Sweden is generous to migrants, while its pensioners turn to soup kitchens
By EMMA R.
VoiceOfEurope.com
13 December 2018
While migrants get a lot of things for free, more and more Swedish pensioners testify that they struggle to make ends meet. Many of them are therefore visiting soup kitchens.
In newspaper articles and social media, pensioners tell of difficult circumstances. In a reader’s letter in the magazine Hemmets Veckotidning, the pensioner Anna wrote about her situation and asked the editorial team for advice:
“I have a fistula in my palate since a year back. The dentist said it’s because I have a dead tooth and he wants to pull it out. But because of my low pension, I can’t afford it. The dental nurse tried to persuade me to obtain the money, because it was “dangerous” if it was not fixed. Is it because of the bacteria that might affect the heart?”
Last week Expressen wrote about Gulli’s soup kitchen in Stockholm. Every week about 50 people visit the soup kitchen and many of the visitors are Swedish pensioners who live under scarce financial circumstances.
A 76-year-old lady who often visits the soup kitchen explains that the visits are important to make her money last each month. Even though she has worked her whole adult life, she is forced to plan her grocery shopping to afford to eat.
According to the senior organisation SPF, a total of 312,000 Swedes live at what the EU calls “risk of poverty” – meaning that they live below 60 per cent of the median income – about €1,150 per month. This means that approximately one in six pensioners have a difficult financial situation.
