---
title: "Sweden: In Case of Crisis or War (MSB, 2024)"
id: "9203"
type: "page"
slug: "sweden-in-case-of-crisis-or-war"
published_at: "2026-08-03T17:13:05+00:00"
modified_at: "2026-08-03T17:14:07+00:00"
url: "https://theresistancehub.com/sweden-in-case-of-crisis-or-war/"
markdown_url: "https://theresistancehub.com/sweden-in-case-of-crisis-or-war.md"
excerpt: "In case of crisis or war is the civil defence brochure the Swedish government sent to every household in Sweden in November 2024. It runs to 32 pages, it is addressed to residents rather than to officials, and it states..."
---

# Sweden: In Case of Crisis or War (MSB, 2024)

**In case of crisis or war** is the civil defence brochure the Swedish government sent to every household in Sweden in November 2024. It runs to 32 pages, it is addressed to residents rather than to officials, and it states plainly what the sirens mean, where to shelter, what to keep at home and what is expected of you if the country goes to a heightened state of alert. The Resistance Hub hosts the English edition in full.

// Document Record

| Full title | In case of crisis or war |
| --- | --- |
| Cover line | Important information to all residents of Sweden |
| Publishing body | Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) |
| Publication no. | MSB2400 |
| Edition | None declared on the document |
| Date | November 2024 |
| ISBN | 978-91-7927-529-7 |
| Pages | 32 |
| Language | English |
| Illustrations | Patrik Berg |
| Rights | No rights notice printed on the document. The nearest statement is an availability note listing the languages and formats in which the brochure may be ordered or downloaded. |
| Hosted file | PDF, 3.6 MB |

## What this document is

The brochure prints its own commission on the inside cover: “This brochure is distributed to every household in Sweden on behalf of the Swedish government. The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) is responsible for the content.” That line sets both its reach and its register. It is not an advisory pamphlet issued to an interested public. It is a mass mailing, written to be read once and then kept, and it says so: “Keep this brochure in a safe place.”

The opening address is direct about why it exists. It names armed conflict in the region, terrorism, cyber attacks and disinformation campaigns, and then prints the sentence the rest of the document rests on: “If Sweden is attacked, we will never surrender. Any suggestion to the contrary is false.” That is a psychological defence instruction in the form of a policy statement. It tells the reader in advance what a capitulation rumour will look like, so that it can be identified as a rumour when it arrives.

The practical core is a one week standard. Households are asked to manage on their own for at least a week, and the home preparedness chapter is built around water, heat, communication, food, means of payment, sanitation and a short catch-all list. The water figure is three litres per person per day. The food list is unusually concrete for a government brochure, naming crispbread, tinned fish, cheese in a tube, blueberry and rosehip soup and infant formula, which is the mark of a document written to be acted on rather than filed.

Roughly a third of the text is armed-conflict material. Four siren signals are defined and each carries its own instruction. Total defence duty is explained: it binds everyone living in Sweden, citizen or foreign national, from the year they turn 16 until the end of the year they turn 70. Places to shelter during an air raid are ranked from a pit or ditch up to a purpose-built civil defence shelter, shelters are stated to be required back in service within 48 hours of a heightened state of alert, and nuclear, chemical and biological attack are handled under the same instruction as an air raid.

The remainder is the standard civil-protection repertoire, done briskly and without padding: psychological defence, digital security, terror attacks under Run, Hide, Tell, how to stop severe bleeding, extreme weather, pathogens, readers who need special assistance, pets, managing your own anxiety, and how to talk to children about crises and war. Four national telephone numbers and four websites close the brochure, and the four siren patterns are reprinted on the back cover so they can be found without opening it.

## The four siren signals, as printed

// Outdoor warning system

| Public Service Announcement | Sounds for 7 seconds, then 14 seconds of silence, repeated for 2 minutes. Go indoors, close windows and doors, switch off ventilation if you can, and listen to Sveriges Radio P4. |
| --- | --- |
| Emergency alarm | Sounds for 30 seconds, then 15 seconds of silence, repeated for 5 minutes. The entire country is at the highest state of alert. Go indoors and listen to P4. Anyone with a wartime posting proceeds to it immediately. |
| Air raid warning | Short bursts sounding for 1 minute. Take cover immediately in the nearest civil defence shelter, cellar or other protective structure. |
| All clear | One long uninterrupted siren lasting 30 seconds. You may leave the shelter, and should help anyone injured or trapped. |

The outdoor system is tested at 15:00 on the first Monday that is not a public holiday in March, June, September and December.

## Contents

// Contents as printed, with page numbers

- In uncertain times, it is important to be prepared (5)
- Together we make Sweden stronger (6)
- Swedish defence (7)
- Heightened state of alert (8)
- Total defence duty (9)
- Warning systems (10)
- Seeking shelter during an air raid (12)
- Home preparedness (15)
- Evacuation (19)
- Civil defence shelter (20)
- Psychological defence (22)
- Digital security (23)
- Terror attacks (24)
- How to stop bleeding (25)
- Extreme weather events (26)
- Pathogens (27)
- If you require special assistance (28)
- If you have pets (29)
- If you are worried (30)
- Talking to children about crises and war (30)
- Important phone numbers and more information (31 to 32)

## Provenance and lineage

MSB is named on the document as the body responsible for the content, and the distribution is stated to have been carried out on behalf of the Swedish government. The brochure may be ordered in Swedish, Easy Swedish and English, downloaded in a range of further languages, and obtained in Swedish sign language, audio format and braille. Illustrations are credited to Patrik Berg. The publication number MSB2400 and the ISBN 978-91-7927-529-7 both appear on the imprint page.

One point of catalogue confusion is worth settling. The 2018 edition of this brochure circulated in English as *If Crisis or War Comes*. The file hosted here is the November 2024 edition and its printed title is *In case of crisis or war*. Any listing that gives the older English title against this file is describing a different edition, not a variant translation of the same one.

A second point concerns the agency name. The document prints MSB, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, and that is how it should be cited. MSB’s own web page for the brochure now redirects to mcf.se, where the body presents itself in English as the Swedish Civil Defence and Resilience Agency and describes itself as the former MSB. The renaming postdates the document. The citation follows the document.

No rights notice is printed anywhere in the file. That is an observation about the brochure’s front matter and imprint page, and nothing more. It is not a claim that the work is in the public domain, and it grants nothing. The nearest thing to a rights statement the brochure carries is the note describing the languages and formats in which it can be obtained.

## How The Resistance Hub uses it

Sweden’s brochure is the reference case in our coverage of small-state total defence, because it is the one document in the set that combines a universal household mailing with an explicit wartime instruction set. It is indexed alongside the other national civil-defence publications on [National Preparedness Guides](/global-resilience-guides/)
, and its one week self-sufficiency standard is the benchmark we use in [Scenario Planning for Emergencies](/planning-for-the-worst/)
 and in the household supply work on [Physical Resilience Preparedness](/physical-resilience/)
.

Its psychological defence chapter is the practical counterpart to our analysis in [Psychological Resilience: Small Nations](/psychological-resilience-of-small-nations/)
, and the total defence duty section is the clearest single illustration of the argument set out in [Small States’ Total Defense Strategy](/what-large-states-can-learn-from-small-states-total-defense-strategies/)
. Readers comparing Nordic and Baltic postures should read it against [Baltic States Power Grid Disconnection](/disconnected-from-russias-power-grid/)
, which covers the infrastructure side of the same problem.

## Download

// Download

The English edition as issued, 32 pages, hosted unmodified by The Resistance Hub.

[Download the PDF (3.6 MB) →](https://theresistancehub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Europe-Sweeden-Preparedness-Guide-English.pdf)
The publisher’s own download and order page is the preferred citation target and carries the brochure in further languages and formats: [Download or order the brochure In case of crisis or war](https://www.mcf.se/en/advice-for-individuals/the-brochure-in-case-of-crisis-or-war/download-and-order-the-brochure-in-case-of-crisis-or-war)
.

// Sources and Editorial Record

- *In case of crisis or war*, Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB), publication MSB2400, November 2024, ISBN 978-91-7927-529-7. Read in full for this page; every quotation above is taken from the document.
- Swedish Civil Defence and Resilience Agency, download and order page for the brochure. Checked 3 August 2026.
- The Resistance Hub hosted-file provenance record for the national preparedness guides, 2 August 2026.

Updated: August 2026

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