The report focuses on psychosocial risks, protective factors, and service gaps during the first 1000 days of a child's life and may inform the implementation of effective, evidence-based practices. The research evidence is synthesised by mapping effective psychosocial interventions and integrating Nordic expertise within the Maternal well-being framework (WHO). The findings show that psychosocial challenges are complex and cumulative, with parental mental health playing a central role in family wellbeing and child development from before birth. Effective interventions exist, but they do not reach all families or all family members equally, nor do they adequately address all needs and protective factors, particularly among minority families and those facing multiple risks. The findings signal the need for clearer care pathways and Nordic collaboration to address these gaps.

From 2030, plastic packaging for fresh fruits and vegetables under 1.5 kg will be banned in the EU, with exemptions where needed. This report is intended as a discussion starter on the targeted use of plastic packaging.

 Packaging serves key functions: protecting against damage, slowing down quality loss, and enabling logistics and consumer information. But its necessity is highly product-specific. Without packaging, some produce become more vulnerable to bruising, water loss and spoilage − especially soft fruits, leafy greens and herbs − while others cope well without it. For sensitive products, packaging, plastic or other material, may contribute to extended shelf life, particularly when combined with appropriate storage conditions, including temperature control. Packaging does not eliminate microbiological risks, but can indirectly support food safety by reducing handling and damage.

The inspiration catalogue is prepared by the Nordic Sustainable Construction in relation to the Circularity Work Package focusing on floor area optimisation, lifetime extension and transformation.

 It provides examples on policy measures across the Nordic region that are introduced or can be used to improve the use of existing buildings rather than demolishing and building new.

 Building on the hierarchy of resource-efficient construction guiding whether to utilise, maintain, renovate and transform, extend lifetime or build new, the catalogue suggests five action to guide policymakers and authorities to enhance sustainability, adaptability and efficiency when working with existing buildings.

 The examples show that renovation, reuse and adaptation are viable and scalable alternatives to demolition and new construction and leads a more resource efficient and climate-conscious sector.

Mediebarometern är en årlig undersökning av den svenska befolkningens tillgång till, och användning av, olika typer av medier. Undersökningen har genomförts sedan 1979 och det gör Mediebarometern till den äldsta oavbrutna studien i sitt slag i världen. Resultaten i 2025 års undersökning bygger på svar från omkring 6 000 slumpmässigt utvalda personer i åldern 9 till 85 år. 

2025 var ett år präglat av omfattande globala utmaningar och stora händelser såväl internationellt som i Sverige. Den fortsatta konflikten Israel – Palestina stod i fokus för det internationella nyhetsflödet under stora delar av året. Samtidigt fortsatte kriget i Ukraina, som under 2025 gick in på sitt fjärde år sedan Rysslands fullskaliga invasion. I Sveriges dominerades nyhetsflödet i början av året av masskjutningen på Risbergska skolan i Örebro. En annan stor nationell händelse som präglade året 2025 var konkursen för batterijätten Northvolt. 2025 var dessutom året Donald Trump tillträdde sin andra mandatperiod i Vita huset, som bland annat inleddes med att USA:s biståndsmyndighet USAID stängdes ned. 

Allt detta påverkade den svenska befolkningens medieanvändning – för information och nyheter, men också för förströelse. Den här rapporten visar att den samlade mediekonsumtionen i Sverige under 2025 minskade sett till vissa medier, medan andra låg kvar på samma höga nivåer som noterats under senare år. 

Mediebarometern genomförs av Nordicom vid Göteborgs universitet i samverkan med Bonnier News, Göteborgs-Posten, Mediemyndigheten, Sveriges Radio och Sveriges Television. Datainsamlingen till Mediebarometern 2025 har genomförts av undersökningsföretaget Indikator – Institutet för kvalitetsindikatorer.

The report examines how the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) affects Finland, Sweden, and Denmark, focusing on competitiveness and the green transition. CBAM aims to prevent carbon leakage by aligning import carbon costs with the EU ETS. Nordic industries benefit from low emission intensity but still face structural cost challenges. Including indirect emissions could improve fairness but add complexity. Overall economic impacts are modest, though sectoral effects vary. CBAM is expected to shift trade toward cleaner production and support green industrial development. National implementation differs across the three countries. Key recommendations include preparing for indirect emissions, influencing EU rules, expanding CBAM to new sectors, streamlining administration, and improving emissions data systems.

This edition examines how randomised experiments can be used to inform economic policy in the Nordic countries. Drawing on experiences from large‑scale trials in areas such as taxation, labour markets, education, and social policy, the articles focus not only on what experiments reveal, but on how they are designed, authorised, and implemented in practice. The volume discusses concrete challenges faced by policymakers, researchers, and public authorities, including legal and ethical constraints, institutional cooperation, take‑up, data access, and spillover effects, and shows how these can be addressed in real‑world settings. Together, the articles offer practical guidance on how experimentation can be integrated into policy design to support more robust, evidence‑informed economic policymaking in the Nordic region.

Maintaining an arm’s length relationship between politics and journalism is a foundational principle in all Nordic countries. Despite this shared commitment, each country has developed its own distinct model for supporting news media and safeguarding the arm’s length principle. No two systems are alike.

This comparative report explores how the arm’s length principle is translated into practice in the news media subsidy legislation in force at the beginning of 2026.

The report is written by Tobias Lindberg, researcher at Nordicom at the University of Gothenburg.

European electricity markets are becoming increasingly interconnected. Even when reforms are implemented outside the Nordic region, they can influence Nordic electricity prices and market outcomes through cross-border trade. This report explores how selected European market design reforms may affect Nordic electricity markets towards 2035. The analysis examines developments such as capacity mechanisms, the expansion of solar power and wind power, battery deployment, and new trade measures. Using detailed power market modelling, the study assesses how these changes could influence electricity prices, price volatility, trade flows and welfare in the Nordic countries. The results show that policy and market developments in neighbouring countries can have significant spillover effects, highlighting the importance of cross-border coordination in Europe’s energy transition.

This report shifts the focus from corridor-based thinking to scalable networks built on reusable transport legs.

The key insight of this report is that scalable multimodal freight systems are built around qualified transport legs – recurring service connections between logistics nodes such as ferry routes, rail segments, or road links. Nordic sustainable transport networks emerge when such qualified legs are reused across multiple freight flows.

Scaling requires shared performance governance, based on transparentand comparable KPIs across cost, delivery time, and emissions.

The report introduces a scenario-based method for comparing alternative network configurations. Digital collaboration strengthens coordination across multimodal logistics systems and supports credible emissions accounting (Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, 2025).The Virtual Watch Tower is highlighted as an example of public-good digital infrastructure supporting end-to-end collaborative decision making, disruption management, and leg-level emissions transparency.

Finally, the report emphasizes that sustainable transport networks cannot scale within the transport system alone. Decarbonization requires coordinated transformation across interconnected value chains, including sustainable fuel supply, logistics operations, and carrier asset transitions (Petersen and Renken, 2023). Parallel Nordic initiatives such as the Nordic Roadmap for the Introduction of Sustainable Zero-Carbon Fuels in Shipping focus on green shipping corridors and the associated maritime energy ecosystem across the corridor value chain. The present report complements this work by introducing a shipper-driven logistics perspective focused on how transport buyers adopt and scale sustainable freight solutions across multimodal logistics networks.

The Nordic opportunity therefore lies in prioritizing high-impact transport legs, equipping shared nodes with interoperable digital collaboration mechanisms, applying shared KPI frameworks, and aligning transport networks with sustainable energy ecosystems. In this way, existing green corridor initiatives can be extended into scalable multimodal Nordic freight systems.

The analysis shows a substantial reliance on imported intermediate goods and raw materials for the Nordic economies, with supply chains deeply anchored within Europe, supplemented by robust intra-Nordic trade. However, this reliance introduces vulnerabilities, defined by high sourcing concentration, extra-European origin, and limited domestic substitution capacity. Significant disparities exist, with Norway and Denmark showing the highest exposure to vulnerable inputs, while Sweden and Iceland demonstrate greater resilience. Crucially, the sources of the most vulnerable inputs dominated by the US for Denmark and Sweden, and China for Finland and Iceland. Large firms are the central actors in each Nordic country, importing the majority of intermediate goods, but also of vulnerable goods.

Nordiske Råds årsberetning beskriver organisationen og dens politiske prioriteter i løbet af 2025, hvor den politiske diskussion har vært præget af præsidentskabsprogrammets fokus på nordisk nytte og sammenhold i en urolig tid.

Ökad inomnordisk integration gynnar både invånare och företag och bidrar till ökad tillväxt och konkurrenskraft. Därför ska det vara enkelt för våra invånare att leva, studera, arbeta och driva företag i och över gränserna i hela Norden. Och man ska kunna göra det utan att drabbas av gränshinder eller andra mobilitetsproblem. 

 2025 markerade ett viktigt steg för den fria rörligheten i Norden med flera nya initiativ och framsteg. Bland annat lanserades ett nytt program för fri rörlighet, och samarbetsministrarna prioriterade sitt första gränshinder. Informationsarbetet stärktes och nationella gränshindernätverk samt förenklingsgrupper utvecklades för att underlätta invånares och företagens vardag över gränserna. Om detta och mycket annat kan man läsa i denna årsrapport om arbetet 2025.

Trust is regarded as one of the strongest assets of the Nordic countries. However, as global trust declines, similar trends can be expected in the Nordics. The foundations of the Nordic welfare model are strained in an unpredictable global environment where autocratisation and warfare is on the rise.

The increase of polarisation and unequal distribution of wealth are also world-wide trends that could come to influence Nordic welfare policies and, in the end, the levels of trust in the population.   At the same time, demographic and environmental challenges are pressing the Nordics. Birth rates are declining, populations ageing, and the impacts of the climate crisis is becoming more evident also in the Nordic region.  

Against this backdrop, the Nordic Welfare Forum 2025 convened in Helsinki, Finland, on 10 September 2025. The agenda was ambitious enough: to explore how trust in the Nordic welfare model could be preserved and enhanced in the face of global change. The conference brought together politicians, researchers, civil servants, and representatives of civil society from across the Nordic region. 

The Nordic Welfare Forum 2025 was organised by the Nordic Welfare Centre in co-operation with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in Finland, on behalf of the Nordic Council of Ministers.

De nordiske pensionssystemer fungerer godt nationalt, men er ikke udviklet til et arbejdsliv, der strækker sig over flere lande. Når pensionen krydser grænser, opstår der hindringer, som skaber usikkerhed og økonomiske tab for mobile borgere. Analysen viser, at de ofte får dårligere vilkår end personer med et rent nationalt arbejdsliv – blandt andet på grund af manglende overblik, forskellige regler for udbetaling og beskatning samt store forskelle i systemernes struktur og administration. I praksis ender borgeren med selv at skulle koordinere mellem myndigheder og pensionsaktører i flere lande. Samtidig mangler der fælles nordisk statistik over grænseoverskridende pensionsrettigheder, hvilket gør det svært at vurdere problemets omfang og udvikling. Manglen på data bliver dermed en strukturel barriere i sig selv.