Like other EU countries, Sweden was affected negatively by the global financial crisis, in terms of GDP decline and unemployment growth. The fall in Swedish GDP growth in 2008-2009 was the largest recorded since the Great Depression of 1929-1933 and the economic downturn led to a spike in the unemployment rate to 8.5 per cent (Lindvall, 2012). Sweden seemed nevertheless to recover faster and better than EU counterparts in the aftermath of recession. In fact, the GDP growth rebounded to positive as early as in 2010 and the Swedish economy has tended to stabilize since then, although it continued to be exposed to fluctuations in international demand and from other EU countries in particular.