Sweden becoming the EU’s richest country is one of the economic goals the Moderate Party (Moderaterna) is putting forward ahead of the Swedish general election on 13 September 2026. Prime Minister and Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson says Sweden should have the highest GDP per capita in the European Union by 2035, a target his party wants to pursue through faster economic growth, lower taxes on businesses and stronger incentives for research and investment.
The proposal was presented on Friday by Kristersson alongside Minister for Finance and Moderate deputy leader Elisabeth Svantesson, as Sweden enters the final weeks of the election campaign. TV4 reported that the Moderates describe the objective as making Sweden the richest EU country per capita within ten years.
How the Moderates want Sweden to become the EU’s richest country
The party estimates that Sweden would need to raise its average annual economic growth from around 2.1 percent to just over 3 percent during the coming decade to reach the target. According to TT’s report published by Sweden Herald, the Moderates say this would require a combination of strong public finances, higher employment and measures designed to attract more investment.
The programme includes a lower corporate tax, more generous rules for employee stock options and shorter permitting procedures. The party also wants a new “super deduction” for research and development, intended to make investment in R&D more financially attractive for companies.
A proposal for the deduction has already been submitted to Sweden’s Council on Legislation (Lagrådet) and is estimated to cost the state around SEK 7 billion (€632 million). Svantesson indicated that the measure would be the first priority if the Moderates had to choose between the different reforms.
The party argues that faster growth would provide additional resources for welfare services while allowing Sweden to continue expanding spending on defence and the justice system.
An economic pledge for the September election
The proposal also gives a more concrete economic dimension to a goal Kristersson had already outlined earlier in the campaign. In a speech to the Moderate Party’s national gathering in May, the Prime Minister said that the party wanted to make Sweden the EU’s richest country within a decade, presenting economic growth as part of a broader effort to strengthen the country after years marked by inflation, security concerns and weak growth.
The Moderates are campaigning while leading Sweden’s current government, and the economic pledge comes less than a month before voters choose a new Riksdag, as well as regional and municipal councils, on 13 September. Early voting begins on 26 August, according to the Swedish Election Authority (Valmyndigheten).
The target is therefore not a government forecast that Sweden will reach the top of the EU income ranking by 2035, but a political objective presented by the Moderates during the election campaign. Whether it can be pursued will first depend on the result of September’s vote and on the economic programme that emerges from the next Swedish government.
