Those Creative Swedes!

Photo: Nicho Södling, Stockholm Visitors' Board

The Martin Prosperity Institute recently released its annual Global Creativity Index, a ranking of 82 countries based on creativity (as a way of showing economic competitiveness). And... Sweden ranks as #1. Several factors are used in compiling the GPI: number of patents per capita, openess and tolerance as well as the number of people employed in creative fields.
Even though the population of Sweden is only about 9.5 million, the country is an international powerhouse in the fields of design, fashion, music, literature and the performing arts. Swedes' creativity is quite apparent if you keep your eyes and ears open while wandering the streets of Stockholm.
And you don't have to travel to Sweden to enjoy Swedish creativity. I can guarantee that in the past few days you've either worn Swedish fashion (Acne, H&M, Whyred, Fillipa K), used/admired Swedish design (Ikea, Asplund, Kosta Boda), listened to a Swedish singer/act (ABBA, Swedish House Mafia, Robyn) or Swedish produced music (Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Pink), read something by a Swedish author (Stieg Larsson, Henning Mankell, Tomas Tranströmer), seen a movie or TV show with a Swedish actor (Malin Åkerman, Stellan & Alexander Skarsgård) or used technology invented by a Swede (Spotify, Skype)!
It's all part of our plan for world domination...