Budgeting for children in Sweden: parental benefits and more

Income

Social benefits

Försäkringskassan provides a good and up-to-date overview of all the benefits available for parents and parents-to-be, and the most important information is translated to English:

Parents

E-services and information about parental benefit, care of sick child (vab), 10-days, pregnancy benefit and other benefits for those who are going to become parents.

FörsäkringskassanFörsäkringskassan

In short, two parents together get 390 paid days off to care for a child. Technically it’s 480, but 90 are “minimum level” days when you get 180 SEK per day which is negligible compared to a monthly salary. You can't start taking out the “minimum level” days before you've taken out at least 180 of the properly paid ones. Out of the properly paid days, one parent can get maximum of 300: 90 are reserved to each parent and can’t be transferred. During the first 15 months of the child’s life, both parents can get paid days off at the same time, but only for 60 days (until recently it's been 30).

The days can be taken out until the kid turns 12 or finishes the 5th grade. Some people save some of the days to cover school breaks and such.

Parental benefits

To apply for the parental benefits, you have to be registered with Försäkringskassan. This process can take months in the worst case, so it’s nice to check this already in the first trimester. The form to fill out is 5456, and here's the link to more information in English:

Move to Sweden

Here you can find out what applies to individuals who are moving to Sweden. The information applies to foreign nationals who move to Sweden as well as to Swedish citizens who move back to Sweden after a period abroad. It does not apply to those posted in Sweden by a foreign employer or those who are here to study.

Your Europe logo, external link to Your Europe, opens in new windowFörsäkringskassan

Note that the income you get from Försäkringskassan (FK) is taxed higher than a salary (or rather it’s the salary that’s taxed lower due to jobskatteavdrag). It is also capped at a particular number, so if your yearly salary is higher than 10 × prisbasbelopp (588000 SEK for 2025, that's 49k per month), the change in your income will be more significant. Maximum amount per day is 1218 SEK. That's before taxes.

Roughly, the maximum amount one could get from FK per month after taxes is 25,5 thousand SEK if taking 7 days per week.

Note that the actual number will depend on:

• the current tax rates in your kommun
• whether or not you're a member of the Swedish church
• the number of days in the particular month (so it’s lower in February)
• whether you have any other income.

When it’s time to apply for the actual dates with FK, the estimates will be more precise, but the difference is negligible for planning.

Note: to qualify for the “properly paid” days, you must have worked at least 240 days in a row before the expected delivery date and earned at least 85 000 SEK in a year. If you didn't, your “properly paid” days will be set at a level of 250 SEK. But it's okay to have breaks or change employers.

Child allowance

On top of the parental benefits you also get a child allowance of 1250 SEK per month. Some people automatically invest this money into some cheap global index funds with a kapitalförsäkring account. RikaTillsammans has great tips, but in Swedish.

The child allowance is not taxed, so 1250 SEK is already after taxes.

Employer/union benefits

On top of the benefits from the government, there might be föräldralön in your collective agreement or your work contract. It is usually something you only get after having worked for some time at the company (in contrast to the social benefits to which you’re entitled regardless). Föräldralön tops up the social benefits so that your monthly income is closer to the salary you were getting. It can last for just the first month or for half a year or have additional conditions — so read the collective agreement in advance.

Expenses

I’ve found a few estimates for the initial costs for the first child in a Swedish family, and they were around 15–20 thousand SEK. Of course it varies a lot depending on how much stuff you consider essential and whether you prefer to shop second-hand or high-end. For example, a stroller can be bought on Blocket for 500:- or ordered with all possible accessories and run up to 20k. And also it can be not bought at all.

Welcoming a child to the family might also require bigger changes like moving to another apartment.

Additional and significant costs might be in order if the parents are immigrants and therefore don’t have the support of grandmas and grandpas. Nanny services are subject to RUT-avdrag but even after this 50% discount cost 150–300 SEK per hour (and possibly higher if you’d like some help on the weekend or during the night).

Luckily, all the medical check-ups, vaccination, and vitamin D continue to be free.

I’ve written separate posts about stuff to buy and take with you when it’s time to give birth and stuff to buy for the first time with the child.

Things to check

A few more details to think about when planning which parent goes on leave for how long:

• will the employer still pay tjänstepension during the parental leave?
• is there a risk that your employer will want to get rid of you before you start your leave?
• will your SGI (sickness benefit qualifying income) be protected with your planning? (search by SGI on this page)