Attefall has a bachelor's degree in political science and economics from Umeå University.

He is the son of the boat builder Konrad Lindström and adopted mother Solveig's Attefall.

Attefall joined KDS in his teens and soon received political assignments.

[3] In the Riksdag, Attefall served as parliamentary group leader of his party from 2002 to 2010 and as chairman of the Committee on Finance from 2006 to 2010.

[5] Attefall married the psychologist Karin Hansson (born 1958) in 1986, later divorced, married for the second time in 1996 to the journalist Cecilia Hjorth Attefall (born 1967),[6] who is chairman of Erikshjälpen and chairman of the senior citizens' committee in Jönköping Municipality.