Sweden’s per capita death rate is still less than Belgium, UK, Spain, and Italy.
And they didn’t destroy their economy.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
Sweden is perhaps the least well-researched, most nuanced, and most politicized nation in terms of how they handed this pandemic. One of the important elements is that in Sweden, mandates like lockdown etc aren't the domain of the govt but of people like Anders Tegnell: The Swedish constitution prohibits ministerial rule and mandates that the relevant government body, in this case an expert agency – the Public Health Agency – must initiate all actions to prevent the virus in accordance with Swedish law, rendering state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell a central figure in the crisis. The government usually follows agency advice – politicians overruling the advice from its agencies is extremely unusual in Sweden.
Sweden did what they did because a) the "experts" thought this "soft lockdown" worked best for Swedish citizens and its culture, and b) Swedish citizens tend to dutifully follow the direction of "science" (notice how they tend to be greenies and gave us St Greta).
net-net-net, Sweden has seen high numbers of fatalities especially amongst its elderly in proportion to the population, so high that it is in line with NY State (88.5% of Sweden's COVID19 fatalities were of people 70+ while they made up only 12.5% of all SE citizens; in Cuomo-land, these respective percentages are 65.6% and 9.4%). It's economy, which is export-dependent, is sucking wind with its trading partners. But they enjoyed freedom of movement and they didn't have massive protests. Further, Dr Tagnell isn't apologizing or doing an about face - he has repeatedly said they should have done a better job on the elderly but he stands by their "Swedish" approach. To wit: they told Swedes to do this or that, and they followed suit while in America we had vigorous debate about wearing a mask. Sweden is not America and we are not Sweden (thank the Lord).
Sweden should not be some conservative slobberfest nor should it be written off as a bad experiment. Their risk-based soft lockdown (keep schools open, work remotely where you can, avoid crowds of 50+, don't travel, have people 70+ shelter in place) wasn't outlandish. It didn't save their economy (not that that was a goal) and herd immunity is a ways off (though that wasn't a goal either). They built a "sustainable" approach in line with their zeitgeist.
But the same slavish obedience to "science" will mean that if Dr Tegnell is fired or if he steps down because of a changing zeitgeist, and someone like Fauci gets in, they're screwed. At least in America you can move to a better state and open carry protest in Michigan. I always liked McEnroe over Borg.
Belgium I don't know
Belgium's economy is still on track compared to Sweden is about the same level of decline