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Sweden is a Nordic country in the part of Europe called Scandinavia. Its neighbors are Finland and Norway. Sweden is also connected to Denmark in the south by a bridge. It is a developed country and it is famous for it being a welfare state. People who live in Sweden are called Swedish [4].

Sweden's capital city is Stockholm. Sweden is a constitutional monarchy meaning it has both a monarchy and a parliament. Sweden's monarchy is lead by their king Carl XVI Gustaf who has cultural influence over the country. Sweden is a parliamentary state meaning that the government is elected by the parliament which is appointed by the people. The country is democratically ruled by a government headed by an elected prime minister, who currently is Fredrik Reinfeldt [3].

The population of Sweden is 9,723,809 (July 2014 est.) [1].

Sweden has an official majority language, Swedish and five official minority languages: Finnish, Yiddish, Sami, Meänkieli and Romani [1].

Sweden became a member of the European Union in 1995. It is not a member of the European Monetary Union and it has not begun to use the euro as currency due to citizens voting against joining the European Monetary Union. The currency remains the Swedish krona (Swedish crown) [1].

Sweden has 25 provinces, found in 3 different regions: Norrland in the North, Svealand, the central region, and Götaland in the South [2].

Geography
At 450,295 sq km, Sweden is the 56th largest country in the world, and the third-largest country in the European Union. Sweden is separated in the west from Norway by a range of mountains and shares the Gulf of Bothnia to the north of the Baltic Sea with Finland. The southern part of the country is chiefly agricultural, with forests covering an increasing percentage of the land the further north one goes. Population density is also higher in southern Sweden, with many people living in the valley of Lake Mälaren and the Öresund region [1].

The country can be divided into three major regions: Götaland in the south, Svealand in the middle and Norrland in the north.

Sweden is then divided into twenty-one counties. They are Stockholm, Uppsala, Södermanland, Östergötland, Jönköping, Kronoberg, Kalmar, Gotland, Blekinge, Skåne, Halland, Västra Götaland, Värmland, Örebro, Västmanland, Dalarna, Gävleborg, Västernorrland, Jämtland, Västerbotten and Norrbotten [1].

In a land as varied as Sweden, seasons can be quite different depending on where you live. In Götaland, where you’ll find the cities Gothenburg and Malmö, winters are shorter and milder, while daytime summer temperatures normally range from 15 to 25 degrees Celsius. The air is relatively humid, making warm days feel warmer and cold days colder. However, even in winter months, snow is rare near any southern coast [2].

Stretching from Stockholm in the east to southern Norway in the west, Svealand has a climate that is normally a few degrees cooler than that of Götaland. Average temperatures are just below zero in January, and snowfall is more common – especially in the northwest, where a number of popular ski resorts are located [2].

Although relatively few people live here, Norrland has the climate many people associate with all of Sweden. Winters here are long, cold and dry, with sub-zero temperatures lasting several months; there is also much more snow. Summers may be short, but temperatures are often a comfortable 15 degrees, with occasional peaks of up to 30 degrees [2].

Demographics
The population of Sweden is 9,723,809 (July 2014 est.) [1], and 85% of Swedes live in cities and 97% of Sweden is actually uninhabited[2]. Sweden has an official majority language, Swedish and five official minority languages: Finnish, Yiddish, Sami, Meänkieli and Romani.

In 2010 only about a third of the population were married, mainly because many couples in Sweden live together without being married. Due to the average number of kids per family being 2 [2], the population growth in Sweden moves very slowly, specifically 0.79% each year [1]. Working parents in Sweden are entitled to stay at home for 480 days with each child, this includes both, individually, husband and wife. Culturally, it would be abnormal for a parent not to take a at least half a year off work for either husband or wife, all depending on the job, and considering that gender equality is so firmly rooted in Swedish society, gender plays no role in parental leave after birth.

Economy
The Swedish economy is performing well in comparison with other Western nations. Before, the country’s economy was sometimes dismissed as ‘socialist’, but now it is held up as an example of "capitalism done right" [2]. Sweden has among the EU’s lowest levels of national debt, low and stable inflation and a healthy banking system. But this wasn’t always the case.

The Swedish economy used to suffer from low growth and high inflation, and the Swedish krona was repeatedly devalued. Sweden was also hit by a deep financial crisis in the early 1990s. Banks became unstable and two were nationalised, unemployment rose rapidly, government spending got out of control, and so did Sweden’s national debt.

Since the crisis of the 1990s, successive Swedish governments have been balancing the budget for over a decade, and have continued to do so even in the wake of the 2007–2008 global financial crisis. Sweden reinvented its economic governance with a series of innovative regulations. First, in 1996 a ceiling for government expenditures was introduced. This was accompanied by the addition of the ‘surplus goal’ for the government budget. These reforms have met with broad support from across the political spectrum in Sweden. They help ensure that high debt doesn’t accumulate and that debt isn’t passed on to future generations [2].

Sweden today has a diverse, highly competitive and successful economy. The World Economic Forum ranks Sweden the sixth most competitive country in the world. Sweden is also the sixth easiest country in the world to trade with according to the World Bank [1]. In addition to maintaining competitiveness in goods and manufacturing, growth in modern service sectors such as information and communication technology has been strong in Sweden. Internet calling service Skype and online music streaming service Spotify are two examples [2].

Sweden exports cars, engineering products, electronic devices, communications equipment, iron and steel, precision equipment (bearings, radio and telephone parts, armaments), wood pulp and paper products, processed foods [1]. Some agriculture products that Sweden produces are barley, wheat, sugar beets; meat, milk [1].

Government
In Sweden, general elections are held every four years, with the next one due in September 2014. Around 7 million people are entitled to vote and thereby influence which political party will represent them in the the Swedish Parliament, county councils and municipalities [2].

Parliment
The Parliament, called Riksdag, makes the decisions and the Government implements them. The Government also submits proposals for new laws or law amendments to the Riksdag [2].

The 349-member Riksdag is Sweden’s primary representative forum. The entire Riksdag is chosen by direct elections based on suffrage for all Swedish citizens aged 18 or over who are, or previously have been, residents of Sweden. Since 1971, Sweden has had a unicameral (one-chamber) Riksdag.[6]

General elections to the Riksdag are held on the third Sunday of September every four years. Eligibility to serve in the Riksdag requires Swedish citizenship and the attainment of voting age. All elections employ the principle of proportional representation, to ensure that seats are distributed among the political parties in proportion to the votes cast for them across the country as a whole.[6]

The Government governs the country but is accountable to the Riksdag. The Riksdag appoints a Prime Minister, who is tasked with forming a Government[2]. The Prime Minister personally chooses the ministers to make up the Cabinet and also decides which ministers will be in charge of the various ministries. Together, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet ministers form the Government. Under the Constitution, the Government –not the head of state (the monarch) – is empowered to make governmental decisions.[6]

The Government rules Sweden by implementing the decisions of the Riksdag and by formulating new laws or law amendments, on which the Riksdag decides[6].

Monarchy
As head of state, the king, currently Carl Gustaf, is Sweden’s foremost unifying symbol, apolitical and without formal powers, based on the new constitution approved in 1974. The king’s duties are mainly of a ceremonial and representative nature [5].

King Carl Gustaf has a strong environmental commitment and is a recognized authority on environmental issues [5].

Among other things, he has received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Award. The king is likewise deeply committed to the preservation of Sweden’s cultural heritage and considers it important, for example, that the royal palaces be open to the public in order to show their collections and parks [5].

King Carl Gustaf is an active monarch and keeps up to date on current affairs and the Swedish business sector. In addition to two or three state visits abroad each year, he takes part in international trips organized by the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences and the World Scout Foundation. Under the collective label ‘Royal Colloquium’, the king also organizes high-level seminars on various themes in collaboration with Swedish scientists [5].

Military
Sweden has not participated in any war for almost two centuries. An armed neutrality was preserved in both world wars, and did not take sides during either wars. During World War II, it sold supplies to both the British and the Germans in order to protect its neutrality [1].

Religion
Sweden is one of the world's least religious countries. 46-85% of all people in Sweden are agnostics or atheists. About 6.4 million people in Sweden, that is 67% of all, are members of the Church of Sweden, but only 2% of members go to church often [1].

Popular Culture
561 Nobel Prize winners were from Sweden [2].

Sports
Sweden has won 625 Olympic medals [2]. The most popular sports in Sweden are Hockey and Soccer. 20% of the National Hockey League's players are from Sweden, and Sweden has contended for the Olympic National Hockey finals or semi-finals for 4 straight tournaments.

Music
‘Our well-developed social system makes it possible for people to create music even though they do not have a lot of income’, says Daniel Johansson, music industry researcher at Linnaeus University and founder of music analysis firm TrendMaze.The government, through the Swedish Arts Council, funds those in the early stages of their careers by allocating roughly SEK 1 billion (USD 151 million, EUR 116 million) in the form of grants to performing arts every year [2].

Swedish songwriters lie behind many chart-topping pop songs today. There’s songwriter and producer Max Martin, who has penned catchy pop tunes for Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Pink, Usher, Backstreet Boys, and ‘N Sync. There’s producer Shellback, who topped Billboard’s 2012 chart as the #1 producer and has written for Maroon 5. And there is RedOne, who has written for Nicki Minaj, Lady Gaga, Pitbull, and One Direction [2].

Swedish music is in many minds synonymous with the '70s pop group ABBA [1].

Film
Swedes played a pioneering role of the early days of cinema. Leading the way were Mauritz Stiller and Victor Sjöström. Later on, directors like Ingmar Bergman and actresses such as Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman and Anita Ekberg made careers abroad [2].