If you’re planning on visiting Sweden soon, it is important to know a few interesting things before visiting. Here are some facts about Sweden to get you started.
Geography
Sweden is a country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in northern Europe. To the west of Sweden is Norway in the Kolen Mountain range. To the northeast is Finland and to the east and to the south are the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia respectively.
Sweden has hundreds of mountains, rolling hills, streams, and lakes and there are a lot of snow-covered mountains, and forests in northern Sweden. The smaller forests, mountains, hills, rivers and lakes are found in central Sweden while the large lakes and flat grasslands are found in southern Sweden.
Climate
The spring, summer, fall, and winter are the four seasons in Sweden. Each of these seasons come with their different weather conditions. The spring season starts between March and April and ends in May. Summer begins from June to August, the fall season is from September to October or November while winter is experienced from November and December to February or March.
Capital and other major cities
Stockholm is the capital of Sweden and its largest city. It is located on the southeastern coast and is the most expensive city to live in Sweden. The second-largest city in Sweden is Gothenburg, it’s located on the west coast. Malmö is the third-largest city in Sweden and it is located in the south. Malmö is home to many large biotech and technology companies, and is therefore known as the economic center of southern Sweden.
Population
Most people in Sweden live in cities and urban areas with a total population of 9.9 million people. About 1.5 million people live in Stockholm which is the largest city in Sweden and over 500,000 people in Gothenburg, the second largest city.
Government
Sweden is a country with a democratic form of government, which is a parliamentary democracy where the parliament and choice of a prime minister are controlled by the political party with the most support of the people.
The political parties of the Sweden government are grouped into the right and the left. The right consists of the Moderate Party, the Centre Party, the Christian Democrats, and the Liberal Party while the left has the Social Democrats, which are the Left Party and the Green Party.
Language
Swedish is the official language in Sweden. However, Meänkieli, Yiddish, Finnish Romani, and Sami, are some of the country’s recognized minority languages. English and German is also very well spoken by some people.
Religion
Since 2000, there has been no recognized religion in Sweden because of the separation of the state and church. The Lutheran Christian religious community known as the Church of Sweden, or “Svenska kyrkan” is the largest and traditional religion for 87% of the population.
The Muslim community (5%) is the second-largest community. Others include various Orthodox branches, Baptist, Roman Catholicism and Judaism. However, Sweden is the least religious country in the world, only 19% of Swedes say that they are religious. Most Swedes only engage in religious ceremonies during major holidays like marriages, funerals and Christmas.
