About Sweden

FAST FACTS

OFFICIAL NAME: Kingdom of Sweden

FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Constitutional monarchy

CAPITAL: Stockholm

AREA: 173,860 square miles (450,295 square kilometers)

POPULATION: 10,040,995

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Swedish

MONEY: Swedish krona

Sweden is located in northern Europe and is part of the Scandinavian region. Half of the nation is covered in lush, vast woods, with over 100,000 lakes dotting the landscape. Through Sweden’s heritage of freedom to public access, the lakes and over 24,000 islands are all open to the public.

Sweden has a length of 977 miles (1,572 kilometers) and is bordered on the west by Norway and on the east by Finland. The Skagerrak, the Kattegat, and the Öresund straits are three waterways that separate Sweden and Denmark.

The “land of the midnight sun” has been coined for Sweden’s Arctic north, where the sun never sets during the summer months. Summer nights in Stockholm, Sweden’s capital, endure barely four hours and the sky does not darken beyond dusk. Winter, on the other hand, lasts until May, with long nights and short days.

Northern Sweden experiences stunning light shows known as the “aurora borealis,” or “northern lights,” in the fall and spring. Collisions of small particles high in the Earth’s atmosphere generate the bright green or red lights that fill the late-night sky.

With a population of less than 10 million inhabitants, Sweden is one of Europe’s most sparsely populated countries. The majority of the population used to reside in the countryside, but as the country became more industrialized in the 1900s, many went to Malmö, Göteborg, and Stockholm.

Sweden developed the welfare system known as “the Swedish model” in the 1930s. All Swedes have access to publicly funded health care, unemployment assistance, childcare, schools, elder care, and at least five weeks of paid vacation every year under their system.

Many endangered animals and birds call ancient forests, broadleaved woodlands, mountains, and wetlands home. Swedes adore the outdoors, and Sweden was the first European country to establish national parks. There are now 29 national parks, as well as numerous environment reserves and wildlife refuges.

Sweden is at the heart of a campaign to conserve the severely endangered arctic fox, which has fewer than 200 individuals left in Europe. Their fur changes from brown to white in the winter to match the snowy surroundings. Brown bears and wolverines, which are related to badgers and otters but not wolves, live in the northern woodlands.

Carolus Linnaeus, or Carl Von Linne, was a well-known Swedish botanist who lived in the 1700s. Linnaeus is credited with inventing the process of naming plants and animals that is still used today. Every living creature has a Latin name made up of two parts. The first half of the name refers to the group, or genus, and the second portion refers to the kind, or species.

Sweden’s king is the country’s head of state. The government is administered by elected people, and King Carl XVI Gustaf’s role is mostly ceremonial. The Riksdag, or Swedish parliament, has 349 members. Members of parliament elect a prime minister, who then names cabinet members.

Sweden is a member of the European Union, although its currency is not the euro. To maintain their individuality, they have preserved their own currency, the Swedish krona. Sweden takes pleasure in the fact that it is a neutral country. Sweden has remained neutral, without fighting for one side or the other, since the mid-nineteenth century and during both World Wars.

Around 10,000 years ago, people first arrived in Sweden. They were hunters and gatherers for thousands of years, and in the first centuries A.D., they exchanged commodities with the Roman Empire. Sweden gets its name from the warlike Svea tribe, which rose to dominance around 500 A.D. Swedes refer to their homeland as Sverige, which translates to “land of the Svea.”

The Svea began raiding along the northern European beaches, earning the name Vikings, which means “pirate” in an old Norse language. Some Swedish Vikings robbed and settled in the territories of the people they attacked. Others grew wealthy through the trade of goods and slaves.

Until 1544, when the parliament modified the rules, Sweden elected kings. The king’s descendants were then given the crown. When King Gustav IV and his allies lost Finland to Napoleon’s allies in 1809, he was compelled to abdicate his throne. Sweden dominated both Finland and Norway during its history.