Income inequality is associated with greater levels of poverty and social exclusion (Duque and Mcknight, 2019; Hills et al., 2019), slower economic growth in high-income countries (Soava et al., 2019; Topuz, 2022), lower levels of perceived well-being and happiness (Tavor et al., 2018) and lower levels of human development (O’Donnell et al., 2013; Shimonovich et al., 2022). Moreover, higher levels of income inequality may contribute to rising social discontent (Lenzi and Perucca, 2023), increase political instability and polarisation (Voorheis et al., 2015), foster an environment of anger and resentment that may lead to violence (Kwon and Cabrera, 2019) and negatively affect solidarity, trust and community cohesion, thereby undermining the sustainability and vitality of society as a whole (Jetten et al., 2021).
The Nordic Region is one of the most equal regions in the world (André et al., 2021). However, it is generally accepted that socio-economic gaps between social groups, as well as between richer and poorer parts of the Nordic Region – particularly between urban and rural areas – have increased over time. Previous research shows that differences in household income have grown in all of the Nordic countries, particularly since the 1990s and 2000s (Fritzell et al., 2012; Pareliussen et al., 2018).
The 2007-2008 financial crisis apparently disrupted the trend of rising income inequalities in the Nordic Region, but most sources conclude that this event constitutes a minor discontinuity in the time series. For instance, the State of the Nordic Region Reports 2020 and 2024 suggest that income inequalities between the highest and lowest-ranked regions grew moderately in most countries and self-governing territories of the Nordic Region in the 2010s (Grunfelder, 2020; Refsgaard et al., 2024). That is in line with findings presented in other Nordic studies (Aaberge and Bengtsson, 2023; Robling and Pareliussen, 2017).