How much do we drink, take drugs and gamble?
Short answer: Swedes drank 8.2 litres of pure alcohol per person aged 15 and over in 2025, a fifth less than in the peak year 2004, and seven out of ten litres were bought at Systembolaget. Around 640 people died of poisoning by drugs or medicines in 2025, fewer than in almost twenty years, but per inhabitant more than twice as many die from drugs in Sweden as the EU average. Compulsory care for adults with addiction has shrunk to around 690 admissions a year. The gambling market turned over 28 billion kronor after winnings paid out in 2025, and 84 per cent of online gambling takes place with companies holding a Swedish licence.
More on health and society: Mental health shows suicides and psychiatric care, Crime drug offences and the criminal networks, Healthcare the healthcare queues region by region and State-owned companies what Systembolaget and Svenska Spel give the state.
We drink less than twenty years ago.
Litres of pure alcohol per inhabitant aged 15 and over. Systembolaget is what was bought there; the rest of the registered part is sold in restaurants and as low-strength beer in grocery shops. The unregistered part is travellers' imports, smuggling, home production and online purchases, estimated in CAN's monthly survey. CAN changed its method in 2019, so the years before and after are not fully comparable. Source: CAN, report 246.
Per cent of the population aged 16 to 84 with hazardous drinking according to the AUDIT-C questions, which measure how often and how much people drink. No survey was carried out in 2017, 2019 and 2023. Source: Public Health Agency of Sweden, National Public Health Survey.
Deaths with an alcohol diagnosis as underlying or contributing cause per 100,000 inhabitants aged 15 and over. Source: Public Health Agency of Sweden, alcohol index, from the National Board of Health and Welfare's cause of death register.
Consumption peaked in 2004 at 10.6 litres per person. Then almost four out of ten litres came from travellers' imports, smuggling and home production, after the EU had lifted the limits on how much alcohol could be brought in. Since then the unregistered part has shrunk to around one litre. During the pandemic in 2020 travel fell and Systembolaget's sales rose, but the total went down. Young people drink less than earlier generations did.
Around 15 per cent of adults have hazardous drinking habits, more men than women. The share has fallen slowly since measurements began in 2004. Mortality with an alcohol diagnosis has fallen by about a quarter since the mid 2000s.
A monopoly that is not meant to sell more.
Net sales in billions of kronor at current prices, with and without alcohol tax. The group from 2021, the parent company in the years before. Source: Systembolaget's responsibility reports.
Alcohol tax on wine, spirits, beer and intermediate products in billions of kronor, wherever the alcohol is sold. 2025 is preliminary. Source: Swedish National Financial Management Authority, state revenue.
Dividend to the state in millions of kronor for each financial year; it is paid out the following year. For 2025 the board proposes no dividend. Source: Systembolaget's responsibility reports.
Systembolaget has the exclusive right to sell wine, spirits and strong beer in shops. The monopoly exists for the sake of public health: the company should not try to sell more, and profit is not the goal. In 2025 it sold for 39 billion kronor in 452 shops and through 456 agents. The dividend to the state is small in comparison, a few hundred million kronor a year. Alcohol tax, levied on all alcohol sold in Sweden, gave the state 17.7 billion kronor in 2025.
Since June 2025, farms that make wine, beer or spirits may sell a limited amount directly to visitors, as a six-year trial. Parliament decided it by 154 votes to 129. How the state governs the company is on State-owned companies.
Fewer die, but more than in most EU countries.
Number of deaths with poisoning by drugs or medicines as the underlying cause of death, whether accident, suicide or undetermined (ICD-10 X40 to X44, X60 to X64 and Y10 to Y14), and of those the accidents. Medicines such as opioids and sedatives are included. The National Board of Health and Welfare's narrower count of drug-related deaths gave 725 deaths in 2024. Source: National Board of Health and Welfare, cause of death register.
Drug-induced deaths per million inhabitants aged 15 to 64, latest year available for each country in brackets. Countries record causes of death with differing care, and Sweden is among those that capture the most cases, so read the comparison with caution. Source: European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA).
Deaths rose during the 2000s and peaked around 2014 to 2017, mainly through opioids such as heroin, methadone, buprenorphine and fentanyl analogues. Since then the figure has fallen, and 2025 was the lowest since 2006. The National Board of Health and Welfare's review of 2024 shows that about four in ten drug-related deaths were accidents and four in ten suicides, and that 30 people died from the synthetic opioids nitazenes. Naloxone, which reverses an opioid overdose, has been available without prescription since 2025.
Cannabis is the most common drug. 2.5 per cent of the population aged 16 to 84 had used cannabis in the past year in 2024, and 6.3 per cent of those aged 16 to 29, according to the Public Health Agency of Sweden. In CAN's school survey in 2025, 5 per cent of pupils in year 9 had ever used drugs. Drug use has been a criminal offence since 1988 and can lead to prison since 1993.
The drug market and organised crime are on Organised crime.
From the municipality to the region in 2028.
Admissions during the year to the National Board of Institutional Care's LVM homes, under the Care of Abusers (Special Provisions) Act (LVM), plus some voluntary ones under the Social Services Act. In 2025, 685 of 689 were under LVM. Years missing from SiS's summaries are left blank. Source: SiS i korthet.
Number of places at SiS LVM homes. Source: SiS i korthet.
Today municipalities and regions share the responsibility. The municipal social services handle treatment and housing, the region the medical care, such as withdrawal treatment and medication for opioid dependence. In June 2026 Parliament decided that from 1 January 2028 the regions take over treatment of harmful use and dependence together with psychiatry, and that the word abuse is replaced by harmful use in the laws. The decision builds on the inquiry SOU 2021:93.
Someone who does not seek care themselves can be given compulsory care under LVM if their life or health is at risk, for at most six months. Admissions have almost halved since 2010. An inquiry (SOU 2023:5) proposed that the regions also take over compulsory care; the government has said it will return to the question. What the municipalities spend on care is in the table further down.
Licences instead of a monopoly since 2019.
Net gaming revenue, that is stakes minus winnings paid out, in billions of kronor at current prices. Commercial is online casino and betting with licensed companies. Svenska Spel is the state's lotteries and gaming machines, non-profit is the lotteries run by associations and popular movements. Source: Swedish Gambling Authority.
Net gaming revenue in 2025 in billions of kronor. Casino Cosmopol closed its last casinos during 2025. Source: Swedish Gambling Authority.
Until 2019 the state, through Svenska Spel and ATG, had exclusive rights to most gambling, yet a large part of online gambling still took place with foreign companies without a Swedish permit. Since 1 January 2019 companies can apply for a licence from the Swedish Gambling Authority for online gambling and betting, in return for paying gambling tax and following Swedish rules. At the end of 2025 there were 651 licences held by 588 companies and associations, of which 130 licences for commercial online gambling and betting. Gambling tax was raised from 18 to 22 per cent in July 2024 and gave the state 5.3 billion kronor in 2025.
The channelisation rate shows how much of online gambling takes place with licensed companies. The Swedish Gambling Authority estimates it at 84 per cent in 2025: 96 per cent for betting and 81 per cent for online casino. Before the re-regulation it was judged to be well below half. No target level has been decided.
Anyone who wants to exclude themselves from all licensed gambling can do so in Spelpaus. In October 2026 just over 145,000 people had done so. In the Public Health Agency of Sweden's population survey Swelogs 2021, 1.3 per cent had problem gambling and 4.3 per cent some degree of gambling problems. The problems are most common among young men and among those who play online casino. The government launched an inquiry in 2026, after CAN found that problems had increased among 18 to 29 year olds between 2021 and 2025.
The differences between the counties.
Per cent of the population aged 16 to 84 with hazardous drinking in 2024. Source: Public Health Agency of Sweden, National Public Health Survey, via Kolada (U01404).
Per cent of pupils in year 9 who used drugs in the past twelve months, 2024. Small counties have few respondents, so the figures jump between years. Source: CAN and the regions' school surveys, via Kolada (U79232).
Your municipality compared with the others.
The table shows the lowest and highest municipality, the middle of all municipalities, the country and the municipality you choose. The cost is what the municipality spends on care for adults with harmful use or dependence, per inhabitant. Drug offences largely reflect how much the police search, not only how much drugs there are.
| Measure | Year | Lowest | Middle | Highest | Sweden | Chosen municipality |
|---|
Kronor at current prices. The middle is the median. Hazardous drinking is based on a survey and is only available for municipalities with enough responses. Small municipalities have few cases and few placements, so a single placement at a treatment home can move the cost a lot. Source: Kolada (N35001, N35009, U01404, N07544).
What the parliamentary parties want.
Two questions divide the parties most clearly: farm sales, which Parliament voted on in 2025, and whether drug use should be a criminal offence. The positions are summarised from the parties' own motions, reservations and programmes.
Social Democrats
Voted against farm sales and wants the farms' products sold through Systembolaget instead, out of concern that the monopoly could be challenged under EU law. Against decriminalising drugs, but for needle exchange, naloxone and medication-assisted treatment for opioid dependence.
Report 2024/25:SoU24, motion HD023645.
Moderates
Voted for farm sales. Against decriminalising drug use, and for making naloxone more easily available.
Report 2024/25:SoU24, motion H9023765.
Sweden Democrats
Voted for farm sales and wanted fewer restrictions in a reservation. Has called in a motion for a review of drug policy with more weight on harm reduction.
Report 2024/25:SoU24, motion HA02921.
Centre Party
Abstained in the vote on farm sales and entered a reservation against the trial being time-limited. Sees addiction as an illness and wants to invest in harm reduction, including supervised consumption rooms. The only party that voted against raising the gambling tax in 2024.
Report 2024/25:SoU24, motion HD023179, report 2023/24:SkU19.
Left Party
Voted against farm sales, which the party describes as a first step towards abolishing the monopoly. Wants personal drug use to no longer be a criminal offence, with the penalty replaced by a mandatory conversation.
Report 2024/25:SoU24, motion HD022799.
Christian Democrats
Voted for farm sales. Against any form of decriminalisation of drugs.
Report 2024/25:SoU24, motion H9024159.
Liberals
Voted for farm sales. Wants people who use drugs to be met with care instead of punishment, supports naloxone and needle exchange and is open to injection rooms.
Green Party
Voted against farm sales, citing the risk to the monopoly. Wants an open-ended inquiry into drug policy and the option to waive prosecution for personal use.
Report 2024/25:SoU24, motion HD02505.
Where the figures come from.
- CAN: Alcohol consumption in Sweden 2001 to 2025 (report 246) and the school survey 2025.
- Public Health Agency of Sweden: Folkhälsodata (National Public Health Survey and alcohol index) and Swelogs.
- Systembolaget: responsibility report 2025 and the years before. Swedish National Financial Management Authority: state revenue.
- National Board of Health and Welfare: statistics database for causes of death and drug-related deaths 2024. European Union Drugs Agency: European Drug Report 2025 and the death statistics.
- National Board of Institutional Care: SiS i korthet 2025 and the years before. Government: Govt. bill 2025/26:251 on care for harmful use and dependence.
- Swedish Gambling Authority: gambling market turnover per quarter, The gambling market 2025 and the annual report 2025.
- Municipalities and counties: Kolada, with data from the Public Health Agency of Sweden, Brå, CAN and the municipalities' accounts. The parties: the Riksdag's open data.
Municipalities and counties come from Kolada, the rest is compiled from the sources above.