Who owns Sweden's independent schools?
The treemap visualises the independent school sector as rectangles where the area represents the number of pupils and the colour the average merit value. The picture shows a market with clear concentration.
The five largest groups control a significant share of the total independent school market. The Academedia group, with brands such as Vittra, Pysslingen and NTI, is by far the largest. Internationella Engelska Skolan, Kunskapsskolan and the Thoren group follow.
Concentration has increased over time. Smaller independent schools have been acquired by larger operators, and new establishments increasingly occur within existing groups. This means that the 'free school choice' in practice often means a choice between a handful of large operators rather than between genuinely different pedagogical alternatives.
The colour coding shows that the largest groups have merit values close to the national average. Neither dramatically high nor low. This is consistent with research showing that the difference between school types diminishes when you control for the pupils' backgrounds.
Statistics: academic year 2023/24. Source: Skolverket open data, Kolada and SCB. Processed by Skolkoll. Glossary · About the data.