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Entry Year in EU: |
1995 |
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Seats: |
19 |
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Seats Percentage of EU: |
2.6 |
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Votes: |
10 |
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Votes Percentage
of EU: |
3.1 |
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Population: |
8.9 |
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Population Percentage of EU: |
2 |
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Area: |
449964 |
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Area Percentage
of EU: |
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Density: |
20 |
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Budget Contribution: |
2832862800 |
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Budget Contribution of EU: |
2.69 |
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GDP: |
279733 |
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GDP Capita: |
30751 |
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GDP Nominal: |
38776 |
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Sweden
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The Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: Konungariket Sverige (help·info)) is a Nordic country in Scandinavia, in Northern Europe. It is bordered by Norway in the west, Finland in the northeast, the Skagerrak Strait and the Kattegat Strait in the southwest, and the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia in the east. Sweden has a low population density except in its metropolitan areas, with most of the inland consisting of forests and mountainous wilderness. Natural resources of water, timber, and iron ore have made Sweden highly prosperous. Its citizens enjoy an extremely high standard of living in a country that is universally perceived as clean, modern, and liberal.
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History
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Soon after the recession of the last ice age, Sweden became populated by hunters and gatherers, during the Stone Age (6000 BC – 4000 BC). The region developed rather slowly compared to southern Europe; while the Romans wrote poetry, Scandinavia had just entered the Iron Age.
Sweden was first mentioned in the 1st century, by Roman historian Tacitus, who wrote that the Suiones tribe lived out in the sea and were powerful in both arms and ships. This referred to the inhabitants of eastern Sweden: Svealand, primarily around lake Mälaren; Sigtuna, and Birka. From this tribe, Sweden derived its name (see Etymology of Sweden). The southern parts, on the other hand, were inhabited by Geats (Götar) in the Götaland territory. Little is known for certain about that time, but chronicles based on Norse sagas and the Beowulf epos go back about 2,000 years.
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Geography
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Sweden enjoys a mostly temperate climate despite its northern latitude, mainly due to the Gulf Stream. In the south of Sweden leaf-bearing trees are prolific, in the north pines, spruces and hardy birches dominate the landscape. In the mountains of northern Sweden a sub-Arctic climate predominates. North of the Arctic Circle, the sun never sets for part of each summer, and in the winter, night is unending for a corresponding period. The country is similar in size to the U.S. state of California, and has nearly the same population as the Californian city of Los Angeles.
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Counties
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Sweden is divided into 21 counties or län. They are Stockholm County, Uppsala County, Södermanland County, Östergötland County, Jönköping County, Kronoberg County, Kalmar County, Gotland County, Blekinge County, Skåne County, Halland County, Västra Götaland County, Värmland County, Örebro County, Västmanland County, Dalarna County, Gävleborg County, Västernorrland County, Jämtland County, Västerbotten County and Norrbotten County.
Each has a County Administrative Board or länsstyrelse which is appointed by the Government. In each county there is also a separate County Council or landsting, which is the municipal representation appointed by the county electorate. Each county further divides into a number of municipalities or kommuner, making a total of 290 municipalities, in 2004. There are also older historical divisions of Sweden, primarily into the 25 provinces and three lands. These divisions are still significant.
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Demographics
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Sweden has one of the world's highest life expectancies. As of approximately August 12, 2004, the total population of Sweden for the first time exceeded 9,000,000, according to the SCB. As of February 2006, the population was 9,060,430[3]. About 86.7% of the population is ethnically Swedish. The largest non-ethnically Swedish groupds are the Finns, who make up about 2% of the population. Other large ethnical groups are Scandinavian countries; former Yugoslavia, and the Middle East. An additional group that has a strong say based on tradition is the indigenous Sami people, living in northern Sweden and amounting to circa 17,000.
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Language
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Swedish is a Germanic language, related to Danish and Norwegian, but differing in pronunciation and orthography. Sweden has no official language but the Swedish language holds a de facto status as such. The dominant language has always been Swedish and there has never been a political issue about making it an official language. However, with the recognition of five minority languages of Sweden (being Finnish, Meänkieli, Sami, Romani and Yiddish) on April 1, 2000, the issue of whether Swedish should be declared the official language was raised. |
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Politics
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The Swedish Social Democratic Party has played a leading political role since 1917, after Reformists had confirmed their strength and the revolutionaries left the party. After 1932, the Cabinets have been dominated by the Social Democrats. Only three general elections (1976,1979 and 1991) have given the centre-right bloc enough seats in Parliament to form a government. It is considered the reason for the Swedish post-war welfare state, with a government expenditure of slightly more than 50% of the gross domestic product.
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Energy politics
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After the 1973 oil crisis, the energy politics were determined to become less dependent on the import of petroleum. Since then, electricity has been generated mostly from hydropower and nuclear power. Sweden wants to be independent of petroleum use by 2020. Accidents at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station (USA) prompted the Swedish parliament in 1980 after a referendum to decide that no further nuclear power plants should be built and that a nuclear power phase-out should be completed by 2010. As of 2005, the use of renewables amounted to 26% of the energy supply in Sweden, most important being hydropower and biomass. In 2003, electricity from hydropower accounted for 53 TWh and 40% of the country's production of electricity with nuclear power delivering 65 TWh (49%). At the same time, the use of biofuels, peat etc. produced 13 TWh of electricity |
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Foreign Policy
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Throughout the 20th century, Swedish foreign policy was based on the principle of non-alignment in peacetime, neutrality in wartime.
During Cold War era politics, Sweden was not under the Warsaw Pact and received only minimal aid from the Marshall Plan. Sweden was also known to be the first western nation to detect unusually high radiation levels in the atmosphere, which later was confirmed to have been the residual nuclear fallout from the Chernobyl accident. However, a Swedish DC-3 was shot down over the Baltic sea. Later investigations revealed that the plane was actually gathering information for the NATO. Another plane, a Catalina search and rescue craft, was sent out a few days later and shot down by the Soviets as well.
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Economy
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The standard of living has become markedly high under Sweden's social democratic system. The economy features a modern distribution system, excellent internal and external communications, and a skilled labour force. Timber, hydropower, and iron ore constitute the resource base of an economy heavily oriented toward foreign trade.
The engineering sector accounts for 50% of output and exports. The public and the trade unions controlled pension funds, non-profit organizations and the reserve funds of the trade-unions owns more than 50% of Sweden capital. 80% of the workforce is organized through the trade-unions. The public sector accounts for 53% of the GDP. Trade unions have the right to elect two representatives to the board in all Swedish companies with more than 25 employees. Agriculture accounts for only 2% of GDP and 2% of the jobs.
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Education
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As part of its social welfare system, Sweden provides an extensive childcare system that guarantees a place for all young children from 1-5 years old in a public day-care facility. Between ages 6-16, children attend compulsory comprehensive school. After completing the ninth grade, 90% continue with a three year upper secondary school leading sometimes to a vocational diploma and always to the qualifications for further studies at a university or university college (högskola).
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Culture
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Swedish authors of worldwide recognition include Henning Mankell, Carolus Linnaeus (the father of botany), Emanuel Swedenborg, August Strindberg, Selma Lagerlöf, Vilhelm Moberg, Harry Martinson and Astrid Lindgren, the author of the beloved Pippi Longstocking books.
Sweden's most well-known artists are painters Carl Larsson, Anders Zorn, and Alexander Roslin, and the sculptors Tobias Sergel and Carl Milles.
Many well-known inventions and discoveries, historical and modern, were made by Swedes. Some notable figures are Alfred Nobel, Anders Celsius, Baltzar von Platen, Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Jöns Jakob Berzelius, John Ericsson, Anders Jonas Ångström, Lars Magnus Ericsson, Svante Arrhenius, Arvid Carlsson, Håkan Lans.
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Religion
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Before the 11th century, people of Sweden adhered to Norse religion, worshipping Æsir gods, with its centre at the Temple in Uppsala. With Christianisation in the 11th century, the laws of the country were changed, forbidding worship of other deities.
After the Protestant Reformation in the 1530s the Church and State were united, abolishing the authority of the Roman Catholic bishops, and in the long run allowed only Lutheranism to prevail. This process was not completed until the Uppsala Synod 1593. During the era following the Reformation, usually known as the period of Lutheran Orthodoxy, in the 17th century, small groups of non-Lutherans, especially Calvinist Dutchmen and Walloons who played a significant role in trade and industry, were quietly tolerated as long as they kept a low religious profile. The Sami originally had their own shamanistic religion, but they were converted to Lutheranism by Swedish missionaries in the 17th and 18th centuries.
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