Lifestyle
Top Sju
3,000
1
is the number of stores Swedish fashion retailers Hennes & Mauritz now own worldwide. The 3,000th store recently opened in the southwest Chinese city of Chengdu, as the company announced a 22% net increase in profits. H&M plan to continue expansion in China, and will open their first stores in Melbourne and South Africa in the near future.
Sweden is the number one country in the world in which to grow old, according to this year’s Global AgeWatch Index. According to NGO HelpAge International, which published the study, the fact that Sweden has had an obligatory statemanaged pension-savings scheme for 100 years is behind Sweden’s top tanking.
Interior view of the H&M store in Barcelona, Spain, designed by Javier Mariscal. Photo: Rafael Vargas/H&M
5 Sweden is the fifth happiest country in the world, according to a survey of 156 countries by Columbia University’s Earth Institute 2013 World Happiness Report. The other countries in the top five were Denmark, Norway, Switzerland and The Netherlands – proving that a warm climate is not a prerequisite for happiness!
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November 2013 18
96,315 people visited this year’s Gothenburg Book Fair. The annual event, which took place on September 26-29th, had a Romanian literature theme and also saw the successful launch of Läsrörelsen, a new initiative to increase literacy and reading comprehension among children and young people.
25
December is the release date for the long-awaited film adaptation of Jonas Jonasson’s bestselling book, The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared. The quirky novel has become an international hit, translated into 35 languages, since it was released in 2009 and the film version will star Swedish actors Robert Gustafsson and Mia Skäringer. Jonasson’s latest novel, The Illiterate Who Could Count, has recently been released in Sweden.
Göteborg Book Fair 2013. Photo credit: Niklas Maupoix
10 per cent. That’s the amount it’s generally appropriate to tip in a Swedish restaurant these days, according to a new book called Krogen: allt du vill veta men inte vågat fråga, by Martin Schori and Johan Åkesson. The book goes behind the scenes of Sweden’s restaurant scene, giving tips and advice on how to get the best out of a meal and revealing the restaurant world’s unwritten rules.
2016
is the year in which Stockholm’s Fotografiska museum is due to open sister galleries in both New York and Shanghai. The Södermalm exhibition space, which has exhibited world-class photographers including Annie Liebovitz, Lennart Nilsson and Helmut Newton, opened in 2010. ‘There is no other museum like Fotografiska, not even in New York,’ said photographer and partowner Sophie Mörner. ‘I think it’s one of the best museums in the world.’
