The woman walks around the store with her “personal shopper,” volunteer Robert. Afterwards, she reaches into her bag and pulls out a speaker.
"My children will be happy," she says.
The City Mission's Christmas gift shop in Stockholm has a lot to do. Every half hour, twelve families are booked in. First a short coffee break, then a tour of the Christmas gift room. Each family gets to pick up about three Christmas gifts per child. Gift cards are by far the most popular.
Nothing used
The Christmas gifts are donated by both companies and private individuals. Stadsmissionen, which is otherwise known for its focus on second-hand goods, only accepts Christmas gifts that are brand new.
It should feel like this is a new thing just for me, that I don't get just because it happened to exist, says Emmelie Lund, who is project manager for the Christmas gift distribution.
The proportion of people in Sweden living in material and social poverty has almost doubled between 2021 and 2024, from 3 to 6 percent. At the Salvation Army in Malmö, the pressure has increased before Christmas, says union leader Carmencita Bou Ezz. The Salvation Army can help with a gift card to a grocery chain and with Christmas presents for the children. This time, 300 people applied, but the resources are only enough to help 100.
"It's sad to see this development. We didn't have this many applications a few years ago," she says.
Tighten up
The applications may include stories of illness, mental illness, homelessness or imminent risk of eviction.
It feels like the hunt to get to the crime and fraud within, for example, the Social Insurance Agency is affecting a lot of innocent people. There are a lot of things that are being tightened up, things are getting tougher, says Carmencita Bou Ezz.
The non-profit organization Folkets skaferi focuses on reducing food waste by distributing free food three times a week. Grocery stores supply the association with goods that have passed their best-before dates, and those who manage to get a queue ticket, 150 people at a time, can go in and pick up what they want. Before Christmas, Christmas presents are also distributed to families with children.
"We've noticed that over the past year, more and more people can't afford food. More people are coming to us," says Therése Fahlström, secretary of the People's Pantry board.
Poverty can be measured in different ways. Indirect poverty measures are based on how much income a person has. Direct poverty measures are instead about standard of living – that is, what the person can and cannot afford.
According to statistics from Statistics Sweden, 698,000 Swedes lived in material and social poverty in Sweden in 2024, almost doubling since 2021.
The overall indicator of material and social poverty measures the ability to afford thirteen different types of expenses – for example, being able to afford to replace worn-out clothes or having a week's vacation per year. A person who cannot afford five or more of these expenses is considered to be living in material and social poverty.
Source: Statistics Sweden, City Mission's poverty report 2025
