The Sweden course
Facts about Sweden, for your next trip
Ten topics, two timed rounds each, played straight down this page. Finish a round and the next one starts itself, so the course runs the way a lesson with a teacher in the room runs rather than the way a folder of links does.
Capital Stockholm · Europe · 10 topics · 20 rounds · 80 questions · 20 seconds each
Sweden is the largest of the Nordic countries and stretches far enough north that its top third lies inside the Arctic Circle. It avoided both world wars, built one of the most comprehensive welfare states in the world, and exports culture and design well out of proportion to a population of about 10.6 million.
Sweden runs about 1,570 kilometers from the Baltic south to the Arctic north and is administered as 21 counties. In practice it reads as three parts. Götaland in the south has the best farmland and the oldest towns, Svealand in the middle holds Stockholm and the great lakes, and Norrland, the northern two thirds of the country, is forest, mountain and mining territory carrying barely a tenth of the population. Nearly 100,000 lakes fill the gaps, and some 267,000 islands lie off the coast, more than any other country has.
Stockholm spreads across 14 islands where Lake Mälaren meets the Baltic, Gothenburg on the west coast is the industrial and shipping counterweight, and Malmö in the far south sits closer to Copenhagen than to any Swedish city of size. Uppsala and Lund hold the old universities. Visitors tend to come for the Stockholm archipelago in summer, the design and food in the cities, and the far north in winter, where Abisko is among the most reliable places on Earth to see the northern lights.
- Population
- 10.6 million
- Area
- 450,295 km²
- Currency
- Swedish krona (kr)
- Official language
- Swedish
- Counties
- 21
- Highest point
- Kebnekaise, 2,096 m
Sweden · Geography
Geography of Sweden
Forest covers roughly seventy percent of Sweden, close to 100,000 lakes fill the gaps, and more islands lie off its coast than off the coast of any other country. The second round leaves the land for the cities, where nearly all of the ten and a half million people live.
Commonly asked
- How big is Sweden, and how far north does it reach?
- About 450,295 km², running roughly 1,570 kilometres from the Baltic south to the Arctic north. The top third of the country lies inside the Arctic Circle.
- What is the capital of Sweden, and what are the other big cities?
- Stockholm, spread across 14 islands where Lake Mälaren meets the Baltic. Gothenburg on the west coast is the industrial and shipping counterweight, and Malmö in the far south sits closer to Copenhagen than to any Swedish city of size.
- How many lakes and islands does Sweden have?
- Nearly 100,000 lakes, the largest of them Vänern, which is the biggest in the European Union. Off the coast lie some 267,000 islands, more than any other country has.
Sweden · History
History of Sweden
Swedish Vikings went east rather than west, down the rivers of what became Russia and on to Constantinople. What followed was a Baltic empire, its defeat, and then the longest run without a war any country has had.
Commonly asked
- Were the Vikings Swedish, and where did the Swedish ones go?
- Vikings came from across Scandinavia. The Swedish ones turned east rather than west, trading and raiding down the rivers of what became Russia and reaching Constantinople and Baghdad.
- When did Sweden last fight a war?
- 1814. It is the longest unbroken run without war any country has had, and it carried Sweden neutral through both world wars.
- Why did Sweden join NATO after two centuries of neutrality?
- The Russian invasion of Ukraine. Sweden applied alongside Finland and joined in March 2024, ending the neutrality it had kept since 1814.
Sweden · Language
The Swedish language
Swedish is North Germanic, readable to a Dane and a Norwegian, and carries a pitch accent that gives the spoken language its sing-song reputation. A reform in the 1960s threw out formal address altogether.
Commonly asked
- Is Swedish hard to learn for an English speaker?
- Swedish is North Germanic, so a good deal of the vocabulary and word order lands as familiar. The pitch accent is the harder part, since the same sequence of sounds can mean different things depending on the melody it is said on.
- Can Swedes, Danes and Norwegians understand each other?
- Largely, and most easily in writing. Swedish is mutually intelligible in writing with both Danish and Norwegian, and in speech it is closest to Norwegian.
- What does lagom mean, and why is there no English word for it?
- Roughly, the right amount — neither too much nor too little. English has words for both extremes but not for the balance point between them, which is the part Swedes treat as a value rather than a measurement.
Sweden · Culture
Culture of Sweden
Lagom and fika are the two words Swedes hand a visitor first, and both are about restraint and pace rather than taste. Around them sit the Nobel Prizes, midsummer, and a music export business third only to the United States and the United Kingdom.
Commonly asked
- What is fika, and how often do Swedes actually take one?
- The institutionalised coffee break. What separates a fika from grabbing a coffee is that it is treated as a genuine part of the working day rather than something squeezed around it.
- Why is so much global pop music written in Sweden?
- Sweden is the third largest exporter of recorded music in the world, after the United States and the United Kingdom. The run began with ABBA and carried on through Stockholm songwriters and producers shaping a generation of global pop.
- Where are the Nobel Prizes awarded, and why in Sweden?
- In Stockholm, every year since 1901, under the will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, with the banquet held in the city hall. The peace prize is the exception, because Nobel’s will handed that one to Norway.
Sweden · Economy
Economy of Sweden
A country of ten and a half million that exports Volvo and Ericsson alongside IKEA, Spotify and Klarna, and has come closer than almost anywhere to abandoning cash.
Commonly asked
- What is Sweden known for producing?
- Engineering above all, through Volvo, Scania, Atlas Copco and Ericsson, alongside forestry, iron ore from the far north and hydroelectric power. For its size it also turns out an unusual number of global consumer names, among them IKEA, H&M, Spotify and Klarna.
- Can you still pay with cash in Sweden?
- Rarely, in practice. Cash has nearly disappeared from daily life, with cards and Swish mobile payments handling almost everything.
- How does Sweden generate its electricity?
- Mostly hydro and nuclear. The rivers of the north carry the hydroelectric half, and between the two there is very little fossil fuel left in Swedish electricity.
Sweden · Politics
Politics of Sweden
A ceremonial monarchy over a parliament that almost never hands anyone a majority, and a freedom of information law that predates every other country's by a wide margin.
Commonly asked
- Does the Swedish king have any real power?
- None. Carl XVI Gustaf’s duties are entirely ceremonial — he signs nothing and appoints no one.
- How does the Swedish government get formed?
- Out of the Riksdag, a single chamber of 349 members elected proportionally with a four percent threshold. Proportional seats almost never hand anyone a majority, so coalition and minority government is the standard rather than the exception.
- Is Sweden in the EU, and does it use the euro?
- In the European Union since 1995, but not in the euro. Sweden kept the krona.
Sweden · Nature & Wildlife
Nature and wildlife of Sweden
Allemansrätten lets anyone walk, forage and camp on almost any land in the country, which makes the nature here something you are expected to be standing in rather than looking at.
Commonly asked
- Can you camp anywhere in Sweden legally?
- Very nearly. Allemansrätten, the right of public access, lets anyone walk, camp and pick berries on most land regardless of who owns it, provided nothing is disturbed.
- What large animals live in Sweden?
- Around 300,000 moose, the densest population relative to land area anywhere, along with brown bears, lynx, wolverines and a small and politically contested wolf population. Reindeer herding across the north is a livelihood reserved to the Sami.
- Where in Sweden can you see the northern lights?
- The far north, in and around Lapland. Abisko National Park is among the most reliable places on Earth to see them.
Sweden · Food & Cuisine
Food of Sweden
A cuisine built around getting through a long winter, which is why so much of it is pickled, cured, smoked or fermented, and one dish of which even Swedes decline.
Commonly asked
- What food is Sweden famous for?
- Köttbullar, which are meatballs with cream sauce and lingonberry jam, carried worldwide by IKEA. Behind them sits a preserving tradition built for long winters, which gives pickled herring, cured salmon, and the cured and salted meats of a Christmas table.
- What is surströmming, and do Swedes really eat it?
- Fermented Baltic herring, sold in tins swollen by the fermentation. The smell is strong enough that it is usually opened outdoors, and plenty of Swedes decline it.
- What is a Swedish smorgasbord?
- A spread of many small dishes eaten in courses rather than piled on one plate. Herring comes first, then cold cuts and salads, then something warm. It is the format a preserving tradition naturally produces.
Sweden · Landmarks
Landmarks of Sweden
A warship raised almost intact after 333 years on the seabed, a hotel rebuilt out of ice every winter, and a medieval town wall on an island in the Baltic.
Commonly asked
- What is the most visited museum in Sweden?
- The Vasa Museum in Stockholm, built around a warship that sank on her maiden voyage in 1628 after barely 1,300 metres and was raised almost intact in 1961. It holds the only preserved 17th-century ship in the world.
- What is there to see in Sweden outside Stockholm?
- The Icehotel at Jukkasjärvi, rebuilt from river ice every winter; Abisko National Park for the northern lights; the medieval walled town of Visby on Gotland; and Kiruna in the far north.
- Where is the ice hotel in Sweden?
- At Jukkasjärvi in the far north, near Kiruna. It is rebuilt out of river ice every winter and melts back into the river every spring.
Sweden · People & Society
People and society of Sweden
Ten and a half million people in a country the size of California, a fifth of them born abroad, with one of the longest parental leave entitlements anywhere.
Commonly asked
- How many people live in Sweden?
- About 10.6 million, in a country the size of California, so density is low and the north is nearly empty. Roughly 88 percent live in urban areas, concentrated in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö.
- How much parental leave do Swedish parents get?
- 480 days per child, shared between the parents, with a stretch of it reserved for each so it cannot all be taken by one. It is among the longest entitlements anywhere.
- Who are the most famous Swedes?
- Alfred Nobel and Astrid Lindgren historically, ABBA and Zlatan Ibrahimović in the modern era, and Greta Thunberg most recently.