Fiscal Frameworks and Fiscal Sustainability in the Nordics

Public finances in the Nordics are facing great future challenges due to demographic developments. Increasing longevity is changing the age structure of the population, significantly raising the share of older people and thus the old-age dependency ratio. Over the last two decades, there has been a strong international trend to strengthen fiscal frameworks by adopting more stringent fiscal rules as well as increasing transparency and accountability.

A first aim of the report is to survey and evaluate the fiscal frameworks in the Nordic countries. A second aim is to review how long-run sustainability analyses of public finances are made – and communicated to policy-makers and the general public – in the Nordics, by Ministries of Finance as well as by other institutions. The report also concludes the severity of the fiscal-sustainability problems in the Nordic countries.