When I was young, you couldn't start taking driving lessons before 17 years and 9 months, and you couldn't get a license before you were 18. Now it's legal to start taking driving lessons at 16 but you still have to be 18 before you get the license. The only good thing with that is that you can get a long time practice and that you can get your license immediately after your 18th birthday. And since last year, you need to go a special course to be a private teacher for a friend or relative. Before that, you just had to be over the age of 24 and have had a license for at least 6 years yourself, which usually would coincide.
There is one good thing, though: unless you commit a serious traffic crime or a felon, a car license (class "B" in Sweden) is for life. No health controls are necessary to keep it. You will usually have it revoked if exceeding 30kmph/20mph, but you will automatically get a new one just by paying your ticket and sending in a newly taken photo of yourself to the Road Department.