According to Swedbank’s annual survey, the median weekly allowance for an eight-year-old is 25 kronor.
That is the same amount as in the 2021 survey, even though inflation over the past five years has been around 23 percent, according to Statistics Sweden (SCB).
Arguments in negotiations
In other words, children and young people are losing out; their allowances have not kept up with the severe inflation of recent years.
"These are arguments I think children can use with their parents when negotiating their weekly or monthly allowance," Arturo Arques, a personal finance economist at Swedbank and the Swedish Savings Banks Association, writes in a comment to TT.
Eight-year-olds are not alone. For 15-year-olds, the monthly allowance is 500 kronor, exactly the same amount as five years ago. If it had kept up with inflation, a 15-year-old would receive 616 kronor today.
On the other hand, parents’ salaries, on average, did not keep up with inflation during the worst years, 2022 and 2023.
However, allowances have increased in some age groups. For example, 13-year-olds now receive 300 kronor, compared with 250 kronor five years ago.
Many get nothing
“The advice is to take the opportunity to sit down with your parents and agree on the amount and what expectations come with the weekly or monthly allowance,” Arturo Arques writes.
However, not everyone receives an allowance. One in four children aged 7 to 18 do not receive a regular weekly or monthly allowance. At the same time, Swedbank’s survey found that four in ten never receive extra money when their regular allowance runs out.
There is a difference between boys and girls among those who do receive extra money. About 65 percent of girls receive a supplement, compared with just over half of boys, at 56 percent.
To mark the weekly allowance day, Swedbank and the savings banks conducted a survey about allowances. It included 2,050 respondents from a Sifo panel. The target group was parents aged 25–65 with children aged 7–18.
Weekly and monthly allowance (median)
7 years: 20 kronor.
8 years: 25 kronor.
9 years: 30 kronor.
10 years: 40 kronor.
11 years: 200 kronor.
12 years: 200 kronor.
13 years: 300 kronor.
14 years: 400 kronor.
15 years: 500 kronor.
16 years: 1,000 kronor.
17 years: 1,250 kronor.
18 years: 1,250 kronor.
