It looks like a completely ordinary small toy store in the Stadsmission's premises in the middle of Stockholm. On the shelves, there are rows of Lego, dolls, stuffed animals, cars, games, and puzzles.
Outside, a small queue has formed. Since they opened on Lucia, it has been full speed ahead and is expected to continue all the way until Christmas.
We see that the pressure is high on our social activities where we meet families with children. So, you can calculate that the pressure will be high all the way, says Anna Toll, who is the deputy director of Stockholm's Stadsmission.
"Never seen before"
The Christmas gifts are donated by both private individuals and companies. They should be unwrapped and completely new. The point is that the children should get something new and unused, which they may have wished for and can tell their classmates about.
For those who are a bit older, gift cards are highly sought after, says Anna Toll. Being able to choose something for themselves is valuable for teenagers in vulnerable families.
Here in the Stockholm store, they will distribute 12,000 Christmas gifts to a total of 5,000 children this year. Across Sweden, they expect to hand out at least 20,000 presents.
We have never seen such high demand before. We also see a greater need for basic goods, such as hygiene products and winter jackets, says Jonas Wihlstrand, general secretary of Sweden's Stadsmissioner.
I have worked at Stadsmissionen for almost 30 years. In the 90s, I experienced something similar, but not quite in the same way as now.
"Must talk about"
You can measure poverty in several ways, but whichever way you choose, you will come to roughly the same conclusion: poverty is increasing in Sweden.
When we have over half a million people who cannot afford nutritious food and when access to general insurance systems is getting worse. Then I think we have some kind of structural problem that we must talk about, says Jonas Wihlstrand.
At the same time, the number of Swedes receiving economic assistance is decreasing significantly. Organizations like Stadsmissionen and the Red Cross are taking on increasingly greater responsibility – both with direct help, such as food and Christmas gifts, but also with support in contacting authorities.
We, of course, love to help, that's why we work with this. But we have started to raise a red flag. It may not be the intention that civil society should make these large efforts, says Wihlstrand.
According to the SCB, over half a million people in Sweden live in material and social poverty. This means, for example, that they cannot afford to keep their home warm, cannot pay for unexpected expenses, or cannot afford to eat meat, chicken, fish, or vegetarian alternatives every other day.
The difference is significant between those born in Sweden and those born abroad. Single mothers are also overrepresented.
Between 2021 and 2023, the proportion of poor inhabitants increased by two percentage points, or around 200,000 people.
Sweden has the second-lowest proportion of poor inhabitants in the EU. At the same time, Swedish poverty is increasing more than the EU average.
Despite this, the proportion of recipients of assistance in the Swedish population is decreasing – by over 30 percent between 2020 and 2023, according to Stadsmissionen's compilation.
