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Sweden is a country in northern Europe. Apart from the mainland, there are many islands off the coast, the largest being Gotland.

Sweden is bordered by the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia.

The land is mostly flat with mountains in the west. Parts of Northern Sweden lie within the Arctic Circle.

Like its neighbours Finland and Norway, in the north of the country, in winter, the sun never rises above the horizon for about 2 months. In the south there is about 6 hours of sunlight in mid-winter. Similarly, in the summer, the northern area has continuous daylight for about 2 months of the year. In the south there is an average of 19 hours of daylight

The geographical coordinates for the centre of Sweden, also known as lines of latitude and longitude, are:-
Latitude - 62 00N
Longitude - 15 00E

The capital of Sweden is Stockholm.

Sweden is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy which means that the Head of State is a King (or Queen) but the laws are decided by an elected parliament with a prime minister as head of the government. The present King (2017) is Carl XVI Gustav who came to the throne in 1973. He is 70 years old. His daughter, Victoria, aged 39, is heir to the throne. Sweden is the home of the various Nobel Prizes awarded each year for different achievements.

In elections everyone over the age of 18 can vote.

The currency in Sweden is the krona. Sweden is a member of the European Union, having joined in 1995.

Swedish is the official language.

Check the weather in Stockholm now.

This is the time in Stockholm now

The Swedish flag is blue with a golden, yellow cross, positioned toward the left side of the flag, nearest to the flagpole when the flag is flying. The colours are those of the Swedish coat of arms which is three gold crowns on a blue field.

Hear the National Anthem



These are the anthem words

The words ×

These are the words to the Swedish National Anthem called Thou Ancient, Thou Free. It was adopted in 1893. This is a translation of the words.

If anthem fails to play click here  

Thou ancient, thou free and mountainous North
Thou quiet, thou joyful beauty!
I greet thee, most beautiful land upon earth,
Thy sun, Thy sky and meadows green.
Thy sun, Thy sky and meadows green.

Thou rest upon memories of great olden days,
When honored thy name flew across the world,
I know that thou art and will be as thou were,
Yes, I want to live I want to die in the North
Yes, I want to live I want to die in the North

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The Land
The People
Life and Death
Health, Energy and the Environment
Education and Work
Travel, Communication and the Media

The total land area of Sweden is 410,335 sq kms which is the 4th largest in Europe.

Sweden has lakes, rivers and canals which total 39,960 sq kms.

Sweden has boundaries with 2 countries

• Norway 1,666 kms
• Finland 545 kms

Sweden has a coastline of 3,218 kms which is the 11th longest in Europe.

The highest point in Sweden is Kebnekaise at 2,111 metres.

The pie chart below shows how the land is split between agricultural land (crops and pastures), forests and other, which can be towns, villages, desert or frozen waste called tundra.

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The total population of Sweden is 9.89 million people, making it the 14th largest country in Europe by population.

Of this number 5.0 million are females and 4.89 million are males.

A person from Sweden is called a Swede.

To be a citizen of Sweden, the father must be a citizen of Sweden. If the parents are not married then the mother must be a citizen of Sweden and the father unknown. It is not sufficient to be born in Sweden. You have to live in Sweden for 5 years before you can begin to apply for citizenship.

The largest five cities in Sweden, by population are:-

• Stockholm 1,253,309 people
• Goeteborg 504,084
• Malmoe 261,548
• Uppsala 127,734
• Vasteras 107,194

For each country we will give you a diagram showing the population density. This is the average number of people for each square kilometre. Each little Owlbut is 1 person and the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.



85.8% of the people live in cities or towns.

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The birth rate in Sweden is 12.0 births per 1,000 of population

The death rate in Sweden is 9.4 deaths per 1,000 people.

Check this against the birth rate. If the death rate is higher than the birth rate then the population will decrease unless immigrants arrive in the country.

There are 2.3 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 2.9 deaths of boys.

The median age for females is 42.2 and for males is 40.2. The median age is that age which divides the population exactly in half so there are the same number of people above the median age as below it.

The average age of a woman when she has her first child is 28.9.

The elderly dependency ratio is 31.1. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).

The potential support ratio is 3.2. This is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) per one elderly person (ages 65+). As a population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support the elderly.

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Sweden spends 11.9% of its total income on health care.

There are 3.93 doctors per 1,000 people.

There are 2.7 hospital beds per 1,000 people.

20.6% of the population are estimated as obese.

100% of Swedes have drinking water that is either piped into their home or they have access to a public tap, a protected borehole, well, spring or protected rainwater collection facility.

99.3% of the urban population and 99.6% of the rural population have access to a flushing toilet that is connected to a sewer, a pit latrine (that is a permanent hole in the ground that is looked after) or a composting toilet.

Sweden releases 50.0 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels in the process of producing and consuming energy. This puts it as the 16th highest in Europe.

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Sweden spends 7.7% of its total income on education.

Children usually start school at age 7 in Sweden. Compulsory education is for nine years until age 16 and upper secondary education can continue 19. This may be followed by further education at a university or college.

Generally the school year consists of 3 terms and starts in the middle of August and finishes in the middle of June. There is usually a 2 week break at Christmas, a long weekend at Easter, and a one week break in the middle of each of the first two terms.

We have no figures for the number of people who are able to read and write by the age of 15.

17.9% of all people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work. Among females 17.0% are unemployed while with males 18.8% can't find work.

The total number of people available for work in sweden is 5.28 million.

They work in the following sectors.

• Agriculture includes farming, fishing and forestry work
• Industry includes mining, manufacturing, construction and energy workers
• Services is everything else

6.9% of the workforce are unemployed.

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There are 149 paved airports in Sweden, which is the 4th highest number in Europe.


There are 11,915 kilometres of railways in Sweden, which is the 8th longest in Europe.


There are 135,444 kilometres of roads in Sweden, which means Sweden is in 9th place for the most kilometres of roads in Europe.

There are 6 major national newspapers in Sweden.

There are 12.60 million mobile phone users.

43% of the people have a fixed landline.



8.90 million people have access to the internet at home via any device (computer or mobile).

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