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Travel to Sweden — Unbiased reviews and
great deals from TripAdvisorSweden
| Kingdom of Sweden National
name: Konungariket Sverige Sovereign: King Carl XVI Gustaf
(1973) Prime Minister: Fredrik
Reinfeldt (2006)
Current government officials
Land area: 158,927 sq mi (411,621 sq km);
total area: 173,731 sq mi (449,964 sq km) Population (2007 est.): 9,031,088 (growth
rate: 0.2%); birth rate: 10.2/1000; infant mortality rate: 2.8/1000;
life expectancy: 80.6; density per sq mi: 57
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Stockholm, 1,622,300 (metro. area), 1,251,900
(city proper) Other large cities:
Göteborg, 506,600; Malmö, 245,300; Uppsala, 127,300 Monetary unit: Krona
Language:
Swedish, small Sami- and Finnish-speaking
minorities
Ethnicity/race:
indigenous population: Swedes with Finnish and
Sami minorities; foreign-born or first-generation immigrants: Finns,
Yugoslavs, Danes, Norwegians, Greeks, Turks
Religions:
Lutheran 87%, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Baptist,
Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist Literacy
rate: 99% (2003 est.) Economic
summary: GDP/PPP (2007 est.): $300.2 billion; per capita
$41,100. Real growth rate: 3.1%. Inflation: 0.9%.
Unemployment: 2.5%. Arable land: 6%. Agriculture:
barley, wheat, sugar beets; meat, milk. Labor force: 3.95
million; agriculture 2%, industry 24%, services 74% (2000 est.).
Industries: iron and steel, precision equipment (bearings,
radio and telephone parts, armaments), wood pulp and paper products,
processed foods, motor vehicles. Natural resources: zinc, iron
ore, lead, copper, silver, timber, uranium, hydropower.
Exports: $126.6 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery 35%,
motor vehicles, paper products, pulp and wood, iron and steel
products, chemicals. Imports: $104.4 billion f.o.b. (2005
est.): machinery, petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, motor
vehicles, iron and steel; foodstuffs, clothing. Major trading
partners: U.S., Germany, Norway, UK, Denmark, Finland, France,
Netherlands, Belgium (2004). Communications: Telephones: main lines in
use: 6.017 million (Dec. 1998); mobile cellular: 3.835 million (Oct.
1998). Radio broadcast stations: AM 1, FM 265, shortwave 1
(1998). Radios: 8.25 million (1997). Television broadcast
stations: 169 (plus 1,299 repeaters) (1995). Televisions:
4.6 million (1997). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 29
(2000). Internet users: 6.02 million (2002). Transportation: Railways: total: 11,481 km
(2002). Highways: total: 210,402 km; paved: 166,523 km
(including 1,499 km of expressways); unpaved: 45,879 km (2000).
Waterways: 2,052 km navigable for small steamers and barges.
Ports and harbors: Gavle, Goteborg, Halmstad, Helsingborg,
Hudiksvall, Kalmar, Karlshamn, Malmo, Solvesborg, Stockholm,
Sundsvall. Airports: 245 (2002). International disputes: none.
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
Sweden, which occupies the eastern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula,
is the fourth-largest country in Europe and is one-tenth larger than
California. The country slopes eastward and southward from the
Kjólen Mountains along the Norwegian border, where the peak
elevation is Kebnekaise at 6,965 ft (2,123 m) in Lapland. In the north are
mountains and many lakes. To the south and east are central lowlands and
south of them are fertile areas of forest, valley, and plain. Along
Sweden's rocky coast, chopped up by bays and inlets, are many islands, the
largest of which are Gotland and Öland.
Government
Constitutional monarchy.
History
The earliest historical mention of Sweden is found in Tacitus's
Germania, where reference is made to the powerful king and strong
fleet of the Sviones. In the 11th century, Olaf Sköttkonung became
the first Swedish king to be baptized as a Christian. Around 1400, an
attempt was made to unite Sweden, Norway, and Denmark into one kingdom,
but this led to bitter strife between the Danes and the Swedes. In 1520,
the Danish king Christian II conquered Sweden and in the “Stockholm
Bloodbath” put leading Swedish personages to death. Gustavus Vasa
(1523–1560) broke away from Denmark and fashioned the modern Swedish
state. He also confiscated property from the Roman Catholic Church in
Sweden to pay Sweden's war debts. The king justified his actions on the
basis of Martin Luther's doctrines, which were being accepted nationwide
with royal encouragement. The Lutheran Swedish church was eventually
adopted as the state church.
Sweden played a leading role in the second phase (1630–1635) of
the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). By the Treaty of Westphalia
(1648), Sweden obtained western Pomerania and some neighboring territory
on the Baltic. In 1700, a coalition of Russia, Poland, and Denmark united
against Sweden and by the Peace of Nystad (1721) forced it to relinquish
Livonia, Ingria, Estonia, and parts of Finland. Sweden emerged from the
Napoleonic Wars with the acquisition of Norway from Denmark and with a new
royal dynasty stemming from Marshal Jean Bernadotte of France, who became
King Charles XIV (1818–1844). The artificial union between Sweden
and Norway led to an uneasy relationship, and the union was finally
dissolved in 1905. Sweden maintained a position of neutrality in both
world wars.
An elaborate structure of welfare legislation, imitated by many larger
nations, began with the establishment of old-age pensions in 1911.
Economic prosperity based on its neutralist policy enabled Sweden,
together with Norway, to pioneer in public health, housing, and job
security programs. Forty-four years of Socialist government ended in 1976
with the election of a Conservative coalition headed by Thorbjörn
Fälldin. The Socialists were returned to power in the election of
1982, but Prime Minister Olof Palme, a Socialist, was assassinated by a
gunman on Feb. 28, 1986, leaving Sweden stunned. Palme's Socialist
domestic policies were carried out by his successor, Ingvar Carlsson.
Elections in Sept. 1991 ousted the Social Democrats (Socialists) from
power. The new coalition of four conservative parties pledged to reduce
taxes and the welfare state but not alter Sweden's traditional neutrality.
In Sept. 1994 the Social Democrats emerged again after three years as the
opposition party.
In a 1994 referendum voters approved joining the European Union.
Although supportive of a European monetary union, Sweden decided not to
adopt the euro when it debuted in 1999 and rejected it again
overwhelmingly in a referendum in Sept. 2003.
The Social Democrat Party and its leader, Prime Minister Göran
Persson, easily won reelection in Sept. 2002. The center-left Social
Democrats had run the government for six out of the last seven decades.
That changed when a center-right alliance led by conservative Fredrik
Reinfeldt, leader of the Moderate Party, won the election in Sept.
2006.
In December 2008, admist global economic and financial turmoil, Sweden
cut off a record 175 basis points, reducing the national interest rate to
2%.
See also Encyclopedia: Sweden.
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes:
Sweden
Statistics Sweden www.scb.se/ .
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
More on Sweden from Infoplease:
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