HEFUU and UrbanLab seminar at Almedalen – Health Atlas for Sweden
Why do urban residents exhibit better health outcomes than rural populations, and what factors account for health disparities within urban areas? The Health Atlas for Sweden shows detailed geographical patterns, links health to socio-economics and can become an important tool for researchers, decision-makers and an informed public.
On June 24, 2025, the Centre for Health Economics Research (HEFUU) and UrbanLab, both research centres at Uppsala University, organized a seminar titled Health Atlas for Sweden. The seminar, which took place in Almedalen, is part of the RJ-funded project Do cities create or attract individuals with good health? Causality and selection in urban health.
The seminar brought together Uppsala University researchers Prof. Erik Grönqvist (HEFUU's director), Dr. Mattias Öhman (UrbanLab) and Associate Professor Oscar Erixson (UrbanLab) as well as government representatives Nina Lindqvist, head of coordinated health work at the Public Health Agency of Sweden, and Mattias Fredricson, head of the development of health and medical care on a systemic level at the National Board of Health and Welfare.
The seminar demonstrated and discussed the take-off of a prototype of an online geographical analysis tool - the "Health Atlas for Sweden". The tool can describe different indicators of health in smaller geographical areas, for example at the DESO level (demographic statistical areas), and where the user can relate different health outcomes to socio-economic variables and follow the development over time both in graphical form and in the form of a map.
Find a recording of the seminar on Uppsala University's YouTube channel.