55 Amazing Facts about Sweden | Amazing Facts 4U
Land & Geography
- Sweden is officially called the Kingdom of Sweden. By land area, Sweden is the 3rd largest EU country after France and Spain.
- Sweden has a population of about 9.5 million people. The capital and largest city in Sweden is Stockholm where 22% of the Swedish population lives.
- Stockholm is the capital and the largest city in Sweden.
- Sweden shares a land border with its Scandinavian counterparts Finland and Norway and is connected to Denmark by a bridge.
- Low unemployment, a low birth rate, a highly developed welfare system, and one of the world’s longest life expectancies all contribute to modern Sweden having one of the highest standards of living in the world.
- Forests cover over 50% of Sweden, there are also around 100,000 lakes and over 24,000 islands throughout the country. Sweden’s right to public access laws allows these areas to be fully accessible by the public.
- it’s amazing that the sun rises at 3:30 a.m. in the summer. The sunsets at 3:30 p.m. in the winter.
History
- In the 9th century, Rurik the Rus, a Scandinavian Viking, founded the first kingdom in Russia. All subsequent the Tsars of Russia were thus of Swedish Viking descent.
- After French soldier Jean Bernadotte showed kindness to a few Swedish soldiers, he became so popular in Sweden that the Swedes amazingly decided to make him their king when a vacancy came up, despite him never having set foot in Sweden before. The House of Bernadotte rules Sweden to this day.
- At the height of their empire, Sweden built a large warship (The Vasa) to symbolize their power. It was so big and heavy that on its maiden voyage in 1628, it sank less than a mile out of the dock.
- The Kingdom of Sweden in fact used to include Norway and Denmark.
- During the 17th century, Sweden emerged as a great power in Europe with the Swedish Empire gaining territories in Eastern Europe. While it was once great military power. Sweden has remained neutral in all wars since 1814, including World Wars I and II. Despite the country’s peaceful nature Swedes over 19 years still have to complete up to 15 months of military service.
Places
- The largest shopping mall in Europe is ‘Nordstan’, in Gothenburg. The Nordstan has 180 shops and 150 offices.
People Customs & Culture
- The main official language of Sweden is Swedish (Svenska), but the country also has 5 other official languages.
- Swedes have in fact the longest life expectancy in Europe (81.80 years).
- Between 1850 and 1910 more than one million Swedes migrated to the USA.
- Sweden is renowned for producing great pop bands and singers, including ABBA, The Cardigans, Ace of Base, Europe, and The Hives. Sweden is the world’s 3rd largest exporter of music after the United States and the United Kingdom.
- When it comes to equality between the sexes, Sweden is one of the leaders. In Sweden, couples are entitled to amazing 480 days of paid parental leave, and this time can be shared between parents.
- Parental leave can be used to take off time for parenting classes before your child is born.
- Parents can save up their maternity leave for more than 5 years.
- On average Swedish women have their first babies by the age of 30.
- If you have a new child, your other children get a month of free daycare so you can concentrate on the new one.
- Sweden has the largest number of McDonald’s fast-food restaurants per capita in Europe.
- The film “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” was shown in Swedish theatres for amazing 11 years straight.
- Sweden’s recycling program is so successful that they are asking Norway for their trash to power their own Waste-to-Power plants because they don’t have enough non-recycled waste.
- Any product including things like clothes and shoes you purchase is in fact guaranteed for 1 year, and the retailer must exchange it if it fails in that time without any questions.
- The amazing fact is that All non-military property that is not fenced in or is not a farm or someone’s personal garden is open to anyone for hiking through or camping for one night.
- Roughly 20% of the country’s police stations close during the summer since everyone is off on vacation.
- Swedish university students are required to pay a membership fee in the student union, but no tuition.
- American textbooks are in fact cheaper in Sweden than in the U.S..
- Privacy is taken so seriously that putting up video cameras in laundry rooms to catch vandals is illegal.
- Learning to speak Swedish is frustrating because everyone in Sweden already speaks better English than you will ever speak Swedish.
- The first thing you do upon entering a bank/post office/chemist etc. in Sweden is to look for the queue number machine. You accept that you have to queue to take a queue number.
- Swedish in fact use the term long instead of being tall.
- A 25 % sales tax on just about everything is no big deal.
- You may find special Dog Toilets in Sweden.
- Traffic lights click or beep so blind pedestrians can tell whether the light is red or green.
- Swedish kids are required to learn to cook in elementary school.
- All furniture is generally made of light beechwood or pine.
- Amazingly you can camp, hunt, & pick berries on private property.
- Everybody owns a cellular phone. You may find a 7-year kid having it.
- You will find red boxes around town where you put your used batteries in.
Politics/ Legal
- The Nobel Prize Ceremonies are held in Stockholm, Sweden every year on December 10th.
- The government in fact sends you a completely filled out tax form and if it looks good you just go online and click okay to pay your taxes.
- Taxes are generally between 50 and 70% of your income and already paid by your employer.
- Companies must lay off employees in first-in-last-out order when they are downsizing.
- You can take sick leave in Sweden during your vacation if you are ill.
- All employees get 5 weeks of paid vacation a year.
- The transportation department of the Swedish government works actively to reduce the number of traffic deaths each year to zero mainly by reducing the speed limits.
- The government has made a political choice to shut down all nuclear power plants in the country for environmental reasons. Sweden is forced to import coal-generated power from Poland to meet its needs.
- Prostitution is legal in Sweden.
Economy & Corporates
- A number of very prominent manufacturing and technology companies were founded in Sweden including Ericsson, Volvo, Scania trucks, and Electrolux.
- Popular retail stores IKEA and H&M are both Swedish.
Inventions
- The zipper, marine propeller, the refrigerator, computer mouse, and pace-maker are all Swedish inventions.
Sport
- Ice hockey and football (soccer) are Sweden’s main sports.
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