[stevoo]

It is not as clear cut as this. Massachusetts has a population of 6.7M and 7152 deaths. Sweden has a pop. of 10M with 3K deaths.

Massachusetts is approximately 20,306 sq km, while Sweden is approximately 450,295 sq km, making Sweden 2,118% larger than Massachusetts.

So the 10M residents of Sweden are much more spread than in MA. Also MA was late in how they have dealt with Covid and the number of cases was progressing much faster.

[nradov]

It's not that simple. Population density numbers don't tell us anything useful at the national level. Most Swedes are clustered into a few urban areas.

[anthonypasq]

ok then look at the stats in Stockholm

[kwhitefoot]

> the 10M residents of Sweden are much more spread than in MA.

Probably not. Swedes are a fairly urban people, many living in blocks of flats in cities.

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about Stockholm:

    Population (31 December 2019)[3][4][5]
     • Capital city 975,904
     • Density 5,200/km2 (13,000/sq mi)
     • Urban[6] 1,605,030
     • Urban density 4,200/km2 (11,000/sq mi)
     • Metro 2,377,081
     • Metro density 360/km2 (940/sq mi)

And here is Boston:

    Population (2019)[2][3][4][5][6]
     • City 692,600
     • Density 14,344/sq mi (5,538/km2)
     • Urban 4,180,000 (US: 10th)
     • Metro 4,628,910 (US: 10th)[1]

So Sweden might be twenty times the size but the urban population density is not so wildly different.