another.

Sources

SCB
Salary structure statistics, municipal sector 2025
SCB
Salary structure statistics, central government 2025
SCB
Salary structure statistics, regions 2025
Skatteverket
Amounts and percentages 2025 — employer contributions 31.42 %
Statskontoret
Government agencies' work with influencing information and communication (2024)
Statskontoret
Mapping administrative costs in central government (Fi2026/00207)
Myndigheten för kulturanalys
Public expenditure on culture, popular education and media 2024

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Sverigefakta.com. (2026). Sverigefakta. Retrieved 2026-08-22, from https://sverigefakta.com/en/administrative-apparatus

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@misc{sverigefakta_2026_en_administrativeapparatus,
  author       = {Sverigefakta.com},
  title        = {Sverigefakta},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://sverigefakta.com/en/administrative-apparatus}},
  note         = {Dataset v2026.2, accessed 2026-08-22}
}

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Sector	People	Cost (bn SEK)	Share of cost
Central government	34,800	26.42	45.4 %
Municipalities	32,600	23.31	40.1 %
Regions	10,500	8.44	14.5 %