The Most Famous
SOCIAL ACTIVISTS from Sweden
This page contains a list of the greatest Swedish Social Activists. The pantheon dataset contains 840 Social Activists, 7 of which were born in Sweden. This makes Sweden the birth place of the 18th most number of Social Activists behind Mexico, and Egypt.
Top 10
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Swedish Social Activists of all time. This list of famous Swedish Social Activists is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Swedish Social Activists.
1. Gustav I of Sweden (1496 - 1560)
With an HPI of 74.00, Gustav I of Sweden is the most famous Swedish Social Activist. His biography has been translated into 67 different languages on wikipedia.
Gustav I (born Gustav Eriksson of the Vasa noble family; 12 May 1496 – 29 September 1560), commonly known as Gustav Vasa, was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death in 1560, previously self-recognised Protector of the Realm (Riksföreståndare) from 1521, during the ongoing Swedish War of Liberation against King Christian II of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Gustav rose to lead the Swedish War of Liberation following the Stockholm Bloodbath, where his father was executed. Gustav's election as king on 6 June 1523 (the National Day of Sweden) and his triumphant entry into Stockholm eleven days later marked Sweden's final secession from the Kalmar Union.
2. Axel Munthe (1857 - 1949)
With an HPI of 65.08, Axel Munthe is the 2nd most famous Swedish Social Activist. His biography has been translated into 34 different languages.
Axel Martin Fredrik Munthe (31 October 1857 – 11 February 1949) was a Swedish-born physician and psychiatrist, best known as the author of The Story of San Michele, an autobiographical account of his life and work. He spoke several languages (Swedish, English, French, Italian fluently, and German at least passably), grew up in Sweden, attended medical school there, then studied medicine in Paris and opened his first practice in France. He was married to a wealthy Englishwoman and spent most of his adult life in Italy. His philanthropic nature often led him to treat the poor without charge, and he risked his life on several occasions to offer medical help in times of war, disaster or plague. As an advocate of animal rights, he purchased land to create a bird sanctuary near his home in Italy, argued for bans on painful traps, and himself kept pets as diverse as an owl and a baboon, as well as many types of dog. His writing is light-hearted, being primarily memoirs drawn from his real-life experiences, but it is often tinged with sadness or tragedy, and often uses dramatic licence. He primarily wrote about people and their idiosyncrasies, portraying the foibles of both the rich and the poor, but also about animals.
3. Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson (1390 - 1436)
With an HPI of 55.88, Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson is the 3rd most famous Swedish Social Activist. His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.
Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson (1390s – 27 April/4 May 1436) was a Swedish nobleman, rebel leader and military leader of German ancestry. He was the leader of the Engelbrekt rebellion in 1434 against Eric of Pomerania, king of the Kalmar Union. Engelbrekt Parish (Engelbrekts församling) and Engelbrekt Church (Engelbrektskyrkan) in the Church of Sweden Diocese of Stockholm were both named in his honor.
4. Joe Hill (1879 - 1915)
With an HPI of 52.95, Joe Hill is the 4th most famous Swedish Social Activist. His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.
Joe Hill (October 7, 1879 – November 19, 1915), born Joel Emmanuel Hägglund and also known as Joseph Hillström, was a Swedish-American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, familiarly called the "Wobblies"). A native Swedish speaker, he learned English during the early 1900s, while working various jobs from New York to San Francisco. Hill, an immigrant worker frequently facing unemployment and underemployment, became a popular songwriter and cartoonist for the union. His songs include "The Preacher and the Slave" (in which he coined the phrase "pie in the sky"), "The Tramp", "There Is Power in a Union", "The Rebel Girl", and "Casey Jones—the Union Scab", which express the harsh and combative life of itinerant workers, and call for workers to organize their efforts to improve working conditions.In 1914, John G. Morrison, a Salt Lake City area grocer and former policeman, and his son were shot and killed by two men. The same evening, Hill arrived at a doctor's office with a gunshot wound, and briefly mentioned a fight over a woman. He refused to explain further, even after he was accused of the grocery store murders on the basis of his injury. Hill was convicted of the murders in a controversial trial. Following an unsuccessful appeal, political debates, and international calls for clemency from high-profile figures and workers' organizations, Hill was executed in November 1915. After his death, he was memorialized by several folk songs. His life and death have inspired books and poetry. The identity of the woman and the rival who supposedly caused Hill's injury, though frequently speculated upon, remained mostly conjecture for nearly a century. William M. Adler's 2011 biography of Hill presents information about a possible alibi, which was never introduced at the trial. According to Adler, Hill and his friend and countryman Otto Appelquist were rivals for the attention of 20-year-old Hilda Erickson, a member of the family with whom the two men were lodging. In a recently discovered letter, Erickson confirmed her relationship with the two men and the rivalry between them. The letter indicates that when she first discovered Hill was injured, he explained to her that Appelquist had shot him, apparently out of jealousy.
5. Greta Thunberg (b. 2003)
With an HPI of 52.52, Greta Thunberg is the 5th most famous Swedish Social Activist. Her biography has been translated into 115 different languages.
Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈɡrêːta ˈtʉ̂ːnbærj] ; born 3 January 2003) is a Swedish environmental activist known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change mitigation.Thunberg's climate activism began when she persuaded her parents to adopt lifestyle choices that reduced her family's carbon footprint. At age 15, Thunberg began skipping school on 20 August 2018, vowing to remain out of school until after the national Swedish election in an attempt to influence the outcome. She protested outside the Swedish parliament where she called for stronger action on climate change by holding up a Skolstrejk för klimatet (School Strike for Climate) sign and handing out informational flyers. After the election, Thunberg spoke in front of her supporters, telling them to use their phones to film her. She then said that she would be continuing school striking for the climate every Friday until Sweden was in compliance with the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Thunberg's youth and blunt speaking manner fueled her rise to the status of a global icon.Shortly after Thunberg's first school strike for the climate protest, other students engaged in similar protests in their communities. They then united and organized the school strike for climate movement under the banner of Fridays for Future. After Thunberg addressed the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference, weekly student climate strike protests took place on Fridays around the world. In 2019, multiple coordinated multi-city protests involved over a million students each. To avoid carbon-intensive flying, Thunberg sailed on a carbon-free yacht from Plymouth, England, to New York City where she attended and addressed the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit. In her speech, Thunberg scolded the world's leaders by exclaiming "How dare you" in reference to their perceived indifference and inaction to the climate crisis. Her admonishment made worldwide headlines.Thunberg's rise to world fame made her an ad hoc leader in the climate activist community. She also faced heavy criticism, much of it mocking her as a naïve teenager. Thunberg's influence on the world stage has been described by The Guardian and other media outlets as the "Greta effect". She has received numerous honours and awards, including an honorary Fellowship of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, inclusion in Time's 100 most influential people, named the youngest Time Person of the Year in 2019, inclusion in the Forbes list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women (2019), and multiple nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize.After Thunberg graduated from high school in June 2023, her protest tactics began to escalate. As an adult, her protests have included defying lawful orders to disperse—and peaceful but defiant confrontations with police—which have led to arrests, convictions, and one acquittal. Thunberg's activism has also evolved to include causes other than climate change, most notably the Israel–Hamas war. Thunberg co-authored an op-ed titled "We won't stop speaking out about Gaza's suffering – there is no climate justice without human rights" wherein she articulated her and Sweden's Fridays for Future's position.
6. Sophie Adlersparre (1823 - 1895)
With an HPI of 52.42, Sophie Adlersparre is the 6th most famous Swedish Social Activist. Her biography has been translated into 24 different languages.
Carin Sophie Adlersparre, known under the pen-name Esselde (born Leijonhufvud; 6 July 1823 – 27 June 1895) was one of the pioneers of the 19th-century women's rights movement in Sweden. She was the founder and editor of the first women's magazine in Scandinavia, Home Review (Tidskrift för hemmet), in 1859–1885; co-founder of Friends of Handicraft (Handarbetets vänner) in 1874–1887; founder of the Fredrika Bremer Association (Fredrika-Bremer-förbundet) in 1884; and one of the first two women to be a member of a state committee in Sweden in 1885.
7. Katarina Taikon (1932 - 1995)
With an HPI of 51.61, Katarina Taikon is the 7th most famous Swedish Social Activist. Her biography has been translated into 26 different languages.
Katarina Taikon-Langhammer (29 July 1932 – 30 December 1995) was a Swedish Romani activist, leader in the civil rights movement, writer and actor, from the Kalderash caste. She was the sister of Rosa Taikon. She has been called the Martin Luther King of Sweden.
8. Gertrud Adelborg (1853 - 1942)
With an HPI of 47.35, Gertrud Adelborg is the 8th most famous Swedish Social Activist. Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.
Gertrud Virginia Adelborg (10 September 1853 – 25 January 1942) was a Swedish teacher, feminist and leading member of the women's rights movement.
9. Ivan Betskoy (1704 - 1795)
With an HPI of 47.01, Ivan Betskoy is the 9th most famous Swedish Social Activist. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Ivan Ivanovich Betskoi or Betskoy (Russian: Ива́н Ива́нович Бе́цкой; 14 February [O.S. 3 February] 1704 – 11 September [O.S. 31 August] 1795) was an educational reformer in the Russian Empire who served as Catherine II's advisor on education and President of the Imperial Academy of Arts for thirty years (1764–94). Perhaps the crowning achievement of his long career was the establishment of Russia's first unified system of public education.
10. Isabelle Axelsson (b. 2001)
With an HPI of 19.88, Isabelle Axelsson is the 10th most famous Swedish Social Activist. Her biography has been translated into 17 different languages.
Isabelle Axelsson (born 14 January 2001) is a Swedish climate activist from Stockholm.
People
Pantheon has 10 people classified as Swedish social activists born between 1390 and 2003. Of these 10, 2 (20.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Swedish social activists include Greta Thunberg, and Isabelle Axelsson. The most famous deceased Swedish social activists include Gustav I of Sweden, Axel Munthe, and Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson. As of April 2024, 2 new Swedish social activists have been added to Pantheon including Ivan Betskoy, and Isabelle Axelsson.
Living Swedish Social Activists
Go to all RankingsDeceased Swedish Social Activists
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Gustav I of Sweden
1496 - 1560
HPI: 74.00
Axel Munthe
1857 - 1949
HPI: 65.08
Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson
1390 - 1436
HPI: 55.88
Joe Hill
1879 - 1915
HPI: 52.95
Sophie Adlersparre
1823 - 1895
HPI: 52.42
Katarina Taikon
1932 - 1995
HPI: 51.61
Gertrud Adelborg
1853 - 1942
HPI: 47.35
Ivan Betskoy
1704 - 1795
HPI: 47.01
Newly Added Swedish Social Activists (2024)
Go to all RankingsOverlapping Lives
Which Social Activists were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 5 most globally memorable Social Activists since 1700.
