The Swedish government gathers information that helps identify family-owned businesses and enabled us to analyze every business in the economy over a longer period than has heretofore been reported. Using these data, we found that family-owned businesses account for up to one fourth of total employment and one fifth of GDP in Sweden. These shares have increased over time, due in part, to economic policy. We compare our findings with other studies and suggest how Sweden and other governments might make family firm data more readily available for researchers.