ABSTRACT
The Swedish welfare state developed during the growth years of the 1950s and 1960s. The demands and challenges flowing from the decline of the extended family, at least in caring terms, have in Scandinavia made their impact upon the public and professional systems compared with countries like Japan where this trend still has a long way to go. In the future, service levels and quality in Sweden, as well as the other Scandinavian countries, will probably come to resemble more the average of European care provision. The organisation and provision of social care services is the responsibility of local government, municipalities and counties, in Sweden. The importance of informal care actually increased during the 1990s, mainly because the threshold for receiving home help services was raised and the number of older people receiving home help services fell. The 1980s and 1990s have seen significant organisational reforms, many concerned with the division between medical and social care services.
