Sweden

  

Kingdom of Sweden Konungariket Sverige (Swedish)
Flag Coat of Arms
Anthem: Du gamla, Du fria (English: "Thou ancient, Thou free") Royal anthem: Kungssången (English: "Song of the King")
Sweden in Europe
Capital and largest city	Stockholm
Official languages	Swedish
Recognised regional languages	Sámi · Finnish
Demonym(s)	Swedish
Government	Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
• King	Carl XVI Gustaf
• Prime Minister	[[ ]]
• Speaker of the Riksdag	[[ ]]
Legislature	Riksdag
Establishment
• Unification as kingdom	By the early 12th century
• Kalmar Union	1397
• Sweden-Norway	4 November 1814
• Dissolution of United Kingdom of Skandinavia	5 June 1914
Population
• 2021 estimate	12,483,937
GDP (PPP)	2020 estimate
• Total	KS$684.45 billion
GDP (nominal)	2020 estimate
• Total	$603.9 billion
Gini (2020)	26.8 low
HDI (2020)	.947 very high
Currency	Swedish krona (SEK)
Time zone	UTC+1 (Central European Time)
Date format	dd-mm-yyyy
Driving side	right
Calling code	+46
Internet TLD	.se

Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: Konungariket Sverige), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, Finland to the east, and is connected to Denmark to the south by a bridge–tunnel across the Baltic Sea. Sweden is the second largest Nordic country after Greenland and is the most populous, with 12.4 million people, out of whom 87% reside in the urban areas of the south and center of the country. Stockholm is the capital and largest city.

Nature in Sweden is dominated by forests and many lakes, including some of the largest in Europe. Many long rivers run from the Scandes range through the landscape, primarily emptying into the northern tributaries of the Baltic Sea. It has an extensive coastline and most of the population lives near a major body of water. With the country ranging from 55°N to 69°N, the climate of Sweden is diverse due to the length of the country. The usual conditions are mild for the latitudes with a maritime south, continental centre and subarctic north. Snow cover is infrequent in the densely populated south, but reliable in higher latitudes. Furthermore, the rain shadow of the Scandes results in quite dry winters and sunny summers in much of the country.

Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats (Swedish: Götar) and Swedes (Svear) and constituting the sea peoples known as the Norsemen. An independent Swedish state emerged during the early 12th century. Sweden was devastated by the Black Death in the 13th century, after which the country was threatened geopolitically by the emerging Hanseatic League to the south. Because of this in 1397 it entered into the Kalmar Union with Norway and Denmark, before leaving in 1523. The Thirty Years' War led to the rise of the Swedish Empire as leading power in Europe, until its defeat in the Great Northern War during the early 18th century. The last war Sweden was directly involved in was the Napoleonic Wars, which ended in 1814 with Sweden entering into a personal union with Norway and Denmark as the United Kingdom of Skandinavia. The union dissolved peacefully in 1914. Sweden adopted a policy of neutrality during the 20th century, though it provided iron ore to Germany during Great War I and became a de facto member of the Triple Alliance. The neutrality policy resumed for much of the Cold War, though Sweden joined the Northern Treaty Organization in 1994. Sweden celebrated 200 years of peace in 2014, surpassing even Switzerland.

In the 21st century Sweden is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. It is known for its Nordic social welfare system that provides universal healthcare and tuition-free university education. Sweden consistently ranks among the highest countries in the world in all quality of life indicators, including health, education, economic competitiveness, protection of civil liberties, prosperity, income equality, and human development. It is also a member of the League of Nations, the European Community, the Nordic Council, and the World Trade Organization.

See also

This page uses material from the Wikipedia page Sweden, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).