Companies in Sweden are among Europe’s most active adopters of artificial intelligence technologies, according to new data released by Statistics Sweden.
The report found that 35% of Swedish companies used at least one form of AI technology in 2025, significantly above the EU-27 average of 20%. Sweden ranked jointly third in Europe alongside Belgium, while Denmark recorded the highest adoption rate at 42%.
© HAKINMHAN | Dreamstime
According to the findings, Sweden also ranks among the leading European countries for in-house AI development, cloud-based AI services and data analysis capabilities.
“When European companies are ranked by the extent to which they generally use AI, Sweden ends up in joint third place with Belgium,” said Samuel Hederén, statistician at Statistics Sweden.
The report highlights a clear divide between larger and smaller businesses. Companies employing 250 people or more were identified as the strongest adopters of AI technologies, continuing a trend observed since data collection began in 2021.
“Larger companies have more resources than small ones, which enables broader AI use,” said Fredric Nyström, statistician at Statistics Sweden.
Regional disparities were also evident. AI adoption was most widespread in the Stockholm region and western parts of the country, while Northern Central Sweden and Central Norrland recorded the lowest usage levels.
“Metropolitan regions are characterized by a concentration of skills and capital factors that facilitate the adoption of new technologies such as AI,” Fredric Nyström added.
The report further explored how AI adoption varies across workplace demographics. While men were found to use generative AI tools more frequently at work than women, companies with balanced gender representation showed the highest levels of AI adoption overall.
“AI is most commonly used in companies where the gender distribution is equal,” said Samuel Hederén.
The statistics form part of Sweden’s official national data and are primarily based on the country’s annual IT Use in Enterprises survey, which measures levels of digitalisation across the business sector. AI-related questions were first introduced into the EU’s shared questionnaire framework in 2021, enabling cross-European comparisons.
The broader study, titled “Artificial Intelligence in Sweden 2025”, also draws on research into innovation, workforce composition and the public’s use of generative AI technologies.
More information:
Statistics Sweden
www.scb.se