SWEDEN

Kingdom of Sweden
Konungariket Sverige

CAPITAL: Stockholm

FLAG: The national flag, dating from 1569 and employing a blue and gold motif used as early as the mid-14th century, consists of a yellow cross with extended right horizontal on a blue field.

ANTHEM: Du gamla, du fria, du fjallhöga nord (O Glorious Old Mountain-Crowned Land of the North).

MONETARY UNIT: The krona (Kr) is a paper currency of 100 öre. There are coins of 50 öre and 1, 2, 5, and 10 kronor, and notes of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, and 1,000 kronor. Kr1 = $0.13661 (or $1 = Kr7.32) as of 2005.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES: The metric system is the legal standard, but some old local measures are still in use, notably the Swedish mile (10 kilometers).

HOLIDAYS: New Year's Day, 1 January; Epiphany, 6 January; Labor Day, 1 May; Midsummer Day, Saturday nearest 24 June; All Saints' Day, 5 November; Christmas, 25–26 December. Movable religious holidays include Good Friday, Easter Monday, Ascension, and Whitmonday.

TIME: 1 pm = noon GMT.

LOCATION, SIZE, AND EXTENT

Fourth in size among the countries of Europe, Sweden is the largest of the Scandinavian countries, with about 15% of its total area situated north of the Arctic Circle. Extreme length n–s is 1,574 km (978 mi) and greatest breadth e–w is 499 km (310 mi). Sweden has a total area of 449,964 sq km (173,732 sq mi): land area, 410,934 sq km (158,663 sq mi); water area, 39,030 sq km (15,070 sq mi), including some 96,000 lakes. Comparatively, the area occupied by Sweden is slightly larger than the state of California. Sweden is bounded on the n and ne by Finland, on the e by the Gulf of Bothnia, on the se by the Baltic Sea, on the sw by the Öresund, the Kattegat, and the Skagarrak, and on the w by Norway, with a total boundary length of 5,423 km (3,370 mi), of which 3,218 km (2000 mi) is coastline. The two largest Swedish islands in the Baltic Sea are Gotland and Öland. Sweden's capital city, Stockholm, is located on the southeast Baltic Sea coast.

TOPOGRAPHY

Northern Sweden (Norrland) slopes from the Kjölen Mountains along the Norwegian frontier (with the high point at Kebnekaise, 2,111 m/6,926 ft) to the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia. The many rivers—notably the Göta, the Dal, the Ångerman, the Ume, and the Lule—flow generally toward the southeast and have incised the plateau surface; waterfalls abound. Central Sweden, consisting of a down-faulted lowland, has several large lakes, of which Vänern (5,584 sq km/2,156 sq mi) is the largest in Europe outside the former USSR. To the south of the lake belt rises the upland of Smaland and its small but fertile appendage, Skane. The low-lands were once submerged and so acquired a cover of fertile, silty soils. Much of Sweden is composed of ancient rock; most ice erosion has resulted in generally poor sandy or stony soils. The best, most lime-rich soils are found in Skane, and this southernmost district is the leading agricultural region; it resembles Denmark in its physical endowments and development.

CLIMATE

Because of maritime influences, particularly the warm North Atlantic Drift and the prevailing westerly airstreams, Sweden has higher temperatures than its northerly latitude would suggest. Stockholm averages -3°c (26°f) in February and 18°c (64°f) in July. As would be expected from its latitudinal extent, there is a wide divergence of climate between northern and southern Sweden: the north has a winter of more than seven months and a summer of less than three, while Skane in the south has a winter of about two months and a summer of more than four. The increasing shortness of summer northward is partly compensated for by comparatively high summer temperatures, the greater length of day, and the infrequency of summer cloud; the considerable cloud cover in winter reduces heat loss by radiation.

Annual rainfall averages 61 cm (24 in) and is heaviest in the southwest and along the frontier between Norrland and Norway; the average rainfall for Lapland is about 30 cm (12 in) a year. The maximum rainfall occurs in late summer, and the minimum in early spring. There is considerable snowfall, and in the north snow remains on the ground for about half the year. Ice conditions in the surrounding seas, especially the Gulf of Bothnia, often are severe in winter and seriously interfere with navigation.

FLORA AND FAUNA

Vegetation ranges from Alpine-Arctic types in the north and upland areas to coniferous forests in the central regions and deciduous trees in the south. Common trees include birch, aspen, beech elm, oak, and Norway spruce. Black cock, woodcock, duck, partridge, swan, and many other varieties of birds are abundant. Fish and insects are plentiful. As of 2002, there were at least 60 species of mammals, 259 species of birds, and over 1,750 species of plants throughout the country.

ENVIRONMENT

Sweden's relatively slow population growth and an effective conservation movement have helped preserve the nation's extensive forest resources. By the end of 1985 there were 19 national parks covering 618,070 hectares (1,527,276 acres), 1,215 nature reserves of 870,748 hectares (2,151,653 acres), and 2,016 other protected landscape areas of 540,064 hectares (1,334,520 acres). As of 2003, protected areas accounted for 9.1% of Sweden's total land area, including 51 Ramsar wetland sites. Principal responsibility for the environment is vested in the National Environmental Protection Agency.

In 2000, the total of carbon dioxide emissions was at 46.9 million metric tons. Other pollutants include sulphur air, nitrogen compounds, oil, VOCs (volatile organic compounds), radon, and methane. The pollution of the nation's water supply is also a significant problem. Factory effluents represent a threat to water quality, and airborne sulfur pollutants have so acidified more than 16,000 lakes that fish can no longer breed in them. Sweden has 171 cu km of renewable water resources with 9% of annual withdrawals used for farming and 55% used for industrial purposes.

One of the most controversial environmental questions was put to rest by a March 1980 referendum in which a small plurality of the electorate (39.3%) supported expansion of nuclear power to no more than 12 reactors by the mid-1980s, but with provisions for the nationalization of nuclear energy, for energy conservation, and for the phaseout of nuclear power within an estimated 20–25 years. As of 2005, there were still 10 nuclear power reactors providing nearly half of the nation's electricity.

According to a 2006 report issued by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), threatened species included 5 types of mammals, 9 species of birds, 6 species of fish, 1 type of mollusk, 12 species of other invertebrates, and 3 species of plants. Threatened species include the blue ground beetle and cerambyx longhorn. Protected fauna include the wild reindeer, golden eagle, and crane.

POPULATION

The population of Sweden in 2005 was estimated by the United Nations (UN) at 9,029,000, which placed it at number 84 in population among the 193 nations of the world. In 2005, approximately 17% of the population was over 65 years of age, with another 18% of the population under 15 years of age. There were 98 males for every 100 females in the country. According to the UN, the annual population rate of change for 2005–10 was expected to be 0.1%, a rate the government viewed as satisfactory. The projected population for the year 2025 was 9,936,000. The overall population density was 20 per sq km (52 per sq mi), but the southern two-fifths of the country are more densely populated, with approximately 80% of the population living there.

The UN estimated that 84% of the population lived in urban areas in 2005, and that urban areas were growing at an annual rate of 0.18%. The capital city, Stockholm, had a population of 1,697,000 in that year. Göteborg had a metropolitan population of 829,000. Other large cities (and their estimated populations) include Malmö (267,171), Uppsala (130,000), Västerås (129,987), Örebro (95,354), and Norrköping (83,000).

MIGRATION

In the period 1865–1930, nearly 1,400,000 Swedes, or about one-fifth of the country's population, emigrated; over 80% went to the United States, and about 15% to other Nordic countries. The exodus ended by the 1930s, when resource development in Sweden started to keep pace with the population growth. In the 1960s there was a flood of immigration—especially by Finns—that increased the number of aliens in Sweden from 190,621 to 411,280. The number remained steady in the 1970s but increased, though at a slower rate, in the 1980s.

As of 1999, 3,729 people had been evacuated from Macedonia to Sweden under the UNHCR/IOM Humanitarian Evacuation Programme. Evacuees, as well as Kosovars who had already sought asylum but whose cases were still pending, were granted temporary protection for an 11-month period, renewable for a maximum of four years. During 2004, 73,408 refugees were hosted in Sweden. Main countries of origin for refugees included Iraq (23,918), Bosnia and Herzegovina (25,836), Serbia and Montenegro (20,890), and Iran (5,181). Asylum applications came from 25 countries of origin, the largest numbers from Serbia and Montenegro, and Iraq. The net migration rate in 2005 was an estimated 1.67 migrants per 1,000 population. Worker remittances in 2002 were $190 million.

ETHNIC GROUPS

The Swedes are primarily Scandinavians of Germanic origin. There are about 17,000 to 20,000 Sami (Lapps) within the country. The remaining 12% of the population is comprised of foreign-born or first-generation immigrants, including Finns in the north, Danes, Iraqis, Iranians, Norwegians, Greeks, and Turks.

LANGUAGES

Swedish is a national language. In addition to the letters of the English language, it has å, ä, and ö. Swedish is closely related to Norwegian and Danish. Many Swedes speak English and German, and many more understand these languages. The Sami speak their own language. There is also a spread of Finnish-speaking people from across the frontier.

RELIGIONS

For hundreds of years, the Church of Sweden, an Evangelical Lutheran church, represented the religion of state. However, in 2000, the Church and government placed into effect a formal separation of church and state, with a stipulation that the Church of Sweden will continue to receive a certain degree of state support. This new agreement triggered a decline in membership for this church. According to recent estimates, about 79.6% of the population belong to the Church of Sweden, down from over 85% in 2000. Protestant groups other than the Church of Sweden have about 400,000 people. Roman Catholics constitute less than 1% of the populace, with about 140,000 members. About 100,000 people are members of Christian Orthodox churches, including Greek, Serbian, Syrian, Romanian, and Macedonian. The number of Muslims is at about 350,000, with about 100,000 active practitioners primarily of the Sunni and Shia branches. There are also about 20,000 Jews(Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform), with about half being active. Buddhists and Hindus number around 3,000 to 4,000 each. It is estimated that about 15–20% of the adult population are atheists. Small numbers of people are represented by groups such as the Church of Scientology, Hare Krishnas, Opus Dei, and the Unification Church.

The constitution provides for freedom of religion. Since the separation of church and state, all religions are eligible for financial support from the government through the "church tax." Individuals may now designate which organization they wish to receive their contribution, or they may receive a tax reduction. The Commission for State Grants to Religious Communities is the government body that oversees religious funding, in cooperation with the Swedish Free Church Council.

The Muslim and Jewish communities have protested government laws which they believe interfere with religious practice. For instance, a 1930 law requires the use of anesthesia before slaughter of animals in order to minimize suffering. This practice interferes with kosher. A 2001 law requires that mohels (who perform circumcisions according to Jewish customs) must be certified by the National Board of Health and the procedure must be completed in the presence of a medical doctor or an anesthesia nurse. Some Jews (and Muslims) claim that this interferes with their religious ceremony; as of 2005, the law was scheduled for review.

TRANSPORTATION

As of 2002, the total length of highways was 213,237 km (132,633 mi), of which about 167,604 km (104,250 mi) were paved, including 1,514 km (942 mi) of expressways. As of 2003, there were 4,078,000 passenger cars and 435,561 commercial vehicles. In 1967, Sweden changed from left-to right-hand traffic. As of 2004, Sweden's 11,481 km (7,141 mi) railroad system was operated by the state-owned Statens Järnvagar. Of that total, 9,400 km (5,847 mi) of the track was electrified. All tracks are standard gauge.

Since the 1960s, the number of ships in the merchant navy has decreased because of competition from low-cost shipping nations and, more recently, the slump in world trade. Sweden has an increasing number of special-purpose vessels, such as fruit tramps, ore carriers, and oil tankers. Most of the larger vessels, representing the majority of Sweden's commercial tonnage, are engaged in traffic that never touches home ports, and less than half of Swedish foreign trade is carried in Swedish ships. Göteborg, Stockholm, and Malmö, the three largest ports, and a number of smaller ports are well-equipped to handle large oceangoing vessels. In 2005, the Swedish merchant fleet consisted of 205 ships of 1,000 GRT or more, with a combined capacity of 2,702,763 GRT. Canals in central Sweden have opened the lakes to seagoing craft; inland waterways add up to 2,052 km (1,275 mi), navigable by small steamers and barges.

In 2004 there were an estimated 254 airports. As of 2005, a total of 155 had paved runways, and there were also two heliports. Arlanda international airport at Stockholm received its first jet aircraft in 1960; other principal airports are Sturup at Malmö and Landvetter at Göteborg. The Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) is operated jointly by Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, each of which owns a 50% share of the company operating in its own territory; the other half in Sweden is owned by private investors. Linjeflyg, a subsidiary of SAS, operates a domestic service to most of the larger cities and resorts. In 2003, about 11.586 million passengers were carried on scheduled domestic and international flights.

HISTORY

Sweden and the Swedes are first referred to in written records by the Roman historian Tacitus, who, in his Germania (ad 98), mentions the Suiones, a people "mighty in ships and arms." These people, also referred to as Svear, conquered their southern neighbors, the Gotar, merged with them, and extended their dominion over most of what is now central and southern Sweden. In the 9th and 10th centuries when Vikings from the Norwegian homeland traveled west to Iceland, Greenland and farther afield to Newfoundland, Vikings from eastern Sweden raided areas southeastward across Russia to Constantinople. Archeologists and historians hold that the descendants of one of their chieftains, Rurik, founded the Kievan Russian state. Some other settled regions and place-names in various parts of Europe also show Swedish influence through rune-stones found across Eastern Europe.

In the Viking era, the Swedish kingdom took shape but was not very centralized. Political power became more centralized with the advent of Christianity, which came gradually between the 9th and 11th centuries. During the 12th century, the Swedish kingdom consolidated internally and under the guise of the crusades began to expand into the Baltic, incorporating Finland, between 1150 and 1300. Among the institutions established in Sweden during the 12th and 13th centuries were Latin education, new modes and styles of architecture and literature, town life, and a more centralized monarchy with new standards in royal administration—all with significant economic, legal, and social implications.

Norway and Sweden were united in 1319 under the infant king Magnus VII, but Waldemar IV, King of Denmark, regained Skåne, the southern part of Sweden, and all the Scandinavian countries were united in the Kalmar Union under his daughter Margaret (Margrethe) in 1397. For over a century, Sweden resisted Danish rule, and the union was marked by internal tensions.

In 1523, following a war with Denmark whose notable feature was the Stortorget (Great Square) massacre in Stockholm where hundreds of Swedish nobles were executed, the Swedes elected Gustavus Vasa (Gustaf I) to the Swedish throne. A great king and the founder of modern Sweden, Gustavus made Lutheranism the state religion, established a hereditary monarchy, and organized a national army and navy. His successors incorporated Estonia and other areas in Eastern Europe. The growth of nationalism, the decline of the Hanseatic League's control of Baltic trade, and Protestantism contributed to the rise of Sweden in the following century.

Another great king and one of the world's outstanding military geniuses, Gustavus Adolphus (Gustaf II Adolf, r.1611–32), is generally regarded as the creator of the first modern army. He defeated Poland and conquered the rest of Livonia, and by winning a war with Russia acquired Ingermanland and Karelia. In the period of the Thirty Years' War (1618–48), Sweden was the foremost Protestant power on the Continent, and for the following half century the Baltic Sea became a Swedish lake. Although the king was killed at Lützen in 1632, his policies were carried on during the reign of his daughter Christina by the prime minister, Axel Oxenstierna. By terms of the Peace of Westphalia (1648) Sweden gainedPomerania and the archbishopric of Bremen, part of the Holy Roman Empire. Swedish expansionism resulted, in 1658, in the recapture of the southern Swedish provinces that Denmark had retained since the early 16th century. Renewed wars extended the Swedish frontier to the west coast while reducing Danish control over trade by taking away the eastern shore of the Öresund.

Under young Charles XII (r.1697–1718), Sweden fought the Great Northern War (1700–1721) against a coalition of Denmark, Poland, Saxony, and Russia. Sweden at first was militarily successful, but after a crushing defeat by Russian forces under Peter the Great (Peter I) in 1709 at the Battle of Poltava, the nation lost territories to Russia, Prussia, and Hannover. Thereafter Sweden was a second-rate power. Throughout the 18th century there was internal dissension between those that favored increased political liberties and constitutionally shared political power and those who favored monarchical absolutism. In 1770, a power struggle between the nobility and the commoner estates, including the clergy, burghers and farmers, ended when Gustav III carried out a bloodless coup and restored absolutism. Gustavus III (r.1771–92), a poet, playwright, and patron of the arts and sciences, and founder of the Swedish Academy, was eventually assassinated by a group of disgruntled nobles.

Sweden entered the Napoleonic Wars in 1805, allying itself with Great Britain, Austria, and Russia against France. Russia switched sides in 1807, however, and the ensuing Russo-Swedish conflict (1808–9) resulted in the loss of Finland. King Gustavus IV was then overthrown by the army, and a more democratic constitution was adopted. In 1810, one of Napoleon's marshals, a Frenchman from Pau named Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, was invited to become the heir to the Swedish throne. Three years later, he brought his adopted country once again over to the side of the allies against Napoleon in the last full-scale war fought by Sweden. His reward for being on the winning side of the Napoleonic wars was to wrest a reluctant Norway from Danish control. After a show of Swedish force, Norway was forced into political union with Sweden that lasted until 1905 when the union was largely peacefully dissolved.

Bernadotte assumed the name Charles John (Carl Johan) and succeeded to the Swedish throne in 1818 as Charles XIV John. The Bernadotte dynasty, which has reigned successively since 1818, gradually relinquished virtually all of its powers, which were assumed by the Riksdag, Sweden's parliament. Sweden has become one of the most progressive countries in the world. Industry was developed, the cooperative movement began to play an important part in the economy, and the Social Democratic Labor Party gained a dominant position in political life.

Carl XVI Gustaf has been king since the death of his grandfather, Gustav VI Adolf, in 1973. In September 1976, a coalition of three non-Socialist parties won a majority in parliamentary elections, ending 44 years of almost uninterrupted Social Democratic rule that had established a modern welfare state. The country's economic situation worsened, however, and the Social Democrats were returned to power in the elections of September 1982. Prime Minister Olof Palme, leader of the Social Democratic Party since 1969, was assassinated in February 1986. In the ensuing years, investigators have been unable to establish a motive for the killing or to find the assassin.

Sweden and Neutrality

Sweden remained neutral in both world wars; during World War II, however, Sweden had difficulty maintaining neutrality as its Nordic neighbors were drawn into the conflict. Sweden served as a haven for refugees from the Nazis, allowed the Danish resistance movement to operate on its soil, and sent volunteers to assist Finland's fight against the Russians. On the other hand, Sweden was compelled to comply with German demands to transport its troops through Sweden to and from Nazi-occupied Norway. After the war, Sweden did not join NATO, as did its Scandinavian neighbors Norway and Denmark, but it did become a member of the UN in 1946 and participated in some of the European Recovery Program benefits. In 1953, Sweden joined with Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and, later, Finland to form the Nordic Council, and was instrumental in creating EFTA in 1960. Subsequently Sweden declined an invitation to join the EEC with Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom; a free-trade agreement with the EEC was signed 22 July 1972. Sweden's post-WWII foreign policy has been termed "active neutrality." Neutral Sweden tried to mediate in the Cold War confrontation between the Western and Soviet blocs and sought a major role in development assistance toward newly independent countries in the Third World.

Sweden's traditional policy of neutrality was strained in late October 1981 when a Soviet submarine ran aground inside a restricted military zone near the Swedish naval base at Karlskrona. The Swedish government protested this "flagrant violation of territorial rights" and produced reasons for believing that the submarine had been carrying nuclear weapons. Swedish naval vessels raised the damaged submarine and permitted it to return to the Soviet fleet in early November. In 1984, a Swedish military report stated that at least 10 "alien" submarines had been detected in Swedish waters.

The environment and nuclear energy were major political issues in the 1980s. In the 1990s and into the new century, the major concerns have been conflicts over immigration policies, the economy, and Sweden's relationship to the European Communities. Sweden's economic crisis led to large-scale public spending cuts by a center-right government. In 1991, Sweden applied for membership in the EC against a background of considerable opposition. In May 1993, the Riksdag altered Sweden's long-standing foreign policy of neutrality. In the future, neutrality would only be followed in time of war. The Riksdag also opened up the possibility of Sweden's participation in defense alliances, which remains a hotly debated issue in Sweden.

In 1994, Swedes voted to join the EU and the country officially became a member on 1 January 1995. Sweden did not join the 11 EU countries participating in the launch of the new European currency, the euro, on 1 January 1999. Public opinion over the succeeding years softened on the issue of euro membership, however, and a referendum on joining the monetary union was held on 14 September 2003. The ruling Social Democratic Party supported euro membership, but its coalition partners in 2003, the ex-communist Left Party and the Greens, were strongly opposed, as those parties feared Sweden would lose not only its currency, but its status as an advanced welfare state. On 10 September, Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh was stabbed in a Stockholm department store by an assailant unknown to her; she died the next day. Lindh was one of the primary spokespersons for the "yes" campaign for the euro, and was one of the country's best-loved politicians; many thought she could have become prime minister. The referendum was defeated by a margin of 56.1% to 41.8% with a turnout of 81.2%.

Following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Sweden pledged support for US-led retaliation against terrorists. At the same time, Sweden relaxed further its policy of neutrality, and some have speculated that it will eventually join NATO. Sweden since 1992 has been a member of NATO's "Partnership for Peace" program, and in 1999, the first Swedish troops were sent to Kosovo in the Balkans. In February 2002, Prime Minister Göran Persson's government made the decision for Sweden to enter into military alliances and defensive pacts with other nations. As of 2005, Swedish troops were also serving in Liberia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Afghanistan. Sweden at the turn of the 21st century was concerned with issues of international terrorism and organized transnational crime, such as drug smuggling and trafficking in human beings.

Sweden pledged itself to give 1% of its GNP to development assistance for poor countries, effective 2006. Sweden will give priority to four areas: conflict prevention measures, the fight against drugs, efforts to combat HIV/AIDS, and sexual and reproductive health and rights.

GOVERNMENT

Sweden developed as a constitutional monarchy under the constitution of 1809, which remained in effect until 1 January 1975, when a new instrument of government replaced it. Legislative authority is vested in the parliament (Riksdag). The monarch ceded involvement in power-brokering among the parties as early as 1917 when the Liberals and Social Democrats entered into a coalition. Today, the monarch performs only ceremonial duties as the official head of state; the monarch's last political duty, regular participation in cabinet meetings, was taken away under the most recent constitution. The king must belong to the Lutheran Church; the throne was hereditary only for male descendants until 1980, when female descendants were granted the right to the throne.

The Riksdag was bicameral until 1971, when a unicameral body of 350 members serving three-year terms was established; the 1975 constitution provided for 349 members, and the parliamentary term was lengthened to four years in 1994. All members of the Riksdag are directly elected by universal suffrage at age 18. Voter turnout has traditionally been very high in Sweden, though in the 2002 election turnout dipped to 80.1% compared with turnout over 86% for the previous two elections. Foreign nationals may vote in regional and municipal elections. Elections at all levels are simultaneous and are held on the third Sunday of September every fourth year. The parties' share of the national vote is directly translated into seats in Riksdag. Interim national elections may be called by the government between regular elections, but the mandate of the interim election is valid only for the remaining portion of the regular four-year parliamentary term of office.

In Sweden's parliamentary system, executive power lies with the government, or cabinet, that is formed by the majority party in parliament or by a coalition of parties. Sweden has also functioned with a minority government in which the largest party does not enjoy a majority in parliament and must form ad-hoc coalitions with other parties in the Riksdag. The cabinet as a whole is responsible for all government decisions and must defend their legislative agenda in the plenary sessions of the Riksdag. A vote of no confidence by an absolute majority of the Riksdag allows for the forced resignation of individual ministers or of the entire cabinet. A vote of no confidence becomes moot if within one week of the vote the government calls for new elections for the entire Riksdag.

Chief executive power is wielded by the prime minister, who is formally proposed by the speaker of the Riksdag and confirmed by vote of the parliamentary parties. The prime minister appoints a cabinet usually consisting of 18–20 members reflecting the party or coalition of parties in power. Once a week the government takes decisions in a formal meeting presided over by the prime minister. The cabinet as a whole discusses all-important decisions prior to taking a decision. After a decision has been taken by the cabinet, the ministers practice collective responsibility in which all support the decision taken by the government. Ministers may issue directives but administrative decisions are taken by central boards, which have their respective spheres of activity delimited by the Riksdag.

National referenda on policy questions of national importance are permitted by the constitution. Sweden's parliament has the highest level of political representation of women in the world; 11 of the 20 ministers in the 2005 government were women, and 45% of the Riksdag members are women.

POLITICAL PARTIES

The unicameral system and the electoral system of proportional representation have allowed almost exact equality in proportional representation among the constituencies on the national level and has produced a multiparty system. The constitution requires, however, that a party must gain at least 4% of the national popular vote or 12% in a constituency to be represented in the Riksdag. Sweden has for many years utilized the party list system in which the candidates for office from any given party are listed in order of party preference. If a party won 10 seats in the Riksdag, the top 10 candidates from that party would be represented in parliament. In 1998, voters for the first time had the option of indicating which candidates on the party list whom they preferred to see elected to parliament and to local councils. A given candidate must receive at least 8% of his or her party's ballots in any electoral district to be moved to the top of the party's nomination list. If no candidate attains the 8% threshold, the party's nomination list remains in force.

Sweden had a stable party system until the end of the 1980s. The parties of the political right include the Moderate (formerly Conservative) Party (Moderata Samlingspartiet, M), which favors tax reform and trimming the welfare state; the Liberal Party (Folkpartiet Liberalerna, FP), which is a traditional European liberal party; and the Center (formerly Agrarian) Party (Centerpartiet, C), which has in the past represented rural interests and has tried to refashion itself as an "alternative" centrist party favoring environmental issues. The left side of the Swedish political spectrum includes the dominant Social Democratic Party (Socialdemokratiska Arbetarepartiet, S), which is responsible for creating the welfare state and which gets considerable support from organized labor in Sweden; and the Left (formerly Communist Left) Party (Vänsterpartiet, V), which has distanced itself from its communist past and now advocates positions that champion gender equality and attracts voters that are wary of the Social Democrats' move toward the center. In 1988, the environmentalist Green Party (Miljöpartiet de Gröna, MP) joined the long-standing parties on the left represented in the Riksdag. In the 1991 election, two new parties emerged on the right, the Christian Democrats (Kristdemokraterna, KD) and the New Democracy Party (Ny Demokratiska, NyD).

Except for a brief period in 1936, the Social Democratic Labor Party was in power almost uninterruptedly from 1932 to 1976, either alone or in coalition. In 1945, the Social Democrats dissolved the wartime Grand Coalition Cabinet representing every party except the Left Party Communists and launched a program of social reform. Although inflation and other difficulties slowed the Social Democratic program, steadily mounting production encouraged the government to push through its huge social welfare program, which was sanctioned in principle by all major parties.

The Social Democrats held or controlled all parliamentary majorities until the elections of September 1976 when a non-Socialist coalition including the Center Party, the Moderates, and the Liberals won 180 of the 349 seats at stake. The center-right coalition retained control in the 1979 election with a reduced majority of 175 seats and a stronger showing for the Moderates. In the election on 19 September 1982, however, the Social Democrats returned to power. Olof Palme, who had been the Social Democratic prime minister from 1969 to 1976, was able to put together a new coalition cabinet on 8 October 1982. His party remained in power, though with a reduction of seats, following the 1985 election. Palme was assassinated in February 1986; he was succeeded by Ingvar Carlsson.

The 1988 election was a watershed that registered political discontentment. The Social Democrats lost seats as the Moderates' and Liberals' share of the vote continued to increase. More remarkably, for the first time in 70 years, a new party gained representation in the Riksdag—the Green Party (MP), which obtained 20 seats. The Social Democrats were narrowly defeated in September 1991, and the government of Ingvar Carlsson gave way to that of Carl Bildt (Moderate Party), who headed a minority four-party, center-right coalition composed of the Moderates, the Liberals, the Center Party, and the Christian Democratic party, which together controlled 170 seats.

The 1991 election represented a gain for two previously unrepresented parties—Christian Democrats (26 seats) and New Democracy (25 seats)—who managed to exceed the 4% threshold while the Greens fell below the threshold and lost representation in the Riksdag. New Democracy emerged prior to the 1991 general election as a party of discontent urging tax cuts and reduced immigration. The Left Party-Communists were renamed the Left Party (VP) in 1990.

The Moderate Coalition, which promised to end Sweden's deepening recession, found itself unable to address the country's problems, largely because of Social Democrat and popular opposition to its cost-cutting measures. In 1994, the Social Democrats were returned to office by a population reluctantly willing to bear austerity if initiated and directed by the party that created the welfare state. The Social Democratic Coalition government under Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson navigated Sweden through the referendum on Swedish membership into the EU in late 1994. Carlsson was replaced as prime minister by the former finance minister, Göran Persson.

The September 1998 election represented a protest vote against the mainstream parties and perhaps greater voter polarization in Sweden. The mainstream party of the left, the Social Democrats, had their worst election showing in over 70 years but maintained power in a minority government dependent upon support from a formal alliance from the Left and Green parties. The Social Democrats slipped from 45.3% of the vote in 1994 to 36.4% in 1998, while the Left Party advanced from 6.2% in 1994 to 12% in 1998 and the Greens returned to the Riksdag with 4.5% of the national vote. Similarly on the right, the Christian Democrats advanced from 4.1% of vote in 1994 to 11.8% in 1998 at the expense of the more centrist Center and Liberal parties, which narrowly passed the 4% threshold. The Moderates' share of the vote held basically steady.

Much of this discontent in the 1998 election was attributed to the budget tightening process that resulted in major cutbacks in social welfare benefits. A growing level of public distrust of politicians was fueled by prominent scandals of misuse of public funds. The reform to allow voters to select individual candidates did not seem to have diminished the distance between voters and elected representatives as only 29.9% took advantage of the opportunity to do so at the national level.

The 2002 general election campaign focused largely on the issues of immigration and membership in the euro zone. The Liberals and Moderates supported a plan to import large numbers of guest workers, who would be classed as noncitizens. The Social Democrats and the Left Party denounced this plan. The Social Democrats registered a strong showing in the elections, winning 39.8% of the vote (up from 36.4% in 1998) and taking 144 of 349 seats in the Riksdag. The Social Democrats under Göran Persson formed a government with the Left Party (8.3% of the vote and 30 seats) and the Greens (4.6% and 17 seats). However, the Liberal Party, with its immigration plan, increased its strength in parliament, with 13.3% of the vote (up from 4.7% in 1998) and 48 seats. The Christian Democrats fell from 11.8% in 1998 to 9.1% of the vote in 2002 (33 seats). The Moderates took 15.2% of the vote and 55 seats. The next general elections were to be held September 2006.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Local self-government has a long tradition in Sweden as the civil role of the Lutheran Church has been gradually reduced. The first legislation establishing municipal governance is the Local Government Ordinances of 1862 that separated religious tasks from civil tasks which were given to cities and rural municipal districts. On 1 January 2000, the Church of Sweden separated from the central government, and local parishes lost their local government status.

Decentralization is markedly characteristic of Sweden's governmental structure. With the most recent reforms there are two types of local governance in Sweden: the municipality, or kommun, as the local unit and the county council as the regional unit. The country is divided into 21 counties, 2 regions, 289 municipalities, and one "county council-free municipality" on the island of Gotland, each with an elected council. Local government is administered by county councils and municipalities consisting of at least 20 members popularly elected, on a proportional basis, for four years. Under each council is an executive board with various committees. In addition, there is a governor (prefect), the government-appointed head of the administrative board in each of Sweden's counties, who holds supreme police and other supervisory authority. Local authorities are responsible for most social welfare services, including hospitals, elementary education, certain utilities, and the police force. It is up to the Swedish cabinet and parliament to decide on the overall framework of public sector activities, but within these wide parameters, local governments have a large measure of freedom to implement public programs.

JUDICIAL SYSTEM

Ordinary criminal and civil cases are tried in a local court (tingsrätt ), consisting of a judge and a panel of lay assessors appointed by the municipal council. Above these local courts are six courts of appeal (hovrätter ). The highest tribunal is the Supreme Court (Högsta Domstolen ), made up of at least 16 justices. Special cases are heard by the Supreme Administrative Court and other courts. The Swedish judicial procedure uses a jury of the Anglo-US type only in press libel suits. Capital punishment, last employed in 1910, is expressly forbidden by the constitution.

The judiciary is independent of executive control or political influence. The right to counsel of criminal defendants is restricted to cases in which the maximum penalty possible is six-month imprisonment or greater.

Sweden originated the judicial practice of the ombudsman when its first ombudsman was designated in 1766. The office has been in continuous existence since 1809. The institution has also been enshrined by the constitution and provides parliamentary control over the executive. The Riksdag elects four ombudsmen representing various interests such as consumers, gender equality, the press, children, the disabled, those experiencing ethnic and/or sexual orientation discrimination. The ombudsman is charged with supervising the observance of laws and statutes as applied by the courts and by public officials, excluding cabinet ministers, members of the Riksdag, or directly elected local government officials. The ombudsmen are concerned especially with protecting the civil rights of individual citizens and of religious and other groups. There are some 5,000 complaints lodged with the office of the ombudsman annually, though about 40% are dismissed immediately for a variety of reasons. Only about 20–25% of these complaints are investigated fully and usually reflect an individual caught on a bureaucratic "merry-go-round." Ombudsmen may admonish or prosecute offenders, although prosecutions are relatively rare.

ARMED FORCES

Sweden's policy of neutrality and nonalignment requires a strong, modern, and independent defense establishment. The budget allocated $5.6 billion for defense in 2005. Active armed forces that year totaled 27,600 with reservists numbering 262,000. The Army in 2005 had 13,800 active personnel, with 280 main battle tanks, 705 armored infantry fighting vehicles, 1,521 armored personnel carriers, and 820 artillery pieces. The Swedish Navy had 7,900 active personnel including a 1,300-member coastal defense force, and a 320-member naval aviation wing. There are naval stations at Stockholm, Karlskrona, and Göteborg. Major naval units include seven tactical submarines, 36 patrol and coastal vessels, and 21 mine warfare vessels. The Air Force in 2005 totaled 5,900 active personnel, operating 170 combat capable aircraft, including 13 fighter ground attack aircraft and 151 JAS-39 Gripen multi-role aircraft. A 600-person paramilitary force acts as the nation's coast guard and there are more than 35,000 people that belong to voluntary auxiliary organizations. Sweden participates in UN and peacekeeping missions in 11 countries or regions.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

Sweden joined the United Nations on 19 November 1946; it takes part in ECE and several nonregional specialized agencies, such as UNESCO, UNCTAD, UNHCR, the FAO, the World Bank, IAEA, ILO, and the WHO. The country served on the UN Security Council from 1997–98. The first UN Conference on the Human Environment was held in Stockholm in June 1972. Together with Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Norway, Sweden has been a member of the advisory Nordic Council since 1953 and cooperates with these other Scandinavian countries in social welfare and health insurance and in freeing frontiers of passport control. The nation is also a member of the Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank, the Council of the Baltic Sea States, G-6, G-9, the Paris Club (G-10), the Inter-American Development Bank, the Nordic Investment Bank, OECD, OSCE, the NATO Partnership for Peace, and the Council of Europe. In 1995, Sweden became a member of the European Union. It has observer status in the OAS and the Western European Union.

Sweden has offered support to UN missions and operations in Kosovo (est. 1999), India and Pakistan (est. 1949), Ethiopia and Eritrea (est. 2000), Liberia (est. 2003), Sierra Leone (est. 1999), East Timor (est. 2002), Georgia (est. 1993), and the DROC (est. 1999), among others. Sweden is part of the Australia Group, the Zangger Committee, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the Nuclear Suppliers Group (London Group), Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and the Nuclear Energy Agency.

In environmental cooperation, Sweden is part of the Antarctic Treaty; the Basel Convention; Conventions on Biological Diversity, Whaling, and Air Pollution; Ramsar; CITES; the London Convention; International Tropical Timber Agreements; the Kyoto Protocol; the Montréal Protocol; MARPOL; the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty; and the UN Conventions on the Law of the Sea, Climate Change, and Desertification.

ECONOMY

Sweden is a highly industrialized country. The shift from agriculture to industry began in the 1930s and developed rapidly during the postwar period. Average annual growth of the GDP declined from 4.3% in the 1960s to 2% in the 1970s and to 1.6% in the 1980s. It grew by 1.4% in 1990 but fell 1.4% in 1991, 1.9% in 1992, and 2.1% in 1993, the longest period of decline in the 20th century. In 1994, the economy grew by 2.2%, ending the deeply troubling reversals of past years. From 1998 to 2000 GDP growth averaged 3.77%, but the global economic slowdown from 2001 helped reduce GDP growth to 1.6% in 2001 and 1.9% in 2002. Growth remained sluggish in 2003, but picked up in 2004. Real GDP growth was expected to accelerate from 2.4% in 2005 to 3% in 2006, before a modest slowdown in 2007. Over the 2001–05 period, real GDP growth averaged 2%.

Swedish living standards and purchasing power are among the highest in the world. However, inflation was a problem for several years after the international oil shocks of the 1970s, the annual rise in consumer prices peaking at 13.7% in 1980 after the second oil shock. The rate of price increases declined thereafter, but was still 10.4% in 1990 and 9.4% in 1991 before falling to 2.2% in 1992. By 1998 and 1999, inflation had all but disappeared, with annual rates of 0.4% and 0.3% respectively. In 2000, inflation rose to 1.3%, and during 2001 and 2002, the annual inflation rate averaged 2.5%. By 2005, the annual inflation rate averaged 0.7%, but inflationary pressures were expected to rise gradually over the period 2006–07. Over the 2001–05 period, inflation averaged 1.5%.

After hitting 14% in 1994, unemployment began to gradually recede. By 1998, unemployment was down to 6.5%, and by 2001, 3.9%. The unemployment rate stood at 4% in 2002, and was estimated at 5.6% in 2004. However, by 2005, the unemployment rate remained well above the government's 4% target: an unadjusted figure of 7.1% was registered in June 2005. While not high by European standards, many economists believed the true number of the unemployed is even larger.

Swedish industry is outstanding in supplying quality goods and specialized products—ball bearings, high-grade steel, machine tools, and glassware—that are in world demand. Intimate contact between trade, industry, and finance is a feature of the economy, as is the spread of factories to rural districts. Some natural resources are ample, the foremost being lumber, iron ore, and waterpower. Sweden's lack of oil and coal resources makes it dependent on imports for energy production, despite abundant waterpower.

INCOME

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reports that in 2005 Sweden's gross domestic product (GDP) was estimated at $266.5 billion. The CIA defines GDP as the value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year and computed on the basis of purchasing power parity (PPP) rather than value as measured on the basis of the rate of exchange based on current dollars. The per capita GDP was estimated at $29,600. The annual growth rate of GDP was estimated at 2.4%. The average inflation rate in 2005 was 0.5%. It was estimated that agriculture accounted for 1.8% of GDP, industry 28.6%, and services 69.7%.

According to the World Bank, in 2003 remittances from citizens working abroad totaled $578 million or about $65 per capita and accounted for approximately 0.2% of GDP.

The World Bank reports that in 2003 household consumption in Sweden totaled $147.76 billion or about $16,499 per capita based on a GDP of $301.6 billion, measured in current dollars rather than PPP. Household consumption includes expenditures of individuals, households, and nongovernmental organizations on goods and services, excluding purchases of dwellings. It was estimated that for the period 1990 to 2003 household consumption grew at an average annual rate of 1.7%. In 2001 it was estimated that approximately 17% of household consumption was spent on food, 12% on fuel, 4% on health care, and 14% on education.

LABOR

In 2005, Sweden's labor force was estimated at 4.49 million persons. As of 2003, the services sector accounted for 75.1% of the workforce, with 22.6% engaged in industry, 2.1% in agriculture, and the remainder in undefined occupations. The unemployment rate in 2005 was estimated at 6%.

In 2005, about 80% of Swedish wage earners are members of trade unions, and within certain industrial branches the percentage is even higher. The trade union movement is based on voluntary membership, and there is neither a closed shop nor a union shop. Although workers have the right to strike, employers also have the right to use the lockout.

Agreements between employers and trade unions are generally worked out by negotiation. Public mediators or mediation commissions intervene if necessary. A labor court, made up of three impartial members and five representing employers, workers, and salaried employees, has jurisdiction over the application and interpretation of collective agreements already signed and may impose damages on employers, trade unions, or trade union members violating a contract. For many years, an overwhelming majority of the court's decisions have been unanimous, and since the end of the 1930s industrial peace has generally prevailed. In 1997, management and labor agreed to a new negotiating frame-work that has decreased strikes and increased wages. Swedish law requires employee representation on company boards of directors. A law passed in 1983 introduced employee funds, partly funded by contributions from profits of all Swedish companies, which give unions and employees equity in companies, while providing the companies with investment capital.

The legal minimum age for full-time employment is 16 years old, but only under the supervision of local authorities. In addition, minors under 18 can only work in the daytime and must be supervised. The regular workweek cannot exceed 40 hours, and overtime is limited to 48 hours over a four-week period and a total of 200 hours a year. However, these regulations may be modified by collective bargaining agreement. A minimum of five weeks of holiday with pay is stipulated by law. There is no national minimum wage: wages are negotiated in collective bargaining agreements. Workers, even at the lowest end of the pay scale, are able to provide a decent standard of living for their families. Health and safety standards are very high and are stringently enforced.

AGRICULTURE

Only about 3% of Sweden's labor force earned their living in agriculture in 2000, compared with more than 50% at the beginning of the 20th century and about 20% in 1950. Production exceeds domestic consumption; however, a considerable amount of food is imported. About 6.5% of the land area of Sweden, or 2,672,000 hectares (6,603,000 acres), is classed as land cultivated with permanent or temporary crops. In 2003 there were 66,780 holdings with more than two hectares (five acres) of arable land. Farm holdings are intensively tilled; fertilizers are used heavily and mechanization is increasing. During 1980–90, the agricultural sector grew by an annual average of 1.5%. However, during 1990–2000, it remained essentially unchanged. During 2002–04, crop production was 3% higher than during 1999–2001.

Most farmers are elderly, and few small farms have a successor waiting to replace the present farmer. Government policy in recent years has been to merge small unprofitable farms into larger units of 10–20 hectares (25–50 acres) of arable land with some woodland, the size estimated able to support a family in the same living standard as an industrial worker. Most Swedish farmers are small landowners who also support themselves through forestry and fishing, and in 2003, 51% of farms were less than 20 hectares (50 acres) in extent. Farmer participation in the government's setaside program resulted in about 300,000 hectares (741,300 acres) of cropland being retired from production in 1990, and again in 1991. The full-time farm labor force has fallen from 45,000 in 1995 to 32,000 in 2003.

Grains (particularly oats, wheat, barley, and rye), potatoes and other root crops, vegetables, and fruits are the chief agricultural products. Sugar beet cultivation in Skåne is important and produces almost enough sugar to make Sweden self-sufficient. In 2004, Sweden produced 1,691,900 tons of barley; 925,300 tons of oats; 2,412,300 tons of wheat; 979,100 tons of potatoes; and 133,400 tons of rye.

In the last 50 years, Swedish agricultural policy for major commodities has developed under an official system of import levies, export support, and market intervention. This policy was in response to the economic depression of the 1930s, and for the country's need for food security in times of risk or war. The Warfare Preparedness Program, developed after World War II (1939–45), protected Swedish agriculture, resulting in high costs and overproduction. In 1991, a five-year agricultural reform program came into effect, whereby most subsidies and price regulations were eliminated, allowing consumer demand to determine production volumes. By 1995, Sweden's agricultural policy was fully in line with EU rules. Sweden also enacted a plan to convert 10% of the country's arable land to ecological, or organic, agriculture by increasing taxes on energy, fertilizers, and biocides. The government has also introduced incentives to promote the production of biomass for energy production. Due to a relatively short growing season, Sweden relies heavily on imported food and agricultural products. In 2003, agricultural and food products accounted for 8% of Sweden's imports.

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

Although the long winters necessitate indoor feeding from October to May, pastoral farming is important, and about 80% of farm income derives from animal products, especially dairy products. In 2005, there were 1.6 million head of cattle. Beef production totaled 142,100 tons in 2005. Liquid milk production totaled 3.32 million tons in 2005. Other dairy products made that year were cheese, 121,800 tons, and butter, 50,000 tons. Because the over-sufficiency of butter before 1970 weakened Sweden's position in world markets, the government encouraged farmers to shift to meat production. An agricultural reform program in the early 1990s dismantled many of the price regulations and subsidies for products like milk and meat in favor of market-oriented pricing. As these adjustments were made, the number of dairy producers fell from 24,786 in 1990 to 12,168 by 2000. Sweden's beef industry is now supported by direct EU subsidies and in programs connected with less favored area and environment supports.

The sheep population was 479,400 in 2005, and pigs numbered 1,823,000. There were 6,600,000 chickens during the same year. Fur farms breed large numbers of mink and a declining number of fox. Reindeer are raised by 51 Sami (Lapp) communities in the north, and between 1970 and 2003 the reindeer population in Lapp villages increased from 166,200 to 238,800.

FISHING

Fish is an important item in the Swedish diet, and Sweden is both a major importer of fish products and a principal supplier to other countries. Göteborg, Bohus, and Halland are the principal fishing districts, but large quantities of fish are caught all along the coasts. At the beginning of 2004, there were 1,597 vessels in the Swedish fishing fleet, with 1,731 professional fishermen. Herring, cod, plaice, flounder, salmon, eel, mackerel, and shellfish are the most important saltwater varieties. Freshwater fish include trout, salmon, and crayfish, a national delicacy. In 2003, there were 360 aquacultural enterprises, yielding 4,585 tons of fish. The saltwater fish catch increased from 228,000 tons in 1971 to 259,000 tons in 1984, overcoming a significant drop in the 1974–79 period because of government conservation measures and the declining number of fishermen. The total catch amounted to 293,209 tons in 2003. By tradition, a large part of the annual catch is landed in Denmark. Fish for feed is the largest single commodity, accounting for 65% of the 2003 catch. Total landings were valued at $107.5 million in 2003. Herring and cod accounted for 19% and 6%, respectively, of total landings.

FORESTRY

Sweden is one of the world's most heavily forested countries, with forests covering some 70% of the land area. Around 55% of the land area consists of productive forestry land, for a total of 22.7 million hectares (56.1 million acres). The percentage has only varied between 55.5% and 58.1 since the first National Forestry Inventory of 1923–29. Virtually all of Sweden's forests are regrowth; virgin forests cover 788,000 hectares (1,947,000 acres) and are almost exclusively found in national parks and nature reserves. The growing stock is estimated at 3 billion cu m (106 billion cu ft). The annual growth amounts to about 101 million cu m (3.5 billion cu ft). Annual removals decreased from an average of 70.8 million cu m (2.5 billion cu ft) during 1970/71–1974/75 to an average of 55.5 million cu m (1.96 billion cu ft) during 1976/77–1980/81 but increased to roughly 83 million cu m (2.93 billion cu ft) during recent years. Important varieties include spruce (46% of commercial stands), pine (38%), birch (11%), and oak, beech, alder, and aspen (5% combined). About half of the total forest area is owned by private persons and 30% by private corporations and rural communes. The government owns most of the remaining 20% of forests, but they are located, for the most part, in the north, where climatic conditions slow the trees' growth.

Forestry and farming are interdependent everywhere except in the most fertile plains; in northern Sweden, almost one of every two men works in the woods for at least part of the winter. Both the number of workers and the productivity of those who stayed on declined in the late 1970s. Since the early 1970s, the number of employees in the forestry sector has fallen by over 40%.

The exploitation of forest wealth ranks second in importance in the economy (after metal-based industry). Sweden competes with Canada for world leadership in the export of wood pulp and is the world's leading exporter of cellulose. In 2004, net exports of wood and wood products came to $14.9 billion and made up 12% of exports. The total timber felled in 2004 amounted to an estimated 63.3 million cu m (2.38 billion cu ft), of which coniferous sawlogs accounted for 53% of production; pulpwood, 38%; and fuel wood, 9%. Mostly roads and trains are used to transport timber; only a few of the biggest rivers are used. About 70% of timber harvested comes from clear-cutting, and 30% from thinning. About 60% of Sweden's annual forestry production is exported every year. Sweden is the third-largest exporter of paper and board, supplying 10% of the export market, with production amounting to 3% of the world's total. In 2004, Sweden's production of sawn timber reached its highest level ever. That year, Sweden's 180 major saw mills processed 16.9 million cu m (597 million cu ft) of lumber, 44 mills produced 12.8 million tons of pulp, and 46 paper facilities manufactured 11.9 million tons of paper.

A forest policy introduced in 1980 coordinates forestry measures more closely with industrial needs and places increased emphasis on clear-cutting and more complete use of the forest biomass, including stumps and small trees. The government, through the Forest Commission, enforces pest control, the prevention of premature cutting, and the use of proper methods of preserving permanent forest cover. The government decided in the early 1990s to eliminate subsidies to commercial forestry because such subsidies had been counterproductive in a strongly competitive international market. Nature conservation agreements between forest owners and the government have been established to protect and develop natural areas. Between 1994 and 2003, 1,750 agreements were negotiated, with landowners' compensation totaling $11.2 million.

In January 2005 a severe storm raged through southern Sweden and caused major damage to forests. About 75 million cu m (2.6 billion cu ft) of timber, nearly the total annual cut for all of Sweden, was damaged by the storm, 80% Norway spruce.

MINING

Since ancient days, mining and the iron industry have been of great importance in the economic life of Sweden, which was among the most active mining countries in Europe. In addition to iron ore, Sweden also is a producer of primary metals such as zinc, copper and lead, as well as industrial minerals such as dolomite, feldspar, granite, kaolin, quartz and limestone. Sweden accounted for a large percentage of Western Europe's iron output, and was home to the region's largest gold mine.

Iron-ore production in 2004 (concentrate and pellets) was estimated at 22,300,000 metric tons, up from an estimated 21,500,000 metric tons in 2003. The Bergslagen region, in central Sweden, yielded high-grade ores for quality steel. Gold mine output in 2004 totaled 5,300 kg, up from 4,300 kg in 2003, while silver mine output in 2004 totaled 292,600 kg, down from 306,800 kg in 2003. Lead mine output in 2004 totaled 33,900 metric tons, while copper mine output, in that year, totaled 85,500 metric tons. Zinc mine output in 2004 totaled 160,600 metric tons. Lead, copper, zinc, gold, and silver were produced in the rich Skellefte (Boliden) region, where bismuth, cobalt, and huge quantities of arsenic were also found. The open-pit Björgal gold mine upgraded its facility, to increase production capacity to 3,000 kg per year, from 2,600 kg per year in 1996. Further south, phosphate, tungsten, kyanite, and pyrite were found. Sweden also produced hydraulic cement, kaolin clay, feldspar, fertilizer, graphite, lime, quartz, quartzite, dimension and crushed stone (including dolomite, granite (for domestic use and for export), limestone, sandstone, and slate), sulfur, and soapstone talc. Marble (in Askersund) and ilmenite were also found in Sweden.

ENERGY AND POWER

Sweden has no proven reserves of oil or natural gas, and only small reserves of coal. However, the country does possess the ability to refine crude oil, and with many rivers, waterfalls, and lakes, the country has favorable conditions for waterpower.

As of 1 January 2005, Sweden had no proven reserves of natural gas or crude oil, but did have a crude oil refining capacity of 434,000 barrels per day. Sweden's limited coal reserves, as of 2001, were placed at one million short tons. Since the 1970s, Sweden has been reducing its petroleum imports. The share of oil in the primary energy supply declined from nearly 70% in 1979 to 31.6% in 2002. In the same year, nuclear energy accounted for another 29.6% of primary energy, hydroelectricity 30%, coal 4.1%, natural gas 1.5%, and renewable sources for the rest. In 2002, Sweden's imports of all petroleum products, including crude oil, averaged 510,990 barrels per day. Of that amount, crude oil accounted for 370,430 barrels per day. Refined oil output in 2002 averaged 381,640 barrels per day, while demand that year for refined products averaged 337,340 barrels per day.

In 2002, Sweden's demand for dry natural gas totaled 34.47 billion cu ft, all of which was met by imports, which came to 34.75 billion cu ft. There was no domestic production of coal in 2002. All of Sweden's coal needs were met by imports. In that year, imports of coal totaled 3,666,000 short tons, of which 3,042,000 short tons consisted of hard coal, and 624,000 tons of coke.

Sweden's electric generating sector is marked by a high dependence upon hydroelectric power, and to a lesser extent on nuclear power. Total electric power generating capacity in 2002 was 33.793 million kW, of which hydroelectric generating capacity came to 16.523 million kW and nuclear power at 9.436 million kW. Conventional thermal fuel generating capacity in 2002 stood at 7.536 million kW, with geothermal/other sources at 0.298 million kW. For that same year, electric power output totaled 140.662 billion kWh, of which 4.4% was from fossil fuels, 46.8% from hydropower, 45.6% from nuclear power, and 3.2% from other sources. Consumption of electricity in 2002 was 136.172 billion kWh.

Sweden's heavy use of nuclear energy stems from an ambitious nuclear energy program, under which seven nuclear reactors came into operation between 1972 and 1980. By 1986, 12 units offered a capacity of 9.4 million kWh. However, by 2010, all 12 will be shut down. Plants fired by natural gas will replace nuclear energy's role. Energy conservation, development of alternative energy sources, and increased use of imported coal are also planned.

More than half of Sweden's hydroelectric output is produced underground. Because of environmental considerations, high production costs, and low world market prices, Sweden's substantial uranium reserves—some 250,000–300,000 tons (or about 20% of the known world reserves)—have not been exploited.

INDUSTRY

The basic resources for industrial development are forests, iron ore, and waterpower. Forest products, machinery, and motor vehicles are primary exports. Industrial production accounted for 29% of GDP in 2001. From 1990 to 1992, Swedish industry suffered as a result of the deep national recession as well as an overpriced labor pool. In those years, manufacturing output fell by 10%. Between 1989 and 1992, 260,000 Swedes lost their jobs in the manufacturing sector. As the economy rebounded in subsequent years, however, especially the growth turnaround in 1994–96, industrial output has grown. In 1996, it was up 17% from 1990. Between 1993 and 1996, industrial investments more than doubled. Industrial growth remained a solid 4.5% in 2001 and 5.5% in 2004.

Since the end of World War II, emphasis has shifted from production of consumer goods to the manufacture of export items. Swedish-made ships, airplanes, and automobiles are considered outstanding in quality. Sweden's motor vehicle producers are Volvo and SAAB-Scania. As evidence of the growing consolidation of the world automotive industry, however, in 1990 the US's General Motors Corp. made a successful offer for half of Saab's automotive operations, and in 2000 it bought the remaining 50%. In 1999, the US's Ford Motor Co. purchased Sweden's Volvo car operations (excluding its heavy truck operations). In 2005, General Motors indicated it would begin to make the first truly non-Swedish Saab, by building the automobiles in Germany to save costs.

Before World War II, virtually the entire tonnage of iron and steel products consisted of high-grade steels, but in recent years exports have included considerable quantities of commercial grades. Transport equipment and iron and steel are of declining importance, however, while exports of machinery, precision equipment, chemicals, and paper have been growing in value.

Sweden is a world leader in telecommunications, computers, electronics, robotics, pharmaceutical and medical products, and biotechnology. Sweden's Ericsson is the world's largest telecommunications service provider, with 18,000 service professionals in over 140 countries in 2005. Ericsson supports networks that handle more than 550 million subscribers. Sweden has the largest number of biotechnology companies per capita in the world.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Sweden's high-quality scientific and technological development is renowned throughout the world. Technological products invented or developed by Swedish firms include the self-aligning ball bearing, the cream separator, the three-phase electric motor, and a refrigerator without moving parts. Sweden's more recent applications of sophisticated technology range from powder metallurgy to the Hasselblad camera and the Viggen jet fighter. Six of Sweden's largest industrial corporations are engineering companies: Volvo, SAAB-Scania, ASEA, Electrolux, SKF, and L. M. Ericsson. In 2002, high-tech exports were valued at $10.76 billion and accounted for 16% of manufactured exports.

State-financed research, centering on the universities, is directed by the Council for Planning and Coordination of Research. Long-term industrial research and development is the responsibility of the government through the National Board for Technological Development. In 1987–97, Swedish students graduating with science and engineering degrees account for 38% of all university students. In 2002, of all bachelor's degrees awarded, 30.3% were for the sciences (natural, mathematics and computers, engineering). In 2001, expenditures for research and development (R&D) totaled $9.6 billion, or 4.27% of GDP. Of that amount, the business sector accounted for 71.9%, followed by the government at 21%, higher education at 3.8% and foreign sources at 3.4%. As of 2001, there were 5,171 scientists and engineers engaged in R&D per million people.

Institutions that have played an important role in the advancement of science, both in Sweden and throughout the world, are the Nobel Foundation, which sponsors annual awards in chemistry, physics, and physiology or medicine, as well as for peace, literature, and economic science; the Royal Academy of Sciences, founded in 1739 in Stockholm; the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, founded in 1919 at Stockholm; and the Karolinska Institute, founded in 1810 in Stockholm, specializing in medical research. Sweden has 18 universities that offer courses in basic and applied sciences.

DOMESTIC TRADE

Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö are the nation's primary distribution centers. Of the country's retail business, most is in private hands, but the consumer cooperative movement has long been one of the strongest in Europe. The local organizations belong to the Cooperative Union and Wholesale Society, a central buying and manufacturing organization, which operates factories, department stores, supermarkets, and specialized shops. The Swedish Federation of Trade is another important organization for importers and traders in the private sector. Competition between the cooperatives and private enterprise has improved selling methods, so that Sweden's self-service shops are among the most modern in Europe.

Department stores are located in the major cities. Franchising has become popular in the fast-food, apparel, home improvement, and business services sectors. Wholesale and retail outlets, as well as supermarkets, are plentiful. Value-added taxes apply to all goods and services. The general VAT tax is 25%, with reduced rates of 12% on food and 6% on items including books, magazines, and personal transportation.

The nation's three major trade fair/exhibition sites are the Stockholm International Fair, the Swedish Exhibition and Congress Center, and the Sollentuna Fair.

Offices and stores are open on weekdays from 9 am to 5 or 6 pm (in summer, sometimes to 3 or 4 pm) and close early on Saturdays. However, many stores stay open one night a week, and some department stores are open on Sundays. Many businesses are closed, or management is unavailable, for extended vacations in the summer and around the Christmas holidays.

FOREIGN TRADE

Sweden is one of the world's leading free-trading nations, with about half the economy dependent upon trade, and business operating largely free of political influence. The volume of Sweden's foreign trade has increased very rapidly since World War II, mainly as a result of the gradual liberalization of trade restrictions within the framework of the OECD, EFTA, and the EU. Telecommunications equipment, automobile manufacturing, and logging dominate export commodities from Sweden. Sweden has one of the most open and competitive markets in the world, as of 2005 ranking behind only Finland and the United States in the International Competitiveness Ranking. Sweden is home to more multinational corporations per capita than any other nation in the world. It is at the economic center of the Nordic and Baltic world, a market of over 27 million consumers. The United States is the number one export market for Swedish products (followed by Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom, and Denmark), while imports from the United States rank 8th, behind Germany, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands, France, and Finland. In 2004, with exports of $123.1 billion and imports of $99.6 billion, Sweden had a trade surplus of $23.5 billion. The major exports in 2004 were machinery and transportation equipment (51.4% of total exports), wood and paper products (12.2%), chemicals and rubber products (12.1%), and miscellaneous manufactures (11%). The major imports in 2004 were machinery and transportation equipment (45.8% of all imports), miscellaneous manufactures (19.7%), chemicals and rubber products (12.1%), and mineral fuels and lubricants (9.7%).

BALANCE OF PAYMENTS

From 1974 through 1985, Sweden ran annual current-account deficits (except in 1984) because of increases in world oil prices and a decline in the competitiveness of Swedish export products on the world market. Until 1977, deficits were financed mainly through long-term foreign private borrowing by the private sector. Thereafter, however, central government borrowing expanded rapidly. Current account deficits increased through much of the 1990s, but a turnaround began in 1996 when the deficit comprised 2% of GDP after a high of 12% in 1993. A rebounding trade balance surplus and a turnaround in direct investment aided in the improvement. The lifting of controls on foreign direct investment, combined with improved competitiveness accruing from greater wage restraint and rising productivity, are expected to bring continued interest in investing in Sweden. Also attractive is Sweden's liberal international investment policy, allowing 100% foreign ownership of virtually any sector, other than certain types of transportation and arms manufacture. The current account surplus was $28.7 billion in 2004 (equivalent to 8.3% of GDP).

BANKING AND SECURITIES

The Central Bank of Sweden (Sveriges Riksbank), founded in 1656, is the oldest bank in the world. It is the bank of issue and regulates domestic banking operations. The European Central Bank is responsible for determining monetary policy and setting interest rates. The largest commercial bank is the Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken. In the early 1990s, Swedish banks suffered severe losses; the government was forced to intervene and support two of the five largest commercial banks, Nordbanken and Gota Bank, by taking them over and eventually merging them, and the savings bank Forsta Sparbanken. By the end of 1996, Swedish banks showed improved results, with reduced credit losses and a stricter control of costs since the banking crises set in at the beginning of the 1990s. The smaller banks serve provincial interests. Deposit accounts at various lengths of call are used for short-term credit by industry and trade. The deregulation of financial markets has paved the way for foreign banks to open offices in Sweden. In 1997, Sweden's banking sector saw a series of mergers and acquisitions as Svenska Handelsbanken, the nation's largest bank, acquired the country's largest mortgage lender, Stadshypotek. Swedbank and Föreningsbanken merged, creating the second-largest bank. ForeningsSparbanken is now trying to merge with Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) to compete with Nordea for dominance of the Nordic banking market. However, this deal must still garner the approval of the EU. Den Donske Bank, based in Denmark, made the first incursion by a foreign bank into the Swedish retail sector when it purchased Ostgöta Enskilda Bank. By December 2000, 41 commercial banks remained in Sweden.

Mortgage banks of various types meet the needs of property owners, home builders, farmers, and shipbuilders. Credit also is extended by some 500 local rural credit societies and by about an equal number of agricultural cooperatives. There are four semi-governmental credit concerns, organized as business companies and created in cooperation with private commercial banks to facilitate long-term lending to agriculture, industry, small industry, and exports. Although the Riksbank's note issue is not tied to its gold reserves, there is an adjustable legal limit.

The International Monetary Fund reports that in 2001, M2—an aggregate equal to currency and demand deposits plus savings deposits, small time deposits, and money market mutual funds—was $88.1 billion. The money market rate, the rate at which financial institutions lend to one another in the short term, was 4.08%. The discount rate, the interest rate at which the central bank lends to financial institutions in the short term, was 2%.

The Riksbank lends money to the commercial banks and other credit associations against securities. Traditionally, the Swedish people have preferred to save by placing money in these banks rather than by direct investment, although this seemed likely to change if the Swedish pension reforms of 1997 were fully enacted, allowing workers to decide how to invest a portion of their retirement reserves. In 1992, 118 Swedish companies and 10 foreign companies were listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange (Stockholms Fondbörs), which was computerized that year. In 1997, the Stockholm Stock Exchange entered into a joint equity trading union with the Danish bourse, creating the first trans-national link of its kind in Europe. The joint equities market became Europe's sixth-largest.

Profits from the sale of securities are taxable provided they have been owned for less than five years. The capital gain is wholly taxable for securities held less than two years, but only 40% of the gain is taxable if the shares have been held more than two years. For machinery and equipment a minimum write-off period of three years is prescribed. The 1985 deregulation of the credit market included the removal of ceilings on lending banks, finance houses, and housing credit institutions and had the effect of diminishing part of Sweden's "gray market": direct contact between companies and private individuals with money for loans. Stockbroking is authorized by the Bank Inspection Board. As of 2004, a total of 256 companies were listed on the Stockholmsborsen, which had a market capitalization of $376.781 billion.

INSURANCE

The Swedish people are very life-insurance conscious. In 1985, there were at least 560 Swedish insurance companies. Most companies are very small, however, and only 65 firms operated on a nationwide scale in 1995. The five largest companies held almost 80% of total insurance assets. Automobile liability insurance is compulsory in Sweden, as are nuclear liability and workers' compensation.

Since the deregulation of financial markets in the late 1980s, new credit institutions have appeared which target niche sectors in banking and other financial services. Insurance companies, such as Skandia, have created their own banks. The National Insurance Pension Fund and private insurance funds are among the largest single domestic investors on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. The insurance regulatory authority is the Financial Supervisory Authority which is an independent state agency. In 2003, the value of all direct insurance premiums written totaled $21.040 billion, of which life insurance premiums accounted for $14.297 billion. In that same year, Sweden's top nonlife insurer was IF Skade, which had gross written nonlife premiums of $1.1 billion, while the country's leading life insurer was Alecta, with gross written life insurance premiums of $2.3 billion.

PUBLIC FINANCE

The financial year extends from 1 July to 30 June. Estimates are prepared in the autumn by the Ministry of the Budget and examined by the Riksdag early the following year. The budget contains two sections: an operating budget and a capital budget, the latter generally representing investments in state enterprises. The policy of running a surplus on the budget in boom years and a deficit in depression was used in the period between the two world wars and has been continued as a way of combating inflation. From 1982 to 1989, the budget balance improved from a deficit equivalent to about 13% of GDP to a surplus of nearly 2% of GDP. In 1990, however, a deficit reappeared that was equivalent to 1.2 of GDP. In 1991 and 1992, the budget deficits widened to 4.3% and 9.6% of GDP, respectively. The deficit increased to 12.3% of GDP in 1993, before beginning a sharp decline due to austerity measures, put in place by the Social Democrats; although smaller, deficits remained the norm through the late 1990s. Surpluses were projected for the early 2000s.

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) estimated that in 2005 Sweden's central government took in revenues of approximately $210.5 billion and had expenditures of $205.9 billion. Revenues minus expenditures totaled approximately $4.6 billion. Public debt in 2005 amounted to 50.3% of GDP. Total external debt was $516.1 billion.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported that in 2002, the most recent year for which it had data, central government revenues were Kr890.5 billion and expenditures were Kr883.2 billion. The value of revenues was us$91 million and expenditures us$90 million, based on an exchange rate for 2002 of us$1 = Kr9.7371 as reported by the IMF. Government outlays by function were as follows: general public services, 23.5%; defense, 5.7%; public order and safety, 3.2%; economic affairs, 9.4%; environmental protection, 0.5%; housing and community amenities, 0.6%; health, 2.9%; recreation, culture, and religion, 0.8%; education, 6.4%; and social protection, 47.2%.

TAXATION

With so many social services in effect, and a virtual absence of poverty, Sweden's personal income taxes are the highest in the world. As of 2005, Sweden's top personal income tax rates effectively stood at 53% to 58%. Depending upon the locality, this included municipal income taxes on employment income averaging 31%, in addition to national income tax rates of 20–25%. In addition, capital income is taxed at a flat rate of 30%. Income of nonresidents is subject to a flat rate of 25%. Personal deductions vary between 8,600 and 18,100 krona ($6,364 and $13,400). A health tax is levied at 1.5%. There is also a real estate tax.

In contrast, corporations are taxed relatively lightly in comparison with those in many other countries. The national income tax rate on corporations was 28% in 2005 (separate municipal income tax on corporations was abolished as of 1985), with no distinction between distributed and undistributed profits. Capital gains are taxed like other corporate income at 28%, although capital gains on shares held for business purposes are tax exempt. The with-holding tax on dividends is 30%, which is applied to nonresidents. Royalties paid to residents are not taxed, but those paid to nonresidents are subject to the corporate rate. These rates are often reduced or eliminated in bilateral tax treaties. Interest income is not subject to withholding.

Tax liability is determined according to a firm's books so long as these are properly kept. Companies are allowed considerable discretion in determining their net income for any particular year; they can take advantage of the flexible rules governing the valuation of stocks and the depreciation of equipment and machinery. Swedish companies may set aside an investment reserve in boom years and use this reserve in years of slack production.

For decades, the Swedish ratio of indirect taxes to total tax revenue was one of the lowest in the world. During World War II and the early postwar years, however, a national sales tax was in effect. The national sales tax was replaced by a value-added tax (VAT) with a standard rate of 10% on 1 January 1969. The standard rate was increased to 17.65% in 1971, to 20.63% in 1977, to 46% in 1980, to 21.51% in 1981, to 23.46% in 1983, to 25% in 1992, where it has since remained, as of 2005. Almost all goods and most services are subject to this tax. There are two reduced rates: 12%, applied to food, and 6%, applied to domestic passenger transport, newspapers, and, as of 1 January 2002, books and magazines. A zero VAT rate applies to printing services, ship and airplane building and repair, sea rescue services, prescription medicine, aircraft fuel, and gold supplied to the Central Bank.

CUSTOMS AND DUTIES

Tariffs were established in the 19th century to allow for the development of Swedish industry, but the rates have traditionally been among the lowest in the world. Sweden subscribes to the OECD trade liberalization program and imports, with few exceptions, are not subject to controls. As a member of EFTA, Sweden abolished customs duties against other EFTA countries by the end of 1966. In 1991, Sweden formally began the process of joining the European Union and officially became a member on 1 January 1995. Some 90% of imports from developing countries are duty-free.

In general, the importation of raw materials is duty-free. Import duties are based on freight, insurance and handling costs, broker fees, package costs, royalties or license fees, and the seller's yield if sale will be to a third party. Import restrictions apply mainly to protected agricultural products, automobiles, and trade with Eastern Europe and the Far East. Sweden applies common external European Union tariffs to imports from the United States at rates ranging from 2–14% for industrial products. Other import taxes include a 25% value-added tax (VAT). A lower 12% VAT applies for food and selected services, and a 6% rate for periodicals and books.

FOREIGN INVESTMENT

Sweden has some of the most liberal foreign investment laws in the world. Sweden's corporate income tax rate of 28%, one of the lowest in Europe, makes Sweden an attractive target of foreign investors. It is open to nearly all foreign investment and allows 100% foreign ownership, except in certain transportation sectors (air and maritime) and in arms manufacture. For the period 1988–1990, Sweden was ranked third of 140 countries on UNCTAD's Inward FDI Potential Index, after the United States and Canada. For the period 1988–2000, Sweden was number two, behind only the United States. Investing in Sweden is also attractive due to its competent employees, excellent infrastructure, and good access to capital. On the negative side are high labor costs, rigid labor legislation, and overall high costs in Sweden.

Sweden's outward FDI rose steadily during the 1990s, from $1.4 billion in 1993 to a peak of $41.7 billion in 2000, ahead of inward FDI for the year by $18.3 billion. Outward FDI dropped to $6.2 billion in 2001 but rose to $11.3 billion in 2002. Inward FDI flow was only $3.7 billion in 1993, but had reached $19.5 billion by 1998. FDI inflows peaked in 1999 at $60.8 billion, then moderated to $23.4 billion in 2000. The world economic slowdown reduced FDI inflows to $12.7 billion in 2001, and an estimated $11.5 billion in 2002. These figures must be considered in light of FDI flows worldwide during that period, which dropped 50%. Another dramatic decline of FDI inflows took place in 2003, with a net outflow from Sweden amounting to $15.7 billion. The rate of net outflow slowed somewhat in 2004. Over the 2001–05 period, FDI inflows amounted to 2.5% of GDP.

By 2001, cumulative FDI in Sweden totaled $155 billion, the 10th-highest total in the world. The countries with the largest Swedish investments in 2005 were, in order: the United States, Finland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium/Luxemburg, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, and France.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Between 1946 and 1953, the Swedish economy was dominated by expansion. Thereafter, although production continued to increase (at a lessened rate), inflation was a matter of concern. Expansion of output slowed down during the international oil crisis and recession of 1974–75, largely as a result of a weakening of foreign demand for Swedish products, but employment remained high. Thus far, the economy has managed to contain inflationary trends within reasonable limits. Although some industries (the railways, iron-ore mines, etc.) have been nationalized for a long time, private concerns carry on most of Sweden's industry, in terms of both number of workers and value of output.

During periods of unemployment such as the world recession of 1980–81, the central government and the municipalities have expended funds to provide additional employment and to keep the unemployment rate relatively low. The jobless have been put to work building dwellings and highways, extending reforestation work, and constructing water and sewer installations, harbors, lighthouses, railroads, defense projects, and telecommunications facilities. Although the government resorted to stockpiling industrial goods to combat the economic slowdown in the mid-1970s, the cost was considered too high, and the policy was not repeated during the recession of the early 1980s. More recently, the emphasis has been on cutting costs and restraining inflation to make Swedish goods more competitive in the international marketplace.

Regional development has been fostered by the use of investment funds (a tax device permitting enterprises to set aside tax-free reserves during boom years to be used for investment during recessions), relief works, and government lending to small-scale industry. A national program for regional development was introduced in 1972 to develop services and job opportunities in provinces that have lagged behind in industrial development. Projects in northern Sweden benefited most from this program.

In 1991, the government announced a plan to privatize 35 wholly or partially state-owned firms with annual turnovers totaling Kr150 billion. This program was delayed by the economic recession, however. A 10-year, Kr110 billion program of infrastructure investment was announced in 1994. More than 90% of the money would be spent on the road and rail networks, and a bridge that would link Malmö with Copenhagen. The Øresund Bridge opened in 2000, covering 10.5 miles (17 km). It physically links Sweden with the rest of Western Europe.

Sweden's entry into the EU in 1995 dominated the second half of the 1990s. As a result of EU membership, Sweden harmonized its trade laws with those its fellow members and continued privatization and liberalization of its economy. Sweden also qualified for membership in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) but decided to opt out. Future membership was contingent upon passage of a referendum, which was held in September 2003. Swedes decided not to join the euro zone by a vote of 56% to 42%. Along with the United Kingdom and Denmark, Sweden continues to stand aside from the EU's 12 other countries that, by 2005, had abandoned their old currencies.

As of 2002, around 34% of the labor force was employed in the public sector, and general government expenditure accounted for around 55% of GDP. Economic growth in the late 1990s and in the early 2000s was relatively strong, employment rates were high, there were large surpluses in both the general government and the external current accounts, and the public debt was declining. Despite the global economic slowdown of 2001–02, with the Swedish labor market situation weakening, by 2004 signs of a cyclical recovery had become clear. The strongest signs of recovery could be seen in the export industry. Sweden has made large investments in education and entrepreneurship, and is at the forefront of the global telecommunications and IT industry. These factors have contributed to a well-performing economy.

The key challenge for the Swedish economy will be to maintain the core of the social-welfare system as the population ages. Because Sweden has a budget surplus, it is better placed than most other OECD nations to do this. By 2015, the number of people 65 years of age and older is expected to be 25% larger than in 2005, while the total population in other age categories will remain largely unchanged. Although this trend is not unique to Sweden, it will need to respond to the higher demand for medical care and related social services. In this light, high labor force participation and high employment are desirable.

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Sweden has been called the model welfare state; every citizen is guaranteed a minimum subsistence income and medical care. Social welfare legislation was introduced relatively early and was greatly expanded after World War II. The system is financed partly by insurance premium payments and partly by state and local taxation. Basic benefits are often increased by cost-of-living supplements. Employers and employees contribute to the program, with government funding certain aspects of the system. All residents are covered by sickness and maternity benefits. There is also a universal system for family allowances completely funded by the government.

Old-age pensions are paid to all residents 65 years of age or older, but an earlier retirement is possible, with a reduction in pension benefits. Under the new system, there is a flexible retirement age, starting from 61, and is funded by 6.95% of employee earnings and 6.4% of employer payroll. Unemployment insurance is administered by the trade unions and provides benefits according to salary to those who voluntarily enroll. Unemployment relief, through monetary assistance or public works, is provided by the central government or by state-subsidized municipalities.

Compulsory health service was introduced in 1955. Hospital care is free for up to two years. Medical services and medicines are provided at substantially reduced rates or, in some cases, without charge. In the event of illness, employed persons and women staying at home to raise children receive cash payments and get further benefits according to income. Costs of confinement and maternity allowances for women are covered by health insurance. There is also a national program of dental insurance.

Workers' compensation is coordinated with the national health service scheme. This type of insurance, financed entirely by employers, covers work time as well as travel to and from work for all employees. Benefits include free medical treatment, medicines, and appliances. Annuities are paid to persons permanently disabled, and funeral benefits and pensions to dependents are provided in case of death. Public assistance is provided for blind or infirm persons confined to their homes and to people who are in sanitariums, special hospitals, or charitable institutions.

The law requires women to have equal opportunities and equal pay. Despite these legal protections, women are underrepresented in higher-paying jobs, and often receive less pay for equal work. The Equal Opportunity Ombudsman, a government official, reviews equality plans required by employers and investigates allegations of gender discrimination. Violence against women, primarily spousal abuse, persists, although the government has many programs to deal with these issues. The laws protect women, and shelters and other assistance to victims is available. Strict laws protecting children from abuse are also in effect.

There is general tolerance for religious and ethnic minorities, although right-wing and neonazi activities are reported. The government protects and supports minority languages. Human rights are deeply respected in Sweden.

HEALTH

The national health insurance system, financed by the state and employer contributions, was established in January 1955 and covers all Swedish citizens and alien residents. Total expenditure for health care insurance was 7.9% of the gross domestic product. Principal health care reform issues in the 1990s include universal and equal access to services and equitable funding of health care. For rural medical attention, doctors are supplemented by district nurses. Only about 5% of all physicians are in full-time private practice. The corresponding figure for private dentists, however, is more than 50%. Swedish hospitals are well known for their high standards.

Cardiovascular disease accounted for about half of all deaths; cancer was the next leading cause of death. Many health problems are related to environment and lifestyle (including tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, and overeating). The smoking rates were similar between men (22%) and women (24%) over the age of 15. Periodic campaigns are conducted to reduce tuberculosis (with a nationwide X-ray survey), cancer, rheumatism, and venereal diseases.

Immunization rates for children under age one were as follows: diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus, 99% and measles, 96%. There is a well-developed prenatal service. Children receive free dental care until the age of 20.

Sweden's population is the world's oldest; nearly one in five people is 64 years of age or older. In 2005, average life expectancy in Sweden was 80.40 years. As of 2002, the crude birth rate and overall mortality rate were estimated at, respectively, 9.8 and 10.6 per 1,000 people. Infant mortality has been sharply reduced, from 60 per 1,000 live births in 1920 to 2.77 per 1,000 in 2000, one of the lowest rates in the world.

The HIV/AIDS prevalence was 0.10 per 100 adults in 2003. As of 2004, there were approximately 3,600 people living with HIV/AIDS in the country. There were an estimated 100 deaths from AIDS in 2003.

HOUSING

In 1998, there were 4.3 million dwellings nationwide. Of these, about 2.3 million were multi-family dwellings and the remainder were one- or two-family homes. In 1998, about 20% of all dwellings were tenant owned, 40% were rental units, and 20% were owner occupied. There were about 4.2 million households that year, with an average of 2.1 people per household. In 1999, 15,000 new dwellings were started. The projected number of dwellings in 2004 was 4,379,541.

Nearly all of Sweden's housing stock was modernized during a mass housing improvement program in the 1980s. Most houses are built by private contractors, but more than half of new housing is designed, planned, and financed by nonprofit organizations and cooperatives. NPOs and cooperatives provide dwellings for members who are designated as tenant-owners of their dwellings.

The government subsidizes new construction and reconditioning, helps various groups to obtain better housing, and extends credit at interest rates lower than those obtainable in the open market. A system of rent controls, introduced in 1942 and designed to freeze rents at the existing rate, was abolished in 1975. It has been replaced by a policy known as a utility-value provision, through which the rent of a flat may not be higher than that of a similar flat in the same area which is of the same general value to the occupant. Many tenant organizations negotiate rental agreements with landlords and rent increases can be reviewed by a tribunal. The National Board of Housing, Building, and Planning estimates that 250,000 new dwellings will be built from 2000–10. About 30,000 dwellings per year will be renovated or rebuilt during the same period.

EDUCATION

Education is free and compulsory between ages 7 and 15. A nine-year comprehensive course was introduced in 1962. All pupils receive the same course of instruction for six years; beginning in the seventh year the curriculum is differentiated, and students may choose between a classical and a vocational course. About 80% of all students then enter gymnasium (senior high school) or continuation schools. The gymnasium specializes in classical or modern languages or science; after the three-year course, students may take a final graduating examination. The continuation schools offer a two-year curriculum that is more practical and specialized than that of the gymnasium and leads more quickly to the practice of a trade. Both comprehensive schools and secondary schools are administered by local authorities, while the central government provides grants-in-aid to cover the greater part of the costs.

In 2001, about 75% of children between the ages of three and six were enrolled in some type of preschool program. Primary school enrollment in 2003 was estimated at about 100% of age-eligible students. The same year, secondary school enrollment was about 99% of age-eligible students. It is estimated that nearly all students complete their primary education. The student-to-teacher ratio for primary school was at about 11:1 in 2003; the ratio for secondary school was about 13:1. In 2003, private schools accounted for about 5% of primary school enrollment and 3.9% of secondary enrollment.

Sweden's six universities, all largely financed by the state, are at Uppsala (founded in 1477), Lund (1666), Stockholm (1877), Göteborg (1891), and Umea and Linköping (both completed in 1963). Uppsala and Lund have four faculties each—law, theology, medicine, and philosophy (arts and sciences). Stockholm has faculties of humanities, law, mathematics, and science; Göteborg, medicine and humanities. There are also more than two dozen specialized schools and institutions of university rank for such subjects as medicine, dentistry, pharmacology, veterinary science, music, economics, commerce, technology, agriculture, and forestry. Tuition is free, except for some special courses; most university students receive government loans to help them meet their living expenses.

Sweden has an active adult general education movement in which some three million persons participate each year. People's schools and other educational institutions give courses for all those who want to study. All the universities have extension divisions for general studies. There are 130 state-subsidized folk high schools for working adults that provide courses ranging in length from a few days to 80 weeks. In 2003, it was estimated that about 83% of the tertiary age population were enrolled in tertiary education programs. The adult literacy rate has been estimated at about 99%.

As of 2003, public expenditure on education was estimated at 7.7% of GDP, or 12.8% of total government expenditures.

LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS

The four major libraries, the Royal Library at Stockholm (three million volumes) and the university libraries of Uppsala (5.4 million), Lunds (3.2 million), and Göteborg (2.7 million), receive free copies of all Swedish publications. There are technical and other special libraries, all of which have an interlibrary loan scheme with the university libraries, the state-aided municipal libraries, and the 24 county libraries. The largest public library is the Stockholm Public Library which holds over 2.1 million books and over 150,000 materials of other media. The Stockholm Public Library supports 44 city branches, 60 hospital branches, 90 lending points in workplaces and correctional facilities, and bookmobile services. The Göteborg Public Library holds 1.6 million volumes. Altogether, the public library systems had a combined total of about 46.3 million volumes. The Swedish Library of Talking Books and Braille is a government program that works through local public libraries; founded in 1955, the library has over 86,500 talking book titles (in 50 languages) and over 12,000 books in Braille. The Swedish Authors' Fund administers a library loan compensation system that pays an author royalties each time a book is borrowed.

Most of the outstanding museums are in Stockholm. Especially renowned are the rich art collections of the Swedish National Art Museum and the sculptures of Carl Milles in the artist's former home at Millesgarden in Lidingö. In Stockholm are located the Swedish Museum of Natural History (founded 1739) and the National Museum of Science and Technology (founded 1924). The Aquaria Vatten Museum, opened in 1991, is a natural history museum that includes a shark aquarium, salmon ladder, and living rain forest. The Nobel Museum celebrates the life and work of Alfred Nobel and many of the Nobel Prize laureates; the Nobel Museum also houses the 15,000-volume private library of Alfred Nobel. Göteborg has a number of museums including the Göteborg Art Gallery and a maritime museum reflecting the interests of that city. The finest Swedish folk museum is in Skansen, near Stockholm. Göteborg also has a public affairs museum including an exhibit of the history of the East India Tea Company of Sweden. Lund has the Museum of Cultural History and the Museum of Zoology. The Victoria Museum for Egyptian Antiquities is in Uppsala.

MEDIA

In 2003, there were an estimated 736 mainline telephones for every 1,000 people. The same year, there were approximately 980 mobile phones in use for every 1,000 people.

Sveriges Radio and Television operates several public broadcasting channels. There are several private commercial stations, including satellite and cable networks. As of 1999, there were a total of 5 AM and 360 FM radio stations and 163 television stations. In 2003, there were an estimated 2,811 radios and 965 television sets for every 1,000 people. About 246 of every 1,000 people were cable subscribers. Also in 2003, there were 621.3 personal computers for every 1,000 people and 573 of every 1,000 people had access to the Internet. There were 2,354 secure Internet servers in the country in 2004.

The Swedish press is said to be the oldest in which censorship is legally forbidden. The first regular newspaper, Post-och Inrikes Tidningar, appeared in 1645 and is still published. The first daily was Norrköpings Tidningen (1758). In 2001, there were 169 daily newspapers and 455 weeklies.

News is drawn largely from the Swedish News Agency (Tidningarnas Telegrambyra—TT), an agency owned by the Swedish press. The leading newspapers in Stockholm (with affiliation and circulation rates in 2005) were: Aftonbladet (Labor, 441,000), Expressen (liberal, 342,000), Dagens Nyheter (independent, 363,000), and Svenska Dagbladet (conservative, 179,000). In other regions, the leading papers in 2002 were: Göteborgs-Posten in Göteborg, (liberal, circulation 246,000), Idag Vast in Göteborg (172,800 in 2002), Sydsvenskan in Malmö (155,600 in 2002), Sydsvenska Dagbladet in Malmö (independent liberal, 136,000), GT in Göteborg (68,500 in 2002), Nerikes Allehanda in Örebro (68,000 in 2002), Upsala Nya Tidning in Uppsala (64,400 in 2002), Kvallsposten in Malmö (62,900 in 2002) and Nya Wermlands-Tidningen in Karlstad (conservative, 59,500 in 2002).

ORGANIZATIONS

Almost all farmers are members of agricultural cooperatives, which buy supplies and sell products for the farmers and represent farmers' interests to state agencies. Over 300,000 farmers belong to a member body of the Federation of Swedish Farmers, a powerful organization that provides farmers with legal and tax advice as well as educational services on agricultural matters. There are two farm credit institutions, a dairies association, a meat marketing association, and an egg marketing association. The National Union of Swedish Farmers (formed in 1905) supplies its members with fertilizer, seeds, feeds, and other supplies and buys their crops.

The Federation of Swedish Industries (founded 1910) is active in promoting trade. Chambers of commerce operate in all the principal cities and towns. There are specialist industrial and trade associations such as those of the glass exporters and wood exporters. There are professional organizations in agriculture, archaeology, art, education, engineering, ethnology, geography, geology, law, literature, mathematics, medicine, music, science, and other fields. The Swedish Medical Association is a major physicians union.

The three most distinguished scholarly organizations are the Swedish Academy (founded 1786), the Royal Academy of Letters, History, and Antiquities (founded 1753), and the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences (founded 1776). The Nobel Foundation administers the trust fund established by Swedish scientist and inventor Alfred Nobel (1833-96) and presents the annual Nobel Prizes. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences assists in awarding the annual Nobel Prizes for physics, chemistry, and economic sciences. The Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs helps promote study in arts and culture, in part by serving as an advisory council for the national cultural budget. The Swedish P.E.N. Centre is based in Stockholm. There are several clubs and associations available for hobbyists and amateur participants in a variety of fields, such as the Gothenburg Ornithological Society.

Numerous national youth organizations include the Association of Young Catholics in Sweden, Center Party University Students Federation, Christian Democratic Youth Union, Good Templar Youth of Sweden, Liberal Student Federation, Swedish 4-H Youth, Junior Chamber. Swedish National Union of Students, Young Left of Sweden, YMCA/YWCA, and the Swedish Guide and Scout Council. Some youth councils are organized under the National Council of Swedish Youth Organizations. There are numerous sports associations promoting amateur competitions for athletes of all ages.

The Women's Front serves as an umbrella organization for groups campaigning for equal rights. There are strong women's groups within political parties. International organizations with national chapters include Greenpeace, Save the Children, Amnesty International, and the Red Cross.

TOURISM, TRAVEL, AND RECREATION

Tourism, a major industry in Sweden, was stagnant in the 1990s due to a value-added tax on hotels, restaurants, and travel services. Since 2000, however, the industry has steadily grown.

Principal tourist sites include the Royal Palace in Stockholm, the "garden city" of Göteborg, the resort island of Öland off the Baltic coast, and the lake and mountain country in the north. Cultural centers in Stockholm are the Royal Opera, Royal Dramatic Theater, and Berwald Concert Hall. Popular recreational activities include football (soccer), polo, skiing, ice skating, swimming, mountain climbing, and gymnastics.

The number of foreign tourists to Sweden cannot be reliably ascertained because of uncontrolled tourist movements across borders within Scandinavia; statistics of Scandinavian visitors to Sweden have not been kept since 1951. However, tourist arrivals totaled 7,627,000 in 2003, when tourism receipts reached $6.5 billion. That year Sweden had 96,372 hotel rooms and 184,771 beds with a 34% occupancy rate. All visitors must have a valid passport as well as sufficient funds for their stay and an onward/return ticket. Citizens of 133 countries including the United Kingdom, Russia, and China are required to carry an entry visa. Citizens of Canada, the United States, Western European countries, and some other nations may enter Sweden with a valid passport and do not require a visa.

In 2005, the US Department of State estimated the cost of staying in Stockholm at $419 per day.

FAMOUS SWEDES

Esaias Tegnér (1782–1846), considered the national poet of Sweden, and Erik Gustaf Geijer (1783–1847), historian and poet, are the best-known Swedish writers of the early 19th century. A new impulse was given to literature by August Strindberg (1849–1912), a major literary figure whose powerful, socially oriented plays and stories reflected the advanced thought of the age. Selma Lagerlöf (1858–1940), who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1909, showed in her novels a depth of narrative genius reminiscent of the Norse sagas. Other Swedish winners of the Nobel Prize for literature were the novelist and poet Karl Gustav Verner von Heidenstam (1859–1940), in 1916; the novelist and short-story writer Pär Lagerkvist (1891–1974), in 1951; and the novelists Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976) and Harry Edmund Martinson (1904–78), who shared the 1974 award. A noted contemporary novelist is Vilhelm Moberg (1889–1974).

The painter, etcher, and sculptor Anders Leonhard Zorn (1860–1920) and the sculptor Carl Milles (1875–1955) are the greatest figures in Swedish art. The outstanding Swedish musician of the 19th century was Franz Adolf Berwald (1796–1868), composer of symphonies, operas, and chamber music. August Johan Söderman (1832–76) is considered the leading Swedish operatic composer. Two famous sopranos were Jenny Lind (1820–87), the "Swedish nightingale," and Christine (Kristina) Nilsson (1843–1921). Outstanding 20th-century musicians are the composers Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871–1927), Hugo Alfvén (1872–1960), Ture Rangström (1884–1947), Kurt Atterberg (1887–1974), Hilding Constantin Rosenberg (1892–1985), and the singers Jussi Björling (1910–60) and Birgit Nilsson (1918–2006).

Famous 18th-century scientists were the astronomer and physicist Anders Celsius (1705–44), who devised the temperature scale named after him; the chemist Karl Wilhelm Scheele (1742–86); and the botanist Carolus Linnaeus (Carl von Linné, 1707–78), who established the classification schemes of plants and animals named after him. Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) was a scientist, philosopher, and religious writer whose followers founded a religious sect in his name.

Svante August Arrhenius (1859–1927), a great pioneer in physical chemistry, is renowned for his theory of electrolytic dissociation and his speculations in the field of cosmic physics; in 1903, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry. Other Swedish Nobel Prize winners in science or medicine are Gustaf Dalén (1869–1957), for his work in automatic beacons for coast lighting (1912); Allvar Gullstrand (1862–1930), for work on dioptics of the eye (1911); Karl Manne Georg Siegbahn (1886–1978), for work on X-ray spectroscopy (1924); The (Theodor) Svedberg (1884–1971), for work in colloidal chemistry (1926); Hans Karl August Simon von Euler-Chelpin (b.Augsburg, 1873–1964), for work in enzyme chemistry (1929); George Karl de Hevesy (b.Budapest, 1885–1966), for work on isotopes (1943); Arne Wilhelm Kaurin Tiselius (1902–71), for investigations in electrophoresis (1948); Axel Hugo Theodor Theorell (1903–82), for work on enzymes (1955); Ragnar Arthur Granit (Finland, 1900–91), for "discoveries in primary physiological and chemical visual processes in the eye" (1967); Hannes Olof Gösta Alfvén (1908–95), for work in magnetohydro-dynamics (1970); and Ulf von Euler-Chelpin (1905–83), for work on the treatment of nervous and mental disorders (1970). In addition, Kai M. Siegbahn (b.1918) shared the 1981 Nobel Prize in physics for developing spectroscopy; and Sune Karl Bergström (1916–2004) and Bengt Ingemar Samuelsson (b.1934) shared the 1982 prize in medicine for their research on prostaglandins. Bergström also served as chairman of the Nobel Foundation.

Three distinguished political economists are Karl Gunnar Myrdal (1898–1987), who was awarded the 1974 Nobel Prize in economic science for work in the theory of money and economic fluctuations and whose 1944 book An American Dilemma contributed to the overthrowing of legally sanctioned racial segregation in the United States; Bertil Gotthard Ohlin (1899–1979), who shared the 1977 prize for his contribution to international trade theory; and Dag Hammarskjöld (1905–61), who was secretary-general of the UN from 1953 until his death and was posthumously awarded the 1961 Nobel Prize for peace. Other Swedish winners of the Nobel Peace Prize were Klas Pontus Arnoldson (1844–1916), in 1908; Karl Hjalmar Branting (1860–1925), in 1921; Nathan Söderblom (Lars Olof Jonathan, 1866–1931), in 1930; and Alva Reimer Myrdal (1902–86), the wife of Gunnar Myrdal, in 1982.Swedish inventors who have done much to promote manufacturing and technical advances include the Swedish-American John Ericsson (1803–89), who pioneered the screw propeller and designed the first Western armored-turret warship, the Monitor; Alfred Nobel (1833–96), inventor of dynamite and progenitor of the Nobel Prizes; Lars Magnus Ericsson (1846–1926), who contributed much to the development of telephones; and Gustaf de Laval (1845–1913), who developed steam turbines and invented a centrifugal cream separator.

One of the most noted film directors of our times is Ingmar Bergman (b.1918); other noted directors were Victor Seastrom (Sjöström, 1879–1960) and Mauritz (Moshe) Stiller (b.Finland, 1883–1928). Famous screen personalities have included Greta Garbo (Greta Louisa Gustafsson, 1905–90) and Ingrid Bergman (1917–82). More recent stars of Swedish theater and films include Erland Josephson (b.1923), Max Von Sydow (b.1929), Ingrid Thulin (1929–2004), Harriet Andersson (b.1932), and Bibi Andersson (b.1935). Sweden's sports stars include five-time Wimbledon tennis champion Björn Borg (b.1956); Alpine skiing champion Ingemar Stenmark (b.1956); and eight-time Rolex Player of the Year (as of 2005) golfer Annika Sörenstam (b.1970).

DEPENDENCIES

Sweden has no territories or colonies.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Annesley, Claire (ed.). A Political and Economic Dictionary of Western Europe. Philadelphia: Routledge/Taylor and Francis, 2005.

Esaiasson, Peter. Representation from Above: Members of Parliament and Representative Democracy in Sweden. Aldershot, England: Dartmouth, 1996.

Fant, Kenne. Alfred Nobel: A Biography. New York: Arcade, 1993.

International Smoking Statistics: A Collection of Historical Data from 30 Economically Developed Countries. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Micheletti, Michele. Civil Society and State Relations in Sweden. Brookfield, Vt.: Avebury, 1995.

Remaking the Welfare State: Swedish Urban Planning and Policy-Making in the 1990s. Edited by Ingemar Elander, Abdul Khakee, and Sune Sunesson. Brookfield, Vt.: Avebury, 1995.

Roberts, Michael. Gustavus Adolphus. 2nd ed. New York: Longman, 1992.

Sandelin, Bo (ed.). The History of Swedish Economic Thought. London; New York: Routledge, 1991.

Scobbie, Irene. Historical Dictionary of Sweden. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow, 1995.

Streissguth, Thomas. Raoul Wallenberg: Swedish Diplomat and Humanitarian. New York: Rosen, 2001.

Wessels, Wolfgang, Andreas Maurer, and Jürgan Mittag (eds.). Fifteen into One?: the European Union and Its Member States. New York: Palgrave, 2003.

Sweden

History & Background

Sweden is a Scandinavian nation of nine million people living in a country of 450,000 km in size. Many of the inhabitants live in cities in the warmer south. Much of the state, particularly in the arctic region, remains sparsely settled. Sweden's government has evolved over the centuries. It has changed over the years from an elected ruler to an absolute monarchy to the current government largely run by an elected parliament with a constitutional monarchy. In 2001, King Carl XVI Gustav survived an attempt by many voters in Parliament who wanted to do away with the monarchy altogether.

Sweden in the 1950s throughout the late 1970s had a standard of living that many civilized nations wanted to emulate. However, in the 1980s and 1990s, Sweden found itself battling high unemployment even as it wrestled with the problem of assimilating a fast-rising immigrant population. For a number of reasons, including a shift from a liberal parliament to a conservative parliament, the government of Sweden undertook reforms in every level of education in the early and mid-1990s, hoping to keep the literacy rate from plummeting and to increase the number of people with jobs. By 1995, Sweden's literacy rate reached 99 percent. In March of 2001, the country's employment situation approached a healthy state again, with only a 3.9 percent unemployment rate.

Sweden is a European country with a comparatively short history because of violent climactic changes many years ago that drove residents southward. The area that makes up today's Sweden, together with connected nations today called Scandinavia, emerged after the departure of the glaciers that had covered all terrain for millenniums. Once woods, vegetation, and grains emerged from the soil, predator and prey prowled the land, followed by early homo-sapiens hunters from the warmer lands to the south (in what is today Europe). Not until 100 B.C. did Sweden's climate warm enough to encourage wider settlement, approximately equaling today's climate by the eighth century. Thus, the culture and lifestyles of the people here lagged far behind Roman and Grecian civilizations.

That today's Swedes are so literate is intriguing, particularly because early Swedes were a non-literate people, leaving no written records. Information about these early Swedes comes from the observations of literate foreigners—mainly the Roman conquerors—plus secrets that archaeologists have obtained digging in the earth for artifacts such as primitive hatchets and arrow tips.

For hundred of years Sweden was a country beset with widespread unrest. Most notably, chaotic conditions were caused by invasions of warlike peoples such as the Germanic tribes in the fourth and fifth centuries (A.D.). Not surprisingly, the Swedish language contains words drawn from the languages of its primitive, so-called "pagan" tribes, as well as Germanic and English words that show the influence of invader and missionary alike. The Swedish language is characterized as Indo-European, and it has much in common with Danish, Norwegian, and Icelandic.

Some Viking conquerors that invaded Europe came from parts of Sweden, as well as from Denmark. The early Christian missionaries (ninth through twelfth centuries) were intent on bringing their religion to serf and king alike in feudal Sweden, but they brought with them the gifts of reading and writing as they brought the native people through the process of conversion. The first schools in the country were cathedral schools established in the twelfth century and common in the thirteenth century.

By the reign of Eric IX in the twelfth century, Sweden had become a Christian nation and would become an official Lutheran country (under authority of the king) by the early seventeenth century.

Sweden's king united with the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway, late in the fourteenth century, under the Kalmar Union. Then, Sweden fell for a time under the domination of Denmark. The Danish King Christian II massacred many Swedes in 1520 in the city of Stockholm, including the assassination of a senator who was the father of the future Swedish King Gustavus I (1496-1560). Gustavus I, imprisoned by the Danes for a time until his escape, was elected king by the Swedish Riksdag (Parliament) in 1523. That event coincided with the secession of his nation from the Dane-controlled union and led, in 1527, to the founding of a national Protestant Church.

The Swedes built a powerful navy and became a dominant political power in Europe under Gustavus I, backing up demands with the use of force. Gustavus also used force to extricate his country from the economic tyranny of the Hansas, the powerful north German tradesmen dominating foreign trade who banded together in a federation of more than seventy cities under the feudal mercantile power known as the Hanseatic League.

Sweden was one of the later nations in Europe to begin schools of higher education. From the thirteenth century, the country's young scholars traveled to Paris, France; Prague, Czechoslovakia; Greifswald in Pomerania; or to Leipzig, Germany, for their studies at the university level. At last in 1477, the Swedes established the University of Uppsala with a charter granted by the Pope in Rome. Following the dissent of Martin Luther with some teachings of the Catholic Church posted on a Wittenberg church door in 1517, the Reformation swept across Sweden, leading to a strong interest in learning so that all citizens would become capable of reading the Bible. Lutheran teachings were especially popular with the nobility in Scandinavia, many of whom already were chafing at the confining regulations of the Church in Rome, as well as the church habit of taking properties it coveted.

Gustavus I defeated the Germanic city of Lübeck in 1537, which allowed Sweden to defeat the tyranny of the Hanseatic League and to emerge as an economic power in Northern Europe. At the height of his power, in 1544, Gustavus I ordered the cessation of the practice of electing a king in favor of succession to the crown by members of the Vasa family, starting with his male heir and son, Eric XIV.

In 1571, following the example of the spread of schools in Germany after the Reformation, Sweden passed legislation authorizing the establishment of grammar schools that the nation's youth could attend for eight years. Sweden's equivalent of secondary schools materialized in 1611. The state passed a law that added four additional years of education in selected cities that had cathedral schools.

Sweden entered a long and violent period of aggression toward other nations under King Gustavus II, better known as Gustavus Adolphus, who conducted an almost nonstop succession of wars during his time of rule from 1611 to 1632. The affairs of the country, at the height of Sweden's stay as a world power, were conducted by its chancellor, Count Axel Gustaffson Oxenstierna (1583-1654). Following Gustavus Adolphus' fall on the battlefield and early death, Count Oxenstierna wielded enormous power under the rule of Christina, daughter of Gustavus II, who never married. During her short reign, Christina was patron and backer of the arts, literature and scholarly endeavors, but her enlightened attitude toward learning was accompanied by near-diffidence toward affairs of state.

After she stepped down in 1654 to convert to Catholicism and to live in Rome, Christina's throne was taken over by her cousin King Charles X, although Count Oxenstierna remained a strong voice in national affairs. From 1655 to 1708, Sweden continued its path of aggression, winning a war against Denmark but suffering a staggering defeat in battle on the soil of Russia. (A century later, during the Napoleonic Wars, Sweden ceded Finland, its grand duchy, to Russia in 1809.)

The Swedish nation began to look to education as a civilizing and stabilizing force in the late eighteenth century. That was a time of national concern and political trauma following wars with Russia, Denmark, and Norway, and the 1792 political assassination of King Gustav III, an enlightened but contradictory and power-hungry despot, who spoke several languages and was passionate about world literature, while he was in attendance at a masked ball.

Literacy rates improved dramatically as the state emphasized the need to read and write. About half the population of Sweden was able to read by 1800. Nonetheless, Sweden's class-conscious society practiced a segregation of upper class children from those perceived as belonging to the lower class.

Sweden's last war was a confrontation with Norway in 1814. Since that time, most of two centuries, Sweden has stayed neutral in wartime. It replaced its lust for warfare with a zest for quality education.

In the 1820s, Swedish thinkers began to consider ways to reform schools in the nation, and perhaps the most important educational development in the nineteenth century was the decision to make education compulsory. The state, looking for even greater success in the development of an educated people, passed a law in 1842 requiring compulsory education of boys and girls. Sweden was a poor country then, and many of the 1.5 million who left the land for America and other nations in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries did so because hunger had become a daily nemesis. Emigration continued into 1930 but eventually lessened, as Sweden became an industrial power and an attractive state to dwell, following the close of the 1940s It also became a welfare state, guaranteeing citizens a free education and healthcare at citizen expense.

Under the reign of Karl XV (1859-72), a system of local self-government was adopted in 1862. Parliament then was reformed in 1866, becoming bicameral; that system lasted more than a century until Parliament became a unicameral system in 1971. The citizens of Sweden appointed members of Parliament via election. The elected assembly in 1866 was hardly representative of the Swedish population as a whole, and the nobility and special interest groups such as the Lutheran clergy were given high status. Nonetheless, those who made a living from the land, while generally not high in status, were unlikely to object given the harsh treatment of peasants and serfs in nearby Poland and Russia.

Although participation was not compulsory, in the nineteenth century Sweden's brightest pupils, selected by examinations, attended elite schools of learning. This was changed by the state in 1904 into a ten-year program divided into the primary and junior secondary school (realskola ) of six years, followed by four years in an upper secondary school referred to as the gymnasium.

At that time, a fifth of Sweden's population lived in Stockholm, the capital, and other cities, and many more were destined to move to urban pockets from rural areas to work in industry throughout the twentieth century; Swedish leaders thought the time was right for improvements in education. Swedish industry, communications, and government all found a place for educated or vocationally savvy youth. The twentieth century saw Sweden thrust from an agrarian economy into an industrialized society. Perhaps as a civilizing influence, throughout the twentieth century, Swedish schools at every level have emphasized theater, music, and the arts. This influence harkens back to theater-loving Gustav III, whose own assassination ironically later was the subject of a fictive opera by Verdi, "A Masked Ball."

Massive changes occurred in Sweden in the 1990s, as public opinion soured on the government after years of high unemployment, soaring taxes, and government welfare spending. After more than a half-century with socialists in the ruling party, the Moderates were voted into Parliament in 1991, with Carl Bildt as prime minister.

As of 2001, school and university decentralization continues to take the power to govern directly out of the government's hands and puts much decision-making directly into the hands of educators at the local level. The Swedish Parliament outlines its objectives for quality education and the education of teachers. Individual administrators at Swedish schools strive to fulfill those objectives. In the 1990s through 2001, many in Sweden talk about a need for further reforms. Although literacy is high, scores by Swedish youngsters on standardized tests have been disappointing when compared to scores of similar youths from other developed nations.

Constitutional & Legal Foundations

Sweden's Education Act mandates that all local municipalities make available preschool activities for infants and children one year to six years old. In addition, many municipalities also have private preschools operating in their area as well. Such schools are not compulsory, but many families choose to have their children admitted. The state's interest is to assure the safety and development of children, offering all an opportunity to secure the best education possible with the assistance of local authorities. The preprimary level of education is not graded.

The Swedish Parliament passed a statute in 1962, decreeing that students be compelled to attend a comprehensive school for nine years. Prior to that time, students were compelled to attend an elementary school of seven or eight years' duration and a junior secondary school or secondary school for girls.

The higher educational system in Sweden was dramatically overhauled again in 1989 and in the 1990s. Before these reforms, Parliament and the Ministry of Education and Science, with assistance of various national education boards, determined Sweden's educational policies.

After the reforms were implemented, these boards—the National Board of Education (for compulsory schools) and the National Board of Universities and Colleges—were done away with in the early 1990 and the system of education was essentially decentralized. This gave Sweden's institutions of higher education more control and power over admissions, as well as increasing authority for self-government.

In the year 2001, Swedish students from seven to sixteen years old attend grundskola (compulsory school). Each municipality is responsible for the students in its district; students who wish to attend another municipality for its academic offerings may do so, and their own municipality pays the tuition. (This is similar to the U.S. system of vouchers). Swedish is mandatory from age seven up (although those natives who have another mother tongue other than Swedish can make that their compulsory language). English is mandatory when students reach ten years old; substitutions for other languages such as German or French can be made as students go into higher grades.

Educational Philosophy: Sweden's educational system stresses equal opportunity to get an education for all citizens. At every level of education, tuition is free, as in compulsory schools (grades one through nine) are all other school-related expenses. While the government sets standards, the burden to provide a quality education falls on smaller Swedish governing units known as municipalities.

Educational System—Overview

Structure & Organization: Sweden's school system oversees the state's compulsory schools and voluntary schooling. Until the 1990s, the government directly controlled the schools. Reforms agreed upon by the state began to take place in the 1990s. Instead of governmentrun schools, a system of decentralization was put in place to give local authorities more voice in the running of schools. Ever since, the government has acted in an advisory role as the setter of academic standards for all schools to strive to reach.

Several significant reforms were enacted between 1995 and 2001. All vocational upper secondary schools must offer a three-year program, a full year more than prior schooling. Programs in secondary school and higher education allowed for greater self-sufficiency on the part of schools and less rigidity on the part of the government. Finally, institutes of higher education instituted improvements in choices available to students and in degree system requirements.

Areas under compulsory school are as varied as a statewide compulsory basic school system, schools for the Sáámi native peoples of northern Sweden, special schools for children with impaired hearing, sight, or speech, and compulsory schools for persons adjudged to be mentally handicapped. Sweden's voluntary schools make up such educational units as upper secondary school, education for mentally handicapped adults, and municipal adult education.

State schools do not charge for tuition or expenses related to education. The state assumes all costs for teaching materials, computers, media services, school meals, health care, and transportation to schools.

Sweden is a world leader in the establishment of low pupil to teacher ratios. Swedish primary schools, according to 1993 figures, have a 17:1 preprimary ratio, a 10:1 primary grade ratio and a 9:1 secondary school ratio of pupils to teacher.

Financial Aid to Students: Swedish citizens not only have a fundamental right to an education, but they have the reasonable expectation that the state's central government will do all in its power to pay for much of that education. The philosophy is that a well-educated citizenry is more likely to lead to a prosperous society that is low on crime and benefiting constantly from the fruits of its citizens' labors. Consequently, Sweden spends an astounding 8.3 percent of the Gross National Product on education, far more than most nations do.

Primary through secondary education is fully paid for by the government. At the level of higher education, for example, the government pays the tuition of its students up to approximately the age of forty-five. While it does not pay for living expenses and textbooks, it does make student aid such as grants and loans available—based on the individual student's income, not that of a spouse or parent. There also are certain time restrictions that an applicant must follow. Most aid gets cut off after six years, although exceptions are sometimes made for students pursuing doctoral or professional degrees that often take many years to finish. Students also must show evidence of satisfactory progress toward a degree.

Not all Swedish students wish to attend universities in Sweden. In the event that a student pursues an education at a recognized foreign institute of higher learning, he or she may be eligible for government assistance.

Enrollment: Sweden's figures of enrollment demonstrate the country's great success in enrolling most of its population in classes. For example, 100 percent of all youngsters eligible for compulsory school at the primary level do attend. At the lower secondary level, also compulsory, 99 percent of males and 100 percent of females attend school. These figures are for 1990-1995.

With regard to higher education, according to NAE figures, the total number of undergraduate enrollments in 1997, the last year such figures were available, was 300,400 students.

The Academic Year: The school year at the primary and secondary levels in Sweden is broken into two terms. The two terms combined add up to forty weeks and must total 178 or more school days and twelve holidays. Students attend classes Monday through Friday. The fall term begins in late August and ends just before Christmas holiday season in December. The spring term starts in January and ends in June. There are some variations in the school calendar from one locale to another.

Attendance is compulsory up to age sixteen. Students attend a minimum of 178 days and a maximum of 190 days annually. Students attend the first two grades for six hours daily. Older grades require them to attend eight hours daily.

The academic year at institutes of higher learning in Sweden is divided into two semesters. Although there is no official religious break during the academic year at Christmas, lectures usually are suspended at that time. The autumn semester goes from mid-August to mid-January. The spring semester goes from mid-January to early June.

Courses & Qualifications: After Swedish undergraduate education was reformed, students were empowered to choose their path to graduation more independently and to have greater freedom to take course electives of interest to them. Courses taken in prescribed fashion at many universities are part of an educational program.

In spite of greater freedom, undergraduates adhere to a Degree Ordinance that sets forth requirements for courses to be taken depending upon the area of study. In general, colleges set forth requirements and recommendations when their faculties establish a curriculum that satisfies state standards for a quality education.

Depending upon the program, an undergraduate degree can take a student between two and five-and-a-half years to earn the first degree. A course may be as short as five weeks or as long as eighteen months. In general, students are expected to devote about forty hours per week to full-time study. One week of full-time study equals a single point. One semester of full-time study is the equivalent of twenty points. Many programs require undergraduates to successfully complete either a degree project or thesis.

In Sweden, professional and general degrees are two kinds of first degrees. The professional degrees, upon completion, satisfy requirements for specific professions such as medicine or teaching. The general degrees are these:

• A two-year Diploma after studies amounting to at least 80 points
• A three- or four-year degree representing the satisfactory attainment of 120 points or more for a Bachelor's degree. At least 60 points must be in the major subject for this degree. A thesis or major project is mandatory.
• A Master's degree awarded for at least 160 points, representing at least four years of study, with a thesis and at least 80 points in the major subject.

Education for Ethnic Minorities: Sweden's population of nine million mainly speaks Swedish and is highly homogenous in many respects for centuries except for its pockets of nomadic tribes and Finns, as well as the twentieth century influx of immigrants.

Sweden's ethnic minorities may be divided into those peoples who are native to the land and those who have come to the country in search of a better life and opportunities in a nation long known for the general health of its economy. Ironically, challenges to that economy have come from the admitted immigrant groups.

First to be examined here are the native peoples or Lapps. Lapland is the area made up of Sweden, Norway, Finland and the former Soviet Union's Kola Peninsula where the Lapps or Laplanders live. This ethnic minority only is made up of approximately 65,000 people, perhaps 20,000 of whom live in Sweden, where they are known as the Sáámi. Those that dwell in Sweden make a living as reindeer herders and other occupations. Their native language is one of several related dialects described as Finno-Ugric.

Missionaries in the seventeenth century often forced Sáámi children to attend missionary schools whether the children and parents wanted an education or not. In 1632, for example, a school for Sáámi was established in Lycksele, Sweden. The hope was that natives could learn Swedish, develop as Christians, and that some would serve as missionaries among their people throughout Lappland.

The state established so-called nomad schools in 1913. The aim was to provide a basic education even as the children retained much of their own culture. Children are given the option of receiving an education in a state school or in the so-called Nomad schools.

In 2001, Sáámi children are able to choose between attending government Sámi schools or regular municipal nine-year-compulsory schools where they can also receive instruction in Sámi as well as Swedish. In 1950, a high school was constructed in Jokkmokk that offers courses in Sámi culture to natives and non-natives. Since 1974, offerings in Sámi were made available at the University of Umea and the University of Uppsala.

Owing to the influx of immigration that has led to the settlement of more than one million foreigners in Sweden, the Swedish for immigrants program is intended to provide a knowledge of Swedish as a second language—as well as a good introduction into the state's customs and society. All municipalities must make sure Swedish for immigrants' classes are made available to new adult immigrants. Often, one or more municipalities will combine their services to offer multiple class choices.

The National Agency for Education has taken a strong interest in the education and vocational training of immigrants and refugees, always stressing the rights of the child and a respect for native and immigrant cultures. The curricula stresses a respect for the values present in other cultures even as it prepares students to exist in a society different from their own.

While stressing the need to learn Swedish as a second language, the curriculum also stresses the need for non-native speakers to learn about and respect the culture of Sweden. Fluency in Sweden is stressed so that the non-native speakers can benefit fully from educational opportunities presented to them in the Swedish system of secondary education and higher education. The National Agency for Education takes a supervisory role to assure that municipality schools and private schools educate non-native-speaking children in accordance with all NAE rules and recommendations.

Technology in the Classroom: To assess the usage of computers in primary and secondary schools in Sweden, the National Agency for Education has conducted biannual surveys since 1993. According to the 1999 survey, the last year for which information is available, the number of computers purchased for use by administrators, faculty and pupils increased dramatically in the late 1990s, owing perhaps to the widespread use of the Internet. By 2001, many schools put up web sites that explored some of the educational programs and student extracurricular interests at these institutions.

In 1999, for example, the NAE reported the purchase of nearly 40 percent more computers compared to 1997, reducing the number of students sharing a single unit. Less dramatic but still impressive increases in computer purchases were also reported in 1999 by municipal and county upper secondary schools—a 22 percent increase from 1997. Independent upper secondary schools increased their number of computers by 91 percent from 1997 to 1999, making one computer available for every three students.

Sweden also has come closer to the goal of assigning a computer to every schoolteacher. According to the NAE, six primary-secondary teachers share every computer, while only two upper secondary teachers share a computer. All teachers at the independent upper secondary schools are assigned their own computer.

Textbooks: At the higher education level, students assume the cost of their textbooks, which may be written in Swedish, or in some subject areas, in English.

Curriculum & Evaluation: Sweden has opted to standardize what is taught in its preprimary classes and in its compulsory schools up to the ninth year. This is done through the adoption of a formal curriculum for preschools and compulsory schools. The state approves a national syllabi and sets forth its formalized educational objectives.

Each school and municipality has a certain freedom in determining how those objectives are to be carried out, but accountability is ensured by evaluation of all pupils in their fifth and ninth years in compulsory school. For example, in rural areas, schools may consist not of single classes but rather several grades in a single school facility. There is no single teaching method preferred by the state.

Private Schools: In the eighteenth century, the general public had grown dissatisfied with church schools. A need arose for the formation of private schools, including specialty private schools for female and vocational education.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, however, the growing excellence of public primary and secondary schools caused private schools to lose some of the popularity they had enjoyed.

In the twentieth century, private schools received the benefit of a voucher system that has drawn interest from private school educators in the United States. The National Board of Education in 1991 took the responsibility for direct school management under the control of municipalities, and it gave parents a choice (in many urban locales) of either state schools or private schools for their child's education.

Of the some 850,000 pupils in Sweden, one percent attend one of only about 200 private schools in Sweden. These mainly are situated in the large urban population centers. The National Agency for Education grants these schools accreditation and makes sure they conform to the same regulations adhered to by public compulsory schools.

Students are not compelled to attend state schools if they attend a private, parochial school with comparable standards and requirements to state-mandated education.

Preprimary & Primary Education

Childcare, Preschool, & Nursery Schools: Sweden's push for educational reforms has included childcare and nursery schools since 1998. The state delegated responsibility for their supervision to the National Agency for Education (NAE). The NAE oversees childcare, including preschool children and nursery schools. The state also provides after-school childcare sites that look after children younger than seven years old, while their parents are at work or pursuing educational opportunities. The last state regulations for activities in after-school care were written in 1998.

Local constituencies follow goals for childcare and preschools established by the Swedish Parliament, the Riksdag. Thus, even allowing for individual needs of one locale from another, the government requires certain goals and procedures that remain consistent throughout the state. Responsibility for carrying out those objectives falls directly upon the National Agency for Education. To ensure future reforms and continuous updating as technology changes and new educational theories are considered, the NAE also is responsible for educational research and development.

Primary Education: In the seventeenth century, following Gustav Adolphus' attempts to improve and expand university education in Sweden, the nation imposed a sense of civic responsibility on local communities, asking them to provide elementary education for the well being of the citizenry. Church law limited the focus of the curriculum to reading and religious instruction, the purpose being more to elevate or save the souls of children than to elevate their minds. In 1842, the voluntary aspect of education was removed, and law introduced compulsory education. From that time, the curriculum became more expansive, and the focus no longer was on Bible readings by 1870, but on a broad range of academic subjects.

Compulsory primary education was established in 1842 for the earliest grades. One hundred years later, reformers worked to expand compulsory education to the age of 16. Since 1972-1973, primary education became compulsory for the first nine years of schooling, encompassing all of primary school and the first two years of secondary education. Some children begin primary school at age six, but it is only compulsory at age seven. The Education Act allows parents to choose either a public or private school for their children's compulsory stay in school.

Secondary Education

Under Gustav Adolphus, the reformer, the state began to support secondary schools known as the gymnasia with schools established in the towns of Västerääs. Sträängnääs, and Linkööping. These offered classes in classical languages, religion, the sciences, mathematics, and geography, along with optional local course offerings. They were preparatory classes intended to prepare students for rigorous university classes. Instead of generalists, scholars were specialists called senior masters. The language of instruction was Latin. Students learned to read and showed their mastery of a subject by memorizing and reciting material.

In the late nineteenth century, secondary education was shaped to prepare students for the intellectual rigors of university life. As secondary schools improved in quality, the dependence on private tutors, who were engaged by families wanting the best education for their children, lessened.

Grades seven through nine are compulsory and refer to Sweden's system of lower secondary education. Swedish school authorities often lump primary and lower secondary education together, referring to the first nine years of school.

Upper Secondary Education: Upper secondary schools are not compulsory. Nonetheless, approximately 98 percent of all students voluntarily continue schooling in the three-year program after they turn sixteen. State law compels Swedish local municipalities to provide an opportunity for upper secondary education without charge.

As of 2000, students going on to upper secondary education may choose from a wide variety of vocational and college preparatory programs. Students may attend upper secondary school until turning twenty. At that age, they would be required to seek an education through adult upper secondary education.

In 1994, the curriculum for upper secondary school was reformed. The Education Act defines the school's basic role and program objectives. Each municipality chooses an education plan.

In Sweden, there are sixteen national programs, providing a general education or the groundwork of preparation for advanced study. All national programs possess important core subjects such as English, mathematics, natural sciences, civics, Swedish and religious education. About 95 percent of Sweden belongs to the Lutheran Church, and the figurehead monarch of Sweden must belong to the Lutheran Church or abdicate.

These subjects are divided into courses. Depending on complexity and difficulty, courses may earn a student 50, 100, 150 or 200 points toward graduation. Courses are graded, and graduates fall into three categories: those who pass, who pass with distinction, and who pass with special distinction. Graduates are awarded the leaving certificate and a transcript summarizing courses taken and grades earned.

In addition to the above, upper secondary school is open to those with learning or physical disabilities that need additional time and teacher aid to complete all subjects in the curriculum successfully. Having fewer programs (such as college entrance subjects) than the aforementioned upper secondary school, the secondary schools for students with disabilities tend to offer programs more vocational in setup.

Pupils no longer are ranked against one another under the reformed system, but rather are measured in how well they fulfill goals for the course and obtain mastery of the subject. The National Agency for Education determines the standards to decide grades of fail, pass and pass with distinction for national courses. For local courses, the education board establishes fail, pass and pass distinctions with guidelines for each. Students may repeat failed courses once and, with special permission, twice. The grade goes on the final leaving certificate.

Higher Education

In the medieval ages, a universitas was quite unlike the sophisticated places of learning of modern times, amounting to a sort of guild of scholars with interest in learning. Back then, a universitas existed with a charter granted by the Catholic pope. Because of the charter, religious studies were always associated with these early educational gathering places that often amounted to study sessions in rented rooms. As merchants became successful in trade, many wanted their sons to gain social skills with other sons of influential men and to acquire knowledge of use throughout life. Society possessed a need for educated persons as clergy, secretaries to courts, physicians and other professional positions.

The first universities in France, Germany, England and Italy were founded when feudalism was at its height, unlike the founding of the University of Uppsala in 1477, a strong feeling of national pride resulted in an attempt to collect and organize the historical records of Sweden. The best known historian of the day was the scholar and university teacher Ericus Olai.

The university received little support and actually folded in the sixteenth century (1510) under Gustavus Vasa, then was reopened, with little additional support until early in the seventeenth century when there was perceived a need for educated public servants. The university in 1595 reopened and had no connection to Rome.

Gustav Adolphus undertook a reform of the University of Uppsala, in part to halt the flow of young scholars out of the country who had to seek an education in other countries. The university received a large endowment from Gustav Adolph, increasing the faculty size and curriculum offerings. At first the main reforms were in the subject areas of theology, accounting and philosophy. Sweden took the important step of adding a medical school in 1663. Also in the seventeenth century, a law division was offered.

According to the writings of historian Franklin D. Scott, even some peasant lads were permitted to obtain a university language in the seventeenth century; they paid their way by begging and by singing.

Other important institutions of higher education followed. Universities were built at Dorpat in 1632, Åbo in 1640, and Lund in 1668.

The Swedish state has, from the inception of higher education in the country, taken governing authority and responsibility for the education of its students. Even two former private universities, the University of Gothenburg and the University of Stockholm, respectively became state universities in 1954 and 1960.

The higher education system was extensively reformed in 1977. Nearly all postsecondary education was included in a single system, as the state created a uniform system that reached every level of postsecondary tertiary education. Reforms in 1977 and 1979 established broader policies for higher education, making entrance requirements into many study specialties far more rigorous than they had been.

In general, Swedish schools of higher education became far more selective. Higher Education programs were categorized into five specialties: administration and economics; technology; teaching, healthcare and medicine; and cultural work and social care. There also was greater emphasis on increasing the research component in schools of higher education. These reforms were the result of nine years of planning and discussion that followed recommendations by a 1968 higher-education fact-finding committee.

Another reform established by the government in 1977 was a cutoff point for the number of students that could be accepted by schools of higher learning. The decision on where to draw the line on the number of acceptances passed from the government to the institutions themselves during the transition to autonomy status during the 1993-1994 school year. Institutions were given some leeway to accept more students than the ceiling calls for if the institution can demonstrate it does so without relaxing its standards for a quality education for all students.

Both government or institutionally controlled schools are free of tuition in Sweden. That makes universities and colleges competitive since they must limit themselves to a certain number of acceptances each year. The aforementioned changes in the administration of institutes of higher education in the 1990s also resulted in the various institutions of higher education becoming generally more competitive. Also outlined were ways that independent colleges and universities can be established with the authority from the state to grant degrees.

The reforms also expanded the system of electives for students, giving those enrolled more flexibility in choosing studies reflecting their own professional and cultural interests. After the Swedish Parliament adopted reforms in 1992, the following year the Higher Education Act governed the system. The reforms led to a 50 percent increase in student enrollments in less than a decade. As of 1996-1997, just under one-third (30 percent) of Swedish upper school graduates attended a Swedish university or college within five years after finishing their secondary schooling, according to figures supplied by the Swedish Embassy in the United States. First-time enrollments annually reach 65,000.

Female students enroll in slightly higher numbers for undergraduate studies than do male students, according to 1996-1997 enrollment figures. In 1996-1997, some 57 percent of all higher education students at the undergraduate level were female for a total of 300,400. However, at the postgraduate level, women only made up 37 percent of all students, numbering approximately 17,000 females. The figures for undergraduate and postgraduate schooling include part- and full-time studies.

Instruction at the higher education level often is in lecture format to hundreds of students, as well as in seminars of about thirty students. The language of instruction is usually Swedish. Much course literature is in English, however.

Admissions: Swedish institutions of higher education require students to show evidence of completion of certain preliminary requirements. In addition to basic qualifications that are the same or similar at all higher education institutions, there are special qualifications and requirements for many specialties and programs. Basic requirements are certain standards set for all applicants. In general, students meet requirements if they hold a diploma from a Swedish upper secondary school or if they have a mastery of Swedish and equivalent qualifications from a foreign secondary institution. Applicants from another country may need to take and pass an intensive preparatory course in Swedish. Also requisite is a reading and speaking knowledge of English.

A certain number of admittance slots are held for new students. If applicants exceed places, selection is made on the basis of upper secondary grades or a voluntary national university aptitude test. For areas such as medicine, special tests of skills and interviews may be required.

Student Unions: It is mandatory for all students enrolled at Swedish institutions of higher learning to join student unions. These associations are dues-supported. Reminiscent of (though little resembling) trade guilds of the medieval era, these latter-day unions work to benefit students and to serve their interests. The unions have elected officials that give the students a voice in the state's educational system. They provide students with recreational, social, and visiting speaker opportunities. They also provide some welfare benefits at a time when student opportunities to earn an income are lower than they will be following graduation.

Nationally, the majority of unions belong to an umbrella group known as the National Association of Student Unions (NASU). NASU in 2001 serves approximately 200,000 students in Sweden.

Healthcare & Disabled Students in Higher Education: All citizens in Sweden are entitled to medical care paid for by the government. In addition, each university and college operates health centers with healthcare professionals on staff.

Students with disabilities are given special attention by Swedish universities, and in recent years there have been modifications of facilities on most or all campuses to meet the requirements of students with special needs. Universities are required by the government to apportion up to 15 percent of annual undergraduate expenditures to meet the needs of the disabled. Other funding options from the government and private sources also are available to institutions of higher learning.

The government maintains a central office to coordinate the disbursement of state funds benefiting disabled students that are awarded institutes of higher education. The national coordinating office is located on the campus of Stockholm University.

Academic Appointments: Since the 1993-1994 academic year, when institutes of higher education were given great autonomy by the state, individual institutions received complete authority to appoint staff and establish teaching chairs. The state, through the Higher Education Ordinance, continued to mandate the categories of academic appointments. Also, following procedures established by the state in 1986, academic duties may include any or all of the following responsibilities: teaching, research, counseling, educational and administrative duties.

University academic appointments are state civil-servant positions. These appointments under four categories in descending order of importance: professors, senior lecturers, lecturers and research assistants.

• Professors' main responsibilities are to research and supervise post-graduate studies; they also perform some teaching. Research has held an elevated place in the Swedish national consciousness for hundreds of years. In the eighteenth century, the esteemed natural scientist Carolus Linnæus (1707-78) was awarded a seat in the Swedish House of Nobility. Also in the eighteenth century, astronomer and mathematician Anders Celsius (1701-44) was the Swede who created the Centigrade measurement system.
• Senior lecturers hold the doctorate and are mainly engaged in undergraduate teaching and research.
• Lecturer appointments do not mandate that the candidate hold a doctorate. All faculty involved in teaching must demonstrate satisfactory teaching skills to obtain an appointment. Research assistants are often doctoral students or graduates seeking a full-time teaching position.

Swedish higher education is under the supervision of the Ministry of Education and Science with one main exception. That exception is: The University of Agricultural Sciences is supervised by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries.

Economic Aspects of Higher Education: In 1993, Sweden's government introduced sweeping changes in the way it disburses funds for undergraduate education. The new system is said to be results-oriented. What that means, in essence, is that continued and additional funding is given out by state agencies based upon specified criteria met or exceeded by colleges and universities. More than half (60 percent) of the annual government grant is drawn up based upon the number of credit points earned by students. The rest (40 percent) is directly dependent upon the number of full-time students enrolled at a particular college or university.

After the Government decides upon amounts of aid based on this formula, moneys are paid by the state to each college and university. Money for post-graduate education and research are paid through one funding source. Undergraduate education is paid for through another source. Parliament also pays for such expenses as campus upkeep, classroom furniture, and updated equipment.

The entire maximum allotment that an institution might receive is legally set up in a three-year "education task contract" agreed upon by the Ministry of Education and Science and each institution.

Postgraduate Education: Postgraduate education is offered by a relatively small number of Swedish universities (for example, Gothenburg, Linkööping, Lund, Stockholm, Umeää, and Uppsala), the Karolinska Institute (Stockholm), Luleää University of Technology, the Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm), the Stockholm School of Economics, Chalmers University of Technology (Gothenburg), the University College of Jöönköping, and the University of Agricultural Sciences (Uppsala).

Postgraduate education requires an applicant to have completed an undergraduate program equivalent to at least three years' full-time study. Admission to a specialty requires an applicant to have completed at least sixty points in the specialty subject. A faculty admission board assesses each applicant's potential to complete doctoral studies.

Postgraduate education leading to the doctorate is generally the equivalent of four years' study, coursework, and dissertation research and writing. The doctoral student is assisted by a committee and senior faculty members who provide individual supervision. The dissertation must receive a defense and is graded pass or fail.

In place of doctoral studies, some students pursue a licentiate degree which is a research degree normally taking two years, the equivalent of a master's degree in the United States. Some who get this degree later elect to pursue doctoral study as well.

Many generous means of support are available for students pursuing postgraduate studies. Money is channeled to university faculties to be given to students for fellowships or teaching assistantships that can be renewed up to four years. Other money for qualified students can be obtained by working on funded research projects.

Vocational Education: Vocational education in Sweden began long before it was established as an industrialized nation. Christopher Polhem, an engineer, is credited with being the first to begin a technical school in 1697.

Vocational education received considerable state support in the 1940s. Following World War II, vocational education began to fall under the province of the state's authorities, and by the 1970s, this system was fully implemented in Sweden. During the late 1980s, the central government was fully responsible for vocational education.

As of 1993-1994, while the state continued to stress the importance of quality vocational education, it ceded power to supervise to municipalities as education across the board became decentralized, and private industry provided considerable financial support.

In the 1990s, as the manufacturing industry changed rapidly, vocational improvements in education and training had to be made to keep up. For a time, industry officials had criticized vocational education, claiming that a gap existed between the skills employees needed to possess and those they polished in schools. Various interest groups put pressure on school authorities in various municipalities to introduce improvements in the curriculum.

Perhaps the biggest improvement in the late 1980s and early 1990s was a shift from the two-year curriculum emphasizing practical skills in workshops without many apprenticeship opportunities, to a three-year industrial program combining practical knowledge with extensive theoretical knowledge and the ability to solve problems at work.

In 2001, Sweden's industrial curriculum continues to be a three-year, full-time, upper secondary education program. In addition to required classes, students are offered some optional classes to pursue subjects of their greatest interest and internship or apprenticeship opportunities on the job. Swedish commentators have remarked how the reforms have given the labor market a steady supply of skilled workers.

Administration, Finance & Educational Research

Following Sweden's decentralization of its education system, that system of education was assigned to the Ministry of Education and Science, and the National Agency for Education Skolverket was named to serve as the administrative unit for the schools.

The National Agency for Education came into existence in Sweden in 1991. The bureaucratic agency was formed to fill such needs as childcare oversight as the state moved to decentralize its schools over a ten-year period that was completed in July 2001.

The state moved to give local municipalities and systems both autonomy and responsibility for their schools. Local schools reorganized, controlled their staffing, and tightly watched over resources such as the adoption of computers and other technology into the schools. Each school also submits its own plan of operation after it has been considered and voted upon by the local municipal council or other local government body. Such a plan is a comprehensive look at school operations, school objectives, and the characteristics of the students within the local system. There also is a needs assessment based on the scores and performances of the district students.

Schools follow syllabi and evaluation standards developed by the National Agency for Education. NAE administrators are also available for comment or consultation as they continuously update data and survey information about Sweden's schools that help local administrators make informed choices. Schools traditionally have received generous funding from the state in the past. Local organizations of the NAE track educational developments and successes that other school districts may emulate, and a free exchange of ideas among schools is encouraged. Parent input is encouraged, and surveys are taken of parents, teachers, administrators and students to ascertain changing attitudes and to track areas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction within Swedish school systems.

Local educational units are fully responsible and held accountable for decisions. The NAE oversees evaluations of schools that are conducted by authorities in education deemed to have the necessary qualifications for helping to determine strengths and weaknesses of these programs. The consultants, in reports to the NAE, also make evaluations and recommendations for ways to improve systems judged to be flawed in some area. Such evaluations are then followed up, and the NAE notes areas in which progress toward reform has been made.

The main administrative offices of the NAE are located in Stockholm. In the year 2001, an additional eleven branch officers were located strategically throughout the country for convenient access by local school administrators and other educators. Each local branch is directly responsible for supervising schools and childcare within its jurisdiction. Local branches may be found in the Swedish communities of Gothenburg, Karlstad, Linköping, Luleå, Lund, Skövde, Stockholm, Sundsvall, Umeå, Uppsala and Vääxjö.

In addition to evaluation and bureaucratic functions, the NAE also funds research proposals made by university educators and researchers. The NAE does not function itself as a research facility. The agency does make an effort to see that research is conducted that is representative of the various specializations reflected in the curriculum of Swedish schools. It also puts on conferences and intensive workshops for educators.

Mobbing: Since the late 1990s, the NAE and local schools have taken a far more serious examination of a bullying practice referred to as mobbing in Sweden, as well as other forms of abuse. In 1999, a Swedish district court ordered the municipality of Grums to pay court costs and damages to a woman, 20, who years before dropped out of school after being mobbed by her peers. The ruling was interpreted to mean that school districts had to show that administrators had taken proper precautions to monitor, stop, and punish mobbing abuses in school.

Teaching Profession

Likely the first attempt to raise professional standards for teachers arose in 1803. The state required teachers to pass a university examination to demonstrate proficiency in academic studies in order to teach. The first teacher-training center was instituted in 1842, coinciding with a perceived need for professionals that would be needed in the classroom with the passage of mandatory school attendance by law. Localities known as parishes were required to engage the services of one or more trained individuals as teachers. Before 1842, most of Sweden's teachers were male and were often priests.

Sweeping changes with regard to the qualifications of teachers took place in 1977. Before that year, the educational institutions for the training of primary school teachers were not a part of the government-run system of higher education. Qualifications for secondary school teachers were more stringent than those imposed on the primary teachers. The secondary teachers were required to obtain a full university degree, almost always majoring in two subjects that often became the subjects they taught their students, plus one additional year while taking required training in education.

In 1977, after the reforms, both primary and secondary teachers took their work in a recognized institution or education institute belonging to Sweden's system of higher education. In addition, potential teachers in specialties such as art, music, and physical education (as they had before 1977) went to special places offering training to those seeking an expertise in order to teach.

Until sweeping improvements in teacher education and certification were introduced in 1988, there were large-scale differences between the amount and quality of training of teachers in Sweden at the three main levels of compulsory schools.

• The first level was the lågstadielärare, or lower-level teachers, requiring 100 credit points for a certificate in primary education, grades one through three.
• The next level was the mellanstadieläärare, or intermediate grade teachers, requiring 120 credit points for a Bachelor of Education in Primary Education, grades four through six.
• The third level was äämneslärare, or teachers for the upper level, also known as lower secondary school. The level required between 160 and 180 credit points. The degree was Master of Arts or Master of Science with a notation as to subject specialty and specialties.
• Outside these levels, there were teaching positions that came under the categories of the arts and practical subjects. These had additional requirements for credit points set by the state.

More changes in the requirements for teachers to successfully gain authorization to teach in Sweden were passed by the state in 1988. These reforms particularly addressed teachers in compulsory schools. Among the requirements, teachers needed to:

• Take and pass one year of education courses to satisfy a 40-point course requirement. Some students take the requirement in a single year or sometimes even longer than one year should unusual circumstances dictate. Some take the required coursework a few points each year while attending an institute of higher learning until the 40-point total is reached. In Sweden, one week of full-time studies earns one poäng or credit point, and 40 points is one year's required work in pedagogy and practice teaching for teacher certification.
• These courses, referred to as praktisk-pedagogisk utbildning, include teacher training, practice teaching, and pedagogy.

Behind all this training is the reasoning that those who seek a teaching career in Sweden must be prepared to satisfy rigorous requirement for teacher certification. Teachers form a sort of professional guild in this nation, and those whose university degrees were earned with a teaching career specifically in mind have traditionally been chosen by the government for teaching positions.

However, with decentralization going into effect in 2001, and earlier reforms in place as early as 1992, the headmasters or other administrative heads of local schools have been the taking control of the teaching profession from government. Thus, regulations need not be so restrictive as to, for example, keep potential teachers out of the classroom who have made this professional decision later in life after already having one successful career. Potential employers can evaluate a teaching candidate's curriculum and determine if this person's experiences and academic preparation make him a good candidate for the position or not.

In 2000, the agency in charge of evaluating the credentials of non-Swedish applicants and applicants for permanent teacher certification is the National Agency for Higher Education (NAHE). Essentially, the NAHE examines the qualifications and Swedish language competency of those who apply for certification, determining whether the candidate roughly measures up to those teachers who obtain teacher certification through standard means of a diploma from an accredited institution offering training for teachers.

Numerous important teacher education reforms were implemented nationwide on July 1, 2001. These were part of a government bill passed by the Swedish Riksdag (parliament) in October, 2000. Of utmost importance for reducing bureaucracy, the practice of awarding eight separate teaching degrees was ended, and henceforth only one degree is to be awarded with two minor exceptions. The separate-degree exceptions are these two only: the Diploma of Education for the Folk High School and the Diploma of Education in Aviation.Although there is one diploma, there are some important differences in the credit points that teachers must take. Preschool, recreation, and compulsory school teachers of lower grades must take 140 credit points, the equivalent of 3.5 years of study. Music teachers take 160 hours. Compulsory school teachers of the higher grades must take 180 credit points.

Those who successfully complete Sweden's teacher education are awarded a diploma specifying specialization and status of qualification. The reforms reflected the desire of state authorities to award a diploma that required all candidates to demonstrate mastery of certain knowledge area in common, including the field of teacher education. To that end, students in common will take a maximum of sixty such credit hours, representing the equivalent of 1.5 years' coursework. The remaining coursework reflects the specialization and/or special study areas, including the requirement that students satisfy either a thesis or special project in order to graduate with a teaching credential.

Teachers already practicing can have access to the new teacher requirements through coursework available through traditional academic studies or through distance education. Rather than lock students into studies for life, the program allows students to qualify for new areas of specialization after taking the requisite additional course-work. The proposed requirements will allow for some individual variances in teacher preparation at the various institutions of study.

Nonformal Education

Labor market training offers vocational or jobrelated education for the unemployed. The state apportions grant moneys to the National Labor Market Board. That board disperses the funds to various municipal labor boards or employment offices. Such training is usually formal and serves the needs of unemployed workers and the business community.

Training is also available for workers who are trying to enhance their value in the workplace or who find their skills and knowledge in areas such as technology not equal to the demands of the workplace. To meet company needs, many businesses offer training to their employees on-site or at various vocational and higher education sites. In addition, some private enterprise companies offer training packages to business, and some consultants offer their services to train employees on site.

Adult Education: Adult education in Sweden is a sophisticated educational enterprise run by the state. It is intended to provide greater competence in the workplace, greater cultural and academic preparation, and life satisfaction. It includes education for the ordinary adult population, as well as for immigrants and adults with mental handicaps.

Reforms in municipal adult education allowed adults without degrees to pursue basic and/or upper secondary adult education. Founded in 1968, the program was expanded in 1994. The basic adult education provides equivalency to the nine-year compulsory basic school and can be used by the student to go on to further study. Adult basic education allows students to proceed at their own pace, taking into consideration that students may have learning disabilities or commitments to job and/or family. Successful graduates are entitled to a diploma or "leaving certificate" that attests to proficiency having been obtained in the core curriculum of Swedish (or Swedish as a Second Language), English, mathematics and civics. Additional core subjects in which proficiency was achieved through successful completion of course-work also will be printed on the leaving certificate.

As of July 1994, adults who wish to pursue a leaving certificate in upper secondary schooling must pursue the same curriculum and syllabi offered to students in the ordinary, teen and young adult upper secondary schooling program. There are some differences in the two programs, however, with regard to the material studied and stressed, depending on the municipality where upper secondary schooling is pursued, according to state regulations. The adult program requires 1,420 upper secondary schoolpoints for a leaving certificate.

Some adult education classes provide no diploma, offering instead supplementary training for a new work position such as computer or technical training. These programs typically are offered for one year or less and can make a worker more skilled or eligible for a work promotion. For example, folk high schools and adult education associations offer learning and cultural or recreational opportunities in an educational setting. The Council for Popular Adult Education administers state grants and evaluates such programs.

Adult Education for the Mentally Disabled: Offering educational opportunities for adults with mental disabilities, this educational program offers a curriculum identical to regular adult upper secondary education, but its syllabi are geared to the capabilities of mentally disabled adults. Students may thus get a compulsory school equivalency certificate or gain vocational training, as the need may be.

Distance Learning: Distance learning, previously delivered in the form of correspondence courses or courses offered via television, has taken a new turn, particularly in Sweden's far-flung rural sections, with computerbased coursework. Many state and a few private institutions of higher education offer courses that can be taken by adults regardless of where they reside or whether or not they have family and work obligations. In addition to home computers and their electronic mail systems, materials for courses and course assignments are transmitted with the aid of fax machine and interactive video. The Swedish government has put considerable resources into the development of distance learning course options for the future.

Two National Schools for Adults, one in Norrkööping and one in Härnosand, have made particular strides in making distance education a reality for numerous adults in Sweden. The schools are particularly valuable in that they offer adult education to persons who live too far from a municipality to take adult education courses in residence. The latter programs may require part of a term to be spent in residence, although the primary learning is done at home.

Summary

Because Sweden has instituted a statewide system of school choice between state-run and private schools, much of the world, particularly the United States, is keeping close tabs on the Swedish educational system to learn from its successes and failures. High taxes led to a shift in the 1990s from a strictly socialistic government that had existed more than 50 years to one that is highly conservative.

As a result, Sweden's relatively small number of private schools and universities may expand in number in the future. State-run schools very well may slash budgets as the push to lower national taxes continues. Swedish education officials now have put responsibility for upholding standards into the hands of local municipalities. Whether this will result in uneven levels of educational quality from municipality to municipality or even higher accomplishments from all students is a matter of debate. Nonetheless, Swedish officials have been most concerned because the academic test scores of primary and secondary students have slipped when compared to the scores of youth in other developed nations.

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—Hank Nuwer

SWEDEN

Kingdom of Sweden

Konungariket Sverige

COUNTRY OVERVIEW

LOCATION AND SIZE.

Located in northern Europe, in the eastern part of the Scandinavian peninsula, Sweden is bordered on the west and northwest by Norway, on the northeast by Finland, on the east by the Baltic Sea and its arm, the Gulf of Bothnia, On the southwest, Sweden is separated from Denmark by the Skagerrak, Kattegat, and Ôresund straits that connect the Baltic and the North Seas. The fourth largest country in Europe, Sweden has an area of 449,964 square kilometers (173,731 square miles), slightly larger than California. The area also includes 39,030 square kilometers (15,070 square miles) of inland water pools, mostly lakes. The capital city of Stockholm is situated in the southeast, on waterways and islands between Lake Malaren and the Baltic Sea. Other major cities include Göteborg in the southwest; Malmö in the south, and Uppsala, Linköping, Ôrebro, and Norrköping in the southeast.

POPULATION.

The population of Sweden was estimated at 8,873,052 in July 2000 with an annual growth rate of 0.02 percent. The immigration rate is 0.86 per 1,000 population. Population density is one of the lowest in Europe, with about 20 persons per square kilometer (52 per square mile). Due to the cold northern climate, the great majority of the population lives in the south, especially in the central lowlands and the coastal areas. Large parts of the north and the mountains are very sparsely inhabited. Some 83 percent of Sweden's population is urban. The population, as in most of Europe, is aging, and with a high life expectancy of 79.58 years at birth (76.95 for men and 82.37 for women). The median age increased to 41 years in 1999 from 38.4 five years earlier. Some 17.2 percent of the population is 14 years old and younger, and 18.7 percent are 65 or older. The fertility rate was 1.53 children per woman, far below the replacement threshold of 2.1. In 1999, polls showed that more young and educated Swedes were prone to leave their country and settle elsewhere than were their counterparts in most of western Europe.

Like the other Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Norway), Sweden is still ethnically homogenous (similar). Its population is Scandinavian of Germanic descent. Most Swedes speak English and have cultural and family ties to the United States. Minorities include a small number of ethnic Finns and about 17,000 semi-nomadic Lapps (Saami) in the north; there are also more than half a million first generation immigrants, including Finns, Norwegians, Danes, former Yugoslavs, Greeks, Turks, Iranians, Chileans, and others. In the 1990s, Sweden received a large number of refugees from the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo (the former Yugoslavia), and since the mid-1980s, it also has received numerous ethnic Kurdish immigrants from the Middle East. Some 87 percent of Swedes are Lutherans, and there are small numbers of Roman Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Baptists, Muslims, Jews, and Buddhists.

Historically, Sweden's social welfare system has been extensive, insuring that all citizens receive old-age pensions, health and unemployment insurance, and disability benefits. Special provisions include generous subsidies to families raising children, such as parental benefits, and subsidized low-rent housing. Higher living standards, as elsewhere, have restricted population growth over the 1990s.

OVERVIEW OF ECONOMY

Sweden is among the leading economies of the world. Once a major European military power, the Nordic country has not waged any wars for more than 180 years. Instead, while enjoying the fruits of peace and neutrality, it has achieved impressive economic and social results under a unique mixed system of high-technology capitalism and extensive social-welfare benefits. With an educated and highly efficient labor force , Sweden has developed a world-class manufacturing sector with advanced communications. The country provides excellent conditions for scientific innovation, and the size of its investments in research and development is about 4 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), or more than twice the average in western Europe. Sweden is a world leader in terms of the number of patents it holds and of the relative weight of the technology sector in its economy. Timber, hydropower, and rich iron ore, with which Sweden is abundantly endowed, make up the traditional resource base of an economy that has been predominantly export-oriented. For a long time after World War II, the country has been considered as a perfect example of an economically prosperous democratic society with an equitable distribution of wealth, generous social benefits, and an enviable living standard for the majority of the population. Although the country encountered some economic difficulties in the early 1990s, by 1995 it was still second only to Switzerland in terms of its GDP per capita , and by the end of the decade it was growing faster than most of western Europe.

During the 1990s, this extraordinarily successful economy was somewhat disturbed by budgetary problems, a bank crisis, and rising inflation and unemployment, combined with high personal taxes and a gradual decline of its competitiveness in international markets. The lack of venture capital (money needed to start a business) to support new business ideas and the high tax rate on individual entrepreneurs are thought to have diluted Sweden's full capacity for economic innovation before the late 1990s. Also, low labor mobility (the willingness of the workers to relocate to areas with higher demands for labor) has been considered as an impediment to effectively combating unemployment. The government is trying to address these problems. Analyzing Sweden's economic problems in the late 1990s, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organization on Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have commended the country's overall economic management, its budget consolidation, and its monetary policy , but pointed out that structural reforms will still be needed particularly to increase labor market flexibility and to lower individual taxes.

After Sweden joined the European Union (EU) in 1995, its efforts to meet the group's rigorous standards caused some additional economic strains. Some political indecision over the country's role in the political and economic integration of Europe had prevented it from joining the EU at an earlier stage and from becoming a charter member of the European economic and monetary union (EMU) in 1999. Sweden has not yet decided to switch to the single euro currency and transfer control over its monetary issues to the European Central Bank (ECB) as 11 other EU members did in 1999. It has harmonized, however, its economic policies and regulations with those of the EU, and Sweden's government plans to hold a referendum in the future on whether the country should join the EMU.

Sweden is one of the world's most attractive countries for foreign investors. Apart from offering a favorable business climate, a strong domestic market, an advanced high-tech sector, a qualified labor force, optimal management skills, and generous " welfare-state " benefits, it also offers the second lowest corporate tax rate in Europe. Foreign direct investment in the 1990s has increased more than elsewhere in Europe. Between 1990 and 1997, the number of foreign companies active in Sweden has increased by almost one-half. In 1997, foreign-owned firms (mostly from Finland and the United States) employed more than 14 percent of the labor force. Although Sweden's economy is relative small, in 1998 it had 29 out of the 500 largest companies in Europe—by far the highest number per capita in the continent. Swedish managers are also reckoned among the world's leaders in terms of their international experience and their language skills.

POLITICS, GOVERNMENT, AND TAXATION

Like its Nordic neighbors Norway and Denmark, Sweden is a constitutional monarchy. It is essentially a mature, multi-party parliamentary democracy, governed under a 1975 constitution that removed the last vestiges of royal power, included an extensive bill of rights, and declared that all power emanated from the people. Executive power is vested in the Cabinet, elected by parliament and consisting of the prime minister, the head of government, and 20 cabinet ministers. The monarch remains officially the head of state, an exclusively ceremonial post, but is no longer the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and does not chair the cabinet meetings. Succession to the throne was opened to women in 1980. Legislative power is vested in a unicameral parliament (Riksdag) with 349 seats whose members are elected for 4-year terms on a proportional basis by universal suffrage. After elections in September 1998, the seats were distributed as follows: Social Democrats (131), Moderates (82), the Left Party (43), Christian Democrats (42), the Center Party (18), the Liberal Party (17), and the Greens (16).

The Social Democratic Party, which had been Sweden's ruling party since World War II, regained office in the 1994 elections. With its traditional ties to the trade-union movement, it has made reducing unemployment a top priority, and stands for a strong public sector . Blue-collar workers and public-sector employees form its base. The conservative Moderate Party demands minimum involvement by the government, lower taxes, public assistance for private industry and business, and a strong defense. The Left Party has socialist and communist traditions and normally supports the Social Democratic government, but it opposes EU membership fearing that European integration and regulations would jeopardize benefits for Swedish workers. The Christian Democratic Party supports a traditional values-based government, is strongly anti-abortion, and pleads for greater support for families in order to fight youth problems, alcoholism, and crime. It demands more aid to developing countries and a more liberal immigration policy.

An important priority for Social Democratic prime minister Goran Persson and his party in 2000 was convincing the Swedish population of the benefits of the EMU. The party had officially adopted a pro-membership policy, but its argument that Sweden had to join the single currency on purely economic grounds sounded less convincing in late 2000, as the country's economy was growing faster than those who had joined the EMU in 1999. Other factors also discouraged a national consensus in favor of the EMU: Sweden's tradition of restricting alcohol use by administrative means conflicted with the EU's trade liberalization rules, and the EU's unhappiness with the intended merger between the 2 large Swedish truck makers, Volvo and Scania.

Denmark's decision to stay out of the EMU membership also weakened popular support for a similar move in Sweden. Many ordinary Swedes are suspicious about further European integration and worry about its impact on their generally healthy economy and its traditional welfare programs, as are the Danes. Businesspeople in Sweden, on the other hand, are unified in support of EMU membership, citing the benefits of a stable exchange rate for their trade with the euro zone (countries that have adopted the euro currency), which accounts for more than half of Swedish trade. They fear EMU would also force Sweden to harmonize its legislation, putting national business on an equal footing with its EU competitors.

Labor market regulations remain of particular concern for the government in the EMU debate. The current wage bargaining system sets the wages for a fixed period of 2 years. Consequently, a large part of the Swedish companies are bound by rigid wage costs over that period. In the event of an international economic slowdown and decreasing foreign sales, the export-driven Swedish industry would suffer from these high fixed wage costs. In similar situations in the past, its price competitiveness abroad has been restored by a depreciation of the krona. If Sweden joins EMU, however, such depreciation would be ruled out (all monetary issues will be decided upon by the European Central Bank), and a more flexible system of wage fixing would be needed to avoid massive layoffs in times of low foreign demand. But Sweden's traditional commitment to wage stability and solidarity and its opposition to layoffs form the heart of the country's economic model. EMU membership is supported by trade-union leadership, but less so by its rank-and-file members (typical workers).

The government's role in the Swedish economy is larger than in other industrialized countries such as the United States. The state owns shares in an array of important industries, such as commercial banks, credit institutions, telecommunications, information technology, broadcasting, postal services, nuclear and hydroelectric power production, air transport, railroads, mining companies, drug chains, pharmaceuticals, and the defense industry. It provides also extensive educational, health, oldage, disability, unemployment, and other social services. The Swedish government is planning a new program aimed at establishing more market discipline and improving the performance of state-owned firms by publishing their quarterly reports as a manifestation of accountability.

Sweden's corporate tax rate is 28 percent, levied on the company's worldwide income. Value-added tax (VAT) applies to the sale of goods and most services; its basic rate is 25 percent of the pre-tax price for all goods (12 percent on food items since 1996). Although corporate taxes are low by western European standards, individual ones, although progressive, are reckoned quite high and the IMF advocates lowering them if the country is to continue its steady growth.

Sweden has an external debt of US$66.5 billion (1994) which is considered proportionate, and is a major economic aid donor with US$1.7 billion in direct aid (1997). The country has a significant foreign trade surplus (more than US$17 billion in 1999) due to its large and robust export sector.

INFRASTRUCTURE, POWER, AND COMMUNICATIONS

Sweden possesses a modern transportation network, regarded as a vital component of equitable wealth distribution. The country's railroads have 12,821 kilometers (7,967 miles) of track, about a third of them privately owned. A rapid railroad link connects Stockholm's main airport, Arlanda, with the city center, and there is a 16-kilometer (10-mile) long bridge and tunnel across the strait of Ôresund from Malmö in Sweden to Denmark's capital, Copenhagen, opened in 2000. There are 163,453 kilometers (101,570 miles) of paved highways, including 1,439 kilometers (894 miles) of expressways. Sweden has 2,052 kilometers (1,275 miles) of navigable waterways and 84 kilometers (52 miles) of natural-gas pipelines. Major ports and harbors, all equipped with modern terminals, including container handling, include Gaevle, Göteborg, Halmstad, Helsingborg, Hudiksvall, Kalmar, Karlshamn, Malmö, Solvesborg, Stockholm, and Sundsvall, The Swedish merchant fleet comprises 165 modern ships. The Swedish marine carrier Stena Bulk AB has recently partnered with OceanConnect.com, an independent online marketplace, for the sale of marine products and services, but mostly to help buyers and sellers complete fuel transactions.

Since the deregulation of the domestic air market in 1991, several Swedish airlines, such as the Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), Malmö Aviation, and Transwede, have been competing for passengers and cargo. The largest player is SAS, collectively owned by Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. Sweden holds a three-sevenths stake in it, of which the government owns half. SAS is a champion of air-transport liberalization (the "open skies" policy) and has struck many strategic partnerships. In 1998, there were 14 million international departures from the Stockholm airports alone. In 2000, the Swedish government was in the process of privatizing several enterprises in its transportation sector. Norway's Schoyen Gruppen and U.S. investment bank Goldman, Sachs acquired

the public transit company Swebus, including its bus operations in Finland, in 1999. Swebus serves about 30 percent of the market in Sweden with its 3,400 buses and 5,200 employees. In another similar privatization deal, the French company CGEA Transport bought 60 percent of the equity of the Stockholm subway system from the city of Stockholm.

Sweden's energy sector is strong, with energy production and usage per capita being among the highest in Europe. State-run Svenska Kraftnat runs the national electricity grid. The country is rich in water resources, and 46.5 percent of total power is generated by hydro-electricity; nuclear energy supplies 45.1 percent, and thermal plants provide the rest. In 1980, Swedes voted in a referendum to decommission its nuclear plants by 2010, but the law that was needed to enable the decision is still pending in the Riksdag. The parliamentary opposition has undertaken to reverse the law, alleging that there has been a change in public opinion. Sydkraft, a private company that owns a nuclear power plant, is threatening to contest its scheduled closure in the European Court of Justice. Deregulation of Sweden's electricity market began by 2000 with the intent of giving all households the freedom to choose among energy suppliers.

Sweden is among the world's leaders in information technology, computer hardware, software, and services. It has the highest number of phone lines (combined fixed and mobile) per capita, as well as the highest percentage of Internet users in the world. Some 74 percent of Swedish companies and 45 percent of households had Internet access in early 2000. In 2000, the phone infrastructure had 68 fixed lines per 100 inhabitants, and mobile phone penetration was approximately 48 percent. Sweden is also a leader in the implementation of new wireless phone and Internet technology. In 1993, the Swedish telecommunications market was one of the first in Europe to deregulate, and telecom investments in 2000 amounted to more than 6 percent of GDP. Virtually no restrictions protect domestic interests or restrict foreign operations from establishing themselves locally.

The Swedish government emphasizes electronic commerce, both in the consumer and business sectors, encourages state-owned companies to use electronic purchasing as a means for cost-cutting, and is committed to creating a national broadband network aimed at bringing high-speed Internet access to every household, even in the remotest parts of the country. Although the system will be open to all Internet providers, some municipalities have decided not to wait for the national system, expected to be completed in 2005, and have begun building their own networks. Much of the Swedish e-commerce revolution is also driven by the utilities. Faced with falling electricity prices in the deregulated market, they are trying to sell other services with higher profit margins to their existing customers and use their electricity grids more effectively.

ECONOMIC SECTORS

As in much of western Europe, the Swedish economy after World War II has gradually become service-oriented, and by 1997, the service sector accounted for 67.3 percent of GDP. Manufacturing contributes 30.5 percent to GDP, and agriculture 2 percent. Private companies account for about 90 percent of manufacturing output, of which the engineering sector accounts for half of

both output and exports. Among the healthiest sectors of the Swedish economy are traditional export-oriented industries like automobiles and construction equipment, as well as services, information technology, and telecommunications.

AGRICULTURE

Sweden is almost self-sufficient in many agricultural products, although the sector employs no more than 2 percent of the labor force and contributes 2 percent of GDP. About 7 percent of Sweden's land is cultivated, mostly in the southern plains. Modern farming, including fertilization and mechanization, make high yields possible although soils are generally poor and the cold climate renders the growing season much shorter than elsewhere in Europe. Farms vary in size from large to small ones, many of which combine into various larger units and cooperatives. Traditionally important sectors such as dairies have declined in the 1990s compared to grain and vegetable production, but livestock and animal products remain among the main commodity items. Other crops include wheat, barley, oats, rye, potatoes, and sugar beets. In 1997, livestock included 1.8 million cattle, 2.4 million pigs, 470,000 sheep, and 11.2 million poultry. The country also exports some fur pelts, notably mink.

INDUSTRY

Sweden's world-class domestic industries originated in the 17th century from its vast natural resources of forests, rich iron ore and waterpower. Over the course of the 20th century, Swedish industry has evolved from traditional sectors with lower added value, such as wood and iron ore processing, to modern industries with a higher degree of skill and technology input, such as automobiles and precision and specialized engineering. The change of priorities became even more evident in the 1990s, with the emergence of new research-intensive industries, such as information technology and pharmaceuticals, which replaced the more traditional engineering industries as the driving force of growth and business activity.

During this transition, some sectors, like textiles and iron, contracted considerably while others, such as shipbuilding, have all but disappeared, but Swedish restructuring has been smooth in terms of economic and social stability. By 2000, major industries included information technology (telephone, radio, and computer equipment), communications, pharmaceuticals, precision equipment (bearings and armaments), high-quality steel, automobiles, electrical motors and other electrical equipment, printed and published goods (including software and popular music), home and office furnishings, and processed foods. Most of the manufacturing plants are private and small, though Sweden also accounts for 29 of the 500 largest companies in Europe, perhaps the highest number per capita in the world). Several of the world's most sophisticated and diversified engineering companies bear Swedish names, although many of them are now foreign-owned or in multinational cooperation. They include, among others, Volvo, Saab, Scania, Electrolux, SKF, and ABB. The most dynamic sector by the late 1990s was telecommunications and information technology, with Ericsson being the most outstanding company in that field.

The automotive sector, one of the most important industries, has lived through major changes in the 1990s due to global restructuring and consolidation. General Motors acquired a 50 percent equity stake in Saab in 1989, and GM acquired the remaining stake in 1999. In 1999, Volvo sold its car division to the Ford Motor Company. Volvo shifted gears to concentrate on commercial transport equipment, and in 1999 acquired 75 percent of Scania, the second major Swedish truck maker. Volvo thus became one of the world's largest manufacturers of heavy vehicles. Sweden also is a major manufacturer of pharmaceuticals; its Pharmacia company merged in 1995 with the U.S. group Upjohn, while Astra merged in 1998 with British Zeneca, to form AstraZeneca.

During the 1990s, the information technology industry has been by far the fastest-growing sector in Sweden. In 1999, the country had more than 250 information technology companies (including foreign-owned ones) with an annual revenue of more than US$10 million, and a huge number of smaller ones. By far the largest of them was Ericsson, with net sales of US$26 billion in 1999. Telia was its second largest company, in net sales and employees. Many important international information technology companies, including Intel, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Nortel, have chosen Sweden as the base for their European operations or for advanced research and development.

SERVICES

As in most of the industrialized world, the Swedish economy is becoming increasingly service-based, with more than two-thirds of GDP formed in that sector, and the role of finance and banking dramatically increasing. Retail is a traditionally strong industry, and tourism is also gaining ground with the increasing affluence of the Swedes and the growing interest of foreign visitors in traveling in the country.

BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES.

Financial institutions in Sweden, both banking and capital-market ones, are well developed and stable. In addition to Riksbanken, the central bank, there are 2 types of banks, joint stock (commercial) and savings banks. Several "member-banks," formed as economic associations, also operate, but generally all banks are entitled to activity in all areas of the industry. In 1986, Sweden opened its borders to 12 foreign commercial banks, allowing them to open branches offices in the country, and they have since focused on business services. In 1990, all restrictions concerning foreign ownership of Swedish bank stock were abolished, though the banks' activities are subject to close supervision to insure that all necessary standards are met. According to the law, financial statements are audited only by internationally recognized auditors. The largest banks in the mid-1990s were Nordbanken, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, Svenska Handelsbanken and Foreningssparbanken (Savings Bank Foundation). American institutions Citibank and GE Capital Bank were also in operation.

Many Swedish banks suffered losses in the early 1990s due to recession , the increased competition generated by deregulation of the sector, sharply expanded lending, especially for real estate (mortgages), plus high inflation in the second half of the 1980s. In 1992, the government guaranteed all commitments of banks and mortgage lenders to their depositors and investors, establishing a Bank Support Council to manage a bank assistance program. Following EU directives, the government guarantee was replaced in 1996 (after Sweden's accession to the EU) by a bank deposit guarantee.

Since the mid-1990s, following global consolidation trends, the number of banks in Sweden was reduced through mergers. The largest merger was the 1998 deal between Nordbanken and Finland's Merita that formed the huge MeritaNordbanken Group. The deregulation of financial markets encouraged many foreign banks to enter Sweden. Credit Lyonnais of France was one of the leaders, although competition in Swedish retail banking forced it to sell its operation to the Trygg-Hansa insurance group in 1997. There were 32 commercial banks doing business in 1999, 15 of which were foreign subsidiaries. Smaller "niche banks" have also emerged (like "dial-in" banks for services by telephone), and all major banks are offering virtual services through the Internet. In 1999, 3 out of the top 4 Internet banks were Swedish. All major banks offer online services, and almost 40 percent of the Swedes conducted their financial transactions at least partly online in 2000, making the country, along with its Nordic neighbors, a leader in Internet banking. Swedbank's Internet system was named the best in Europe in 1999 and proved so convenient that Swedbank was also able to sell it to Norway's Sparbank 1.

Four of Sweden's major commercial banks plan to start a joint system for electronic stock trading in the hope of taking some customers away from the well-established OM Stockholm Stock Exchange by offering trading services on weekends, and eventually, around the clock.

Long considered underdeveloped, the Swedish venture-capital sector finally began to grow dramatically in late 1998 and 1999 thanks to the Internet and high-tech stock boom. It was badly hit by the meltdown in information-technology stocks in late 2000. Probably one-fifth of the 140 venture capital firms existing in late 2000 will either merge, close down, or leave the country. The remaining venture-capital firms will shift resources, possibly meaning that less capital will be available for new startups and expansions in 2001-2002.

RETAIL.

The Swedish retail sector has been traditionally strong. It is following European retail trends, with large stores and shopping malls replacing the small traditional retailers, although to a lesser extent than in Continental Europe, given the smaller size of the market. New forms of retailing have benefited vastly from improvements in consumer confidence, a rise in earnings, and an expansion of employment. Furthermore, the reduction in value-added tax (VAT) on food since 1995, and Sweden's entry into the EU the same year, led to a fall in many prices. In 1998 and 1999, consumer demand for cars and audiovisual and computer equipment boosted the volume of retail trade to nearly 6 percent higher than in the previous year. By far the best known name worldwide in Swedish retail is IKEA, the furnishing retailer that registers 53 percent of its sales and 26 percent of its purchasing in the euro zone. IKEA also has a very strong presence in the U.S. Another strong retailer is Apoteksbolaget, a state-owned chain of pharmacies with a monopoly on the sale of all prescription and non-prescription medication.

E-commerce is already widely established, and online revenue as a share of total retail revenue is the second highest in the world after the United States. A growing number of Sweden's online retailers, including Boxman, Europe's largest online CD music and video retailer, have expanded even beyond the domestic market and built up a presence in other countries in Europe. Direct marketing is also expanding, and well-established mail-order firms have emerged in the areas of beauty products (such as Oriflame), clothing, sporting goods and hardware. Telemarketing is still relatively rare, but the use of cable TV sales channels is increasing.

For decades, Sweden has had a tradition of government policy aimed at restricting alcohol consumption through a state liquor monopoly and high taxes at more than twice the British and more than 10 times the French and German rates. When Sweden joined the EU in 1995, the state import monopoly was discarded, but the distribution and retail market remained under government control and the Swedish government negotiated a temporary exemption from the EU regulations, restricting the amount of alcohol individuals can import into the country. The European Commission has objected to future extension of this exemption, and Swedes take advantage of short trips to Denmark and Germany to import large quantities of alcohol for domestic consumption, especially after the bridge and tunnel link to Denmark opened in 2000.

TOURISM.

Tourism is not a traditionally important sector in Sweden, but it has been growing throughout the 1980s and 1990s, with most foreign visitors coming from Germany, Britain, and the United States. The tourist season has traditionally been confined to the summer months, but winter skiing holidays began to attract foreign visitors during the 1990s. The first direct charter flight between Swedish ski resorts and Britain was launched in 1997. Still, about 80 percent of the guests were Swedes and about 6 percent were other Nordic nationals. Most Swedes continue to prefer traveling abroad during the obligatory 5 weeks of vacation and the increasing number of special holidays. The Norwegian hotel chain Norlandia plans to build up to 5 new hotel and conference centers in Sweden to add to the 6 it now has in the country.

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Sweden has had a traditionally strong export sector and has recorded large surpluses on its trade since the mid-1990s (more than US$7 billion in 1999). The trade surplus is likely to increase in 2001, driven by an expected fall in oil prices. Principal exported commodities include machinery and equipment (35 percent), motor vehicles, paper products, pulp and wood, iron and steel products, and chemicals. Leading export markets in 1998 were the European Union (57 percent), Germany (11 percent), the United Kingdom, Norway, and the United States (9 percent each), Denmark (6 percent), and Finland (5 percent). Imported commodities include machinery, petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, motor vehicles, iron and steel, foodstuffs, and clothing. Chief import partners in 1998 were the European Union (68 percent), Germany (19 percent), the United Kingdom (10 percent), Norway (10 percent), and Denmark, France, and the United States (6 percent each). Swedish export brands such as Ericsson, Volvo, Saab, Electrolux, IKEA, and Oriflame, are among the best known in the world.

In 2000, the increase in the imports of mineral fuels, lubricants and related products amounted to SKr18.7 billion, but this was easily offset by the growth in the value of Swedish exports. Electrical machinery was one of the rapidly growing export categories, and revenue increased also in wood pulp, iron and steel, while in manufacturing they remained flat. In 2000, the U.S. economy alone absorbed SKr47.7 billion of Swedish exports, or an increase of 20.6 percent, and Swedish deliveries to Japan also rose sharply. The price of Swedish imports remained relatively stable, although high oil prices produced a

sharp increase in the value of Norwegian imports (Norway is the major exporter of oil and natural gas for many countries in the region).

MONEY

In 2000, the exchange rate for Swedish kronor stood at SKr8.4831 to US$1; it stood at SKr7.1333 in 1995 and SKr6.7060 in 1996. In the late 1990s, the Swedish government's budget balance improved dramatically. After a deficit of more than 12 percent of GDP in 1993, there was a surplus by 1998, and large surpluses are expected every year through 2002. Credibility improved with the introduction of new strict budget regulations with spending ceilings, and the establishment of a truly independent central bank, the Riksbanken. The government still has a high consolidated debt, although it declined from a peak of 79 percent of GDP in 1994 to 67.6 percent in 1999 and 62.2 percent in 2000. The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority has established a close monitoring of household borrowing, fearing that rapid expansion in lending could lead to credit losses. Riksbanken is expected to be successful in meeting its EU-mandated 2 percent annual inflation target in the longer term. The government and the Social Democratic party remain split over whether Sweden should join the European Monetary Union, concerned that Swedish exports could be hurt, although local businesses are eager to join EMU. Many believe it will take another 2 to 3 years for Sweden to adopt the euro even if a decision to join EMU is made.

The respected though insignificant Stockholm Stock Exchange (SSE), formed in 1863, became the world's first for-profit exchange in 1992. In 1995, it merged with the OM Derivative Exchange (formed in 1985 to offer options trading) to form the new OM Stockholm Exchange; it maintains an investment exchange in London. The OM Stockholm Exchange has been one of the most successful in western Europe in the 1990s, and it ended 1999 with its SX General Index at a record high of 5,382, or 66.4 percent higher than in 1998. The dramatic rise in the share index and in the market capitalization were

mainly due to the high-tech boom of the late 1990s, and the turnover in Ericsson's and Nokia's shares contributed to almost half of the total figure. Since 1999, the OM Stockholm and the Copenhagen stock exchanges have been part of the Norex alliance, in which all shares listed on both exchanges are traded on a joint electronic system. In late 1999, the Oslo stock exchange also joined Norex, and the stock exchanges of the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) and Iceland have expressed interest in joining. The joint stock exchanges, along with several newly-opened Swedish online brokerages, help broaden the pool of capital available to businesses and make raising capital easier and cheaper while the economy becomes more dynamic, effective, and flexible.

As the OM was facing volatile stock prices and the Internet meltdown was plaguing world markets in late 2000, a number of Swedish companies, mostly from the information technology sector, started fundraising by targeting new share offerings directly to interested institutions, mostly to save time and money, but also to avoid the risk that their public offerings might not be successful, given the growing skepticism about information-technology stocks. Another advantage of direct offering was that it helped companies avoid the large price fluctuations of a new public offering and the administrative costs associated with it.

By 2000, the Swedish government was also considering a legal amendment aimed at making it easier for banks and other financial institutions to securitize (re-place non-marketable bank loans with negotiable securities) some of their own assets. These would include mortgages, to be securitized by selling them to security brokerage firms who would issue them securities (bonds) against the loans, that, in turn, may be used as investment capital. Securitization is essentially a method of freeing up capital from long-term loans.

POVERTY AND WEALTH

Sweden is well-known for its system that combines a strong market-based economy with extensive socialwelfare

services. Central and local authorities play a dominant role in providing a wide variety of social services, such as education, health, old age, disability, and unemployment benefits. The governing Social Democratic Party has a platform that includes full employment , wage solidarity, and the maintenance of current living standards among its basic goals.

Swedes enjoy a traditionally high and stable standard of living, although at a high cost to individual taxpayers. Sweden is among the most equitable societies in the world, with a 1995 Gini index (an index that measuring economic equality in which 0 stands for perfect equality and 100 for perfect inequality) of 25. By comparison, the United States had a Gini rating of 40.8, the United Kingdom had a 36.1, and Switzerland had a 33.1). This means that there are no extremes of wealth and poverty in the country. Progressive personal income taxes and comparatively lower executive compensation (compared to that in the U.S.) contribute to maintaining equal social opportunity. Sweden's excellent distribution and transportation system, along with generous regional subsidies, work to prevent inequalities in living standards between urban and rural areas.

Social security programs are exceptionally comprehensive and are subsidized by the government, although some are administered by the trade unions. In response

to the recession of the early 1990s, the government started reductions in the level and range of social programs. Still, some surveys have found that 62 percent of all young and educated Swedes have considered moving abroad, partly in pursuit of greater personal challenge.

WORKING CONDITIONS

Working conditions in Sweden are among the best in the world, thanks to sophisticated environmental and worker-safety regulations. Its labor force of some 4.3 million is disciplined, educated, and experienced in most modern technologies. About 87 percent of Swedish workers belong to a labor union, arguably the world's highest rate, and unions are active partners with businesses in implementing more efficient programs. Swedish legislation provides for labor representation on the boards of directors of large corporations and requires management to negotiate with the unions prior to implementing major changes. Management-labor cooperation is traditionally non-confrontational. There is no fixed minimum wage, and all wages are set by collective bargaining. Since 1991, real wage increases have exceeded those of most EU countries. As the EMU debate gains momentum, labor unions are calling for buffer funds, similar to those created in Finland, as a "cushion" for pension savings and other worker benefits during the transition period to the euro, in the event that there are any large currency fluctuations.

Many pro-business observers, including those from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), have recommended some fundamental labor market reforms, including wage differentiation (to reduce labor costs for low-skilled jobs), introducing an incentive to increase individual competence, strict eligibility requirements and limitations on unemployment benefits, the reduction of income taxes and non-wage labor costs, making the unions and their members bear the costs of the unemployment insurance system, and liberalizing employment protection legislation. Such measures are believed to increase efficiency and competitiveness, but labor representatives complain that they would place more burdens on workers.

Sweden's primary labor-related problem remains its level of unemployment. During a very short period in the early 1990s, the unemployment rate rose from levels among the lowest in the industrialized world to the average EU levels, where it remained until the business cycle improved in 1998-99. By 2000, the unemployment rate was less than 5 percent, but was 8.7 percent for those employees involved in training programs. Sweden's government plans to reduce the unemployment rate to 4 percent and to assure that 80 percent of the working-age population have a full-time job by 2004.

COUNTRY HISTORY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

700s. The present-day territory of Sweden is inhabited by Suiones and Gothones, Germanic tribes at war with each other.

800. Swedish Vikings start exploring the seas, establishing colonies in western Russia and eastern Europe and developing commercial ties with Byzantium, the Khazar Khaganate, and the Arab Caliphate.

9TH CENTURY. Frankish Christian missionaries penetrate Sweden, which is slowly Christianized.

1150-1160. Under king Erik IX, Sweden invades Finland and forces Christianity on the conquered Finns. A feudal economy based on agriculture and trade develops.

1397. The Union of Kalmar unites the 3 Scandinavian kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden under a single (Danish) monarch but constant wars follow between the Danes and Swedes.

1521. A rebellion of Swedes led by Gustav Vasa, later king Gustav I Vasa, overthrows Danish influence in most of Sweden, which becomes a hereditary monarchy that establishes Lutheranism as the state religion.

MID-1500s. Sweden enters a century-long period of military expansion, waging wars against Poland and Russia, and acquiring many territories around the Baltic, including Estonia, Karelia, Ingria, and Livonia.

1630. King Gustav II Adolph (Gustavus Adolphus II), considered the greatest Swedish king and a champion of Protestantism, leads Sweden in the Thirty Years' War.

1648. By the Peace of Westphalia ending the Thirty Years' War, Sweden acquires a large part of Pomerania, the island of Ruegen, Wismar, the sees (bishoprics) of Bremen and Verden, and other German lands. Sweden participates in German affairs and makes an alliance with France but is defeated by the Prussians in 1675.

1700-1721. In the Great Northern War, king Charles XII invades northwestern Russia and defeats the Poles, but the Swedes are finally routed and replaced by Russia as the dominant power in the region. Sweden loses much of its German territory and cedes Livonia, Estonia, Ingria, part of Karelia, and several important Baltic islands to Russia.

1718. A new constitution is adopted, rejecting absolute monarchy and vesting the legislative power in a parliament (Riksdag) composed of 4 estates (nobles, clergy, burghers, and peasants). The executive power becomes the domain of a "secret committee" of the first 3 estates.

1805. King Gustav IV Adolph joins the European coalition of Britain, Russia, and Austria against France, but Russia later unites with France's Napoleon and attacks Sweden, which is forced to cede Finland and the Aland Islands.

1810. To appease Napoleon, the Riksdag chooses Marshal Jean Bernadotte, one of Napoleon's generals, as crown prince, heir to Sweden's childless king. Bernadotte fights against Napoleon in 1813-14 and Denmark is forced to yield Norway to Sweden in exchange for the Swedish lands in Pomerania. In 1815, the union of Norway with Sweden is recognized by the European powers.

1818. Bernadotte succeeds to the throne as Charles XIV John, and Sweden makes considerable progress materially, politically, and culturally under his reign. An early capitalist economy develops.

1867-86. Nearly 500,000 Swedes emigrate to America because of rising unemployment.

1905. Norway secedes from Sweden, without opposition from the Riksdag.

EARLY 1900s. Sweden adopts much progressive social legislation, notably in factory laws, accident insurance, and pension funds for workers, and limitation of working hours for women and children. Major developments in industry turn Sweden into a technologically advanced economy.

1914. Sweden declares neutrality in World War I and joins an agreement to protect the common economic interests of the 3 Scandinavian countries.

1920. Sweden joins the League of Nations.

1920s-1930s. The Social Democratic Party becomes the leading force in Swedish politics. Socialist governments in the 1920s and 1930s enact significant social reforms.

1945. Having been neutral throughout World War II, Sweden joins the United Nations and maintains its neutral stance during the Cold War, refusing to join NATO in 1949 but trying to upgrade its armed forces adequately.

1950s-1970s. Postwar Social Democratic governments vastly expand the welfare state while developing a strong export-oriented market economy based on engineering and research.

1972. Swedish opposition to the Vietnam war voiced by popular Social Democratic prime minister Olof Palme arouses indignation in the U.S. as many young American war resisters are given political asylum in Sweden.

1991. Social Democrats decline in authority, although they remain the largest parliamentary party. Carl Bildt of the Moderate Party forms a coalition cabinet with the Center, Liberal, and Christian Democratic parties, stressing deregulation of the economy, privatization of state companies, cuts in government spending, including welfare, and removing restrictions on foreign companies in Sweden.

1994. Social Democrats return to power.

1995. Sweden enters the European Union as a full member.

FUTURE TRENDS

Sweden is expected to preserve its healthy economy and high living standards into the foreseeable future, although the EMU membership controversy will continue to considerably influence domestic politics. In January 2001, Sweden took over the 6-month rotating EU presidency, but opinion polls showed that only half of the electorate wanted the country to remain in the European Union. Economic growth is likely to slow from 4 percent in 2000 to 3.5 percent in 2001 and 3.2 percent in 2002; inflation is projected to remain moderate and under control, while the unemployment rate will likely continue to fall. The Swedish trade surplus is likely to increase in 2001 due to the expected decline in oil prices and continued growth in exports. A decrease in the U.S. consumer spending may reduce Swedish exports to that major market in 2001, but exports to the EU will continue to grow steadily.

In the longer run, the restructuring of the Swedish economy will give further priority to information technology and other high-tech industries and, increasingly, financial services at the expense of traditional engineering industries. The living standards of the Swedes will continue to rise, although more slowly than in the late 1990s, and the government will put major efforts in planning for its eventual entry into the EMU in order to avoid negative effects on employment and welfare. Sweden will also continue to provide an important economic and social model, especially for the new EU members.

DEPENDENCIES

Sweden has no territories or colonies.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Economist Intelligence Unit. Country Profile: Sweden. <http://www.eiu.com>. Accessed January 2001.

Pontusson, Jonas. The Limits of Social Democracy: Investment Politics in Sweden. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1992.

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook, 2000. <http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook>. Accessed May 2001.

U.S. Department of State. FY 2000 Country Commercial Guide: Sweden. <http://www.state.gov/www/about_state/business/com_guides/index.html>. Accessed May 2001.

—Valentin Hadjiyski

CAPITAL:

Stockholm.

MONETARY UNIT:

Swedish krona (SKr, plural is kronor). One krona is comprised of 100 öre. There are coins of 50 öre and 1, 5, and 10 kronor, and notes of 20, 50, 100, 500, 1,000, and 10,000 kronor.

CHIEF EXPORTS:

Machinery, motor vehicles, electronics, paper products, pulp and wood, iron and steel products, and chemicals.

CHIEF IMPORTS:

Machinery, petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, motor vehicles, iron and steel, foodstuffs, and clothing.

GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT:

US$184 billion (1999 est.).

BALANCE OF TRADE:

Exports: US$85.7 billion (1999). Imports: US$67.9 billion (1999).

SWEDEN

Kingdom of Sweden

Major Cities:
Stockholm, Göteborg, Malmö, Uppsala

Other Cities:
Gävle, Halmstad, Helsingborg, Jönköping, Karlstad, Kristianstad, Landskrona, Linköping, Norrköping, Örebro, Västerås

EDITOR'S NOTE

This chapter was adapted from the Department of State Post Report 1999 for Sweden. Supplemental material has been added to increase coverage of minor cities, facts have been updated, and some material has been condensed. Readers are encouraged to visit the Department of State's web site at http://travel.state.gov/ for the most recent information available on travel to this country.

INTRODUCTION

Long isolated in the far North, SWEDEN is a unique society: beginning in 1932, the Social Democrats, the trade union movement and Swedish business built a comprehensive social welfare structure in which every third Swedish worker is a government employee. Nearly 90 percent of industrial production is in private hands, however, and the Swedish economy is strongly oriented toward foreign trade. Neutral since the time of the Napoleonic Wars, Sweden maintained an activist foreign policy that emphasized multilateral diplomacy. The Swedes spoke of a "Swedish Model"—a "third way" equidistant between the capitalist West and the Communist East. But while about 85 percent of the work force still belongs to trade unions and social benefits still astound Americans, much that once characterized Swedish domestic and foreign policy is changing fast.

Since the end of the Cold War the Swedes have taken a primary role in the Baltic region, taking the lead in the Council of Baltic Sea States and actively supporting their Baltic neighbors. Sweden joined NATO's Partnership for Peace (PFP) and has placed hundreds of combat troops under NATO command in Bosnia. Sweden is a member of the UN Security Council through 1998.

A change with lasting consequences for Sweden was the decision to join the EU in January 1995. Trade policy is now negotiated in Brussels and Sweden coordinates foreign and security policy with other EU states. Nonetheless, Sweden is one of only three EU countries that did not join the common currency, the Euro.

Within Sweden itself, the severe economic downtown of the early 1990s saw real unemployment peak at 14 percent, compared to a post-war average of under 3 percent. The non-socialist government elected in 1991 reduced some taxes and the growth of social programs was stopped. But when unemployment remained stubbornly high, the voters in 1994 and again in 1998 turned again to the familiar Social Democrats. Swedish economic planners now face the greatest challenge to meeting the goal of full employment since the Depression. Social policy has also grown more complicated with the pluralization of Swedish society.

With a visit to Stockholm you will find a sophisticated city environment surrounded by beautiful countryside. Stockholm lies near a unique archipelago with thousands of islands accessible by private boats or ferries. The cost of basic goods and services in Sweden is high, but state subsidies put a wide range of cultural and recreational activities within reach of everyone.

MAJOR CITIES

Stockholm

Stockholm is Sweden's largest city. Founded in 1250, it has been Sweden's principal city since the time of King Gustav Vasa in the early 1500s. The ancient walls have long since disappeared, and many of the old houses have been renovated. The medieval city plan can be seen in the narrow, winding cobblestone streets and small squares of Gamla Stan (Old Town). Reminders of Sweden's period as a great power in the 17th and 18th centuries are the Royal Palace and the House of Nobilities. Other historic landmarks are the Stock Exchange, the Foreign Ministry, the Royal Opera House, and the old Riksdag or Parliament building. The burial place of Sweden's nobility, the Riddarholmen Church, dates from the city's beginnings. Central Stockholm has a turn-of-the-century appearance, but modern apartment houses rise on Stockholm's outskirts. In the suburbs are many municipal housing projects; large, utilitarian apartment houses interspersed with grass and play areas.

Food

Stockholm regularly ranks among near the top in surveys of the most expensive cities for business travelers, and new arrivals face a series of surprises the first time they pay for some familiar item. By watching costs and adjusting spending habits, however, individuals can enjoy the high standard of living for which Sweden is also well known. The Swedish Government has used tax policy actively over the past 50 years as a tool for directing public consumption. As a rule of thumb, you can count on goods and services that are considered good for society to be relatively inexpensive in Sweden and those that are deemed detrimental to be costly. Public transport, education, the performing arts, and public recreation are relatively inexpensive. The price of alcohol, tobacco, and parking tickets are legendary high. Maintaining a private car costs more than it does in Washington, DC, but maintaining a boat costs less. Books, records, and CDs cost double what they do in the U.S., but more than 100 libraries in Stockholm lend them by the month for free. In general, shop for clothes, cosmetics, and durable goods before arrival.

One high cost expenditure that is impossible to avoid is food. High-quality food of every type is available in Stockholm. Fish and meat of all varieties are available on the local market, although meat cuts differ from those in the U.S. Fresh fruits and vegetables are imported to the Swedish market from around the world. Throughout the winter, supplies of bananas, apples, pears, plums, grapes, pineapples, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, and endive are available. Excellent dairy products, including a large variety of cheeses are always available, and canned goods of every description can be purchased. Swedish frozen foods include orange juice, peas, spinach, broccoli, chicken, fish, and prepared dishes. Supermarkets are similar though generally smaller than those in the U.S.

Swedes keep traditions that often are centered around the preparation of special foods: crayfish in August, fresh lamb in September, goose on St. Martin's Day, lutefish and Jansson's Temptation at Christmas. In recent years, new immigrants have brought with them both foods and food stores, and new traditions have sprung up. For example, many observe the old custom of pea soup and pancakes on Thursdays; others now line up to meet the air shipment of fresh tropical fruits at the Thai grocery store.

Clothing

Men: Men need medium weight suits, an overcoat, raincoat, hat, warm gloves and scarves, and over-shoes or boots. American-style suits shirts, ties, socks, and underwear are available on the local market but at much higher prices than in the U.S. Tailor-made suits are available in Stockholm at prices comparable to the U.S. Sports gear and casual wear are widely available. All types of shoes are available at prices higher than in the U.S.

Women: Women need a good supply of warm dresses, slacks, sweaters, and coats, since they are worn about 9 months of the year. Boots or galoshes are worn regularly between November and April. Lined boots and galoshes, as well as good quality rain, and snow outfits are readily available in Stockholm, but are more expensive than Stateside prices. Warm gloves, scarves, and caps covering the ears for winter are also available locally. Well cut and tailored dresses, suits, and coats are in the medium-to high-price range.

Although summers are not usually hot, bring summer clothes for the short summer season and for travel. Swedish shoe lasts are different from those in America, and some women have difficulty finding shoes that fit. Fashionable European shoes are widely stocked.

Good fur coats, ready-made or made-to-order, are not considered a luxury in Sweden. They are available at relatively moderate prices throughout Scandinavia.

Children: Children's clothing is available in wide variety. American blue jeans and sneakers are popular but expensive. Rain gear, clogs, boots, and winter outerwear are a relatively good buy locally. Narrow shoe sizes are difficult to find.

Supplies and Services

Almost everything is available in Stockholm but generally at higher prices. Stores stock many familiar brands, but you may wish to bring a supply of special cosmetics, hair preparations, and drugstore items.

Commercial dry-cleaning, shoe repair, and services in general are readily available, but at a higher price and with a longer wait than in the U.S. Hairdressing services are similar to those in the U.S.

Domestic Help

Daytime babysitters can be difficult to find for preschool children. Some families hire an au pair to help with the children and housework. Foreign domestic help traveling to work in Sweden must possess an employment visa in advance. In some cases, domestic help employed from a third country may be eligible for Swedish health benefits while residing in Sweden.

Daycare centers, Montessori schools, and parent-owned cooperatives are available; but often there is a waiting list.

It is difficult, but possible, to find domestic help in Sweden. Most such workers are foreign, salaries are high, and anyone planning to have a full-time live-in maid must be familiar with the working conditions for domestics established by Swedish law. These include a minimum wage and restrictions on access to public assistance by third-country nationals. Some people hire cleaning personnel by the hour, and extra help at receptions and dinners can be arranged.

Religious Activities

Until the year 2000 all Swedish citizens automatically become members of the Church of Sweden at birth if one of their parents is a member. In 2000, church and state will separate. Nearly 90% of the population belongs to the established Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Sweden; but regular church attendance is low: only 5% of the overall population are active churchgoers. The many church buildings are well maintained through support from taxes and income from land holdings. Services are usually held in Swedish. English services are also conducted at the interdenominational Immanuel Church, the Anglican Church of St. Peter and St. Sigfhed, St. Jacob's Church, and the Roman Catholic Church of St. Eugenia. In addition, Greek Orthodox, Jewish, Moslem, Mormon, Methodist, Baptist, Mission Covenant, and Pentecostal churches are located in Stockholm. Services are usually in Swedish, although it is also possible to find services conducted in French, German, Spanish, and English.

Education

Most American children in the elementary grades attend the International School of Stockholm or the British Primary School. Both are English-language, coeducational schools. The school year has two terms beginning late August and January. School ends in mid June. Both schools may have waiting lists for admission.

The International School of Stockholm was founded in 1952 and is located in downtown Stockholm. It is accredited by the European Council of International Schools and The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. The International School curriculum combines elements of American and British School curricula. ISS has kindergarten through grade 9 and accepts children ages 4-15. Maximum class size is 25 in the lower school and 20 in the upper school. Facilities include a gym, computer class, music and art rooms. American standardized tests are given each year. For further information, contact: The Principal, Stockholm International School, Johannesgatan 18, 111 38 Stockholm, Sweden, tel: (46) (8) 412 40 00, fax: (46) (8) 8-10 52 89.

The British Primary School, founded in 1980, is located in Djursholm, a residential suburb north of Stockholm. The school enrolls children in the British equivalents of preschool and kindergarten through Grade 6. Each department offers an educational program designed specifically to meet the academic and social needs of the students. There are currently around 200 students, the largest representations are British and American. The majority of its teachers, coming from both Britain and the United States, are permanently based in Sweden. They are supported by specialists in EFL, French, Swedish, Music, and PE. The building includes a gymnasium, music room, library, computer studies room, art and pottery room, and a science area. For further information, contact Principal, British Primary School, Ostra Valhallavagen, 182 62 Djursholm, Sweden, tel: (46) (8) 755 2375, fax: (46) (8) 755 2635.

The English School is an independent school approved by the National School Board for grades 1-9. The school's educational program follows a modified Swedish curriculum with most subjects taught in English. Swedish is taught 6 lessons per week at two different levels, corresponding to the student's knowledge of the subject. For further information, contact: Principal, The Engelska Skolan, Valhallavägen 9, 114 22 Stockholm, Sweden, tel: (46) (8) 673 29 10, fax: (46) (8) 673 29 15.

American children in grades 10-12 often attend the Kungsholmen Gymnasium just west of the city center. Courses are offered in three lines of study in English: The International Baccalaureate, the Social Science line, and the Natural Science line. The International Baccalaureate Line admits students by examination and is aimed for students bound for competitive colleges in Europe and the U.S. Instruction is in English, and compulsory courses are Swedish, English, French, history, psychology, social science, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, music or drawing, and physical education. Electives are German, Russian, or Spanish. Fewer subjects are required in the Social Science Line and the Natural Science Line, but both have a college prep curriculum. For more information, contact: Kungsholmen's Gymnasium, International Section, Hantverkargatan 67-69, 112 38 Stockholm, Sweden, tel: (46) (8) 693 53 00, fax: (46) (8) 693 53 01.

Another educational option for children in high school is the Sigtunaskolan Humanistiska Laroverket, coeducational boarding school in Sigtuna, approximately 27 miles from Stockholm. The school offers a 3-year program in English leading to the International Baccalaureate degree. The school enrolls 200 day students and 300 boarding students. It is popular with Swedish families whose children have begun their education in English while living abroad. For further information, contact: Sigtunaskolan Humanistiska Laroverket, Manfred Bjorkquists alle 6-8, Box 8, 193 00 Sigtuna, Sweden, tel: (46) (8) 592 571 00, fax: (46) (8) 592 572 50.

Swedish public schools also accept American children, but Swedish is the language of instruction. Foreigners are given special tutoring. Children in Sweden begin school at age 7, and classes are held Monday through friday.

Children with learning disabilities often find education difficult in Stockholm. Many of the disabilities recognized in the United States are either not recognized or are little understood here. If your children have learning disabilities or attention deficit disorder, contact the school directly to determine whether the school is capable of dealing with your child. Get any commitments from the school in writing.

Special Educational Opportunities

One out of every three adult Swedes is enrolled in an adult education program of some kind. Courses range from arts, crafts, and music to academic subjects and vocational training. Classes are held throughout the day and evening, and tuition costs are generally subsidized. Instruction is in Swedish.

The Swedish language is also taught in adult education programs in a variety of formats. These range from intensive full-time classes intended for immigrants who need to achieve fluency as quickly as possible to evening conversation groups designed especially for the diplomatic community.

Sports

Sweden is truly a sporting nation. One in every four Swedes belongs to one of 20,000 local sports clubs representing 61 different national associations. A year-round program of sports for all ages is organized in every commune (municipality). With a little effort and some basic Swedish, American family members can participate in these activities. Dozens of mass sports events are held each year, where the emphasis is on participation. In March, 12,000 cross-country skiers participate in the 90 kilometer "Vasaloppet" commemorating a 16th-century turning point in the formation of the Swedish state. The streets of Stockholm are cordoned off in May for the "Tjejtrampet," billed as the world's largest women's bicycle race with 6,000 participants. There is a regular calendar of recreational runs, from children's fun runs to the Stockholm Marathon; the "Lidingöloppet" attracts over 25,000 men and women to its arduous cross-country trail.

Public indoor swimming pools are popular in the winter months. The most modern facilities have waves, currents, and waterfalls in addition to the standard "bastu" (sauna) and solarium. Many indoor pools are closed in the summer, with the expectation that people will take part in the brisk swimming offered by the Baltic Sea and Lake Malaren, whose waters reach 62°F in the summer.

Hiking, cycling, and walking are popular. Scenic paths follow the water in town and the forests and park areas in the outskirts of town. The "Kustlinien" is a bicycle path that runs from the center of Stockholm 120 miles both north and south. It is linked among the islands of the archipelago by 31 different ferry companies. Hunting in Sweden is limited to those invited by proprietors of game land. Duck, hare, deer, and moose are plentiful. Hunting rifles and shotguns can be purchased locally after first obtaining a license.

Many game fish can be found in and around Stockholm, and salmon rivers are convenient to the city. Salmon fishing in streams and rivers is tightly controlled, but in recent years, it has become common for anglers along Stockholm's waterfront to pull in fine salmon with no fees to pay. Trout are found in streams near the mountain range along the Swedish-Norwegian border; fishing rights there are not restrictive. All types of fishing tackle can be purchased locally. In Stockholm, fishing is permitted without a license, a unique privilege that has been enjoyed in the capital since the 17th century. The catch includes Baltic herring, pike, perch, cod, salmon, and trout depending on the time of year.

Tennis (which is primarily an indoor game in Sweden), squash, health club, badminton, golf, and bowling facilities are available. Club memberships are expensive if not prohibitive. Nationwide, "Friskis & Svettis" offers popular and reasonable aerobics classes. Horseback riding may be enjoyed all year; bridle paths are well maintained, and several stables have indoor rings. Greater Stockholm is well equipped with cross-country ski trails (many lighted) and downhill beginners' slopes with lifts. The closest ski resort with a ski lift is in Salen, Dalarna, about a 5-hour drive from Stockholm. Ice skating is available on many public rinks and lakes; enthusiasts take part in long-distance skating on the waterways leading out to the Baltic.

Touring and Outdoor Activities

In only a few places in the world is boating so generally enjoyed. The season is short (May 15-September 15), but the Stockholm archipelago is beautiful and easily accessible for either sailing or motorboating. A unique Swedish legal custom, "Allemansratt," establishes conditions for camping and hiking on private property without disturbing the owners. There is a lively market for secondhand boats, and boat clubs are located all over Stockholm, although most have a waiting list. An easy way to get on the water is to enroll in one of the several boating courses and sailing camps organized for the public during the summer. Kayaking is popular.

Sight-seeing tours by bus and boat are available through tourist offices and along the waterfront. Nearby destinations include: Uppsala, a university town and site of a restored medieval cathedral, and Old Uppsala where Viking burial mounds are located (1-1/4 hours by car; 1 hour by train); Saltsjobaden, a seaside resort on an inlet of the Baltic (half-hour by car or train); Grip-sholm Castle, a large fortress containing Sweden's national portrait gallery (1 hour by car, 3 hours by steam ferry across Lake Malaren); Skokloster Castle, built at the close of the Thirty Years' War and outfitted with late 17th-century furnishings and armaments (about 1-1/4 hours); Drottningholm Castle, with its beautiful gardens and 18th-century opera theater (20 minutes by car or 45 minutes by boat); and Sigtuna, ancient Viking capital, site of several of the earliest churches in Sweden and of original 17th-century buildings (1 hour by car).

For longer trips, the walled Hanseatic city of Visby on the Baltic island of Götland, is an overnight boat ride or a 1-hour flight away. Many summer resorts on Sweden's west coast, including Bestad, hold international tennis matches. Lap-land, north of the Arctic Circle, captivates visitors with its primeval beauty under a midnight sun. It is also possible to visit the crystal and glass factories in southern Sweden. In Smäland, factories are located in the towns of Kosta, Boda, and Orrefors, which are 200 miles south of Stockholm and near the island of Öland, another popular summer resort area. The mountain regions along Sweden's border with Norway attract skiers in the winter and hikers and whitewater rafters in the summer. Sweden's heartland, Dalarna, lies amid lakes and forests about a 4-hour drive north of Stockholm. The area is famous for its well-preserved folk culture, including the carved wooden horses that have become a symbol of Sweden overseas. Many tourists visit Dalarna to participate in the midsummer celebrations, but regional cultural events, such as music and dance festivals are held throughout the year.

Charter flights (usually to warm weather resort destinations) are popular and are one of the best bargains in Sweden. Resort packages may include a 1-or 2-week visit, hotels, and meals at prices less than that of regular airfare. Another convenient excursion opportunity is a weekend trip to Finland, Russia, Estonia, or Lithuania on regularly scheduled ferries that leave from Stockholm. The shipping companies vie with each other to provide amenities on these crossings, whose profits derive mainly from tax-free sales on board.

Entertainment

Stockholm has the Royal Opera and two symphony orchestras with performances from September to June. The Royal Dramatic Theater and more than 30 other theaters feature outstanding modern productions in Swedish. An English-speaking professional theater performs four plays a year. In summer, the opera performs period pieces at Drottningholm Court Theater, the world's oldest (1766) theater still in use. Stockholm's newest stage is the domed civic center known as Globen. Many well-known American entertainers making a European tour include a Globen performance. The facility also hosts international sports events, such as the Stockholm Open Tennis Tournament in the Fall.

Swedes are avid moviegoers. More than 200 films are released in Sweden each year. They are shown in the original language with Swedish subtitles. Sweden supports the production of about 20 feature films a year through the Swedish Film Institute. Stockholm offers a variety of restaurants, nightclubs, bars, and discotheques similar to other European capitals. Jazz clubs, in particular, are a well-established tradition in the Old Town and the artists' quarter of Soder. Spectator events in Stockholm include trotting races, horse-races, regattas, tennis, soccer, ice hockey, high-speed ice skating, ski jumping, wrestling, boxing, swimming, and international athletic meets.

Social Activities

Social life in Stockholm depends to a great extent on individual effort and interests. The following clubs offer activities for Americans:

American Citizens Abroad in Sweden. This club provides a forum for Americans living outside the United States. Citizenship, taxation, social security, voting, education and health care are among the many nonpartisan issues that ACA addresses.

The American Club. For members of the business community, including Swedes doing business in the U.S. Monthly luncheons, periodic bridge and golf tournaments, and dances are held.

American Women's Club in Sweden. Membership open to all American women in Sweden, many of whom are married to Swedes. The Club has evening circles for those unable to attend functions during the day.

Club USA . A Social club for the younger set (20-35) of Americans and Swedes in Stockholm that holds social events once a month.

English-Speaking Community Club. Membership open to all English-speakers in the Stockholm area. Cultural, recreational activities, and study clubs are organized for all age groups.

International Women's Club. For all English-speaking women: luncheons, bazaars, study groups, dances and tours.

Göteborg

Göteborg is Sweden's major seaport to the west, and its maritime traditions are more than 300 years old. When the foundations of the present city were laid in 1619, Dutchmen did the planning and building; and Germans, Britons, and Scotsmen helped the Swedes to pave the paths and roads of commerce through the city. Viking fleets gathered off the mouth of the Gota River as late as the 10th century to trade at big markets. The canals through the town originally formed the actual harbor area.

Göteborg's harbor is the biggest in Scandinavia, and the city ranks 35th among the world's largest seaports. About 85 regular shipping lines include Göteborg in their traffic schedules. A ship arrives or departs, on the average, every 15 minutes. The amount of cargo loaded or unloaded is estimated at 20.5 million metric tons per year. Frequent ferry connections link Göteborg with Jutland in Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.

The city is well laid out and clean. Many parkways and lovely parks with bright summer flowers add much to its charm. Gentle hills surround the city, inviting the hiker to stroll among the woods and lakes.

Göteborg (or Gothenburg) is the home of about 15,000 enterprises and more than 300,000 employees. Some 720,000 people live in the immediate area (450,000 in the city proper), and about the same number visit here each year. Approximately 3,000 U.S. citizens live in or near Göteborg.

Recreation and Entertainment

During summer, thousands of Göteborg's inhabitants move to the country. After the dark, sunless winter, everyone is eager to enjoy fully the short summer, and coastal beaches and rocks are crowded with sun-bathers. The west coast's numerous summer resorts and beaches offer an abundance of recreational activities. Göteborg has a few large, modern, indoor swimming pools, most of which are open year round. Besides swimming, some pools offer gymnastic rooms, sun rooms, steam baths, and massage. Göteborg also has the largest indoor stadium in Scandinavia and a modern, centrally located amusement park, Liseberg, open during summer.

Göteborg's tennis clubs offer numerous indoor and outdoor courts. Squash also is a favorite local sport. Skating is a popular winter sport enjoyed on the many area lakes. Skiing is only occasionally possible because of the lack of snow in this region; the winter sports enthusiast usually goes to northern Sweden or Norway.

The most popular sports on the west coast are boating and sailing, followed by fishing, golfing, and horseback riding.

Charter travel is surprisingly inexpensive in this area, and in most parts of Sweden. In winter, trips to warmer areas are favored.

Göteborg has three fairly large theaters. The City Theater (Stadsteatern) and the Folk Theater (Folkteatern) usually present plays. The Grand Theater (Stora Teatern) specializes in opera, operetta, and ballet. All productions are in Swedish. Concerts are presented each year from September to June in the Concert Hall (Konserthuset) and during summer in the Liseberg Concert Hall. American entertainers touring Sweden often include Göteborg on their schedule.

Movie theaters show American, English, Swedish, and other productions with original soundtracks; Swedish subtitles are supplied as needed. Numerous restaurants offer a wide range of prices. Göteborg is particularly known for its excellent seafood. Several outdoor restaurants are open during summer, as are numerous sidewalk cafés.

Malmö

Malmö located on the Öresund Strait opposite Copenhagen, Denmark, is Sweden's third largest city. A fortified seaport with a population of about 235,000, Malmö is 300 miles south of Stockholm, in the Skåne region of southern Sweden. It is a major naval and commercial port, as well as an industrial center whose principal products include textiles, clothing, metal goods, processed food, and cement.

The city was founded in the 12th century and was an important trade and shipping center. For most of its history, Malmö was a Danish possession until it passed to Sweden in 1658. Historical buildings include Malmöhaus Castle, begun in 1434, and now a museum. The city hall, built in 1546, and St. Peter's Church, constructed in the 14th century, are also noteworthy.

Uppsala

Uppsala, Sweden's center of scholarship and history, is situated on the Fyrisån River in eastern Sweden, about 50 miles northwest of Stockholm. It's population is 164,750. The city developed close to Gamla Uppsala, which was the country's capital in the sixth century. An archiepiscopal see was established here in 1270. The city's cathedral, built in that era, is considered the finest Gothic church in Sweden; it is the usual coronation place of Swedish kings, as well as the burial place of several of the country's noted citizens.

Uppsala is the site of the oldest university in northern Europe, the University of Uppsala, founded in 1477. Since its reorganization in 1595, it has been ranked among the world's great educational institutions; library holdings include two-and-a-half million volumes, 32,000 manuscripts, and more than 700,000 foreign dissertations. Uppsala is also the home of the Royal Society of Sciences, the Gustav Institute of High-Energy Physics and Radiation Biology, and the Victoria, Linnaean, and Upplands museums.

Ancient pagan burial mounds (from the city's historic pre-Christian era) lie just beyond Uppsala.

OTHER CITIES

GÄVLE , 75 miles northeast of Västerås, is a seaport city that exports iron ore and wood pulp. Industries include textile mills and chemical plants. Chartered as a city in 1446, Gävle has a population today of 92,000.

HALMSTAD , 45 miles north of Helsingborg, is a seaport on the Kattegat. With a population of nearly 77,000, Halmstad has a steel plant, paper mills, shipbuilding yards, fisheries, and breweries. Landmarks include a 14th-century church.

HELSINGBORG (also spelled Hälsingborg) is a seaport in southern Sweden on the Oresund Strait. Connected by ferry to Helsingor, Denmark, Helsingborg is 275 miles southwest of Stockholm. A commercial and industrial center, it manufactures processed copper, rubber, electrical goods, textiles, and refined sugar. The city has been a trade center since the ninth century. During the Danish-Swedish conflicts of the 17th century, Helsingborg became part of Denmark; it was returned to Sweden in 1710 and was rebuilt. The modern industrial development of Helsingborg began in the mid-19th century. The current population is about 118,500. Historical sites include a castle (built between the 12th and 15th centuries), the Church of St. Mary (13th to 15th centuries), and numerous half-timber houses.

JÖNKÖPING is a historic, old city in the south, situated 175 miles southwest of Stockholm. Chartered in 1284, it was twice burned by its own residents during wars between Sweden and Denmark. The 1809 treaty between the countries was signed here. Present-day Jönköping dates from the early 17th century. The making of matches is the principal industry; paper and textiles are also made. Landmarks include the Old Town Hall, the Court of Appeal (built in 1655, Sweden's second oldest), and Christina Church. This county capital of 118,000 residents has a county museum. Jönköping is linked to Sweden's main rail lines, and has water connections with the Kattegat (part of the North Sea) and the Baltic through the Göta Kanal.

KARLSTAD lies on Tingvalla Island in Lake Vänern, about 170 miles west of Stockholm. Forest products and heavy industry are the economic mainstays here. An extensive export-import trade is also significant. Karlstad was named in honor of Charles IX, who granted it a charter in 1584. The area had been known as Tingvalla (Thingvalla), after the ting, or meetings of the legislature held here. In 1905, the treaty ending the union of Sweden and Norway was signed in the city. Karlstad, with an estimated population of 74,000, has large parks and wide avenues. Few structures predate a disastrous 1865 fire; one is the Östra Bron (or East Bridge, finished in 1770). The University of Karlstad opened in 1970.

KRISTIANSTAD is a seaport in southern Sweden, about 50 miles northeast of Malmö, on the Baltic Sea. Founded in 1614 by Christian IV of Denmark, Kristianstad's history was divided between Denmark and Sweden until 1678, when the city was ceded to the Swedes. With a current population of 69,000, Kristianstad is a trade center in an agricultural region. It has flour mills and slaughterhouses, as well as food processing and textile plants.

LANDSKRONA is just a few miles south of Helsingborg. Also a seaport on the Oresund Strait, Landskrona's industries include shipbuilding, metalworking, food processing, and tanning. First mentioned in 1412, Landskrona was the site of a Swedish victory over the Danes in 1677. The current population is 36,500.

LINKÖPING , with a population of some 134,000, is a rail junction and manufacturing center. It is located 110 miles southwest of Stockholm in the southeastern region. This was a prominent commercial, cultural, and religious hub in the Middle Ages. Many diets, or assemblies, were held in Linköping during the reign of Gustav I Vasa. The 1598 victory here of the Vasas over King Sigismund III (1566-1632) secured the Swedish throne for the Vasas and the Protestants. The beheading of four of Sigismund's supporters in the main square two years later became known as "the Linköping Massacre." The building of the Götaand Kinda canals and the Stockholm-Malmö railway made this an industrial center. Landmarks in Linköping include a 15th-century cathedral and a 13th-century castle. A university was founded here in 1970.

NORRKÖPING is a seaport at the head of the Bråviken, a narrow inlet of the Baltic Sea. Situated in eastern Sweden about 90 miles south of Stockholm, Norrköping's population is approximately 123,000. The city was founded in 1350, chartered in 1384, and burned by the Russians in 1719 during the Northern War. Today, Norrköping is a commercial, industrial, and transportation center. Its industries include those producing paper, rubber, furniture, radio and television sets, and processed food. Among the historical structures are Hedvig's Church, built in the 17th century.

ÖREBRO is one of Sweden's oldest cities. Situated on the Svart River, 100 miles southwest of Stockholm in the south-central area, its population is approximately 125,00. The city's economy is based on shoe and biscuit manufacture. Örebro has a modern look because it was rebuilt after an 1854 fire. Some of its impressive historic edifices include a restored Swedish Renaissance castle, used both as a museum and governor's residence; the Kungsstugan, or King's House, dating to the 15th century and one of the country's best-preserved wooden buildings; and a 13th-century Gothic church. Örebro played a significant role in Swedish history. The national hero, Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson (1390-1436), lived here, and the 16th-century church reformers, Olaus and Laurentius Petri, were born in the city. Many crucial diets, or assemblies, took place in Örebro, especially that of 1810. At that time, French marshal Jean Bernadotte was elected king of Sweden as Charles XIV John. Örebro enjoys good rail and boat connections, and is at the junction of national highways.

VÄSTERÅS is a port on Lake Mälaren in eastern Sweden, about 70 miles northwest of Stockholm. Founded in 1100, it became one of the country's great medieval cities; a 13th-century cathedral and a 14th-century fortified castle remain. Västerås was the venue of the 1527 parliament which formally introduced the Reformation into Sweden. Today, Västerås is a major inland port, shipping iron ore, lumber, and iron goods. The center of the Swedish electrical industry, the city also produces machinery, glass, and metalware. The current population is 128,000.

COUNTRY PROFILE

Geography and Climate

Sweden is bounded on the west by Norway and an arm of the North Sea, on the north by Norway and Finland, and on the east and south by the Baltic Sea. The country is long and narrow, encompassing an area of 174,000 square miles, a little larger than France or the state of California. In the northwest are mountains, and lakes abound throughout Sweden. To the south and east are forests, fertile valleys, and plains. Along Sweden's rocky coast, interspersed with bays and inlets, are many islands, the largest of which are Gotland and Öland. Despite its northern latitude, Sweden's climate is not excessively cold due to the proximity of the Gulf Stream and the Baltic Sea. The mean annual temperature is 48°F. Stockholm is situated at approximately the same latitude as Juneau, Alaska. During most of December and early January, the sun does not rise before 9 am and sets as early as 2:30 pm. Snow usually falls in January, February, and March. The average temperature range for January is 27°F-30°F (Washington, D.C. is 27°F-43°F). Spring comes late, with snow possible even in May. By June, daylight is almost continuous, and the vegetation is luxuriant. In July, the average temperature range is 57°F-72°F (Washington, D.C. is 68°F-88°F). Many firms close down for the month so that the entire staff can take vacation. The average annual rainfall in Stockholm is 22 inches, compared with 39 for Washington, D.C. New arrivals often have the impression that the statistics should be reversed, and for good reason. It doesn't rain more in Stockholm, but it does rain more often: 164 days a year compared with 113 for Washington, D.C.

Population

Sweden's population is roughly 8.6 million, and almost 83 percent live in urban communities. Sweden's small Same (Lapp) population numbers about 17,000. About 10 percent of the population are immigrants, with Finns in the majority. Turks, Greeks, and Yugoslavs composed much of the first immigrant wave in the 1960s and 1970s. More recent refugee groups come from the Middle East, Latin America, Eastern Europe and most recently from Bosnia. Stockholm has a population of 670,000—1.5 million, including the suburbs.

Public Institutions

Sweden is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary government. The unicameral Parliament (Riksdag) is the sole governing body. The Prime Minister is the political chief executive. Direct parliamentary elections take place every 4 years. Sweden has one of the world's highest percentage of women in parliament: in 1998, 149 of 349 members were women.

Arts, Science, and Education

As exemplified by the annual Nobel Prize ceremonies, Sweden is a leading nation in the field of education and has 33 institutions of higher learning. Among these are the world-renowned Karolinska Institute of Medicine; universities in Uppsala, Lund, Stockholm, Goteborg, Umea, and Linkoping; three technical institutes; and specialized professional schools for dentistry, pharmacy, veterinary sciences, agriculture, forestry, economics, social work, art, music, journalism, and library science. Stockholm University administers the Institute for English-speaking Students, which is divided into three sections: International Graduate School (IGS), Stockholm Junior Year, and Swedish-language courses. The emphasis is on Swedish-language and literature, economics, social and political sciences, and international affairs. An American degree is required for admission to the IGS, itself a non-degree program. Academic subjects, Swedish language, and arts and crafts are offered in 11 nationwide adult education programs. These are subsidized by the government and open to foreign residents at modest cost. Several courses are also offered for English-speaking foreigners on Swedish history, culture, and computer science. Stockholm and its environs are rich in museums, galleries, and historical sites.

Commerce and Industry

The development of a skilled and disciplined labor force led by creative entrepreneurs provided the basis for Sweden's transformation from a poor, rural society into a highly productive industrial economy. The transformation, completed by the early 1930s, was fueled by an abundance of forest products, iron ore, and waterpower. Untouched by the ravages of World War II, Sweden's industries produced and exported the machinery, vehicles, ships, and other products and raw materials that paid the bill for the present elaborate Swedish social welfare system. This system is now under examination as Sweden adapts to its new European Union membership and the heightened competition this status brings. Sweden exports 30% of its gross domestic product. The U.S. is Sweden's third largest trading partner, after Germany and the U.K. The Swedish labor force of 4.3 million workers is highly skilled, and 87% belong to trade unions. In most families, both husband and wife work; and females comprise 48% of the work force. Women are paid approximately 80% of what men earn, and men predominate in highly paid white-collar positions.

Transportation

Automobiles

If vehicles are purchased new in Sweden, modifications do not have to be made to meet Swedish standards; and such vehicles can be sold tax-free two years after purchase. Virtually all automobile makes are represented in Stockholm including Volvo, Saab, Ford, Chrysler, and Toyota.

All automobiles must have an annual inspection. Depending on the make, model, and year, the automobile may require minor modification to pass inspection. The Swedish inspection is rigorous and focuses particularly on the exhaust emission system for leaks and a high percentage of carbon monoxide. Be sure any car you bring into Sweden is in good condition so that inspection problems can be minimized.

When you import a car into Sweden, you will have to pay a customs processing fee of about SEK 150 (about $20) and an inspection and registration fee of about SEK 900 (about $120). Additionally, there is a refundable fee of about $500 that must be paid "upfront"-refunds are processed usually within one month.

The foregoing restrictions do not apply to the purchase of a used vehicle in Sweden. You may purchase and sell a used car at any time.

Because of road salt and gravel used on the roads in winter, it is a good idea to undercoat your car. Winter tires are advisable (and may become mandatory) from early November through mid-April.

Sweden has reciprocal agreements with some other countries that allow you to use those licenses. The minimum driving age in Sweden is 18. Sweden has very strict drunk-driving laws. Driving after drinking even a very modest amount of alcohol is a serious offense that carries a mandatory fine, loss of license, and a jail sentence.

You must purchase third-party liability insurance from a local Swedish company. Collision insurance can be purchased from several American or Swedish companies. You may want to check with your current auto insurer to see if it offers coverage in Sweden. If you have a letter from your current insurer stating your number of accident-free years, you may be able to obtain a reduced rate from a Swedish insurer.

Local

Greater Stockholm has an extensive network of buses, trains, and subways. For those living downtown, commuting to work by public transportation is convenient and relatively inexpensive. Those living in the suburbs often commute by car. The use of public transportation is actively encouraged by Swedish authorities, and parking is limited and expensive. Cabs are plentiful and not much more expensive than in the D.C. area. Bicycles are very popular, and throughout the city and suburbs there are extensive bicycle paths that allow one to ride free from motor traffic.

Regional

Arlanda airport is about 25 miles north of Stockholm. Bus or taxi transportation for the 45-minute drive into the city is easily arranged on arrival. A rail connection from downtown to the airport is under construction and should be finished in 1999.

The train system in Sweden is excellent, but travel by train is relatively expensive. Round trip from Stockholm to Goteborg, for example, is about $140. There are also bus connections from Stockholm with all major Swedish towns. Bus travel is relatively inexpensive. For example, round trip from Stockholm to Goteborg is $45.

Communications

Telephone and Telegraph

Sweden has a modern, reliable telecommunications system with direct dial service to the U.S. Rates are lower than elsewhere in Europe, and the trend is toward the cost-based rate structure used in the U.S. Bring an AT&T, MCI, or Sprint phone card. Internet and on-line service connections are widely available at reasonable prices. There are no restrictions on personal computers, which are available locally at reasonable prices.

Mail

International airmail from the U.S. is generally delivered in Stockholm within a week. Surface delivery letters take approximately 4-5 weeks to arrive by international mail; packages take about 68 weeks.

Radio and TV

Short-wave VOA broadcasts can be received morning and evening. BBC shortwave can be heard almost 24 hours daily. Radio Sweden broadcasts daily in English in Stockholm on the FM band and currently offers some programs from National Public Radio and the BBC. Swedish TV's two independent networks together broadcast 137 hours of news programming each week and about 7 hours of English programming a day. U.S. programs with Swedish subtitles on these channels average 12 hours a week. Other foreign-made programs in the original language account for another 28 hours of weekly programming. The independent, commercial broadcasting networks are more oriented toward entertainment than the state-owned networks. Nearly 45% of the Swedish population has access to cable TV Cable subscribers may choose from CNN, MTV, Discovery, Lifestyle, Screensport, and Worldnet from the U.S.; the BBC, Super Channel, Skynews, Skynet, and Eurosport from Britain. Programming is also available from Germany, France, Norway, Finland, Russia, and Sweden. Satellite dishes are available from a number of vendors. VHS video is popular and there are many rental outlets.

Swedish TV uses the PAL system. American TV uses the NTSC system. Other than with NTSC videos, a U.S. TV cannot be used in Sweden.

Newspapers, Magazines, and Technical Journals

Same day editions of most leading European newspapers, including the International Herald Tribune, are available at newsstands or by subscription. The Washington Post and New York Times are usually available for next-day purchase at high prices. International mail subscriptions are available for most news magazines. Stockholm bookstores have a great variety of American and British magazines, books and paperbacks. Stockholm's public libraries also contain ample selections of English-language materials, including children's books.

Health and Medicine

Medical Facilities

Sweden is justly famous for its comprehensive quality health care system, and Stockholm is well provided with modern hospitals and dental facilities. Nevertheless, securing medical care often proves frustrating for American's in Stockholm, who find themselves among a small minority not covered under the state medical insurance system. The national health facilities are available on a fee basis, but it takes time and personal commitment to learn how to access the health care you will need. Stockholm also has private health practitioners, clinics, and hospitals that operate along lines familiar to Americans.

Community Health

Public health standards are high and monitored closely; few special precautions are necessary. You will need to adjust to the experience of living at 60° North, where winters are long and dark, summers short and intensely light. Many areas of Sweden are densely wooded and the incidence of Lyme disease is comparable to the Northeastern USA. Colds and flu are the most common ailments here. Rheumatism, bronchial ailments, and sinus trouble may be aggravated during winter. Humidifiers can be purchased locally. Stockholm takes pride that its waters and lakes, which make up 13 percent of the area within the city limits, are fit for swimming.

Preventive Measures

Most medicines for colds, sinus conditions, and allergies require a prescription if purchased at a Swedish pharmacy. Flu shots are available in the fall. Children can take fluoride supplements, available locally. Some people chose to be inoculated against tick-borne encephalitis; wear suitable clothing when camping or hiking.

LOCAL HOLIDAYS

Jan. 1 …New Year's Day

Jan. 6 …Epihpany

Mar/Apr.…Good Friday^*

Mar/Apr.…Easter^*

Mar/Apr.…Easter Monday^*

May 1…Swedish Labor Day

May/June…Ascension Day^*

May/June…Pentecost^*

May/June…Whitmonday^*

June …Midsummer Eve^*

Sept. 2 …Labor Day

Nov. 1…All Saints' Day

Dec. 25 …Christmas Day

Dec. 26 …Boxing Day

^*variable

NOTES FOR TRAVELERS

Stockholm has daily, direct connections with the U.S, through American, Delta, and United airlines.

A valid U.S. driver's license may be used while visiting Sweden, but the drivers must be at least 18 years of age. Driving in Sweden is on the right. Road signs use standard international symbols and Swedish text. Many urban streets have traffic lanes reserved for public transport only. Emergency services (equivalent to 911 in the U.S.) for traffic accidents and emergency roadside assistance can be reached by calling 112.

A valid passport is required. Tourist and business travelers do not need visas for stays of less than 90 days. Since March 2001, Sweden entry visas are governed by the rules in the Schengen Agreement. Under the Agreement, all the European Union countries (except Ireland and the United Kingdom), as well as the European Economic Area countries of Norway and Iceland, have opened their borders to one another. A visa issued for a visit to one of these countries is normally valid in all of the other countries as well. For further information on entry requirements, contact the Royal Swedish Embassy at 1501 M. Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20005, tel: (202) 467-2600, or the Swedish Consulate General in New York at (212) 751-5900 or check their homepage at http://www.webcom.com/sis.

No vaccination or health certificates are required.

Americans living in or visiting Sweden are encouraged to register at the consular section of the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm and obtain updated information on travel and security within Sweden. The U.S. Embassy is located at Dag Hammarskjoldsvag 31, telephone (46)(8) 783-5300, fax (46)(8) 660-5879 and after-hours telephone (46)(8) 783-5310.

Pets

Sweden has strict quarantine regulations for all pets. A four month quarantine is required upon arrival in Sweden, except for those animals that have lived for a least one year in and EU country and are brought directly from that country to Sweden. All pets are subject to veterinary examination at entry and will be admitted only if healthy.

A quarantine kennel for dogs is located outside Stockholm in Vallentuna. Cats can be quarantined in Stenungsund or Lidkoping, both outside of Goteborg. Space availability in these kennels is very limited and a six month waiting list is not unusual. The kennel cost is about 15,000 SEK for a cat ($1, 950) and about 25,000 SEK ($3,250) for a dog, plus veterinary charges. Visits after the first month may not be permitted.

ONce space has been secured you must apply for the required import permit. The most important provision of the permit is that space in the quarantine kennel has been secured. If any pet is shipped to Sweden without the proper permits, it will remain at the airport for 48 hours until arrangements can be made for shipment back to the originating country.

Firearms and Ammunition

The following non-automatic firearms and ammunition may be brought into Sweden: Handguns: No handguns and no ammunition.

Hunting Rifles: 2 (includes shotgun but no elephant guns); with 200 rounds each, and 2,000 rounds of skeet loaded shotgun shells.

Currency, Banking, and Weights and Measures

The official monetary unit is the Swedish krona (plural: kronor-SEK); 100 ore =1 krona. Bills are in denominations of 1,000, 500, 100, 50, and 20. Coins are in denominations of 10, 5, and 1 kronor, and 50 ore. Banks and international newspapers have current rates of exchange.

You can access your American checking account with an ATM card on the Cirrus or Plus system; ATM machines are common. It is common to open a local personal kronor checking account or post office (PostGiro) account to pay local bills. Credit cards are widely accepted.

Sweden has a value-added tax (VAT) of 25% on merchandise, 12% on food and 18% on hotel and restaurant services.

Sweden uses the metric system of weights and measures.

RECOMMENDED READING

These titles are provided as a general indication of the material published on Sweden.

Andersson, Ingvar. A History of Sweden. Greenword Press: Westport, CT, 1975.

Bergman, G. A Short History of the Swedish Language. The Swedish Institute: Stockholm, 1973.

Bergman, Ingmar. The Magic Lantern. Penguin Books: London, 1988.

Bernitz, Ulf, and Draper, John. Consumer Protection in Sweden. Liber forlag: Stockholm, 1986.

Carlgren, W. M. Swedish Foreign Policy During the Second World War. Translated by A. Spencer. St. Martins Press: New York, 1977.

Einhorn, Eric, and Logue, John. Modern Welfare States. Politics and Policies in Social Democratic Scandinavia. Praeger Publishers: New York, 1989.

Esping-Andersen, Gosta. Politics Against Markets. The Social Democratic Road to Power. Princeton University Press: Princeton, 1988.

Frangsmyr, Tore. Science in Sweden. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 1739-1989. Science History Publications: Canton, MA, 1989.

Graham-Campbell, James and Kidd, Dafydd. The Vikings. W Morrow & Co.: New York, 1980.

Gustavson, Carl G. The Small Giant: Sweden Enters the Industrial Era. Ohio University Press: Athens, Ohio, 1986.

Hadenius, Stig, and Lindgren, Ann. On Sweden. The Swedish Institute: Stockholm, 1990.

Hadenius, Stig. Swedish Politics During the 20th Century. The Swedish Institute: Stockholm, 1990.

Koblik, Steven, ed. Sweden's Development from Poverty to Affluence, 1750-1970. Routledge & Kegan Paul: London and Boston, 1980.

Liman, Ingemar. Discover Sweden. Illustris: Malmo, 1989.

Moberg, Wilhelm. The Emigrants; The Immigrants; The Last Letter Home. Popular Library Press: New York, 1971.

Scott, Franklin D. Sweden: The Nation's History. Southern Illinois Press: Carbondale, IL, 1988.

Solvell, Orjan, Zander, Ivo, and Porter, Michael. Advantage Sweden. Norstedts: Stockholm, 1991.

Strindberg, August. Strindberg: Five Plays. University of California Press: Berkeley, 1983.

Stromholm, Stig. An Introduction to Swedish Law. Norstedts: Stockholm, 1988.

Sundelius, Bengt. The Committed Neutral-Sweden's Foreign Policy. Westview Press: Boulder, Co, 1989.

Tilton, Tim. The Political Theory of Swedish Social Democracy. Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1990.

Sweden

Compiled from the January 2007 Background Note and supplemented with additional information from the State Department and the editors of this volume. See the introduction to this set for explanatory notes.

Official Name:
Kingdom of Sweden

PROFILE

PEOPLE

HISTORY

GOVERNMENT

POLITICAL CONDITIONS

ECONOMY

FOREIGN RELATIONS

U.S.-SWEDEN RELATIONS

TRAVEL

PROFILE

Geography

Area: 449,964 sq. km. (173,731 sq. mi.)—slightly larger than California.

Cities: Capital—Stockholm (city population: 771,038). Other cities—Göteborg (city population: 484,942), Malmö (city population: 271,271).

Terrain: Generally flat or rolling. Three of the principal rivers, the Ume, the Torne and the Aringerman, flow into the Gulf of Bothnia. The highest areas are found in the Kjolen mountain range along the border with Norway, where peaks rise to over 1,500 m; the highest point is at the northern tip of this range, at Kebnekaise, which reaches 2,111 m (6,926 ft.). South of the mountains is the lakeland area, where the Vänern, the largest lake in western Europe—over twice the size of Luxembourg—is situated. South of the lakes is the infertile Småland plateau, surrounded by the lowland plains that border the sea. The mountainous regions and some northern parts of Sweden are covered in snow for much of the year, and only 8% of the country is given over to agriculture.

Climate: Temperate in south with cold, cloudy winters and cool, partly cloudy summers; subarctic in the north. The north of Sweden lies within the Arctic Circle, and continental influences also contribute to the cold climate. In northern areas winters are usually long and extremely cold. The south of Sweden benefits from maritime influences, however, and the climate is milder. In the capital, Stockholm, on the southeast coast, daily average temperatures only fall to 3.1°C (27°F) in February, the coldest month, and are as warm as 17.8°C (64°F) in July. The mean annual rainfall in Stockholm is 22 in., with the largest amount of rain falling between July and September.

People

Nationality: Noun—Swedes; adjective—Swedish.

Population: (November 2006) 9,110,972.

Annual population growth rate: (2006) 0.16%.

Ethnic groups: Indigenous Swedes, ethnic Finns, ethnic Sami.

Immigrants: Finns, ex-Yugoslavia nationals, Iranians, Norwegians, Danes, Greeks, and Turks.

Religions: Lutheran (87%), Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Baptist, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim.

Education: Years compulsory—9. Literacy—99%.

Health: Infant mortality rate—2.76/1,000. Life expectancy—men 78.29 years, women 82.87 years.

Work force: (4.49 million, 2005 est.) Services—70.7%; industry—28.2%; agriculture—1.1%.

Unemployment: (2006 est.)—4.3%.

Public holidays: (2007) January 1 (New Year’s Day); January 6 (Epiphany); April 6 (Good Friday); April 8 (Easter); April 9 (Easter Monday); May 1 (May Day); May 17 (Ascension Day); May 27 (Whit Sunday); June 6 (National Day); June 23 (Midsummer Holiday); November 4 (All Saints’ Day); December 25 (Christmas); December 26 (St Stephen’s Day). The eve of a holiday is as important—or more so—than the holiday itself. Most Swedes have the day off, including those working in the civil service, banks, public transport, hospitals, shops, and the media. Others have at least a half-day. This applies especially to Midsummer’s Eve, All Saints’ Day Eve, and Christmas Eve. The eve of May Day is sometimes called Valborg Eve or St Walpurgis. When a holiday falls on a Thursday many Swedes have the following Friday off in addition. When a holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday it is not taken on the following Monday.

Government

Type: Constitutional monarchy.

Constitution: The Swedish Constitution is based on four fundamental laws: the Instrument of Government (originally dating from June 6, 1809), the Act of Succession (1810), the Freedom of the Press Act (1949), and the Riksdag Act. Following partial reforms in 1968 and 1969, a new Instrument of Government and a new Riksdag Act were adopted in 1973 and 1974, and the revised Constitution came into force on January 1, 1975, replacing the Acts of 1809, 1866, and 1949.

Government branches: Executive—monarch (head of state); prime minister (head of government); Cabinet, responsible to parliament. Legislative—unicameral parliament (Riksdag—349 members). Judicial—Supreme Court (6 superior courts; 108 lower courts).

Political subdivisions: 21 counties, 288 municipalities (townships).

Political parties: Moderate (conservative), Liberal People’s, Center, Christian Democratic, Social Democratic, Left (or V, formerly Communist), and Green.

Suffrage: Universal, 18 years of age. After 3 years of legal residence, immigrants may vote in county and municipal elections (but not in national elections).

Economy

GDP: (2005, purchasing power parity) $268.3 billion. GDP: (2005, official exchange rate) $348.1 billion.

Annual growth rate: (2005) 2.7%.

Per capita income: (2005, purchasing power parity) $29,800.

Inflation rate: (2006) 1.4%.

Natural resources: Forests, hydroelectric power, iron ore, copper, lead, zinc, gold, silver, tungsten, uranium, arsenic, feldspar, timber.

Agriculture: (1.1% of GDP) Products—dairy products, meat, grains (barley, wheat), sugar beets, potatoes, wood. Arable land—6 million acres.

Industry: (28.2% of GDP) Types—machinery/metal products (iron and steel), electrical equipment, aircraft, paper products, precision equipment (bearings, radio and telephone parts, armaments), wood pulp and paper products, processed foods.

Services: (70.7% of GDP) Types—telecommunications, computer equipment, biotech.

Trade: Exports (2005)—$126.6 billion. Types—machinery, transport equipment, motor vehicles, wood products, paper, pulp, chemicals, iron and steel products, and manufactured goods. Imports (2005)—$104.4 billion. Types—machinery, petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, motor vehicles, iron and steel, foodstuffs, clothing. Major trading partners (2005)—Germany 17.5%, Denmark 8.9%, Norway 7.8%, U.K. 6.6%, Netherlands 6.2%, Finland 5.8%, France 5%.

PEOPLE

Sweden has one of the world’s highest life expectancies and one of the lowest birth rates. The country counts at least 17,000 Sami among its population. About one-fifth of Sweden’s population are immigrants or have at least one foreign-born parent. The largest immigrant groups are from Finland, Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iran, Norway, Denmark, and Poland. This reflects Nordic immigration, earlier periods of labor immigration, and later decades of refugee and family immigration. Swedish is a Germanic language related to Danish and Norwegian but different in pronunciation and orthography. English is by far the leading foreign language, particularly among students and those under age 50.

Sweden has an extensive child-care system that guarantees a place for all young children from 2-6 years old in a public day-care facility. From ages 7-16, children attend compulsory comprehensive school. After completing the ninth grade, 90% attend upper secondary school for either academic or technical education.

Swedes benefit from an extensive social welfare system, which provides for childcare and maternity and paternity leave, a ceiling on health care costs, old-age pensions, and sick leave among other benefits. Parents are entitled to a total of 12 months’ paid leave between birth and the child’s eighth birthday, with one of those months reserved specifically for the father. A ceiling on health care costs makes it easier for Swedish workers to take time off for medical reasons.

HISTORY

During the seventh and eighth centuries, the Swedes were merchant seamen well known for their far-reaching trade. In the ninth century, Nordic Vikings raided and ravaged the European continent as far as the Black and Caspian Seas. During the 11th and 12th centuries, Sweden gradually became a unified Christian kingdom that later included Finland. Queen Margaret of Denmark united all the Nordic lands in the “Kalmar Union” in 1397. Continual tension within the countries and within the union gradually led to open conflict between the Swedes and the Danes in the 15th century. The union’s final disintegration in the early 16th century brought on a long-lived rivalry between Norway and Denmark on one side and Sweden and Finland on the other.

In the 16th century, Gustav Vasa fought for an independent Sweden, crushing an attempt to restore the Kalmar Union and laying the foundation for modern Sweden. At the same time, he broke with the Catholic Church and established the Reformation. During the 17th century, after winning wars against Denmark, Russia, and Poland, Sweden-Finland (with scarcely more than 1 million inhabitants) emerged as a great power. Its contributions during the Thirty Years War under Gustav II Adolf (Gustavus Adolphus) determined the political as well as the religious balance of power in Europe. By 1658, Sweden ruled several provinces of Denmark as well as what is now Finland, Ingermanland (in which St. Petersburg is located), Estonia, Latvia, and important coastal towns and other areas of northern Germany.

Russia, Saxony-Poland, and Denmark-Norway pooled their power in 1700 and attacked the Swedish-Finnish empire. Although the young Swedish King Karl XII (also known as Charles XII) won spectacular victories in the early years of the Great Northern War, his plan to attack Moscow and force Russia into peace proved too ambitious; he fell in battle in 1718. In the subsequent peace

treaties, the allied powers, joined by Prussia and England-Hanover, ended Sweden’s reign as a great power.

Sweden suffered further territorial losses during the Napoleonic wars and was forced to cede Finland to Russia in 1809. The following year, the Swedish King’s adopted heir, French Marshal Bernadotte, was elected Crown Prince as Karl Johan by the Riksdag (parliament). In 1813, his forces joined the allies against Napoleon. The Congress of Vienna compensated Sweden for its lost German territory through a merger of the Swedish and Norwegian crowns in a dual monarchy, which lasted until 1905, when it was peacefully dissolved at Norway’s request.

Sweden’s predominantly agricultural economy shifted gradually from village to private farm-based agriculture during the Industrial Revolution, but this change failed to bring economic and social improvements commensurate with the rate of population growth. About 1 million Swedes immigrated to the United States between 1850 and 1890.

The 19th century was marked by the emergence of a liberal opposition press, the abolition of guild monopolies in trade and manufacturing in favor of free enterprise, the introduction of taxation and voting reforms, the installation of a national military service, and the rise in the electorate of three major party groups—Social Democratic Party, Liberal People’s Party, and Conservative Party.

During and after World War I, in which Sweden remained neutral, the country benefited from the worldwide demand for Swedish steel, ball bearings, wood pulp, and matches. Postwar prosperity provided the foundations for the social welfare policies characteristic of modern Sweden. Foreign policy concerns in the 1930s centered on Soviet and German expansionism, which stimulated abortive efforts at Nordic defense cooperation. Sweden followed a policy of armed neutrality during World War II and currently remains non-aligned.

Sweden became a member of the European Union (EU) in 1995. With the prospect of the enlargement of the EU from 15 to 25 countries on May 1, 2004, concerns arose that the Swedish welfare system would be unduly burdened by an influx of workers from the new member states. In March of that year, following similar action by other EU member states, the Swedish Government introduced legislation in the Riksdag proposing welfare and labor restrictions for migrant workers from the 10 accession countries for at least two years. However, the Riksdag rejected the bill at the end of April. This defeat was seen as a major reverse for the government and meant that Sweden was one of the few EU countries without any restrictions limiting access to jobs or social security to citizens of the new member states.

The perceived failure of the main political parties to adequately address the strong current of EU skepticism expressed in Sweden’s rejection of the euro led to the February 2004 formation of a new political grouping, the Junilistan (June List), which opposed further integration with the EU, but did not advocate withdrawal. The grouping stressed that it was not itself a political party, and went as far as appending its candidates’ usual party affiliation to their names on the ballots for the forthcoming elections to the European Parliament. In this way voters would be able to support the June List on the issue of the EU while not altogether abandoning their usual party. This strategy proved successful, allowing the June List to draw support from across the political spectrum. It was widely believed that the June List’s success in the European elections might increase pressure on the government to consider holding a national referendum on the ratification of the EU constitutional treaty, which had finally been approved by the Council of the EU in June 2004. Instead, the government chose to present the treaty for approval (or otherwise) in the Riksdag; legislation was to be presented by September 2005, with a view to adoption in December of that year. However, following the rejection of the treaty at national referendums in France and the Netherlands in mid-2005, Sweden was one of several member states to decide to delay the ratification process indefinitely.

In May 2005 the UN Committee against Torture ruled that Sweden had violated the 1984 UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in December 2001 by returning an asylum seeker to Egypt, where he had been convicted in absentia of membership of a terrorist group. Human rights groups had earlier expressed concern at the treatment of the asylum seeker and another Egyptian national deported at the same time; the two men had controversially been flown to Egypt in a U.S.-leased aircraft, having been handed over to U.S. security officials by the Swedish authorities. In November 2005 the Swedish Government ordered the Civil Aviation Authority to investigate media reports that aircraft used by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had landed at Swedish airports while transporting suspected terrorists to third countries for interrogation. In the following month the Authority, which examined the period from January 2002, reported that it could not substantiate the claims.

In September 2005 the Riksdag rejected a proposed amnesty for illegal immigrants living in Sweden, despite considerable public support for such a measure. Following the vote, a number of protests took place and 150,000 signatures were collected in favor of an amnesty. In November the Riksdag approved legislation allowing failed asylum seekers to reapply for a residence permit before the end of March 2006. It was estimated that 20,000 asylum seekers whose deportation orders had not been carried out due to conditions in their home countries or who had gone into hiding after having their original applications refused would be eligible to submit new applications under the law.

In February 2006 the government announced its intention for Sweden to overcome its dependency on petroleum within 15 years, without constructing any further nuclear power stations. A committee of industrialists, academics, farmers, vehicle manufacturers, civil servants, and others was charged with devising a plan to achieve this, and was to report to the Riksdag later that year. The government hoped to protect Sweden from the adverse economic effects of climate change and from fluctuations in the price of petroleum, which had increased substantially in recent years.

In March 2006 Laila Freivalds resigned as Minister for Foreign Affairs, following criticism of her ministry’s involvement in forcing the temporary closure, in February, of the website of SD-Kuriren—the newspaper of the far-right SD (Swedish Democrats)—which had asked readers to submit cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. (The publication of caricatures depicting the Prophet in a Danish newspaper in late 2005, and in a number of other European newspapers in early 2006, had led to world-wide protests by Muslims.) Freivalds had initially denied responsibility for the decision to intervene, which Prime Minister Goran Persson had denounced as being contrary to the freedom of the press. She had already come under pressure to resign in December 2005 after an independent commission held her partly responsible for the government’s slow response to the tsunamis in Southeast Asia on December 26, 2004 (which killed more than 500 Swedes). Jan Eliasson, the President of the UN General Assembly, was appointed as the new Minister for Foreign Affairs and held both positions until the expiry of his UN term in September 2006.

Elections to the Riksdag were held on September 17, 2006. The Alliance for Sweden (a coalition of four center-right parties—the Moderate Party, the Liberal People’s Party, the Christian Democrat, and the Center Party) won 178 of the 349 seats, securing Fredrik Reinfeldt the position of Prime Minister, while the Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP) coalition took 171 seats. Taking a cue from the British Labor Prime Minister’s electoral strategy a decade earlier, Reinfeldt remodeled his party as ‘New Moderates,’ moving away from the party’s right-wing, upper-class roots to appeal to a large middle ground of voters, and successfully winning over many who had until then supported the SAP, as well as others who had previously voted for the smaller, non-socialist parties. Reinfeldt was instrumental in uniting the notoriously divided four-party, center-right opposition. The Alliance managed to offer a cohesive campaign and a set of alternative policies that persuaded the electorate that change was both possible and desirable. The Social Democratic Party had been predominant in government for 65 of the 74 years since 1932, and the 2006 election ended its recent term of 12 years in office.

GOVERNMENT

Popular government in Sweden rests upon ancient tradition. The Swedish parliament (Riksdag) stems from tribal courts (Ting) and the election of kings in the Viking age. It became a permanent institution in the 15th century. Sweden’s government is a limited constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system. Executive authority is vested in the cabinet, which consists of a prime minister and 20 ministers who run the government departments. The present Alliance for Sweden government, led by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, came to power in September 2006. King Carl XVI Gustaf (Bernadotte) ascended to the throne on September 15, 1973. His authority is formal, symbolic, and representational. The unicameral Riksdag has 349 members, popularly elected every 4 years, and is in session generally from September through mid-June.

Sweden is divided into 21 counties and 288 municipalities. Each county (län) is headed by a governor, who is appointed by the central government. Each county has a popularly elected council with the power of taxation, and each council has particular responsibility for education, public transportation, health, and medical care. Elected municipal councils are headed by executive committees roughly analogous to the boards of commissioners found in some U.S. cities.

Swedish law, drawing on Germanic, Roman, and Anglo-American law, is neither as codified as in France and other countries influenced by the Napoleonic Code, nor as dependent on judicial practice and precedents as in the United States. Legislative and judicial institutions include, in addition to the Riksdag, the Supreme Court, the Supreme Administrative Court, the Labor Court, Commissions of Inquiry, the Law Council, District Courts and Courts of Appeal, the Chief Public Prosecutor, the Bar Association, and ombudsmen who oversee the application of laws with particular attention to abuses of authority.

Principal Government Officials

Last Updated: 1/10/2007

King: CARL XVI GUSTAF

Prime Minister: Fredrik REINFELDT

Dep. Prime Min.: Maud OLOFSSON

Min. of Agriculture, Food, & Fisheries: Eskil ERLANDSSON

Min. of Culture: Lena Adelsohn LILJEROTH

Min. of Defense: Mikael ODENBERG

Min. of Development Aid: Gunilla CARLSSON

Min. of Education: Lars LEIJONBORG

Min. of Enterprise & Energy: Maud OLOFSSON

Min. of Environment: Andreas CARLGREN

Min. of European Affairs: Cecila MALMSTROM

Min. of Finance: Anders BORG

Min. of Foreign Affairs: Carl BILDT

Min. of Foreign Trade: Sten TOLGFORS

Min. of Health & Elderly Care: Maria LARSSON

Min. of Infrastructure: Asa TORSTENSSON

Min. of Integration & Gender Equality Affairs: Nyamko SABUNI

Min. of Justice: Beatrice ASK

Min. for Labor Market Issues: Sven Otto LITTORIN

Min. of Local Government & Financial Markets: Mats ODELL

Min. of Migration: Tobias BILLSTROM

Min. of Schools: Jan BJORKLAND

Min. of Social Affairs: Goran HAGGLUND

Min. of Social Benefits: Cristina Husmark PEHRSSON

Governor, Swedish Central Bank: Stefan INGVES

Ambassador to the US: Gunnar LUND

Permanent Representative to the UN, New York: Anders LIDEN

Sweden maintains an embassy in the United States at 1501 M St., NW Washington, DC 20005. Telephone: 202-467-2600, Internet: http://www.swedenabroad.com/washington

Consulates General are in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. There also are consulates in 31 other U.S. cities. Contact the embassy for locations and telephone numbers.

POLITICAL CONDITIONS

Ordinary general elections to the Swedish parliament are held every fourth year on the third Sunday in September. County council and municipal council elections take place at the same time. The last elections were held in September 2006. There is a barrier rule intended to prevent very small parties from gaining representation in the parliament. A party must thus receive at least 4% of the votes in the entire country or 12% in a single electoral district to qualify for any seats.

The September 2006 election was won by a coalition of four center-right parties (the Moderate Party, the Liberal People’s Party, the Christian Democrats, and the Center Party) called the Alliance for Sweden. The 2006 election results for Sweden’s major parties were as follows: the Social Democratic Party (34.99%; 130 seats), the Moderate Party (26.23%; 97 seats), the Center Party (7.88%; 29 seats), the Liberal People’s Party (7.54%; 28 seats), the Christian Democrats (6.59%; 24 seats), the Left Party (5.85%; 22 seats), and the Green Party (5.24%; 19 seats).

The Social Democratic Party has a base of blue-collar workers, intellectuals, and public sector employees. It derives much of its power from strong links with the National Swedish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), which represents around 90% of Sweden’s blue-collar workers. The party program combines a commitment to social welfare programs and government direction of the economy.

The Moderate Party emphasizes personal freedom, free enterprise, and reduction of the public-sector growth rate, while still supporting most of the social benefits introduced since the 1930s. The party also supports a strong defense and Sweden’s membership in the European Union (EU). Its voter base is urban business people and professionals, but the party also attracts young voters, main-street shop owners, and, to a modest extent, blue-collar workers.

The Center Party maintains close ties to rural Sweden. The main concerns of the Center Party are the elimination of nuclear power and increased centralization of governmental authority.

The Left Party, formerly the Communist Party, is today a party which expresses some of the traditional values of the social democrats but which also is focused on the environment and opposes Swedish membership in the EU. Its voter base consists mainly of public sector employees, journalists, and former social democrats.

The Christian Democrats have their voter base among those who belong to free churches—Methodists, Baptists, etc. They seek better ethical practices in government and the teaching of traditional values in the schools. They also want to improve care for the elderly and have an extensive family policy program. They strongly support Swedish membership in the EU and the European Monetary Union (EMU).

The Liberal People’s Party’s platform is “social responsibility without socialism,” which includes a commitment to a free-market economy combined with comprehensive Swedish social welfare programs. Foreign aid and women’s equality also are popular issues. The Liberal People’s Party base is mainly centered in educated middle-class voters.

The Green Party is an environmentalist party that attracts young people. The party takes a strong stand against EU membership and wants a new referendum on the issue. The Greens support a phasing-out of nuclear energy in Sweden and hope to replace it with alternative, environmentally friendly energy sources.

When Sweden became a member of the EU in 1995, some argued that it went against Sweden’s historic policy of neutrality (Sweden had not joined the EU during the Cold War because it was incompatible with neutrality). Others viewed the move as a natural extension of the economic cooperation that had been going on since 1972 with the EU. Sweden addressed this controversy by reserving the right not to participate in any future EU defense alliance. Sweden also reserved the right to make the final decision on whether to join the third stage of the EMU (a common currency and central bank) “in light of continued developments.”

Although many Swedes have publicly expressed their dissatisfaction with membership in the EU, main Swedish concerns include winning popular support for EU cooperation, EU enlargement, and strengthening the EU in areas such as economic growth, job promotion, and environmental issues.

Sweden is a member of the UN and some of its specialized and related agencies, including the World Bank, World Trade Organization (WTO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Labor Organization (ILO), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (USESCO), World Health Organization (WHO) and others; also of the EU, European Free Trade Association (EFTA), Council of Europe, and others. Sweden is a member of NATO’s Partnership for Peace and participates in numerous international peacekeeping operations.

ECONOMY

Sweden is a highly industrialized country. Agriculture, once accounting for nearly all of Sweden’s economy, now employs less than 2% of the labor force. Extensive forests, rich iron ore deposits, and hydroelectric power are the natural resources which, through the application of technology and efficient organization, have enabled Sweden to become a leading producing and exporting nation.

The Swedish economic picture has brightened significantly since the severe recession in the early 1990s. Growth has been strong in recent years, with an annual average GDP growth rate of 2.5% for the period 2000–2004 and 2.7% in 2005. The inflation rate is low, with an annual average inflation rate of about 1.5% for 2006, but unemployment remains a stubborn problem. The unemployment rate held steady in recent years at about 5% and in 2005 reached 7.8%. Since the mid-1990s, Sweden’s export sector has grown significantly as the information technology (IT) industry, telecommunications, and services have overtaken traditional industries such as steel, paper, and pulp. The overall current-account surplus has traditionally been much smaller than the merchandise trade balance, as Sweden has generally run a deficit on trade in services, net income flows, and unrequited transfers. However, since 2003 this has not been the case, as the services balance swung into surplus in 2003 and improved further in 2004 and 2005. In addition, the income account also swung from deficit into surplus in 2003, before slipping back to register small deficits in 2004 and 2005. Although the transfers balance remained in deficit, mainly as a result of Sweden’s contributions to the EU budget, the overall current-account surplus was larger than the trade surplus in 2003-05. Most categories of services exports produced an improvement over this period, but the biggest contribution came from business services exports, followed by transportation and royalties and license fees.

During 2005 real GDP rose by 2.7% and expanded by 3.4% in 2006. The government budget improved dramatically from a record deficit of more than 12% of GDP in 1993 to a surplus of 2.7% of GDP in 2005. The new, strict budget process with spending ceilings set by parliament, and a constitutional change to an independent Central Bank, have greatly improved policy credibility. This can be seen in the long-term interest rate margin versus the Euro, which is negligible. From the perspective of longer-term fiscal sustainability, the long-awaited reform of old-age pensions entered into force in 1999. This entails a far more robust system vis-à-vis adverse demographic and economic trends, which should keep the ratio of total pension disbursements to the aggregate wage bill close to 20% in the decades ahead. Taken together, both fiscal consolidation and pension reform have brought public finances back on a sustainable footing. Gross public debt, which jumped from 43% of GDP in 1990 to 78% in 1994, stabilized around the middle of the 1990s and has been decreasing in recent years. In 2005 public debt was about 50.3% of GDP. These figures show excellent improvement of the Swedish economy since the crisis of the early 1990s.

Eighty percent of the Swedish labor force is unionized. For most unions there is a counterpart employers’ organization for businesses. The unions and employer organizations are independent of both the government and political parties, although the largest federation of unions, the National Swedish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), always has maintained close links to the largest political party, the Social Democrats. There is no fixed minimum wage by legislation. Instead, wages are set by collective bargaining.

U.S. direct investment in Sweden in 2004 was approximately $2.6 billion. There were major investments in computer software and hardware, IT/telecommunications, industrial goods, and health care.

FOREIGN RELATIONS

Swedish foreign policy is based on the premise that national security is best served by staying free of alliances in peacetime in order to remain neutral in the event of war. In 2002, Sweden revised its security doctrine. The new security doctrine still states that “Sweden pursues a policy of non-participation in military alliances,” but permits cooperation in response to threats against peace and security. The Swedish Government devotes particular attention to issues of disarmament, arms control, and nuclear nonproliferation and has contributed importantly to UN and other international peacekeeping efforts, including the NATO-led peacekeeping forces in the Balkans. Sweden also contributes to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and assumed leadership of the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Mazar e-Sharif in March 2006. Sweden participates actively in the United Nations, including as a member of the Security Council in 1997-98, and other multilateral organizations. In January 1995, Sweden became a full member of the European Union after a referendum in late 1994 indicated that 52.3% of participants wanted to join. Sweden became a member in part due to its increasing isolation outside the economic framework of the Maastricht Treaty. It sits as an observer in the Western European Union and is an active member of NATO’s Partnership for Peace (PFP) and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. Sweden also cooperates closely with its Nordic neighbors, formally in economic and social matters through the Nordic Council of Ministers and informally in political matters through direct consultation. Swedish governments do not consider that nonalignment precludes taking outspoken positions in international affairs. Government leaders have favored national liberation movements that enjoy broad support among developing world countries, with notable attention to Africa. During the Cold War, Sweden was suspicious of the superpowers, which it saw as making decisions affecting small countries without always consulting those countries. With the end of the Cold War, that suspicion has lessened somewhat, although Sweden still chooses to remain non-aligned.

U.S.-SWEDEN RELATIONS

Friendship and cooperation between the United States and Sweden is strong and close. The United States welcomes Sweden’s membership in NATO’s PFP and our ongoing cooperation in promoting democracy and freedom. Swedish-American friendship is buttressed by the presence of nearly 14 million Americans of Swedish heritage. Both countries in 1988 celebrated the 350th anniversary of the first Swedish settlement in the United States.

Principal U.S. Embassy Officials

STOCKHOLM (E) Address: Dag Hammarskjolds Vag 31; APO/FPO: UNIT 5750 APO, AE 09744; Phone: 46-8-783-5300; Fax: +46-8-661-1964; Workweek: 0800-1630; Website: usemb.se.

Last Updated: 1/8/2007

TRAVEL

Consular Information Sheet : February 23, 2007

Country Description: Sweden is a highly developed stable democracy with a modern economy.

Entry Requirements: A valid passport is required. Since March 2001, Sweden entry visas are governed by the rules in the Schengen Agreement. U.S. citizens can stay without a visa for tourist/business for up to 90 days. That period begins when you enter any of the Schengen countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. See our Foreign Entry Requirements brochure for more information on Sweden and other countries. Contact the Swedish Embassy at 901 30 th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20007, tel: (202) 467-2600 (mailing address 2900 K Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.), or the Swedish Consulate General in New York at (212) 583-2550, website: www.sweden-abroad.com for the most current visa information. Sweden’s immigration authorities (Migrationsverket) also maintain a homepage at www.migrationsverket.se.

Note: Although European Union regulations require that non-EU visitors obtain a stamp in their passports upon initial entry to a Schengen country, many borders are not staffed with officers carrying out this function. If an American citizen wishes to ensure that his or her entry is properly documented, it may be necessary to request a stamp at an official point of entry. Under local law, travelers without a stamp in their passports may be questioned and asked to document the length of their stay in Schengen countries at the time of departure or at any other point during their visit, and could face possible fines or other repercussions if unable to do so.

Safety and Security: Sweden remains largely free of terrorist incidents. However, like other countries in the Schengen area, Sweden’s open borders with its Western European neighbors allow the possibility of terrorist groups entering/exiting the country with anonymity. Americans are reminded to remain vigilant with regard to their personal security and to exercise caution.

For the latest security information, Americans traveling abroad should regularly monitor the Department’s Internet web site, where current, Travel Warnings and Public Announcements, including the Worldwide Caution Public Announcement can be found. Up to date information on security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the United States, or, for callers outside the United States and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).

Crime: Sweden has a relatively low crime rate with rare, but increasing, instances of violent crime. Most crimes involve the theft of personal property from cars or residences or in public areas. Pickpockets and purse-snatchers often work in pairs or groups with one distracting the victim while another grabs valuables. Often they operate in or near major tourist attractions like Stockholm’s Old Town, restaurants, amusement parks, museums, bars, buses, and subway trains. Hotel breakfast rooms and lobbies attract professional, well-dressed thieves who blend in with guests and target purses and briefcases left unguarded by unsuspecting tourists and business travelers. Valuables should not be left unguarded in parked vehicles.

Information for Victims of Crime: The loss or theft abroad of a U.S. passport should be reported immediately to the local police and the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate. If you are the victim of a crime while overseas, in addition to reporting to local police, contact the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate for assistance.

The Embassy/Consulate staff can, for example, assist you to find appropriate medical care, to contact family members or friends, and explain how funds could be transferred. Although the investigation and prosecution of the crime is solely the responsibility of local authorities, consular officers can help you to understand the local criminal justice process and to find an attorney if needed.

Sweden has a limited criminal injuries compensation program for victims of violent, personal, and property crime. Foreign citizens who are victims of crime on Swedish territory are eligible to apply for compensation but if the victim and offender’s affiliation to Sweden is transitory in nature, compensation may not be awarded even though the crime occurred on Swedish soil. Application forms in English are available at local police stations and other government agencies as well as on the Internet at www.brottsoffermyndigheten.se. Claimants are generally notified of the program’s decision within four months.

Medical Facilities and Health Information: Medical care comparable to that found in the United States is widely available. The Swedish medical system is a state-run system so instead of visiting a local private general practitioner, travelers can visit a local medical center or clinic, called an “Akutmottagning” or “Vard-central.” Patients should be prepared to present their passports. In case of a medical emergency, use the emergency telephone number “112” (equivalent to “911” in the U.S.) to contact the appropriate emergency service.

Travelers with special medical needs should consult with their personal physician and take appropriate precautions, including bringing adequate supplies of necessary medication. Medicines may be brought into the country as long as they are intended for the traveler’s personal use. Medications categorized as narcotics may only be brought into the country to cover the traveler’s personal use for a maximum of five days and must be accompanied by a medical certificate stating why the traveler needs them. In addition, stringent Swedish customs regulations prohibit travelers from receiving drugs from abroad after having arrived in the country. Travelers may also find local physicians reluctant to prescribe equivalent quantities or dosages. Prescriptions are dispensed at state-run pharmacies called “Apotek” in Swedish. Most pharmacies are open during normal shopping hours but major cities have a 24-hour pharmacy. Information on vaccinations and other health precautions, such as safe food and water precautions and insect bite protection, may be obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s hotline for international travelers at 1-877-FYI-TRIP (1-877-394-8747) or via the CDC’s Internet Website at http://www.cdc.gov/travel. For information about outbreaks of infectious diseases abroad consult the World Health Organization’s (WHO) website at http://www.who.int/en. Further health information for travelers is available at http://www.who.int/ith.

Medical Insurance: The Department of State strongly urges Americans to consult with their medical insurance company prior to traveling abroad to confirm whether their policy applies overseas and whether it will cover emergency expenses such as a medical evacuation. Please see our information on medical insurance overseas.

Traffic Safety and Road Conditions: While in a foreign country, U.S. citizens may encounter road conditions that differ significantly from those in the United States. The information below concerning Sweden is provided for general reference only, and may not be totally accurate in a particular location or circumstance.

A valid U.S. driver’s license may be used while visiting Sweden, but drivers must be at least 18 years of age. Driving in Sweden is on the right. Road signs use standard international symbols and Swedish text. Many urban streets have traffic lanes reserved for public transportation only.

Swedish roads are comparable to those in the U.S. though secondary roads may be less heavily traveled due to Sweden’s sparse population outside the major urban areas. These secondary routes often narrow to two lanes with a wider shoulder. Slower vehicles are expected to move onto the shoulder to allow faster moving vehicles to pass. All vehicles must have headlights lit when on the road, no matter what time of day. The use of snow tires is mandatory between December 1 and March 31 and, due to the country’s northerly climate, experience in driving on ice and snow is recommended before negotiating Sweden’s winter roads.

Public transport in Sweden is of good quality and is the recommended method of travel. Passenger trains, intercity buses, and air flights provide regular service over longer distances. Public transportation in urban centers includes buses, subways, trams, suburban trains, and taxis. Taxis are more expensive than in major U.S. cities. Most local residents use public transport in Stockholm as parking can be hard to find and expensive. The bus, train, and subway systems are relatively safe.

Use of seat belts is mandatory for drivers and all passengers, and children under the age of seven must be seated in approved child or booster seats. The maximum speed limit is 110 kilometers per hour. Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, including prescription drugs, is considered a very serious offense. The rules are stringently enforced and fines can be severe. Violations can result in severe fines and possible jail sentences.

Emergency services for traffic accidents can be reached by calling 112 (the equivalent to 911 in the U.S.).

Visit the website of the country’s national tourist office and national authority responsible for road safety at www.visitsweden.se and at www.vv.se.

Aviation Safety Oversight: The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has assessed the Government of Sweden’s Civil Aviation Authority as being in compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) aviation safety standards for oversight of Sweden’s air carrier operations. For more information, travelers may visit the FAA’s Internet website at http://www.faa.gov.

Special Circumstances: Please see www.tullverket.se/en for customs information specific to Sweden.

Criminal Penalties: While in a foreign country, a U.S. citizen is subject to that country’s laws and regulations, which sometimes differ significantly from those in the United States and may not afford the protections available to the individual under U.S. law. Penalties for breaking the law can be more severe than in the United States for similar offenses. Persons violating Sweden’s laws, even unknowingly, may be expelled, arrested or imprisoned. Penalties for possession, use, or trafficking in illegal drugs in Sweden are severe, and convicted offenders can expect long jail sentences and heavy fines. There is no bail system in Sweden and non-resident Americans who are arrested may be held in custody until the trial is complete. Engaging in sexual conduct with children or using or disseminating child pornography in a foreign country is a crime, prosecutable in the United States.

Children’s Issues: For information on international adoption of children and international parental child abduction, see the Office of Children’s Issues website at http://travel.state.gov/family.

Registration and Embassy Location: Americans living or traveling in Sweden are encouraged to register with the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate through the State Department’s travel registration website, and to obtain updated information on travel and security within Sweden. Americans without Internet access may register directly with the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate. By registering, American citizens make it easier for the Embassy or Consulate to contact them in case of emergency. The U.S. Embassy is located at Dag Hammarskjoldsvag 31, telephone: (46)(8) 783-5300, fax: (46)(8)783-5480, and after-hours telephone: (46)(8) 783-5310. The Embassy’s Internet website is www.usemb.se.

International Adoption : May 2006

The information below has been edited from a report of the State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs, Office of Overseas Citizens Services. For more information, please read the International Adoption section of this book and review current reports online at www.travel.state.gov/family.

Disclaimer: The information in this flyer relating to the legal requirements of specific foreign countries is based on public sources and current understanding. Questions involving foreign and U.S. immigration laws and legal interpretation should be addressed respectively to qualified foreign or U.S. legal counsel.

Please Note: Sweden is not considered a country of origin for parents seeking orphaned children to adopt. Very few Swedish children are available for adoption. Most intercountry adoptions in Sweden are by legal residents of Sweden who adopt in third countries. This flyer explains how to adopt in a third country as a Swedish resident.

In the rare case that a non-resident American citizen would be allowed to adopt a Swedish orphan (related family member for example), the District Court (Tingsratten, www.dom.se) for the area where the child resides would be the appropriate court to hear the case. Prospective adoptive parents who are considering such an adoption should contact an adoption agency in the United States to begin the process.

Patterns of Immigration: . Recent U.S. immigrant visa statistics no immigrant visas have been issued to Swedish orphans in the last five fiscal years.

Adoption Authority: The government office responsible for adoptions in Sweden is the Swedish national Board for Intercountry Adoptions (MIA)

The Swedish National Board of Intercountry Adoptions (MIA)
Box 308
101 26 Stockholm
Tel: +46 (8) 54555680
Fax: +46 (8) 650 4110
[email protected]
www.mia.adopt.se

Eligibility Requirements for Adoptive Parents: Any man or woman 25 years old or older, whether single or married, may adopt with the permission of the court. The right to adopt is also provided for persons ages 18-25 if the adoption involves a related child, e.g. a niece or a nephew, or the adoptive child of his or her spouse or if special circumstances exist. Spouses must adopt jointly. However, one of the spouses may adopt a child separately when the other spouse’s whereabouts are unknown or is suffering from a serious mental illness. One spouse may also, with the consent of the other spouse, adopt that spouse’s child as his or her own child.

Residency Requirements: Adoptive parents must be legally resident in Sweden to adopt in third countries.

Time Frame: The adoption process in Sweden can take from two to three years from when the Swedish authorities approve the application of the adoptive parents until the parents receive the child.

Adoption Agencies and Attorneys: A list of Swedish adoption agencies authorized to provide adoption services in third countries is available at www.mia.adopt.se.

Adoption Fees: Prospective adoptive parents can expect to pay from approximately U.S.$10,000 to 20,000 for adoption services, a price that does not include the cost for the trip to pick up the child and return to Sweden.

There are no government fees. Most parents can qualify for a Swedish government grant of approximately U.S.$5,000 when they return with the child to Sweden.

Adoption Procedures: The Swedish National Board for Intercountry Adoptions website www.mia.adopt.se has detailed information about Swedish adoption law, policy and procedures. Information is provided in both Swedish and English.

Documentary Requirements: A list of documents needed to apply for adoption in a third country as a Swedish resident can be found at www.mia.adopt.se

Please see the International Adoption section of this book for more details and review current reports online at www.travel.state.gov/family.

Embassy of Sweden:
1501 M. Street N.W., Suite 900
Washington, D.C. 20005-1702
Tel: +1-202-467 2600
Fax: +1-202-467 2699
Email: [email protected]
http://www.swedenabroad.se

Sweden has Consulates General in Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, and San Francisco.

U.S. Immigration Requirements: Prospective adopting parents are strongly encouraged to consult USCIS publication M-249, The Immigration of Adopted and Prospective Adopting Children, as well as the Department of State publication, International Adoptions. Please see the International Adoption section of this book for more details and review current reports online at www.travel.state.gov/family.

U.S. Consulate in Sweden:
Dag Hammarskjölds Väg 31
SE-115 89 Stockholm, Sweden
Tel: (+46) 8 783 5300
[email protected]

Additional Information: Specific questions about adoption in Sweden, including the adoption from third countries of children who will reside in Sweden, may be addressed to the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm. General questions regarding international adoption may be addressed to the Office of Children’s Issues, U.S. Department of State, CA/OCS/CI, SA-29, 4th Floor, 2201 C Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20520-4818, toll-free Tel: 1-888-407-4747.

International Parental Child Abduction : February 2007

The information below has been edited from the report of the State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs, Office of Overseas Citizens Services. For more information, please read the International Child Abduction section of this book and review current reports online at www.travel.state.gov.

Disclaimer: The information in this flyer relating to the legal requirements of specific foreign countries is provided for general information only. Questions involving interpretation of specific foreign laws should be addressed to foreign legal counsel.

General Information: Sweden is a civil-law country. Judicial proceedings in a civil-law country generally differ from those in the United States, a common-law country, in several significant ways. For example, juries are not used. Legal cases are heard and decided by a judge or panel of judges that can include lay judges. Evidence can be presented and arguments can be made in oral hearings, but such hearings tend to play a secondary role, supplementing extensive written submissions to the judge. The judge normally can play a more active role in proceedings than is common in U.S. courts. Whereas a U.S. judge may be limited to serving, in effect, as a referee between two adversaries, judges in a civil law country might, for example, seek evidence independently of what either side presents. In Sweden, the civil courts handle divorce and custody cases, while Hague cases are heard in Stockholm City Court. Swedish courts do not generally recognize, register, or enforce foreign court orders regarding custody, although a U.S. statute or court order may be considered in adjudication of a Hague case to determine if a removal/retention was “wrongful.” The Swedish government provides Legal Aid for individuals involved in Swedish custody proceedings and in Hague cases, depending on the level of income, but regardless of nationality.

Custody: In Sweden, married parents have joint custody of a child from birth until the child reaches the age of 18. Under Swedish law, a mother who bears a child out of wedlock is automatically initially granted sole custody of the child. Upon the birth of such a child, the Swedish Tax Authority (responsible for birth registrations in Sweden) informs the social welfare board that a child has been born out of wedlock. The social welfare board, in turn, contacts the mother and requests that both parents appear and execute an acknowledgement of paternity. The parents are given the opportunity to decide if they will agree to joint custody. The documents are then approved by the social welfare board and forwarded to the Tax Authority. The Tax Authority maintains up-to-date records on the child’s custodial parent(s), known in Sweden as “vardnadshavare.” Swedish authorities report that out-of-wedlock fathers have the same custody/access rights as every other father. The U.S. Embassy in Stockholm has found, in the cases known to it, that fathers of children born out of wedlock have rarely been able to obtain custody or visitation without the mother’s consent.

The Swedish Children and Parents Code prescribes that the “best interests of the child” are of paramount consideration for any orders and decisions regarding custody, residence and contact. The Code also states that when deciding what constitutes a child’s “best interests,” special consideration should be given to a child’s need for contact with both parents.

Access: Swedish courts have extremely wide latitude with respect to access orders. However, appeals may complicate a court’s ability to enforce access/visitation orders. A court may refuse to enforce an access order if the court is convinced that circumstances have manifestly changed since the order was made or that it is in the “best interests” of the child to revisit the order. It is important to note that Swedish courts do not have the equivalent of “contempt of court,” a strong enforcement tool used by U.S. courts. In the United States, a judge can order a party to comply with legal rulings or face arrest, imprisonment and/or a fine. In Sweden a parent who refuses to obey a Swedish court order may, if there are special reasons, risk penalty of a fine in order to secure that he or she will entrust the other parent with the child. The neglect to comply with the court order may also affect that parent’s future possibilities to maintain custody of the child.

Swedish authorities report that gender bias is prohibited by the Swedish constitution. The U.S. Embassy in Stockholm notes that in non-Hague Convention cases involving American fathers and Swedish mothers, the Swedish courts have more often given custody to the Swedish mother. The Embassy has also found that the Swedish courts tend to favor Swedish mothers in cases involving visitation and access conflicts. Swedish courts have enforced very few of the rulings favorable to American fathers.

Criminal aspects: It is a crime under Swedish penal law to abduct children.

Swedish citizenship: A child always acquires Swedish citizenship through a Swedish-citizen mother, whether she is married or unmarried and whether the child is born in Sweden or in another country. To register a child who was born either in Sweden or abroad as a Swedish citizen, the mother shows proof of her Swedish citizenship and the child’s birth certificate. A child born in Sweden to a Swedish-citizen unmarried father and a foreign mother acquires Swedish citizenship. A child born in the U.S. to an unmarried Swedish citizen father can acquire Swedish citizenship through an application to the Swedish “Migrationsverket.” The father must show proof of his Swedish citizenship, his tax registration (Personbevis), the child’s birth certificate, and the non-Swedish citizen mother’s consent. Swedish citizenship is documented by registering a child with the Swedish Tax Authority.

Swedish passports: In Sweden, a passport for a child under the age of 18 cannot be issued unless the child’s custodians have agreed in writing. When applying for a passport for a child, the parents must provide the passport authority with documents regarding the child’s identity, the identity of the custodians, the written consent of both custodians and a photograph of the child. A photograph is not necessary if the child is under the age of five, but without a photograph, the passport is only valid until the child reaches the age of seven. When a photograph is added to the application, whether or not the child is over the age of five, the child must be present when the application is handed in. If the child can write, he/she must also sign the application.

A parent who has a Swedish sole or joint custody order can ask that the issuance of a Swedish passport to the child be blocked or that an already-issued passport be confiscated. Parents can also request lookouts at Swedish ports of departure to prevent the departure of a child if they have a Swedish court order that supports the request. If such a lookout is not in place, Swedish authorities will generally not ask for any document other than a valid passport or other travel document for a departing child.

Preventing issuance of a Swedish passport: If your child has a claim to Swedish citizenship, you may be able to prevent the issuance of a Swedish passport to your child. You will need documents showing that you have joint or sole custody of the child, identity documents, a marriage certificate (if applicable) and the child’s birth certificate. If you are in Sweden and have a Swedish court order, the request should be made at a police station. If you are in the United States and you have a U.S. court order (one that prohibits the removal of the child and/or issuance of a passport may be the most effective), you should contact a consular officer at the Swedish Embassy in Washington, D.C. (202-467-2600), or the nearest Swedish Consulate (California [310-445-4008] or New York [212-583-2550]) to discuss restricting the issuance of a Swedish passport to a child.

The Hague Convention: The Hague Convention entered into force between the United States and Sweden on June 1, 1989. Therefore, Hague Convention provisions for return would apply to children abducted or retained after that date.

For more information, please read the International Parental Child Abduction section of this book and review current reports online at www.travel.state.gov.

For further information on international parental child abduction, contact the Office of Children’s Issues, U.S. Department of State at 1-888-407-4747 or visit its website on the Internet at http://travel.state.gov. You may also direct inquiries to: Office of Children’s Issues; U.S. Department of State; Washington, DC 20520-4811; Phone: (202) 736-9090; Fax: (202) 312-9743.