Utrikes födda (totalt)
+1 521 000 kr
Annuitet +39 000 kr/år
Livscykel · per person · huvudkälla Ruist 2018
74 000 kr/år — så fördelar sig kostnaden över livet
Ruists genomsnitt på 74 000 kr/år är inte konstant — det är en livstidsmedel. Bidraget är kraftigt negativt de första 10–15 åren, blir positivt under yrkeslivets mitt och negativt igen vid pension. Spannet 53–94 000 kr beror på integrationspotential och ursprungsland.
Last updated: View changelog
Huvudsiffra · Ruist ESO 2018:3
−74 000 kr
per år, livstidsgenomsnitt
−53 000 kr
hög integrationspotential
−94 000 kr
låg integrationspotential
Källa: Joakim Ruist, ESO 2018:3 "Tid för integration". Beräknat på svenska registerdata med livscykelmodell. Avser flyktingar inklusive anhöriga.
Kompletterande · KI 2025 · diskonterat nuvärde (1,5 %)
Flyktingar
−1 000 000 kr
Annuitet −25 000 kr/år
Övriga utrikes födda
+1 902 000 kr
Annuitet +48 000 kr/år
Anhöriginvandring
Härledd−300 000 kr
Annuitet −8 000 kr/år
Årligt nettobidrag per person, efter vistelseår i Sverige
0–45 vistelseår · kronor per person och år · Sverige
Årligt nettobidrag per person, efter vistelseår i Sverige: Flykting (kr/år) moves from -160,000 (0) to -80,000 (50) — up 80,000 kronor per person och år. Full values are available in the data table below (0–45 vistelseår, Sverige).
Diagrammet ritas när sidan har laddats — samma data finns i tabellfliken.
| Vistelseår | Flykting (kr/år) | Övriga utrikes födda (kr/år) | Anhörig (kr/år) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | −160 000 | −80 000 | — |
| 1 | −151 000 | −64 000 | — |
| 2 | −142 000 | −48 000 | — |
| 3 | −133 000 | −32 000 | — |
| 4 | −124 000 | −16 000 | — |
| 5 | −116 000 | 0 | — |
| 6 | −107 000 | 6 000 | — |
| 7 | −98 000 | 12 000 | — |
| 8 | −89 000 | 18 000 | — |
| 9 | −80 000 | 24 000 | — |
| 10 | −71 000 | 30 000 | — |
| 11 | −62 000 | 36 000 | — |
| 12 | −53 000 | 42 000 | — |
| 13 | −44 000 | 48 000 | — |
| 14 | −36 000 | 54 000 | — |
| 15 | −27 000 | 60 000 | — |
| 16 | −18 000 | 66 000 | — |
| 17 | −9 000 | 72 000 | — |
| 18 | 0 | 78 000 | — |
| 19 | 4 000 | 84 000 | — |
| 20 | 8 000 | 90 000 | — |
| 21 | 12 000 | 96 000 | — |
| 22 | 16 000 | 102 000 | — |
| 23 | 21 000 | 108 000 | — |
| 24 | 25 000 | 114 000 | — |
| 25 | 29 000 | 120 000 | — |
| 26 | 33 000 | 111 000 | — |
| 27 | 37 000 | 102 000 | — |
| 28 | 41 000 | 94 000 | — |
| 29 | 45 000 | 85 000 | — |
| 30 | 49 000 | 76 000 | — |
| 31 | 54 000 | 67 000 | — |
| 32 | 58 000 | 58 000 | — |
| 33 | 62 000 | 50 000 | — |
| 34 | 66 000 | 41 000 | — |
| 35 | 70 000 | 32 000 | — |
| 36 | 60 000 | 23 000 | — |
| 37 | 50 000 | 14 000 | — |
| 38 | 40 000 | 6 000 | — |
| 39 | 30 000 | −3 000 | — |
| 40 | 20 000 | −12 000 | — |
| 41 | 10 000 | −21 000 | — |
| 42 | 0 | −30 000 | — |
| 43 | −10 000 | −38 000 | — |
| 44 | −20 000 | −47 000 | — |
| 45 | −30 000 | −56 000 | — |
| 46 | −40 000 | −65 000 | — |
| 47 | −50 000 | −74 000 | — |
| 48 | −60 000 | −82 000 | — |
| 49 | −70 000 | −91 000 | — |
| 50 | −80 000 | −100 000 | — |
Method: Illustrativ kurva som återger mönstret i Konjunkturinstitutets Specialstudie 117: negativt netto de första 10–15 åren, positivt cirka år 15–30 och negativt igen efter cirka 40 år när pensionsutbetalningar dominerar. Kurvan för anhöriga är härledd ur Ruist (ESO 2018:3) kombinerat med SS117 — exakta åldersprofiler finns i rapporterna.
Source: Konjunkturinstitutet — Specialstudie 117 (accessed 2026-07-27) · Ruist — ESO 2018:3 (accessed 2026-07-27)
Kurvan är en pedagogisk illustration av det mönster KI Specialstudie 117 beskriver (negativt 10–15 år, positivt 15–30 år, negativt efter ~40 år p.g.a. pension). Exakta åldersprofiler finns i rapporten.
Ruist 2018 · livstidsgenomsnitt per flykting
53 000 – 94 000 kronor per år i genomsnittlig nettokostnad
Ruists ESO-rapport 2018:3 uppskattar att en genomsnittlig flykting medför en offentligfinansiell nettokostnad på 74 000 kr per år över livet, i ett spann från 53 000 kr (hög integrationspotential) till 94 000 kr (låg integrationspotential).
NOT included: Crime costs, municipal imbalance, second generation, dynamic wage and employment effects, housing segregation and growth effects. The direction of these effects is uncertain — see method box.
Källor: KI Specialstudie 117 · Ruist ESO 2018:3.
The question this page answers
How do public costs and tax revenues change across a person's life — and which assumptions drive the calculated life-cycle profile?
At a glance
Key figures — the most important numbers on this page
Children 0–18
≈ SEK –180,000/yr
NIER Special Study 117 — average public net cost per child (pre-school, school, health, child benefit) minus parents' tax paid per child. Modelled cross-section.
Working age 30–55
≈ SEK +100,000/yr
NIER Special Study 117 — average positive net at full employment and median income. Tax exceeds use.
Old age 75+
≈ SEK –210,000/yr
NIER Special Study 117 — pensions, health and care dominate. Tax on pensions covers only part.
Main-scenario discount rate
3.0 %
NIER, Long-Term Survey — real discount rate. Sensitivity 2 %/4 %.
Individual public consumption
≈ 25 %
SCB National Accounts — health, care, education as share of GDP. Allocated per individual in life-cycle calculations.
Collective public consumption
≈ 27 %
Defence, judiciary, administration. Hard to allocate per individual — requires methodological choice.
Positive-net span
≈ 40 years
Ruist/NIER — years in a typical life-cycle when the individual is a public net contributor (roughly 25–65).
Life expectancy 2024
≈ 82 years
SCB — weighted life expectancy. Longer life extends the negative old-age span in the life-cycle calculation.
What does the data show?
Objective observations — not interpretations
- A life-cycle profile shows the average fiscal net for a person at each age — not what a specific individual pays or receives. The curve is negative in childhood, positive in working life and again negative in old age. The balance between these phases determines whether the lifetime net is positive or negative.
- Employment rate and income level during working life are the single most important variables. A person who works full-time from 25 to 65 at median wage generates enough tax to offset childhood and old-age phases. A person with lower employment or income yields a negative lifetime net.
- Modelled life-cycle profiles show structural patterns (children cost, work pays, elderly cost) — not individual forecasts. Within-group variation is large: two people the same age may differ by hundreds of thousands of kronor per year in net contribution.
- Choice of discount rate, time horizon and treatment of collective consumption matters more than most individual assumptions. Raising the discount rate from 3 % to 4 % can reduce the present value of a 40-year-out tax payment by about 30 %.
- Life-cycle calculations measure fiscal net — not macroeconomic contribution. A person may have a negative fiscal net (e.g. a teacher on a modest wage) yet be macroeconomically valuable. The calculations measure the state's cash flows, not society's value.
Method note
The page strictly separates observed cross-sectional data (SCB National Accounts: actual public consumption by age) from modelled life-cycle profiles (NIER, ESO: projected present values under assumptions about employment, wages and discount rate). A cross-section profile shows today's state at all ages — it becomes a life-cycle profile only if today's 30-year-old lives like today's 65-year-old when reaching 65. Choice of discount rate (2/3/4 %), time horizon (lifetime/generation), treatment of collective public consumption (per capita/marginal/excluded) and employment assumptions explain most of the difference between studies. Individual public consumption (health, care, education) is allocated per person; collective (defence, judiciary) requires a methodological choice. Calculations do not capture social, humanitarian or cultural value — only money over public-sector budgets.
Definitions
How the numbers are counted — and what they do not cover
- Life-cycle cost
- The total public net cost for a person summed over the whole life — childhood, working life and pension. Normally expressed as present value in today's kronor after discounting.
- Life-cycle profile
- Average public net contribution by age. Built from register data on actual use of health, care, education and transfers, and tax payments by age group.
- Public net cost
- Public expenditure (consumption + transfers) directed to an individual or group, minus the same group's tax payments. Negative = net contributor; positive = net outflow from the public sector.
- Net contribution
- Opposite sign to net cost: tax payments minus public expenditure for the same individual. Positive net = individual finances more than they use.
- Public consumption
- State, municipal and regional purchases or production of services — health, care, education, defence, judiciary. Distinguished from transfers (cash) and investment (infrastructure).
- Individual consumption
- Part of public consumption attributable to an identifiable individual — mainly health, care, education. Allocated in life-cycle calculations by actual use.
- Collective consumption
- Public consumption not attributable to an individual — defence, judiciary, central administration. Allocated in calculations per capita, marginally or excluded.
- Transfer
- Cash transfer from the public sector to households without a counter-service — pensions, sickness, income support, child benefit, housing benefit. Distinguished from public consumption.
- Discounting
- Method for making future kronor comparable to today's. A krona 30 years hence is worth about 0.41 today at 3 % real rate.
- Present value
- The discounted value of a future payment stream expressed in today's money. Used to sum life-cycle nets across decades.
- Cohort
- Group with a common starting point — usually birth year or immigration year. Tracked forward in time. Distinguished from cross-section (one year, all ages).
- Generational calculation
- Forward-looking calculation estimating how much each future generation will pay to and receive from the public system, given current rules and demographic projection.
- Discount rate
- Rate used in discounting. Standard values: 2 % (cautious), 3 % (NIER/Long-Term Survey), 4 % (market). The choice strongly affects long-term nets.
- Base scenario
- The calculation's main path — the scenario the author regards as most likely given current information. Distinguished from alternative scenarios.
- Sensitivity analysis
- Systematic variation of central assumptions (employment, discount rate, productivity) to show how much the result changes. Mandatory in serious life-cycle calculations.
Primary sources
Agencies and research institutions behind this page
7
agencies/institutions
8
reports & studies
4
primary datasets
Frequently asked questions
Short answers to what is most often discussed
The sum of public expenditure minus tax payments for a person over the whole life, expressed as present value. Depending on assumptions about employment, wages and discount rate, the lifetime net can be positive or negative.
Related topics
Logical next steps if you want to understand the background
Fiscal cost of immigration
Method field — Ruist, NIER and the foundations of fiscal calculations.
Long-term welfare costs
Cohorts, generations and long-term projections.
Work decides
Employment as the central variable in all life-cycle calculations.
The tax burden
The revenue side of the life-cycle calculation.
Welfare dependency over time
The transfer side in a life-cycle perspective.
Cohorts over time
Register-based follow-up of specific arrival cohorts.
Sources for this page
The data comes from official primary sources.
KI · Irregular
Specialstudie 117 — Invandrades nettobidrag till de offentliga finanserna 1983–2022Nettobidrag till offentliga finanser per person och år, efter grupp (endast KI:s egna beräknade värden)
Latest data point · Source published
Cite this page
Content and our own calculations are CC BY 4.0. Please also cite the primary source.
APA 7
Sverigefakta.com. (2026). Sverigefakta. Retrieved 2026-08-21, from https://sverigefakta.com/en/lifecycle-costs
Harvard
Sverigefakta.com (2026) Sverigefakta. Available at: https://sverigefakta.com/en/lifecycle-costs (Accessed: 2026-08-21).
Simple web citation
Sverigefakta.com, "Sverigefakta", https://sverigefakta.com/en/lifecycle-costs (accessed 2026-08-21).
BibTeX
@misc{sverigefakta_2026_en_lifecyclecosts,
author = {Sverigefakta.com},
title = {Sverigefakta},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://sverigefakta.com/en/lifecycle-costs}},
note = {Dataset v2026.2, accessed 2026-08-21}
}Permanent link
https://sverigefakta.com/en/lifecycle-costs