We’re so used to being ruled by elderly politicians who are decaying in front of us that it’s easy to forget how abnormal it is. But the truth is that there are countries where the vast majority of elected officials are middle-aged and even capable of completing sentences. One of these countries is Sweden. Sweden’s parliament is among the youngest in the world. The prime minister, speaker, first deputy speaker, and second deputy speaker are all under the age of 60. This is a long-running trend in the country, which elected its youngest parliament in 2014. Going back for the last decade, Sweden hasn’t had a prime minister over the age of 65.
If you’re looking for an explanation for why Sweden didn’t lock down during COVID — and many people still are looking for it — this seems like a good place to start. Led by its relatively young government, Sweden didn’t implement mask mandates. They didn’t close the schools and the restaurants and force everyone, regardless of their age, to stay in their little pods. Children didn’t miss years of education and critical social development. Small businesses weren’t destroyed. Pastors weren’t hauled out of church services and thrown in prison. And after all that — after ignoring the infinite wisdom of Tony Fauci and the World Health Organization — Sweden recorded the lowest excess death rate of any European nation during COVID. In fact, Sweden’s excess death rate was half of America’s. Suicide and overdoses didn’t spike. The morgues weren’t overrun with COVID fatalities. People over the age of 70, in many cases, voluntarily stayed at home. For everyone else, life continued as normal.
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