Many municipalities are seeing their population decline.
Then the revenue actually disappears all at once, while the costs are significantly more difficult to adjust, says Chief Economist Emelie Värja at a press conference where SKR, the municipal sector's interest organization, presents the economic conditions going forward.
Municipalities and regions are facing a major need for restructuring. The number of very elderly people is increasing, which increases costs.
Now the increase is mainly among the elderly, says Värja.
Elderly care therefore needs to be expanded by around SEK 60 billion by 2035, according to Värja. At the same time, the number of preschools around the country is decreasing; 900 closed during 2019–2024. And that's only halfway, according to her.
Worse ahead
Last year, the entire municipal sector had relatively good financial results, but this is temporary according to SKR, which often paints gloomy prospects in its reports.
If we look at the results going forward, we also see that they are about to decline, says Emelie Värja.
The regions are also expected to have worse financial results in the future, according to SKR. Costs will increase due to demographics.
Automatic increase
The requirement for the state is therefore that general state grants be automatically increased annually, a long-standing request from the municipal sector.
That is, they should be indexed to salaries, prices and demographics, says Anders Henriksson (S), chairman of SKR.
Otherwise, the revenues will be eroded due to inflation. The alternative is higher taxes, according to SKR.
In addition, all government reforms that affect the municipal sector should be fully funded. According to Emelie Värja, the government has allocated too little money to the school sector.
