Pricele #86: Mobile data (1 GB) in Sweden 🇸🇪
The puzzle for 24 September 2026 asked what a gigabyte of mobile data costs in Sweden. Here is the answer and the context behind it.
The answer
Mobile data (1 GB) · Sweden
$2.33
About 7 minutes of the average local wage buys a gigabyte of mobile data.
More expensive than 81% of the 49 countries in the game.
Source: Cable.co.uk worldwide mobile data pricing, 2023.
About mobile data
The only price in the game that has collapsed rather than risen: the world average fell from $8.18 a gigabyte in 2019 to $2.61 four years later. Countries that built dense 4G networks early and then let operators fight over them are pennies a gigabyte; countries running data over satellite or through a single incumbent are still tens of dollars. Rich and cheap are almost unrelated here, which is what makes it hard to guess.
Where Sweden sits
Of the 49 countries priced for mobile data, Sweden ranks #10 from the top at $2.33, 3.7× the median of $0.63.
Sweden has high fuel taxes and high wages, a combination that puts it near the top of the table in dollar terms and much nearer the middle once measured in work time. Groceries are cheaper than in Norway, since Sweden's agricultural protection is lighter. Food is taxed at 12% against a 25% standard rate, so the Swedish food carve-out is real but less generous than the southern European ones. Sweden and Norway make the most informative Nordic pair in this table: comparable wages and climates, meaningfully different agricultural and fuel policies, and a visible price gap that follows from them.
What else costs what in Sweden
| Item | USD | Local | Work time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Big Mac | $7.26 | 67 SEK | 21 min |
| Coca-Cola (330ml can) | $1.76 | 18.9 SEK | 5 min |
| Cappuccino | $4.86 | 46.34 SEK | 14 min |
| Milk (1 litre) | $1.71 | 16.3 SEK | 5 min |
| Eggs (dozen) | $4.37 | 41.67 SEK | 12 min |
| Apples (1 kg) | $3.23 | 30.8 SEK | 9 min |
| Gasoline (1 litre) | $1.88 | 17.92 SEK | 5 min |
| Diesel (1 litre) | $2.11 | 20.14 SEK | 6 min |
| Electricity (100 kWh) | $26.30 | 251 SEK | 75 min |
| Natural gas (100 kWh) | $22.40 | 214 SEK | 64 min |
| Cigarettes (20-pack) | $7.27 | 78 SEK | 21 min |
| Beer (330ml) | $0.97 | 10.36 SEK | 3 min |
| Spirits (750ml bottle) | $21.38 | 229.29 SEK | 61 min |
| Vape e-liquid (1 ml) | $3.22 | 34.5 SEK | 9 min |
| A day's healthy diet | $3.72 | 36.55 SEK | 11 min |
Go deeper
See the full table for mobile data in every country or everything priced in Sweden.