Sweden

Kingdom of Sweden Konungariket Sverige
Flag
Motto: (Royal) "För Sverige i tiden"  "For Sweden – With the Times"
Anthem: Du gamla, Du fria Thou ancient, thou free Royal anthem: Kungssången The Song of the King
Location of  Sweden  (dark green) – on the European continent  (green & dark grey) – in the European Union  (green)  —  [Legend]
Capital (and largest city)		Stockholm 59°21′N 18°4′E
Official language(s)		Swedish
Ethnic groups		90.8% Swedes ~3% Finns and Finnish is recognized as a minority language. ~1% other Nordics ~5,2% other (2011)
Demonym		Swedish or Swedes
Government		Constitutional monarchy, Unitary parliamentary representative democracy
-	Monarch	King Carl XVI Gustaf
-	Prime Minister	Fredrik Reinfeldt (M)
-	Speaker of the riksdag	Per Westerberg (M)
Legislature		Riksdag
Consolidation		Middle Ages
Area
-	Total	449,964 km2 (57th) 173,745 sq mi
-	Water (%)	8.7
Population
-	2012 census	9,514,406
-	Density	20.6/km2 (195th) 53.8/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2011 estimate
-	Total	$381.719 billion
-	Per capita	$40,393
GDP (nominal)		2011 estimate
-	Total	$538.237 billion
-	Per capita	$56,956
Gini (2005)		23 (low)
HDI (2010)		0.885 (very high) (9th)
Currency		Swedish krona (SEK)
Time zone		CET (UTC+1)
-	Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Date formats		yyyy-mm-dd
Drives on the		right
Internet TLD		.se
Calling code		46
a. ^  För Sverige – I tiden has been adopted by Carl XVI Gustaf as his personal motto. b. ^  Du gamla, Du fria has never been officially adopted as national anthem, but is so by convention. c. ^  Since 1 July 2009. Five other languages are officially recognized as minority languages. They are: Finnish, Meänkieli, Romani, Sami and Yiddish. The Swedish Sign Language also has a special status. d. ^  As of 2008, 18% of the population had foreign origins (13% if excluding Finns and 9% if also excluding other Scandinavians), with 14% foreign-born and another 4% born in Sweden of two foreign-born parents. e. ^  Since 3 September 1967. f. ^  The .eu domain is also used, as it is shared with other European Union member states. The .nu domain is another commonly used top-level domain ("nu" means "now" in Swedish).

Sweden (Sverige in Swedish) 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 its welfare state.

Sweden's capital city is Stockholm. Sweden is a constitutional monarchy because it has a king, Carl XVI Gustaf. 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.

The population of Sweden is almost 9.5 million people.

Sweden has an official majority language, Swedish (svenska). Sweden has five official minority languages, Finnish, Yiddish, Sami, Meänkieli and Romani.

Sweden became a member of the European Union in 1995. It is not a member of the European Monetary Union when the Swedish people voted no. The currency is the Swedish krona (Swedish crown).

Sweden has 25 provinces (landskap), found in 3 different regions: Norrland in the North, Svealand, the central region, and Götaland in the South.

Military

During many wars, including the Vietnam War and World War II, the country was neutral, meaning it did not take sides. During World War II, it sold supplies to both the British and the Germans in order to protect its neutrality.

Divisions

Sweden is 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.

Religion

Sweden is one of the world's least religious countries. 46-85% of all people in Sweden are agnostics or atheists. This means they do not believe in a god.

Sports

See also: Sweden at the Olympics and Sweden national football team

Sweden is a country with many talents in sport, such as Zlatan Ibrahimović. They have two bronze medals and one silver medal from the World Cup in football (soccer) - 1950, 1958 and 1994. The soccer league in Sweden is called Allsvenskan - with Malmö (Malmoe) as the best team throughout all its years^[source?]. Sweden is also one of the best performing nations in ice hockey together with USA, Canada, Finland, Russia and the Czech Republic. The Hockey league in Sweden is called Elitserien. Sweden has won the 2004 Athens Olympic game in ping-pong. That was Jan-Ove Waldner. He was a world best player in 2004, such as Ma Lin who played against Waldner.

Sweden also has great success in cross country skiing, with a total of 59 medals in the Olympic games.