Sweden

Sweden

The Largest Cities

Greater Stockholm	1,762,800 (2004)
	1,600,000 (2002)
Göteborg	479,300 (2004)
	474,300 (2002)
Malmö	268,200 (2004)
	265,000 (2002)
Uppsala	181,000 (2004)
	190,400 (2002)

 

The Country

Sweden is characterized by a variety of landscapes and landforms due to the distance between the northern parts and the southern tip. In the southernmost part of the country are productive arable lands situated. Other productive areas are found around the lakes Mälaren, Vättern and Vänern. A large proportion of the country is covered by forests. In the northern part the mountains reaches an altitude of more than 2,000 m.a.s.l.

Sweden is rich in lakes and counts almost 100,000 of them. In total the lakes cover about 8.5% of the country.

The two large islands of the Baltic Sea, Gotland and Öland, have a special culture. The islands also have a bedrock rich in chalk and host an unusual fauna and flora. The Stockholm archipelago counts about 70,000 islands, and is the largest in the world

 

Population

Of the 9 million inhabitants 84% are urban, a large proportion living in the more densely populated south, and a mere 2-4 inhabitants per km² in the northern parts.

Immigrants accounts for 8% of the population with immigrants from Finland, Norway and Denmark as the largest immigrant groups. Since the 1970:ies important immigration are caused by labor market demands and refugees from mostly southern Europe and South America.

Sweden has an aging population with the worlds largest percentage of old people (18% over 65 years of age). The population is today constant with some 10% both in fertility and mortality rates.

 

Economy

The yearly per capita turnover is 26,000 USD. A large part, 65%, of this is found in the service sector with both private and public services.

The workforce is about 4.3 million. At present (2002) the unemployment rate is about 4%

About 30% of the produced goods are exported. The export is today increasing.

 

Energy

Sweden is has a large dependence on electricity. Heating and traffic are the largest needs. Hydroelectric power is generated from the large rivers in the north producing about 60% of the used electrical energy. The remaining 40% of the electrical energy is produced by 11 nuclear reactors, which give Sweden the largest dependence on nuclear energy in the world. A 1982 political decision has determined that the nuclear power should be phased out by the year 2010. The first reactor, Barsebäck, has been discontinued.

Read more:

CIA Factbook: Sweden
GeoHive: Sweden
Wikipedia: Sweden