"That’s interesting, because in America, among Scandinavians, we have no poverty, either" --Milton Friedman
http://www.cato.org/blog/swedens-big-welfare-state-superior-...
"The 4.4 million or so Americans with Swedish origins are considerably richer than average Americans, as are other immigrant groups from Scandinavia. If Americans with Swedish ancestry were to form their own country, their per capita GDP would be $56,900, more than $10,000 above the income of the average American. This is also far above Swedish GDP per capita, at $36,600. Swedes living in the USA are thus approximately 53 per cent more wealthy than Swedes (excluding immigrants) in their native country (OECD, 2009; US Census database). It should be noted that those Swedes who migrated to the USA, predominately in the nineteenth century, were anything but the elite. Rather, it was often those escaping poverty and famine. …A Scandinavian economist once said to Milton Friedman, ‘In Scandinavia, we have no poverty’. Milton Friedman replied, ‘That’s interesting, because in America, among Scandinavians, we have no poverty, either’. Indeed, the poverty rate for Americans with Swedish ancestry is only 6.7 per cent: half the US average (US Census)."
Sweden also has considerable inequality, but the lower bound on basic infrastructure is better. If you live in a rural area in the far north and make barely any money, you still generally have solid permanent housing and access to high-quality medical care (this wasn't always the case, but has mostly been achieved as a result of concerted effort). You may have nearly no light in the winter, but there's not much the state can do about the latitude.
Electricity? This is one of the first places I'd look for technology to improve things.