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1. Housing

2. Social services

3. Health care

4. Financial services

5. Quality assurance

Housing

National housing policies are regulated in the Plan and Building law (Plan- och bygglag (2010:900), PBL). There are no national housing policies designated specifically for young people. Sweden does not have social housing programmes either. However, there are some housing programmes targeting young poeple. Young people with special needs have the right to apply for access to housing with special services. 

According to the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning (Boverket) the housing market for young people varies between municipalities. The situation has improved in the last years. In less population dense municipalities there is often a balanced housing market. In larger cities and main university cities, there is often a lack of housing for young people. In these municipalities, the most common reason for lack of housing is that the housing options are too expensive for many young people followed by a generall lack of housing (Boverket 2025). 

When it comes to students, accommodation in Sweden is generally managed by organisations or companies separate from the university itself. A law that came in to force in 2025 allow for deviations form national building norms regarding size, maximum occupancy and accessibility in student housing. Student apartments may have smaller sized rooms relative to the number of occupants, and 80 precent of the student apartments in a building can be exempt from some accesibility rules (Boverket 2025).

Social services

In Sweden, municipalities have the main responsability for social services. The Social Services Act (Socialtjänstlag (2001:453), SoL) is the law that governs how social services work in Sweden. Social services are responsible for many different areas of the community, including children and young people. Their work based on what is best for the young person, following the UN Convention of the Rights of a Child. 

Social services work to ensure that young people who are in a difficult position get the help and support they need. Those who are employed within the public sector, i.e., at a school or within healthcare, are obliged to make a report to social services in such cases.

Sometimes it is best for a young person to be moved out of their home and away from their guardians. Social services usually investigate whether the child can live with somebody close to the family instead, for example a relative. This is not always suitable, in which case the child lives with someone who is not closely related to their family.

Lag (1990:52) med särskilda bestämmelser om vård av unga, LVU, is the Swedish Care of Young Persons Act. Care of children falls within the framework of the Social Services Act. If parents and/or the child oppose the care, it may be imposed under the terms of the LVU. This may lead to care at special residential homes for young people provided by the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care (Statens institutionsstyrelse, SiS). 

There is current dabate on the quality of social services, especially in cases where children have been moved out of their home (For more information see 4.8 Current debates and reforms).

Health care

Health care is mainly a responsability for regional and local autorities in Sweden. However, there is national regulation to ensure equality of service across regions. 

All schools, from pre-school to upper secondary schools, are required to offer student health care (elevhälsa), according to the Education Act (Skollag (2010:800)). Health services in schools include medical, psychological and psychosocial care and advice, and also the right to special education. Every school must provide access to a school doctor, school nurse, psychologist and social worker for medical, psychological and psychosocial interventions.

According to the Education Act, all students shall be offered general health checks. Between general health checks, students should be offered vision and hearing screenings, and other limited health checks. 

Student health has an important role in identifying potential needs of special support. According to the preparatory works to the Education Act, the purpose of overall student health is, among other things, to inform decisions about special needs education for students who need it. 

Youth Guidance Centres

Youth Guidance Centres (ungdomsmottagningar) are targeted at young people aged between 12 and 22. The guidance centres can be found in most of municipalities in Sweden and offer different services for sexual and reproductive health and rights. 

To visit a Youth Guidance Centre is free of charge. The different centres have various kinds of staff working, but all have midwives and counsellors. Most centres have a doctor. Youth guidance centres also provide extensive online information in Swedish and other languages (e.g., English, Tigrinya, Somali, Dari, Arabic).

Psychiatry clinics for children and young people

Psychiatry clinics for children and young people (Barn- och ungdomspsykiatrin, BUP) are open for children and adolescents under 18 years of age. Once they turn 18, adult psychiatry clinics are attended.

A young persons or a parent can make the first contact by calling a clinic for advice. If additional treatment is required, there are many alternatives. Examples include family and group therapy. The clinics also work individually with children and teenagers and offer pharmacological therapy. All visits are free of charge. 

Over the past decade, wait times have increased according to statistics from the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (Sveriges kommuner och regioner, SKR).

Financial services

The Social Services Act (Socialtjänstlagen 2001:453) states what is included in income support, and that there should be a national norm for some costs. The national standards covering costs for food, clothing and telephone are equal for all. The support covers reasonable costs for accommodation, electricity and home insurance. 

Young people under the age of 18 are normally the responsibility of their parents, as are young people under the age of 21 who are still in upper secondary education. They do not have the right to claim individual income support.

Financial assistance can be applied for by contacting the social services in the municipality. 

For young people under the age of 29 there is also a means-tested housing allowance administrered by the Swedish Social Service Agency (Försäkringskassan 2025).  

Financial aid for studies

Financial aid (studiestöd) is money young people can receive during their studies. There are various kinds of financial aid for studies:

• when attending upper secondary school, a young person may be eligible for a study allowance (studiehjälp), including a student grant
• when attending a folk high school, adult secondary education programme (Komvux), national adult education programme, or another compulsory or upper secondary school, a young person may apply for student aid (studiemedel) starting in the autumn of the year that they turn 20
• when attending a college or university, a young person may also apply for student aid (studiemedel).

The financial aid is administered by the Swedish Board of Student Finance (Centrala studiestödsnämnden, csn).

Quality assurance

The Health and Social Care Inspectorate

The Health and Social Care Inspectorate (Inspektionen för vård och omsorg, IVO) is a government agency responsible for supervising health care, social services and activities under the Act concerning Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments (Lag (1993:387) om stöd och service till vissa funktionshindrade, LSS).

The Health and Social Care Inspectorate's supervision remit covers the processing of complaints concerning, for example, the reporting of irregularities in health care and social care and the municipal obligation to report non-enforced decisions.

Evaluation of financial coordination of rehabilitation measures 

The Act on Financial Coordination of Rehabilitation Measures (Finansiell samordning av rehabilitetsinsatser, Finsam) entered into force in 2004. The monitoring has focused on describing and analysing activities undertaken within the framework of Financial Coordination of Rehabilitation Measures. 

The Swedish Social Insurance Inspectorate (Inspektionen för socialförsäkringar, ISF) was commissioned by the government to evaluate the organisation and activities of Financial Coordination of Rehabilitation Measures. The assignment is reported in three parts. The purpose is to provide an overview of the coordination agencies and to evaluate the effects of their activities at municipal and individual level.

Reporting of the assignment is divided into three parts:

• Coordination Agencies' activities and organisation (Samordningsförbundens organisering och verksamhet, ISF 2019)
• Evaluation of the total effects at municipal level - Do the Coordination Agencies make any difference? (Utvärdering av de samlade/totala effekterna på kommunnivå - Gör samordningsförbund någon skillnad?, ISF 2019)
• Coordinated support makes a difference. An analysis of the effects of the Coordination Agencies' activities at the individual level (Samordnat stöd gör skillnad. En analys av effekterna av samordningsförbundens verksamhet på individnivå, ISF 2023).

Other central actors

The Swedish National Audit Office (Riksrevisionen) is part of the central control power of the Swedish Parliament. Their task is to contribute to the efficient use of resources and efficient management of the state through an independent audit of all government's operations. The agency audits both government agencies accounting and the effectiveness of the state's commitments.

The Swedish Agency for Public Management (Statskontoret) has the governmental task of analysing and evaluating state-funded activities. The agency has conducted a large number of studies, among others, about the Public Employment Service's work and labour market programmes. The agency has in 2022 conducted a study on special residential homes for young people, which are run by the National Board of Institutional Care (Statens institutionsstyrelse). The agency found deficiencies at several of the residential homes, such as disproportionate use of confinement and restrictive measures and has made several suggestions to ensure proper care (Statskontoret 2023).