https://www.bostonherald.com/2022/02/25/moore-in-the-end-sweden-got-it-right-on-covid-restrictions/"The hero of this story is Anders Tegnell, Sweden’s chief epidemiologist. He was Sweden’s Anthony Fauci, but unlike the now-widely discredited Fauci, Tegnell eschewed lockdowns. The international media pilloried him for not following “the science.” At first, it seemed the Swedish live- and-let-live strategy was a miserable failure. Death rates soared higher than in other European nations....
Two years later, Sweden’s COVID-19 death rate is 1,614 per million people — much lower than Britain (2,335) or the U.S. (2,836), which both had much more stringent lockdowns. Sweden appears to have achieved herd immunity much more swiftly and thor- oughly than other nations. Deaths were higher at the start of the pandemic but fell much lower than other lock- down nations in succeeding months."
unfortunately, the author of that piece did not provide any references.
btw - it is my understanding that you can find the same sort of correlation between less stringent lockdowns and better overall death rates during the Spanish Flu pandemic.