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The Swedish Guide and Scout Association

Scouting and Guiding in Sweden

Guiding and Scouting have been an active and respected part of Swedish society for almost a hundred years. Every third person of Sweden’s nine millions citizens is or has been a guide or scout! Today there are over 100 000 Girl Guides and Boy Scouts in Sweden.

Outdoor life is essential for guides and scouts in Sweden and many activities take place in our beautiful nature. But outdoor life and our other activities are only methods to reach the goal of the Swedish Guide and Scout movement: to develop young people socially, intellectually, spiritually and physically.

Another prominent feature of Swedish Guiding and Scouting is the long tradition of boys and girls working together. As early as 1960, the Boy Scout Association and the Girl Guide Association were united into one organisation. Today the terms Girl Guide and Boy Scout are no longer in use. Everyone is just called scouts.

History and organisation

The history of Guiding and Scouting in Sweden is almost as long as the history of the global Scout Movement. The first Boy Scout activity was arranged in 1908 and it was only two years later that activities for girls started. The structure of the Swedish Scout Movement was greatly influenced by those folk movements that were strong in the beginning of the 20th century. Both the temperance movement and the nonconformist churches started scout associations of their own. The folk movements saw the Scout Method as a good way to bring young people to live after their ideals. In Sweden today there are five scout associations:

Having scout associations with different profiles makes it easier for the Swedish Guide and Scout Movement to reach out to specific groups of people in society. Although the associations differ some in their interests, they organise many events together.

You can find more information about the scouts in Sweden on the website www.scout.se/english.